1 & 6. Finish position
Start by getting your finish posture right. Angle your body back about 10 degrees past the vertical. Engage your core muscles – try holding your tummy in, sit tall, shoulders completely loose.
Have your elbows close to your body, with the handle just lightly touching your clothing around solar-plexus level. Hold the handle in your fingers – not your hands. Throughout the stroke, your grip must be loose and flexible enough to allow you to hang off the handle.
2 & 3. Recovery and preparation phase
Move to the “catch” (the most forward point in the sequence) in one fluid movement, keeping a good, relaxed posture.
Hands: Keeping your body still, allow the tension in the handle to naturally draw your hands out away from your body, until they are almost completely straight – relaxed, not locked.
Body: Use the feeling of momentum to continue the handle movement forward by rocking your body forwards. It will pivot from the hips and rock through an angle of about 20 degrees. At this point, your legs will remain flat and you will begin to feel a slight pressure in your hamstrings
Slide: You can now fluidly add in your final stage of movement towards the catch, by starting to slide your seat towards your feet, keep your core strong as you move towards the catch position, where your shins are vertical and there is no gap between your thighs and your body.
4. Catch and early drive phase
Rowing is a pushing sport – not a pulling one. All the power at the catch will come from pushing from low down in your body – you won’t use your arms, or shoulders until the last part of the stroke.
Before you begin to change direction, get your lower body engaged and connected to the handle. It should feel that you are hanging your body weight off the handle, with pressure on the balls of your feet.
Before you start the stroke you will feel suspended, with hardly any of your weight on your seat. If you can’t feel strong resistance straight away in your thighs, it’s likely you aren’t connected properly to the handle.
Keep the rest of your body relaxed and loose. It’s the big muscles in your upper legs that will begin to accelerate the handle. Keep your back angled forward, your shoulders loose and your arms straight.
Be patient with yourself here. If you can’t feel that suspension straight away, aim to feel it as close to the catch as you can. Spend some time getting your connection at the catch right. If you engage the right muscles at this point it’s much more likely that the whole stroke will flow naturally, with your back, arms then shoulders coming in to add to the acceleration of the handle.
5. Mid-drive phase
Back: About one-third of the way through the stroke, or when the handle is in front of the knees, you are ready to continue to add more speed to the handle by opening out your back.
Until now, you have held your back at the same angle that it began the catch, but by rotating away from your thighs, it will begin to work powerfully with your continued leg-drive. During this part of the drive-phase, which lasts until your legs are nearly straight, expect your back to pivot through about 20 degrees.
Arms and shoulders: When your legs are nearly flat and your back has almost completed its rotation, it’s time to add the final parts of your body’s power to keep the handle accelerating.
Up to now, your arms have been straight, now it’s time to draw them powerfully into your body. Your wrists will remain flat. In the final part of this draw, you can begin to add the momentum of your shoulders, which will move back in a relaxed, flat plane towards the finish position (6).
Land and water: the key differences
• Rowing well on the water requires a significantly higher level of skill than it does on the ergometer (indoor rowing machine). Everything will feel much more challenging because the boat is moving underneath you. Not only is it moving forward but it can roll from side to side, so being able to balance becomes really important.
• Placing your blade (or blades if you are sculling) correctly in the water requires a new skill. You must now be able to “catch” the water. On the ergometer this is not an issue. But in the boat, unless you get it right, you won’t feel any resistance and the boat won’t move. What’s more, at the catch, you must place your blades at the right angle, perpendicular to the water. At the wrong angle, they could dive below the surface, or skim helplessly across it.
• There’s a further difference at the finish of the stroke: you have to take your blades out of the water, turning them parallel to the surface as you travel forward. This is a movement that must be timed to perfection, otherwise you could end up slewing the boat round.
• As you flow out forward, you will realise that your oars become like a tightrope walker’s balancing poles – they have to be carried at the right height from the water’s surface (another new skill).
• Above all you now have the sensation of the boat under you. The feeling of syncing your movements with the feel of the hull and the movements of those around you is what makes rowing an addictive sport.
• Martin Cross is Britain’s second most-capped international rower. He represented Great Britain for 20 years and competed in four Olympic games, winning gold and bronze. He has coached up to international level and has reported for the Guardian and BBC at three Olympics.
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