Bad rowing technique found on Youtube:

• Erg technique on youtube: The footage depicts a bunch of rowers who are lightweights who took part in the famous boat race in the UK. I added short comments to the clip. 
• I don’t understand, why rowing technique is not taught on the erg. For many rowers, the erg is a big part of training. When I coach I a talk about grace, and elegance similar to dance, I can’t find it in this footage. I also think that such technique makes the rowers prone to injury.
• Higher drag using the main rowing muscles will “destroy” any goofy style. Goofy styles are often ultra long at the finish which prolongs the time using the smallest muscle groups, wastes time, keeps the stroke rate low, and under utilizes the last quarter of the leg drive.

Correcting the above mistakes can be done very efficiently with a stroke analysis.

Increase the quality of your training, row with greater resistance, year around, recruit more muscle fibers and blow the competition away.

1. The problem with the erg when the weather prevents you from rowing on the water.

• 8 times out of 10, I need to inform rowers, who I coach in person or online, that the Concept2 machine they are using is too short at the catch.  This problem is inexistent on the Concept2 Dynamic or other Dynamic machines such as the Rowperfect, the Slider by Oartec, and although stationary, the wooden Waterrower.  On the stationary rowing machine, the frame that supports the performance monitor restricts a rower’s full range of motion from extending the limbs fully to set themselves up to hang from the skeleton.  The result is a rowing stroke with contracted upper body during the entire leg drive, NOT what we want.

2. The solution on the water, worry free of capsizing and hypothermia.

• Spending too much time training indoors, does not promote the required motor skills for rowing on the water.  Blade work is completely put on ice during the winter months and this is not a good thing.  Rowing clubs close their doors to on the water rowing because of the risk of hypothermia and death in case of capsizing.
• I rowed year around in larger boats.  My favorite boat to row is the one in my movie above.  I helped design it and I am proud of our creation.  Rigging is identical to a racing shell.  I can work on my blade work worry free.  My sculling boat is virtually unsinkable and you can take it into bigger surf, ad well as skim ice.
• One of my favorite technical drills in my boat is rowing one leg at a time.  It reminds me how to carry my upper body during the leg drive.

3. Slower with greater resistance is better than quick and light

• I am a total advocate for resistance training, BUT NOT IN THE GYM.  You can not substitute specific strength endurance training outside of the boat.  Simply put, my best preparation was done on the water.  The result of slower and greater resistance work is greater muscle recruitment.  The higher resistance during steady state rowing, activates more muscle fibers and develops them aerobically.  Only rowing skinny light sculls will not provide you the torque you need to win a race at the Olympics in the final 250 meters.  Imagine what this type of training can do at the national level.  

4. Keep the intensity in check, watch you technique, a word of caution!

• Now, be very careful!  Higher resistance work, does not mean a green light to greater intensity.  Training at higher resistance is a powerful training method, but you have to use your head and consume in moderation when you increase your specific strength training volume.
• The added resistance WILL EXPOSE YOUR ERGONOMIC WEAKNESSES…. monitor your spine and shoulders, as well as the tilt of your pelvis, record yourself and analyse your technique.  Make sure you are using your heels properly on the footboard.
• If you believe that you need technical feedback, I am here to help.  Cheers,  Xeno

Heavy Boat Rowing

Xeno Müller, Olympic Gold and Silver Medalist, Rowing Coach.  Costa Mesa, California 92627 949-400-7630 Cell; ironoarsman SKYPE

You can rapidly improve your rowing technique with the right feedback.  Let me help you achieve your full potential.

1. The right diagnostic

When I look at your footage.  I quickly see what you do well in the boat and what needs to improve.  I then slow the footage down and further dig into the details of your rowing technique.  The entire diagnostic is recorded so that you get to hear and see how I comb through your stroke on the water and on the rowing machine.  Your understanding of how you move as a rower becomes crystal clear to you and that leads you to correct deficiencies more easily.

2. The right remedies

I learned from great coaches. I spent a lot of time in the boat as a competitor.  I have over a decade of coaching experience to provide rowers with the right set of exercises to optimize their rowing technique.  Technical drills are a powerful tool when chosen properly and used correctly.  Yet, it is very important to explain how these different drills feel when they are done right.  I have a good eye that keeps rowers of all ages safe from injury by improving their mobility and technical smoothness.

3. The right way of training

Under my watchful eye, training is done right.  Rowing superiority is achieved through smart training. A carefully calibrated training program is key to rowing success.  Staying injury free and keeping up with REST are key components to building a massive aerobic capacity at any level of competition.

