Video Review

From time to time it can be beneficial to look at yourself on camera.  No we don’t care about the aesthetics or the fashion.  We’re looking to gain feedback and a mental picture.  We’re looking for just one or two cues that might give us a smoother, more powerful stroke.  What’s going right?  What’s going wrong?  What can we do better?

You should be asking yourself, “What do I look like now?  How do I move now? What could use some extra focus and improvement next time?”  Don’t dwell on to many things at a time, just find one or two things that might make your life on the erg or in the boat a little better.  Go work on them.  Then reassess in a couple of weeks.

The Renegade Rowing Club has agreed to help everyone by taking a look at their strokes. If you’d like feedback similar to this, post a 20 second clip of you rowing to YouTube and share it with us in the comments of this post.  I’ll do my best to give you a couple of things to work on!

For each of the following videos I’ll be ranking each rower on their posture, control, and connection.  I’ll use a five point scale where 1 = poor and 5 = perfect.  When dealing with posture we’re looking for the torso to be stacked and strong at all times.  When talking about control we are looking at the smoothness of the recovery and how the seat moves toward the catch.  Does it rush forward for the next stroke?  Is there control in the last few inches of the slide to change direction without pushing the boat backwards?  Last and most important, connection, are the seat and handle connected and moving together into and out of the catch as if connected by a belt.

Take a look and share what you might focus on next time you row!

Posture: 3, Control: 3, Connection: 2

Feedback: Nice job getting the body over.  Don’t let the seat stop at the catch.  Be ready to push with the legs the second you hit the catch and keep the seat and hands connected.

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Posture: 3, Control: 3, Connection: 4

Feedback: Nice horizontal hands.  Don’t let the handle pause at the finish.  Focus on quicker hands away as if there were opposing magnets on the handle and your chest trying to push those hands away out of the finish.

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Posture: 4, Control: 3, Connection: 3

Feedback: Great posture and nice job getting the body over.  Try not to be so rigid and don’t break the elbows as you initiate the drive.  Relax a little on the recovery and make everything smooth.

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Posture: 3, Control: 2, Connection: 3

Feedback: Nice job getting the arms extended and ready for the catch.  Try to not be so robotic and rigid at the finish.  Focus on quick and smooth hands away.  The handle should always be moving.

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Posture: 4, Control: 3, Connection: 2

Feedback: Good posture and nice horizontal hands.  Don’t let the shoulders and torso reach for more at the catch.  Focus on staying connected as you approach the catch.  See if you can get the body over and find that reach earlier in the recovery, before you get to half slide.

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Posture: 3, Control: 4, Connection: 2

Feedback: Great work getting your body over on the recovery and getting prepared by half slide.  Don’t let your posture go as you approach the catch.  Focus on bringing the handle with you as you push the knees down.  The first inch or two of the drive you are shooting the slide, so keep a big chest and solid abs/back as you push.

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Posture: 3, Control: 3, Connection: 2

Feedback: Nice power and push on the drive.  Try to keep your hands on one level plain and don’t let them drop coming into the catch.  Focus on pointing the toes as you finish and then getting the proper sequence of arms away first, bodies over, and then knees come up during the recovery.  Everything blends, but that’s the order of firing in terms of sequence.