Rowing Drills

Introduction

Mastering rowing technique requires a combination of strength, endurance, and proper form—to paraphrase the legendary Steve Gladstone, rowing requires the agility of a dancer and the strength of a Greco-Roman wrestler. 

A photo from the coaches' launch at the University of Washington, showing the view of a crew rowing through the Montlake Cut, Seattle

In this guide:

To develop these skills, rowers must practice a variety of drills and exercises both on land and on the water.

Rowing Drills on Land

On land, rowers should take pains to accurately simulate the motion of rowing. Focus on the technical aspects of the stroke without the distractions of wind and water. 

Reverse pick drill

One of the best ways to get started on the rowing machine is with the reverse pick drill. This is a great way to kick off a session because it forces you to focus your efforts on the legs, and helps inexperienced rowers understand the correct body position at the catch, as well as how to accelerate with the leg drive without yanking or pulling with the arms and body. 

The reverse pick drill is, of course, the reverse of the regular pick drill, which can also be a good way to begin a session on land (if nothing else, burning up the arms early on can keep your rowers from over-leveraging their biceps during the rest of the workout). 

More solid rowing drills for land workouts include:

  • Catch drill/top quarter drill: This is like a modified legs-only drill, where the goal is to just pick up the catch and then release the pressure. The goal is to build the right mechanics at the front end of the stroke, while also developing a feel for how to pick up the weight.
  • One-leg drill: This drill is a good way to help instill the right leg and knee position for your rowers — by placing one foot on the floor and the other on the foot stretchers, rowers will find that they need to have their leg in the correct position, with the knee moving up and down in a single, vertical plane, in order to get the leg drive going. It's not a drill that should last too long, but it's illustrative — make sure to switch legs frequently.
  • One-arm drill: For this drill, have your rowers hang onto the middle of the handle with one hand, placing the other arm at their sides or behind their backs. Leg the one-leg drill, this emphasizes the need to hang on the handle by making it virtually impossible to tug or yank the handle early in the stroke. Again, switch arms frequently and this is only meant to last for a few strokes. 
Which erg is best? Read our rowing machine reviews:

Rowing Drills on the Water

On the water, we rowers face additional challenges such as wind, waves, and currents. To master rowing technique on the water, you must develop the ability to adjust to changing conditions while maintaining proper form and balance. This requires a combination of skill, experience, and physical conditioning. 

It's important to practice a variety of drills and exercises in order to develop a well-rounded set of rowing skills. Mastering the fundamentals of rowing technique means rowers can increase their efficiency, speed, and power on the water. And, by practicing a range of drills and exercises, rowers can help prevent injuries and maintain their overall physical fitness.

In light of all of the above, we've interviewed some of the top performers in our sport, from Olympic athletes to the winningest coaches in the country, to get their insights into developing the right technique.

The RR Best Rowing Drills series: 

7 Questions with World Champion Coxswain Phelan Hill

  • We connect with Olympic champion Phelan Hill about his favorite drills from his experience as coxswain of the GB men's eight. 

Finding Effective Stroke Length with Frank Biller of Virginia

  • Hoos coach Frank Biller, who helped build his ACRA program into a national contender beginning in 2011 and 2012, has a series of ways to maximize your effective length on the water. 

Keeping It Moving with Ohio State's Andy Teitelbaum

  • NCAA Champion coach Andy Teitelbaum has some solid advice for how to run a training session that is effective — and efficient. 

5 Favorites of Olympic Champion Esther Lofgren

  • The Olympic champion in the USA women's eight offers some of her favorite drills for boat feel and mechanics. 

Newport Aquatic Center's Nick D'Antoni on Sequencing and Drive Mechanics

  • Multiple national champion junior rowing coach Nick D'Antoni shares how he instills the right sequence into the drive and ensures that his rowers know how to accelerate the shell through the water. 

3 Top Skill Drills from Michigan's Gregg Hartsuff

  • Michigan Wolverines' head coach Gregg Hartsuff — the winningest ACRA coach of all time — offers his three favorite drills to develop boat skills. 

Carlos Dinares on Body Awareness Drills for Rowing

  • International sculling and rowing coach Carlos Dinares discusses how to help athletes develop an understanding for how to engage with the boat and understand how their movements affect boat speed.

The Athlete's Perspective, with Olympic Bronze Medalist Megan Kalmoe

  • USRowing's Megan Kalmoe talks us through how she approaches drills with a touch of gamification and fun to keep things interesting as an athlete. 

Dartmouth Women's Head Coach Linda Muri Talks Technique

  • Coach Muri tells us three of her favorite drills for developing the finer points of technique and body control, including feet-out and inside-arm only. 

