Rowing drills and exercises aim to isolate each part of the ‘stroke cycle’ in order to assist coaches in successfully communicating the different stroke variation technique to athletes. By experiencing part of the ‘learning’ in the static environment of a rowing machine with a force curve to illustrate good execution before doing it in a boat, many athletes learn good technique faster.
Each drill has a core technique and a variant so you can adjust the exercise for advanced athletes.
Legs Only Rowing – Starting from the catch, make power phase only using legs, extract blade with straight arms and return to catch position. Shoulders remain swung forward and arms are straight throughout. Variant: legs only rowing with square blades.
Legs and Back only Rowing – As legs only, when legs are nearly straight the back is swung, then extract blade with straight arms and return to catch position. Arms remain straight throughout. Variant. 10 strokes legs only, 10 strokes legs and back; 10 strokes legs, back and arms (normal rowing).
Wide Grip Sculling – slide hands down handles until they are holding on below the rubber grips and on the narrow part of the blade shaft. Variant: Return hands to the lower part of the handle as an intermediate stage for 20 strokes before moving back to normal grip with hands on end of sculls and thumbs on end.
Inside Arm Rowing [equivalent to wide grip sculling above] -slide inside arm down the blade loom until it is double the normal width of the hand grip. Variant: Move inside arm further away down blade or place inside arm onto back-stay of rigger.
Quarter Slide Push – Starting from catch position blades are placed into the water and one quarter (6 inches) of the slide is covered just by pushing with the legs. When quarter slide is reached the blades arc extracted remaining squared and recovery to catch position. Variant: 10 strokes Quarter slide push. 10 strokes legs only rowing, 10 strokes legs and back only rowing, 10 strokes normal rowing.
No handle rowing (on dynamic rowing machines — this does not work on Concept 2). Let the athlete move their legs to full compression catch position and then instruct them to ‘let the legs fall until they are straight’. The athlete can find a rhythm to this action identical to rowing rhythm. Then they can pick up the handle and continue with the legs moving in the same rhythm and just time the movements with their hands to the rhythm set by the legs. Note: Although this can be practiced in crew boats the rhythm achieved is not perfect because of the dead weight of the crew mates the athlete is carrying.
Sculling Left hand lead exaggeration – From finish position hold right hand against body while left hand and arm extends straight. Once it is straight the right hand can extend to join the left – then body swing and slide to catch position. Variant: 10 strokes exaggeration left hand lead. 10 strokes normal sculling.
Single strokes finishing with weight on the feet – The pause point is between backstops position and quarter slide – let the athlete identify’ when they can put pressure on the balls of their feet and to pause for 3 seconds at this point. Variant: Pause only one stroke in three.
Double quick hands – From finish position at extraction to arms away position the athlete moves her hands twice as fast as normal ‘double quick’. The rest of the recovery is executed at normal speed. Variant: make the double quick phase from fnish position to the point when the weight is on the feet.
I’m interested in rowing drills and have read this article with pleasure.
I know most of above mentioned drills
But I ‘m not familiar with folloing drills.
Could you advise teh purpose of these drills to me ?
Thanks for asking – the purpose of wide grip sculling is to increase the gearing (load) of the stroke so the athlete can learn how to use their body weight to ‘hang off the handle’. Because the load is heavy the stroke rate is slowed and they need to use more effort to push the oar through the water.
Double quick hands – the purpose of this is to make the finish and extraction more ‘automatic’ and accurate so the athlete really knows where each hand is moving towards. By making the movement twice as fast as usual it helps to improve hand speed and the first half of the recovery.
Please try each exercise yourself and contact us again if you have more questions.
We use cookies on our website to give you the most relevant experience by remembering your preferences and repeat visits. By clicking “Accept All”, you consent to the use of ALL the cookies. However, you may visit "Cookie Settings" to provide a controlled consent.
This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. These cookies ensure basic functionalities and security features of the website, anonymously.
Cookie
Duration
Description
CookieLawInfoConsent
1 year
Records the default button state of the corresponding category & the status of CCPA. It works only in coordination with the primary cookie.
viewed_cookie_policy
11 months
The cookie is set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin and is used to store whether or not user has consented to the use of cookies. It does not store any personal data.
Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. These cookies help provide information on metrics the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc.
Cookie
Duration
Description
__gads
1 year 24 days
The __gads cookie, set by Google, is stored under DoubleClick domain and tracks the number of times users see an advert, measures the success of the campaign and calculates its revenue. This cookie can only be read from the domain they are set on and will not track any data while browsing through other sites.
_ga
2 years
The _ga cookie, installed by Google Analytics, calculates visitor, session and campaign data and also keeps track of site usage for the site's analytics report. The cookie stores information anonymously and assigns a randomly generated number to recognize unique visitors.
_ga_DTSNTH5B88
2 years
This cookie is installed by Google Analytics.
_gat_gtag_UA_206699043_3
1 minute
Set by Google to distinguish users.
_gid
1 day
Installed by Google Analytics, _gid cookie stores information on how visitors use a website, while also creating an analytics report of the website's performance. Some of the data that are collected include the number of visitors, their source, and the pages they visit anonymously.
CONSENT
2 years
YouTube sets this cookie via embedded youtube-videos and registers anonymous statistical data.
WMF-Last-Access
1 month 23 hours
This cookie is used to calculate unique devices accessing the website.
WMF-Last-Access-Global
1 month 23 hours
This cookie is used to count how many times a website has been visited by different visitor. This is done by assigning the visitor an ID.
Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with relevant ads and marketing campaigns. These cookies track visitors across websites and collect information to provide customized ads.
Cookie
Duration
Description
IDE
1 year 24 days
Google DoubleClick IDE cookies are used to store information about how the user uses the website to present them with relevant ads and according to the user profile.
test_cookie
15 minutes
The test_cookie is set by doubleclick.net and is used to determine if the user's browser supports cookies.
VISITOR_INFO1_LIVE
5 months 27 days
A cookie set by YouTube to measure bandwidth that determines whether the user gets the new or old player interface.
YSC
session
YSC cookie is set by Youtube and is used to track the views of embedded videos on Youtube pages.
Do you enjoy our blog? We hope you had a pleasant experience so far! How about a small donation to keep this blog running?
This Post Has 5 Comments
I’m interested in rowing drills and have read this article with pleasure.
I know most of above mentioned drills
But I ‘m not familiar with folloing drills.
Could you advise teh purpose of these drills to me ?
-Wide grip sculling
-Double quick hands
Thanks for asking – the purpose of wide grip sculling is to increase the gearing (load) of the stroke so the athlete can learn how to use their body weight to ‘hang off the handle’. Because the load is heavy the stroke rate is slowed and they need to use more effort to push the oar through the water.
Double quick hands – the purpose of this is to make the finish and extraction more ‘automatic’ and accurate so the athlete really knows where each hand is moving towards. By making the movement twice as fast as usual it helps to improve hand speed and the first half of the recovery.
Please try each exercise yourself and contact us again if you have more questions.
Sorry Rebeca but the oar does not go through the water (except slippage) one levers the boat past the blade (class 2 lever)
John
I’m pretty sure at I know the purpose of the drills, but others may not.. It would be useful if that information was also provided.
Dermot – good point.
here are links to other articles that explain in more depth
https://www.rowperfect.co.uk/rowing-drills-exercises-rowperfect/
Thanks for pointing that out!
Rebecca