RowingRelated

Phelan Hill at the helm (Photo: Pete Reed) As a reigning world champion and Olympic bronze medalist coxswain of the British men's eight, Phelan Hill knows a thing or two about what makes boats go fast. And, because coxswains are people, too, we wanted to track him down for a few quick questions about how he guides his crews through a training session. Here, he shares a little of his expertise, on and off the water.

UVa men's squad training on Rivanna Reservoir (Photo courtesy of Frank Biller) The second post in our second season of #BestRowingDrills takes a closer look at determining, and improving, effective stroke length on land, and on the water.

Griggs Reservoir Boathouse (Photo: Madeline Davis) We're kicking off our second season of #BestRowingDrills with a look at making the transition from winter training to water time, thanks to Ohio State Women's Rowing.

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.

Nick D'Antoni (top left) coaching at a USRowing junior ID camp, 2015 (Photo: B. Kitch) USRowing junior national team coach Nick D'Antoni is no stranger to success. Here, he shares some insight into how to build technique and style for the long haul.

While men's club rowing has become increasingly competitive over the past decade, there's no question that the Michigan Wolverines are still the top dogs. In recent years, the Wolverines have seen rivals emerge in Virginia as well as Grand Valley State University, but despite best efforts, Michigan has had a vise-grip on the men's points trophy since the inception of the American Collegiate Rowing Association. Going back to pre-ACRA days, Michigan crews often made inroads against varsity competition at the IRA Regatta—in fact, Gregg Hartsuff's frosh crew from 2002 won a silver medal, just over two seconds back of Washington. Here, Hartsuff shares three of his favorite drills for refining technique on the water. 1. Front-End Progression "This drill made lightbulbs come on in sophomores' heads," Hartsuff says, in speaking with him during a recent Georgia training camp with the Wolverines. "You start by taking a narrow, inside grip—you move the out...

For Dinares, it begins with how you approach the oar (Photo courtesy of Carlos Dinares)  Carlos Dinares is already a household name in many elite rowing circles, because the athletes he coaches tend to be fast. Examples? South African phenom Ursula Grobler set the lightweight women's world record for 2,000m on the erg, and has competed for the U.S. as well as the RSA national team. And, most recently, double Olympic champion sweep rower Elle Logan made the A Final at the world championships in Chungju in her first year sculling at the international level. Here, Carlos shares some insight into his approach through the below video, made specifically for our 'Best Rowing Drills' series, and outlines two ways to help understand technique better, on and off the water. 1: How We Greet The Oar "The first part is about how we think, and act, when we greet the oar," Dinares says. "It's about how we connect the handle, which is our connection to the water...

Megan Kalmoe in the single (Photo: Nikki Raab) The first three of articles in our 'Best Rowing Drills' series have focused on the view from the launch, so we thought it was time to flip the script—here, we check in with two-time Olympian and London 2012 bronze medalist Megan Kalmoe about her approach to skill and drill on the water. Kalmoe began her rowing career at the University of Washington, and earned her first international bid with the U.S. U23 team in 2005, winning gold in the BW4- in Amsterdam. Since then, Megan has more often raced with two oars, switching to sculling and competing at the Olympics in Beijing and then in London, the latter of which saw her win a bronze medal in the U.S. W4x along with teammates Kara Kohler , Adrienne Martelli , and Natalie Dell . Last season, Kalmoe switched back to one oar, and earned a silver in the women's pair with Kerry Simmonds at the 2014 World Rowing Championships. Here are a few of her favorite exercises to develop ...

Linda Muri in the launch at Dartmouth (Photo courtesy of Linda Muri) Longtime Crimson lightweight men's coach and newly appointed Dartmouth women's head coach Linda Muri knows how to move a boat effectively and efficiently. She combines an MIT-based knowledge and understanding of rowing mechanics with teaching savvy (Muri earned a Masters in Education at Harvard in 1997) as a coach—and did we mention that she's a three-time world champion (and nine-time U.S. national team) rower? Here, Muri shares three of her favorite multipurpose drills, useful on the water or on land. 1. Inside Arm Only "Probably one of my favorite drills is inside arm only. I use it a lot for the catch," she explains. "They get a very nice catch because they can't muscle it in—they can't force the blade in. They can hear what it's supposed to sound like, and feel what it's supposed to feel like, and then they have to hold onto that as they go back to regular rowing...

Mike Teti and Cal at Crew Classic, 2013 (Photo: B. Kitch) Talk to former U.S. Olympic rowing coach and current Cal men's head coach Mike Teti about drills, and you'll understand that it's about addressing specific problems in a methodical way. "Instead of saying what are my favorite drills, it's more what do I think the limiting technical factor of a given group is," he explains. "So we'll do a series of exercises that will help fix that problem. That's the approach that I take." He continues: "That said, for specific problems there are certain exercises that I think are really useful. You could say they're favorites [within that context]." The faster the boat class, the more the catch and the front end of the rowing stroke becomes paramount. If you're looking to work on the front end of the stroke, there are a few such favorites that Teti often uses with his crews. 1. Pause at Gunwale Pauses, in general, tap into ...

Kevin Sauer at the 2012 NCAA Championships (Photo: B. Kitch) Having done a little research recently, I discovered that, surprisingly, there's not much available on the Internets in terms of useful content for rowing coaches. Try scanning the web for decent examples of drills and technique, and you'll find that what is accessible to most is largely race footage, which certainly has its place in the coaching toolkit, but ultimately isn't that informative on its own. This is the first in a series on the best rowing drills, featuring some of the top junior and collegiate coaches in the U.S. If you like this idea, let us know, and share it—if it takes off, then we'll continue to build a library and create an index on our Rowing Drills page. For the first series, we'll be releasing the an article every Wednesday for the next five weeks. As with this post, this early series will be mostly geared toward sweep rowing, but sculling will also feature in the near future....