Ergo technical and Hip pivot exercises :

Help sheet one.

Ergo work: Row very light with feet on the floor! Just moving the seat back and forwards, legs only, leaning over in catch position. After 20 strokes, put one foot onto the footplate. After another 20, change feet, still just moving catch position back and forwards. Change feet over another two times. Then, both feet back on, gradually increase the handle ACCELERATION over 20 strokes. n.b. DO NOT try to pull the handle from the start of the stroke! You should be feeling the legs start the stroke, pushing the seat back. You should also feel that the body is suspended through the middle of the stroke, and there to accelerate the handle through to the finish. Now on the recovery…..feel the opposite being done to the stroke movement. At the finish, push the handle away from your body to start the recovery, pushing smoothly until the arms are straight. Once arms are straight, push the handle further away by leaning over forwards (the hip pivot). Then push the handle further away by pulling the heels under the seat.

Other Important Ergo Tips

….use mirrors to

1. Try to keep your shoulders on much the same level as possible throughout the stroke (a little drop at the finish only is acceptible, if undesireable).
2. Despite it being commonly seen that forearms tip back……keep your forearms horizontal as you draw through to the finish. (feet out really does help on all low rate work)
3. Sit tall; once the body has opened, draw the elbows back hard out to the sides. Do not keep on rolling back with the body and pulling the hands up the chest elbows in, dropping the elbows down and slouching the back. Rowing does not do this!!!! Never let athletes do this, as it heads down the route of “feeling like harder work” but leading down an unproductive path, where the rower thinks they can work harder and harder, perfecting something that cannot be applied in the boat. (It works ok on the ergo because it lengthens the pull possible on land, but it cannot be applied in the boat because you cannot pull that high up the chest with oars, and the roll back drives the bows into the water at the finish to slow the boat.