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  • Progressive drills for the recovery

    Progressive drills for the recovery
    2025/11/02
    Three more drills to learn sequentially which will improve your recovery. These will help fix balance issues. Timestamps 00:45 Finesse really helps in the recovery Crew alignment, bladework skills and body movement. The benefit is that the boat slows down less when you achieve these. The biggest gains in boat speed can be achieved here (assuming you aren't going to get much fitter/stronger). By keeping the same peak in the power but slow the boat down less on the recovery, the average speed of the boat each stroke will be higher, and you will go faster. Our teaching method: do one drill and then layer another drill on top of it - making it progressively harder. this allows you to build your skill and also crews of different ability can row together. 04:00 Skimming drill Understand the impact your hands and handle heights have on boat balance. On the recovery - let your oars run along the surface during the recovery. This teaches where the oar handles need to be relative to each other. The water is level - so your handles reflect the correct height during the power phase. In sculling this also helps to recognise the left hand over the right hand differential. Check the "nested" versus "stacked" hands demonstration at the crossover position. Then add progressively deeper tap downs on the recovery - 1 cm, 2 cm, 3, cm. Can you keep the boat level? It can be hard to keep your left hand higher than the right from half slide to the catch (the left hand is always higher than the right). 08:45 Pauses drills From hands away / body over / quarter slide. Advanced rowers can also pause at weight on the feet. This is explained in the drills compendium. Build on the skimming drill - now check your hands and body posture at different stages of the recovery. Watch the elbows of the person in front for timing. 10:15 Reverse ratio drill The idea here is to arrive at full compression with your blade already in the water. Time the movement so the blade placement is before you change direction on the seat. Go fast up the slide and then drift your oars through the power phase. This helps you to make handle movements fluid. Buy the Drills Compendium (24 drills and 3 bonus ebooks) https://fastermastersrowing.com/member-register/drills/ Want easy live streams like this? Instant broadcasts to Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn. Faster Masters uses StreamYard: https://streamyard.com/pal/d/5694205242376192
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    14 分
  • Progressive drills for stroke power

    Progressive drills for stroke power
    2025/10/30
    How to increase stroke power using three layered drills. Timestamps 00:45 Drills for power These are all part of the Drills Compendium (24 drills + 3 ebooks bundle). Masters rowers tend to row a good leg drive and arm draw but neglect the back swing. The back is crucial to joining the leg drive and arm draw. How to ensure back swing adds to the speed of the boat. 03:15 The body sequence From the catch (where boat is slowest) the stroke power takes the boat to its fastest speed. After the leg drive is half completed you need to start to layer the back swing so it overlaps with the end of the leg drive. Later the arm draw overlaps with the end of the back swing. Learn how to use each body part in turn without dropping boat power at the changeover. 04:30 Body swing only drill This is the least intuitive part! Start with legs straight and arms straight with blade in the water while leaning forwards. Swing your back to take the stroke and take the oars out when your. back swing is completed. Do this square blades and then once confident, add power to the stroke by engaging your core and glutes. 06:00 Body and arms and half slide rowing are the second and third parts of this drill. The glutes provide the connection between the legs and back. By building up the stroke progressively you should feel the spoon of the blade accelerate through the water - as you add in more body parts this must continue. The arms have to pick up already moving water (from your back swing) and make it faster still. In a crew add in more people so the boat goes faster - notice how your body movements have to change to take account of the boat moving faster. If you aren't adding to the acceleration you should feel that you have no pressure on the end of the blade. Try an exaggeration rowing at half slide and finish your legs/back/arms at the same time. 10:30 Our teaching method The way we teach is designed to work for adult learners. We teach how we row and then make it progressively harder so you can continue to challenge yourself, continue to experiment with ways to make the movement and lastly check your experience with your crew mates - am I getting the right feeling here? Even the most experienced rowers can do these alongside the less experienced. Do the drills at least 3 times in a single practice so you're familiar with the drill and can see your progress as you do it better each time. Want easy live streams like this? Instant broadcasts to Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn. Faster Masters uses StreamYard: https://streamyard.com/pal/d/5694205242376192
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    13 分
  • Progressively learning the catch

