Will it make the boat go faster? Drew Ginn breaks down his approach to rowing technique



If you haven't seen this yet, it's well worth a watch. The above video, which splices together footage of Drew Ginn and Duncan Free rowing the pair prior to the Beijing Games (as well as some of Hamish Bond and Eric Murray training together in the lead up to London) with a now famous discussion of rowing technique, which Ginn recorded while driving home from a training session. The approach he suggests is well thought-out, and based on years of personal testing with various crews at various speeds, and the results reflect the level of thought and empirical data behind this discussion. As Ginn mentions, too often in rowing we find ourselves doing things simply because that is the way we were taught to do it. This is something we've touched on here before, and it bears further thought—to achieve to the best of your abilities requires constant analysis and evaluation. Are there some aspects of your program that might not stand up to the question, 'will it make the boat go faster?'

Coming up tomorrow: Part one of a two-part, first-ever RR masters feature by Joe Abrams on his experience racing at Masters Nationals, 2012.

-RR

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