Addressing limiting technical factors with Cal Crew's Mike Teti

  • Longtime USRowing men's coach Mike Teti walks through some of the ways that he finds and addresses the central issue that may be holding a particular athlete or crew back — and how to fix it. 

Two-Time NCAA Champion Kevin Sauer of Virginia's Fave 5

  • Veteran coach of the Cavalier women Kevin Sauer's unique twists on rowing drills include a characteristic bit of humor — and subsequent free speed. 
Have an idea to add to our list? Send us an email at rowingrelated [at] gmail [dot] com, and we'll get in touch!

For further technique and training tips, be sure to check out our Coaching page.

-The RR Team


Popular posts from this blog

The 30 Best Rowing Coaches of All Time, Part 3: The Top 10

Image
The top 10 best rowing coaches, including guess who (Photo © Iain Weir / Rowing Photography ) It's time for the third and final part of our 3-part series on the best of the best in the rowing coaching ranks. These coaches not only command respect based on performance, but have also shown the ability to adapt to new circumstances, build dynasties, and ultimately help shape the trajectory of rowing as a sport. Honestly, it would be easy to extend this series into 10 more posts... But we wouldn't do that to you. As we've said before, the hope is that the following may serve to educate and spark discussion, as both an appreciation of history and of the coaching craft. Also note: As we stated in Part 1 and Part 2 of this series, there are few women in this list, but that is a reflection of a general underrepresentation of women in the head coaching ranks in our sport—and indeed (as has been well documented ) a growing number of NCAA sports in the United States.
Read more

"I Row Crew" — Rowing in 'The Social Network'

Image
Like many of the rowing faithful, I've been keeping up with the saga penned by Dan Boyne about the filming of the rowing scenes in David Fincher and Aaron Sorkin's The Social Network , and I must say I had high hopes going into the film. The first problem I encountered: the phrase, "I row crew." It was uttered so many times before anyone "rowed crew" on the water that I had trouble buying any of it later. It's understandable that the character of Mark Zuckerberg makes that mistake, since he has no idea about the sport. But when the Winklevoss twins themselves utter the phrase several times, one begins to wonder where Boyne was when these lines were not being chopped or changed. Seriously, who says that? As far as the actual rowing goes, the first scene, which has the twins out training in a pair along with the rest of the Harvard squad, is not all bad — it just ends that way. The line, "Those guys are freakin' fast" is certainly every b
Read more

RR Interview: Nick Trojan's New Feature on Yale Men's Rowing

Image
Nick Trojan's latest feature documentary is twice as long as his previous work—but leaves you wanting more, just the same.  There’s a new feature in Nick Trojan’s series, taking an inside look at top-tier college rowing programs in the US. This time, Trojan focused his project on Yale and the legendary coach Steve Gladstone, blending outstanding camerawork with one of rowing’s most compelling stories.  Having uploaded the video to YouTube only two weeks ago, it’s already approaching 70k views. And for good reason.  RR sat down recently to talk through it all with Trojan in an exclusive interview, from origins to development and finally a finished product—as well as what might come next. Here’s what we learned. Navigating shifting waters Elite rower turned filmmaker Nick Trojan’s new feature, titled simply, “Yale Men’s Rowing,” was years in the making.  “The initial idea was to do the same kind of rinse-and-repeat that we had done with Harvard and Cal,” Trojan says, “but I think wha
Read more

Video Of The Week: Holland Beker 2013

This week's video comes to us from the Bosbaan, where the 2013 Holland Beker saw truly elite, international competition over the weekend. Perhaps the most outstanding racing came in the women's single, where the A Final closely mirrored a world championship or Olympic final in recent years—the lineup included two-time Olympic champ Ekaterina Karsten of Belarus, Kim Crow of Australia, New Zealand's Emma Twigg , reigning Olympic champion Mirka Knapkova of the Czech Republic, another two-time Olympic champion (albeit in the women's eight) in Eleanor Logan , and 2012 Olympic bronze medalist (also in the eight) Chantal Achterberg of Holland. As it turned out, the final was a wire-to-wire victory for Kim Crow, who looks to be on top form and may be the athlete to beat in this event for the foreseeable future, holding off both Karsten and Twigg in the closing stretch, with Knapkova finishing fourth. Elle Logan had another solid race in a great field, finishing just over
Read more

Best Rowing Drills: 5 Favorites of Olympic Champion Esther Lofgren

Image
Lofgren training in the single (Photo courtesy of Esther Lofgren) Olympic gold medalist Esther Lofgren is no stranger to success on the water. In addition to her podium-topping performance with the U.S. women's eight in London, Lofgren also won two world titles (2010, 2011), with her first international medal—a bronze—coming in the women's straight four in 2006. Here, Lofgren shares some insight into the drills that have helped her progress technically along the way.
Read more