    Progressively learning the catch
    2025/10/19
    Learn steps towards getting a good catch using drills. Timestamps 00:45 Am I done learning the stroke yet? Asked an athlete.... only once! The catch is challenging to learn - supporting your learning with drills means you can self-coach as well as getting coached. https://fastermastersrowing.com/member-register/drills/ Michael sends his crews the drills video the night before practice. Athletes need to know what to do in a drill and (importantly) why they are doing this drill. There are two main types of drill - exaggeration drills and isolation drills. 02:15 Handle height This is where learning the catch starts - the height of the handle has to be understood so you know how high/low the handle needs to be. Describe the stroke cycle in high/low handle heights including the "ramp up" towards the catch position. Learn this stationary in the boat. When the oars are flat on the water at the catch, the handle height is the same as when the oars are squared. Teaching how to arrive at this height the drill is "Slap Catches" so the athlete knows the precise moment their handle reaches the correct catch height - and the aural sound helps to align timing on both sides of the boat. Learn when to go up "the ramp". 04:30 Making a shape You have to actively lift your hands to make the catch 'shape' with the handle. Learning when and how to do this is the next stage in progressive learning. After squaring the blade, if you make the catch shape too early, the oar hits the water. If you square and your handle is too high on the recovery the oar will hit the water. An early square helps and you can figure out how high (low) the handle needs to be on the recovery so as to not hit the water. When to make the shape? Use the second drill - backsplash drill - so the lower edge of the oar hits the water just as the handle lifts. You can hear and feel the backsplash. 06:20 Catch timing This is relative to your body movement and the seat. Your seat is a good proxy for body movement because there's a short moment when the seat rolls forward and stops as it changes direction. That's when you need the oar to already be under the water. The third drill (sweep) is to row with inside hand holding the back of the seat so you can tell when it changes direction. In sculling row with one oar only (someone holds the boat level). Watch the height of your knees too as this is also a good visual marker. Our discussion continued around ways to keep handle moving towards the stern while placing the oar at the catch. This series can be learned in a few practice - do two each time you go on the water. Take care that you understand the why as well as the how. Want easy live streams like this? Instant broadcasts to Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn. Faster Masters uses StreamYard: https://streamyard.com/pal/d/5694205242376192
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    11 分
  • Rushing and Shoulder Lifting

    Rushing and Shoulder Lifting
    2025/10/05
    What you do on the recovery affects what you do on the power phase. Timestamps 00:45 What you do on the recovery What you do as you approach the catch is likely the first thing you do on the power phase. Any errors get transitioned to the next stroke. Three common things happen - shoulder lifting, rushing the slide and the oar going too deep at the catch. 01:30 Shoulder lifting This is putting the oar in the water by lifting your shoulders to feel the oar connection to the water. To prevent this, start at the finish of the prior stroke. By getting the arms/body transition (pre-stretching) correct on the recovery you can improve your catch and remove the shoulder lift. One of the reasons we rock forward later in the recovery is that it feels like you're getting more length. But this makes you focus on the handle so when you take the catch, you're still focused on the handle and so you pull (not push) to make connection with the water. Goal is to connect with minimal body movement - ideally only your knee to ankle moves. compounding - reaching more at the catch slows it down because your body weight causes the stern to push down into the water and you have to lift the handle to make the placement but you're working against yourself because you're also leaning and create a greater height the handle has to move to get the spoon under the water. If you don't shoulder-lift you are more likely to be on time at the catch. 05:30 Rushing the slide By accelerating the slide in the second half of the recovery this causes rushing. The pre-stretch gives you time on the recovery - you can work out how quickly you want to arrive at the catch. You don't need to move anything except bend your knees. Weight on the footstretcher gives you the feeling of control of the slide speed. Check your handle speed at the finish compared to the person in front of you to ensure you are in time with them. If you row longer than anyone else (long legs) you have to slide because you're taller. Starting to roll up the slide before completing the pre-stretch gives a false timing signal to the people behind you. Ratio is another cause of rushing especially if you're doing a one to one ratio. Insufficient power through the water causes 1:1 ratio and makes it hard to do the recovery without rushing. A lack of awareness can also cause you to rush - is your body weight on the back of the seat (your bum side not your legs side). You should feel your body weight under where your thighs join your bum on the recovery (after the rock forward). Let your hamstrings relax more on the recovery so the forward momentum of the boat pushes you up the slide (with weight on the footstretcher). 11:30 Going too deep When the oar goes into the water it goes too deep initially. Starting on the recovery, if you don't push down on the handles to get the oar spoon clear of the water before you feather you will probably carry the handles too high on the recovery. The compounding issue is that in order to square without hitting the water, you have to push your handles down. You over-do the lift and so the oar goes too deep into the water. Pushing down to square also causes you to drop your shoulders and then when you get to the timing of the catch you lift your hands and also lift your shoulders (they're tense) and this causes you to go deep because your whole body block lifts up. The catch should only be done by the arms to lift the handle and the knee to ankle to push on the foot stretcher. Make a small upward movement on the handle to place the oar only using your arms. So squaring late can cause you to mis-time the catch as well. If your oars go too deep - take a look at what you do at the finish and see if that causes you to mis-time the catch as a compounding technique error. Solutions come from video - three strokes of yourself from 90 degrees square off - slow it down to watch as you compare it to a model of good rowing / sculling.
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    16 分
  • How wide is a boat lane?

