Learning To Row: You’re Doing It Wrong

Before coming to Waterloo, I rowed competitively for a couple years back home. Of course, Waterloo lacked such a team so my rowing days ended quite early. Although I no longer get out on the water to row, I do enjoy getting onto an ergometer (Indoor Rower for the non-rowing folk) and trying to beat my best 2 km erg test time set when I was a teenager.
Enough of my life story, but back to the point of my article. From my many, many hours spent at CIF, I have only ever seen one person other than myself row with the proper form at this University. So Waterloo, today’s your lucky day – you’re going to learn how to row properly.
The most popular indoor rowers are made by a company called Concept2, and generally have a sliding seat attached to a rail. The rowing handle is attached to some sort of flywheel which spins, and depending on the about of air allowed to run across this flywheel, will be of varying resistance.
When you first get on the ergometer, don’t try to be a “Man” and set the resistance to 10. There are Olympic Gold Medalists whose forearms are the size of your thighs that would never set it to 10. Instead, set it 4. The reason? It’s the resistance that closely resembles the actual feel of being on the water.
There are four main parts to the rowing stroke. In order: The Catch, Drive, Finish, and Recovery. The catch is the start of the stroke where the rower is right at the front of the slide ready to begin the stroke. The drive is the actual stroke with the rower sliding back and easing into the finish at the end of the stroke. The recovery is the last part of the stroke where the rower returns to the starting point of the stroke – the catch.  Below I will describe each component in detail.
The Catch
The rower should be at the front of the slide with arms level and extended reaching as far front towards the machine as possible. Knees should be bent with shins vertical and touching the inner thigh. Back should be as straight as possible – posture is key.
The Drive
The drive is the power of the stroke. From the catch, the rower first pushes their legs down and while almost at the end of the knees going flat, the rowers back will begin to lean back (Arms are still straight here). Once the knees are flat, the arms will come towards the body and with power, move towards the upper stomach into the finish. The most important part of this stroke is to recognize that the hands never come over the knees until they are flat after driving the legs down.
The Finish
The finish is pretty much the fully extended drive part of the stroke. In this part of the stroke, legs will be fully extended and the rower is leaning slightly back. The hands come to the upper chest and in doing so push the shoulders back and elbows out. Don’t forget about posture – you’re back should be as straight as possible throughout the whole stroke. After the finish, the rower will begin the recovery, which is the reverse of the drive.
The Recovery
The recovery is the last part of the stroke in which the rower will return to the catch to begin another stroke. In this part of the stroke, the arms extend out towards the front of the machine over the knees. The arms will be fully extended before the knees begin to bend again. This is critical, and where everyone makes mistakes! The arms ALWAYS come over the knees before the knees are bent in both the drive and the finish. This part separates the average person from the expert rower. The average person will always bend the knees immediately after the finish and then extend the arms out towards the catch. Where was I… Ah right, so the hands come over the knees and the body swings over the hips and THEN the knees begin to bend and the body moves up the slide towards the catch.
There you have it – if you find it complicated to visualize by reading, watch the following video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eqVmMd7FdAA. Good luck and happy rowing.