Critique my stroke / rate question

[twcronin]

Have had the erg now for a week and a half, recorded a video of my stroke today.

https://youtu.be/nabeu15SxtA

This is ~170 W at rate ~19, would be moderate-high aerobic effort if sustained (did 12k at 162W at 18 s/m).

Looks to me like some problems are:
1) I'm bending arms too early (I think I know how to work on this, just need to drill and concentrate on it more...)
2) My back seems too arched, and torso is not angled forward much at the catch. Suggestions on stretches / drills for this?
3) I lean back a little too much on some strokes towards the end. Probably can just work on awareness of this...

Other thoughts on things to work on and how to work on them? I usually have the force curve up and I think I tend to bend arms/pull early in order to smooth the curve out, so this is probably a counterproductive use of the the force curve...

I am also not super clear on how to modify rate vs. work per stroke to go easier for steady-state rather than threshold efforts. I can do 10-11 W' per stroke sustained for a while (tens of minutes). At rate 20 this is a hard threshold effort, at lower rates easier. Haven't done a 2k pace/power test but 10k from last week was 215W/1:58. Let's take 10 W' per stroke and rate 20 as a hard aerobic baseline. If I'm aiming for an effort at 80% of this power, should I go down to rate 16 and stay at 10 W' per stroke? Or stay at rate 20 and do 8 W'/stroke? Or reduce both stroke work and rate by about 10%?

[Dangerscouse]

I don't see too much wrong with your technique. It's slightly disjointed, but that will happen with practice.

You are breaking your arms too early, as you already know, and the above issue will be addressed by resolving it.

You (ideally) should pause at the end of the stroke, but it's not essential, and I'd say that you're (possibly) not leaning back enough, not too much.

There's going to be other things that you can change, but in all honesty, everyone has got their own little ways of rowing that's not perfect, but it still works.

As for stroke rate, this is a bit complicated as you're saying r20 is harder than say r18, which I assume is the same pace? Usually it would be the other way around. What is your main training purpose for the rate / work per stroke, and is this your main focus? I noticed that you've got a HR monitor on.

[MPx]

You (ideally) should pause at the end of the stroke,

I'm guessing a typo Stu??? I believe there should be no pause, just a continuous smooth stroke.

Otherwise I agree with your post. In fact other then breaking the arms too early it all looked fine to me. In general, there's too much emphasis on the arms instead of the legs. And there's a bit too much up and down of the chain instead of straight out and back on a level plane. But these are nit picky points. My stroke has all kinds of issues vs the "classic" form and its served me well enough for many years. Of course I could have been a contender if I'd sorted it out early!

[Dangerscouse]

You (ideally) should pause at the end of the stroke,

I'm guessing a typo Stu??? I believe there should be no pause, just a continuous smooth stroke.

Otherwise I agree with your post. In fact other then breaking the arms too early it all looked fine to me. In general, there's too much emphasis on the arms instead of the legs. And there's a bit too much up and down of the chain instead of straight out and back on a level plane. But these are nit picky points. My stroke has all kinds of issues vs the "classic" form and its served me well enough for many years. Of course I could have been a contender if I'd sorted it out early!

Hahaha, i also could have been sub 5 if I'd cleaned up my technique, and yes, that is a typo. Pausing isn't something I'd ever recommend, unless it's an ultra low stroke rate

[Sakly]

Agree to mates above, stroke seems fine and most obvious things you are already aware of.
I would try to solve the back rounding and turn that into a more flat and stable back position, pivoting more from the hips, as this gives a stronger catch position and better levers.
Breaking arms early can lead to leakage of power transfer, if your arms are weak (and they typically are the weakest link of the power transfer chain anyway), so this is something you should try to sort out.
Agree to Mike, getting the hands higher at the catch will also give a better catch. Letting the handle down during recovery is something I do myself on long efforts, I feel some relief of shoulder load by doing this.

[p_b82]

Only thing I'd add is for the back arch aspect it looks like you're sat on the back of your tail bone, not forward on your sit bones which will put more stress on the lumbar area and cause your back to tend to towards a curve. (because to keep it straight you're fighting your pelvis alignment)

You may be able to remove a fair amount of that of changing how you're sat and keep thinking to "sit tall" - a seatpad with a forward tilt would naturally help with that as I have found myself.

My only other small thing is your shins do go slightly beyond vertical - not a problem if you've got the flexibility, but maybe slightly less heel lift would mean slightly better engagement at the catch.

My final comment not about form, is footwear - those look to be running style shoes, and I found anything with a lot of cushioning leaks me a lot of power, so something you may want to just test/try if you've got any alternatives. (loads of threads/conversations about footwear on here)

no coach so take my comments with a pinch of salt - as others have said, your stroke has to work for you, and there's not much wrong beyond the early arms really.

[iain]

As said above basically sound technique. Developing on the "disjointed", you are pausing after your arms are out so need to bend your knees straight away. There is also a bit of a jerk at the finish, try and keep a smooth action in and back out. As for handle height, its fine to drop it at the start of the recovery, but it should then be a straightline to a higher start the catch.

As for rate, people do it differently, some of us maintain a fairly constant work per stroke for most rowing (ie same drive) while others increase work per stroke with the rate to allow less forceful rowing on SS, so whichever you want. Personally I try and keep work per stroke similar as this is a good check on maintaining good form. But this may be at the expense of less recovery from SS that isn't as relaxed as ideal (My technique suffers too much when I allow work per stroke to drop). R20 at high work per stroke is a tough workout which is why most programs limit this to 30' at a time and drop to R18 for longer sessions! I have got close to HRMax on 30R20 TT!

[ahooton]

Looks good, could be made a bit flowing and less jerky, that will come with time. Only other thing to mention on top of all above adobe, if you’re going to be rowing OTW, try to iron out the bouncing into the catch. That habit will kill boat speed. If not then it’s irrelevant on the erg.

[twcronin]

Thanks everyone for the feedback! Plenty of things to work on

I think in addition to sit position / pelvis rotation, that being mindful about lat engagement and keeping shoulders back rather than hunched forward throughout the stroke and especially not hunching forward towards the catch will help with straightening my back and connecting parts of my stroke.

[Dangerscouse]

Thanks everyone for the feedback! Plenty of things to work on

I think in addition to sit position / pelvis rotation, that being mindful about lat engagement and keeping shoulders back rather than hunched forward throughout the stroke and especially not hunching forward towards the catch will help with straightening my back and connecting parts of my stroke.

Hunched shoulders is definitely an issue that can incrementally creep in as you get tired. I always suggest to remember to take fairly regular deep breaths and a shoulder shrug for your longer, steady state sessions, when you'll struggle to do anything other than just survive