    How wide is a boat lane?
    2025/09/25
    When racing, how much space do you have in a buoyed boat lane? Timestamps 00:45 Boat lane width How can you fit a wide boat like an eight into a lane and why is it that you still find yourself rowing near the buoy line? An eight is nearly 12 meters long and the rules of racing state that a standard rowing lane is 13.5 meters (44 feet) wide, with a minimum requirement of 13.5 meters for Olympic and international races, though 12.5 meters may be used in special circumstances. The lanes are marked by buoys and must remain a consistent width along the entire straight course. 02:00 Width perception The outboard from your rigger is 2 plus meters at either side. Your boat is about 6-7 meters wide with the oars. This perception problem is aggravated when you think you're closer to one buoy line. Boat position within the lane matters. A toe-steered boat has more control over the alignment but you have to keep the boat straight through the race - there's a tendency to over-steer in buoyed lanes. You have to know where the middle of the lane is. Some people forget that when you steer in one direction, you have to correct the steering to go straight after the boat is re-positioned. When the boat is straight. the middle of the hull is in the middle of the lane, you have to correct the foot steering so the boat stays in the middle after completing a manoeuvre. This relies on using your perception of the mid-point of the lane as your guide. But if you're in the bow seat, the boat doesn't pivot under where you're sitting. 05:30 The vanishing point This is where parallel lines appear to converge in the far distance. This is useful for rowers on a buoyed course. The only time you don't have a vanishing point to refer to is at the start. The human eye is sensitive to width - using the horizon vanishing point you can tell if you're in the middle of the lane. But confusion comes when you use the buoys near to your boat to align with. Buoys are every 10 meters down a rowing course, and if you think your hull is parallel to one of the buoy lines this probably means you are actually steering towards that buoy line. You need the vanishing point to correctly position the boat. 08:00 Boat position When looking around during the race (to left or right) we tend to use the buoys nearest us as a steering guide. This is a mistake. You have to adjust your width perception to take account of the tips of your blades and also to acknowledge the vanishing point to position your hull centrally. Learn to ignore the buoys close to your boat. The vanishing point is the skill to develop to help you stay in your lane.
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    11 分
  • Why delaying back swing is hard