4. The right way of thinking

Positive thinking and using effective visualization are key ingredients to a successful competitive mind.  Through my years as an Olympic athlete and coach, I have perfected mental training and race programming. I listen to rowers and coaches whom I work with and customize mental development and preparation.

5. Accepting your progress

What you are about to read, may come as a surprise.  Getting better in rowing, moving the boat faster, setting new personal best on the rowing machine, and winning regattas, are events that need to be digested correctly in order to keep progress on track.  With my assistance you will experience new levels of athleticism combined with staying fully grounded.  Your ability to cope with greater stress will come as a bonus.

I look forward to working with you.  Cheers, Xeno Müller, Olympic gold and silver medalist, rowing coach.

Days before the Olympics, this is how a single scull can be rowed before winning the gold medal.

Thanks to Steve Morris I have this great footage of my sculling technique days before leaving for the Atlanta Olympics.

1. Hanging from the skeletal
2. Blade entry
3. Leg drive
4. Swing and finish
5. Body angle and hamstrings

Above is a short list of technical points to observe when you watch the footage.
I can help you row like I did to win the Olympics.

A lightweight rower, like Henrik Stephansen, can break 5:50 on the Concept 2 Rowing Machine, this is how:

Links:

• Henrik Stephansen
• Concept 2 World Records Rowing Machine

Hey There!

Here we have footage of Henrik ripping it up for a great score of 5:56.  My goal is to show you guys that he can actually go 5:50 or faster.  That would absolutely push him to the best power to weight ratio ever known on the face of this earth. Maybe we had this type of ability before we had Concept 2 rowing machines. But you know what, Concept 2 rowing machines have been around for 30 some years, and therefore he is our leading man.  Let’s have a look at what he does.

 1. He is fast with an unsupported lower back, which can be improved and Leg Drive vs. Upper Body

He has a very curved back. This means that he is not hinging at the hip joint towards the fly wheel.  If he were to hinge at the hip joint, his back would stretch out more and then he would have a longer reach at the catch.  His hamstrings and glut muscles would be involved in the drive as well as on the recovery (not gluts).  This would also lead him to not combine the upper body pull with the leg drive. When he pulls at the same time as he pushes the leg, he limits the leg drive to what he can sustain pulling on the arms. This means the leg drive is equal to what the arms can sustain and resist.

 2. Static use of the arms vs. contracting for acceleration.

You can really see how his arms stay completely in the same position throughout the entire leg drive. You don’t see something like this in Olympic power lifting.  Olympic power lifting, arms are straight, they hang from the skeleton, he does not.  Once he starts to hang from the skeleton, he’s going to be able to really accelerate through the last quarter of the leg drive.

 3. Using the Mahe Drysdale technique, hanging from the skeleton.

In my technical analysis of Mahe Drysdale and Free/Ginn vs. Murray/Bond, you really see how they open their backs in the last quarter of the leg drive. In Henrik’s case it does not happen.  If he were to change that he would be so much stronger and faster. He needs to hang off the skeleton. He needs to delay the opening of the back. He needs to learn how to hinge forward at the hip joint.

4. Lack of straight leg connection the finish, is this a Danish signature move?

Think about it, all that stuff he doesn’t do and he rips a 2K to shreds. This guy can go below 5:50 there’s no doubt about this. And then, as he finishes the stroke, he is using quite a lay back, but it still works for him, because the chain is real tight, which means that he is stays connected to the fly wheel.  What’s interesting is he’s never extending the legs fully, because he sits on the back side of his butt.  He’s not sitting on the sitz bones.  A loose chain means he lost the connection to the fly wheel before his final position which is far from  powerful.  You can see how the knees kind of pop up at the very end, and with the pop up, the chain gets soft, connection lost.

5. Hinging at the hip joint and training the hamstrings to draw back, reduces lactate concentration during maximal effort.

Although, he has a long stroke at the finish, which uses the smallest muscle groups, he looses power a at the catch because he’s not quite stretching and hinging a the hip joint which would involved the hamstrings and the glut muscles.  On the recovery, it is interesting that he brings everything to the catch together.  He  lifts the knees before he swings the upper body forward, and that leaves the hamstring to draw completely out.   By not using the hamstrings to draw himself back, and move the center of gravity of the upper body from behind the hip joint to in between the hip joint and the heels,  his hamstrings are not being trained, no mitochondria’s, no ability to breakdown lactic acid during the effort.

 I can make you a lot faster.  Rowing Technique is the fast track to improving speed on the rowing machine and the boat.  I provide training programs and slow motion rowing technique stroke studies.

Cheers and see you soon.
Xeno