    Why delaying back swing is hard
    2025/09/09
    The power phase is most effective when legs drive first and back follows yet so few masters rowers do this. Why? Timestamps 00:45 Good power phase requirements The alignment of the womens double in the photo shows that the crew hasn't used their back while having legs nearly straight. Getting into this position requires having shoulders sternwards of the hips at the catch and to use their legs first in the power phase. 03:00 Pulling with arms is easy We have a lot of practice using hands and arms in daily life. We are good at this. At the catch you want to feel the oars loaded up under the water surface. If you pull with your arms you feel this earlier. By pulling with your arms and lifting the shoulders and lifting your chin you feel the workload on the spoon. Rowing is a pushing not a pulling sport in the main. Rowing legs only is 60% of the power; back swing is 25-30% of your power and so your arms add 5-10% of your power ONLY. 06:00 Small muscles v big muscles The rowing stroke uses a range of body muscles from legs, thighs and calves through to arms and hands. In daily life we use small muscles a lot - they fire quickly when we use them in daily life. We are practiced using them. The quads and glutes are slower to activate so we have to train them - we're less habituated using these. Connecting the handle of the oars through the footstretcher is unfamiliar and you have to train it. The first activation in the power phase is the calves to push the heels down onto the footstretcher. Then the quads join in to straighten your legs. When your legs are 3/4 straight you start the glute activation - hinging to connect legs to the back. Using the glutes to sustain pressure on the footstretcher while you swing your back. If you lose pressure on the footstretcher you are no longer accelerating the boat. Your feet are the only part of your body connected to the boat. As your back starts to activate you draw with your arms. 10:00 Why delaying the back is hard Connecting to the footstretcher early in the power phase is our goal. If you take the catch with the arms or swinging the shoulders/back this is a problem. When delivering power through the stroke you can only use each muscle group once per stroke. If you swing your back to take the catch you've got no back swing to use later in the power phase because you are already leaning backwards. It also prevents you from activating your leg drive - they do straighten but not as dynamically as you should. By not activating your legs this removes up to 60% of your possible total power which is a lot. And as a consequence you probably don't activate your glutes because you aren't using your legs enough. There's a correlation between the water being slower at the catch than later in the stroke. The angle of the oar spoon is also going into the slower water at an acute angle to the side of the boat. Use the slower water speed along the slower muscles to generate that early power in the stroke. 15:00 The solution to delaying your back swing Is to train yourself to use the big muscles, learn what it feels like to activate the quads and glutes early in the stroke. Then you know what it feels like to grip the water at the catch with your feet (rather than hands or shoulders). This is the beginning point to learn how to activate big muscles first and layer the smaller muscles on top as later activations. Want easy live streams like this? Instant broadcasts to Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn. Faster Masters uses StreamYard: https://streamyard.com/pal/d/5694205242376192
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    17 分
  • Backing down

    Backing down
    2025/08/31
    Learn how to back down a rowing boat. Timestamps 00:45 Struggling to learn how to back the boat Blades up or blades down when backing? Different countries do this differently - UK is blades down and NZ is blades up. Blades down rationale - the oar spoon is curved and you want the curve to grip the water and push it backwards. Blades up rationale - the oar has pitch on it from the oarlock tilts the blade - this makes the oar go the wrong way and may cause the oar to dive into the water. My personal view is don’t turn your blades upside down (they are angled and the diving (being sucked down) you experienced is because the pitch / angle of the spoon is designed for the oar the right way up (not upside down). It's simpler to leave the oar blades up - because it's always the same whether rowing normally or backing. 04:00 How to learn backing down Two videos you can use to learn shared lower down. 1 - Start by sitting legs straight and arms straight with oars square and under the water surface. Scullers ensure your hands are nested tightly. Sweep rowers ensure the boat is level by having upward pressure on your thumbs. This shows the height the handle needs to be at to keep the boat level 2 - Begin with rowing in place. This is only moving your arms just pulling the handles towards you and pushing them away without taking the oars out of the water. Keep the handles at the same height throughout. Don't take the oars out of the water. Get the feeling of backing down. Notice that your handle height is key to getting this right. Diving or sucking down into the water happens when your handles go too high. 3 - Now progress to backing down with arms and body rowing in place first 4 - Then start backing down arms only; arms and body; then go to half slide and longer to full slide. 09:00 Counter-feather the oars 5 - Keep the oars on the surface when they are not being used to back the boat. Remember to counter-feather your blades and run the tip of the oar along the water surface when they are out of the water in between backing strokes. Keeping them on the surface means you maintain the boat set/balance. This gives you a point of reference as to where horizontal is to keep the boat level - it shows you how high to have your handles when the oars are out of the water. Remember the catch when backing down starts with the oars next to your body. It may help to learn counter-feathering one side at a time. You can hold the boat level with just one oar. 11:20 two videos to teach you backing down skill Here’s a video about improving your backing skills https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B4CODkUdEGc And another about turning the boat which demonstrates the counter-feathered oar https://youtu.be/ThTrg1N6Obg A final recommendation - get confident backing with good pressure. Try practicing 100 meters of backing down each time you go rowing.
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    14 分