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Why the rowers, crews and clubs that cope best are not the ones where nothing goes wrong. They are the ones that can change direction when the plan falls apart. Resilience isn't powering through with brute force, it's the ability to adapt to try a different approach and let go of what's not working (in the boat, the crew, the club). Same question every time - What's our next move from here? Timestamps 01:15 When Ross from friends gets a couch The perfect picture of life when the obstacles are bigger and the path isn't straight. In rowing we get situations where a pivot is needed. Ross was right you do need to have the ability to pivot. 02:30 Technique pivots In technique you find the coaching approach isn't working - trying harder may just create tension, stress and no improvement. The pivot is to change the approach not the effort. Have a different cue (aural not verbal) or body position which is a different way to achieve the change. Try video, try it on the erg, in the single, slower / faster. All these approaches enable you to make a change by thinking about a pivot to a different way to do it. 04:00 Finding a crew You want to get a group together to do something - it often doesn't work. It can be hard to break into a group which appears to be already sorted. Don't wait for the "perfect" lineup - think about changing the approach instead. Row with the crew you've got - cut an eight into a four, have a regular list of alternates/substitutes who can come at late notice. We often suggest building your own crew rather than trying to break into an existing crew. Ask new joiners to try rowing a quad on a Wednesday. Look at the Learn to Row graduates and pick out a few who might be able to join you. "super stars" may get invited to join the fast crowd but most of us don't get selected like that. Be available to be the regular substitutes when the fast crowd crew needs an extra person. This can lead to the two crews blending and helping each other out - it builds trust. 07:30 In the Club Things break - often just before an important regatta. Or the club has no money to do what you want to do. Your pivot could be to start with what you have. Can you borrow or share a boat? Could you run a club repair day and invite the local boat builder to show you how to do repairs on site? Ask if someone has tools who could lead a working bee to fix up the club house - simple things that don't require a lot of expertise. Other fundraising ideas can come from other sports - would a group watch party for a coaching video be fun? Sell food at the same time. when things don't go to plan, shouting Pivot louder is not a solution. Keep asking the same question "what is our next move from here?". Listen to the quiet people - the introverts - they often have good ideas and get shouted down by the loud folks. These things compound and that can become the "new normal" for your club.

Hip extension is dominated by the three muscle groups - hamstrings, glutes and paraspinals. Get the timing right, your back becomes the connector between them. Timestamps 01:15 The power phase takes less than a second to do. The legs, back and arms deliver the power and part way through, the back changes its job. Triple extension means three joints opening together. Starts with pushing onto the feet and quads work to straighten your knees. The hip extension uses hamstrings and glutes to activate and throughout the paraspinal muscles keep your trunk firm. 03:00 The hand off The hip hinges twice each stroke - once on the power phase and once on the recovery. When you hinge on the recovery the spine is neutral - it's not actively working the muscles. But on the drive phase the same hinge action opens up the back angle. In the drive phase there is a 'hand off' between the legs and back muscles. Classic rowing technique suggests using the back swing after the legs are 50% used up. This is when the back changes its job. As the legs start the drive your back is holding its leaning forward angle as part of the kinetic chain linkage. The back starts to be part of the hip hinge activation at this point. Your glutes are the hinge joining back to legs and learning how to activate the glutes is difficult. You need to learn this. One way to do this is to clench your butt muscles. The back's job is to continue the acceleration through the water that the legs have begun. 08:00 You can only use each body part once per stroke. If you take the catch by partially using your arms, that muscle is not available to use at the end of the stroke in the arm draw. Similarly, if you use your back to place the oar in the water at the catch, you have less back to use later in the power phase, because you've used it up already. This limits the potential of your stroke. https://fastermastersrowing.com/what-your-puddles-are-telling-you/ 10:00 Fast boats vs slow boats The back movement is not the same in big, faster boats. The boat moves faster through the water and so your leg drive finishes sooner and the timing of the back swing starting is also earlier. Feel the difference by experimenting with your back timing - watch your puddles to see the effect. To learn this - increase the load while you row so you can feel the muscles working against the increased gearing. 12.30 Back swing only rowing Train your back to do this movement by isolating the back swing - train it on its own. Tighten your glutes as you rock forward, start the stroke and move your back more dynamically. https://fastermastersrowing.com/member-register/drills/ The drills compendium has a drill to teach this and a video explainer. As you add in more body parts (arms, legs) the oar must continue to accelerate through the water. Keep the back swing active and dynamic as you add in more body parts.

Is your diet really enough to support the training you're asking of your body? Or are you spending money on supplements that do more for the marketing department than for your rowing? Key takeaways Eat well, then close the gaps. Food comes first, and supplements fill the shortfall between what your diet supplies and what your training demands. Bruce's two non-negotiables are protein and creatine monohydrate. Protein needs are higher than the guidelines suggest. The standard recommendation of 0.8 g per kg of body weight is a minimum. Bruce works to around 1.6 g per kg and spreads it across four or five meals or snacks, because older bodies make better use of protein in regular smaller doses than in one big meal. Creatine is the best-researched supplement there is. Most of us get only a gram or two a day from food. Bruce takes 5 g of creatine monohydrate daily in his morning coffee, and talks about the emerging (and still early) research into creatine and brain health. Be sceptical of the next big thing. Magnesium helps Bruce sleep but hasn't touched his cramps. Collagen may or may not help his joints, but it adds 18 g of protein to his day, so it stays. Recovery is where masters rowers win or lose. You don't get stronger in the gym, you get stronger recovering from it, and sleep is where most of that repair happens. Bruce's slides: [https://fastermastersrowing.com/supplementation-for-masters-rowers/ This episode is for general education only and isn't medical advice. Check with your doctor or a registered dietitian before starting any supplement, particularly if you have a health condition or take medication.

Follow one hand through one stroke in sweep rowing. Your outside hand is a second oarlock - controlling the handle when the blade is under the water. Timestamps 00:45 Setting the height Visualise your outside hand tracking through one stroke. It's setting the height for the oar. It goes through the longest arc. You get control for catch and finish timing from the outside hand, force on the face of the spoon and rhythm. 02:00 The second pivot When the oar goes into the water, it doesn't move much during the power phase. But the boat is being levered past the oar tip. The pivot point from the end of the spoon is your handle and this is the 'second oarlock concept'. the outside hand times the catch placement and manages the oar depth. Placement is proactive to make the handle move before your slide stops at the change of direction. Your outside hand moves a greater distance - moves further - than your seat moves. Placing with the inside hand won't give you the same finesse and control compared with the outside hand. This is because it's closer to the pivot point at the oarlock. 05:00 Middle knuckles Your outside hand knuckles should point forwards towards your feet / the stern. This helps to keep your wrist flat. It also connects the handle through the kinetic chain to your feet. Look at photos of rowers whose hands are not wrapped around the handle - they are likely using their inside hand to control the handle. 06:00 Where the inside hand does control From 90 degrees square off in the power phase your outside hand loses leverage and your inside hand takes over. Try not to let your elbow point out the side of the boat - let it go along your side ribs and point it to the person behind you. From this point to the finish you can add power with your inside hand (pull hard). 07:00 Outside hand at the finish This controls how the blade comes out of the water and sets the rhythm for the recovery. Use the movement of timing the extraction - sit still while extending the outside hand and arm only to take the oar out of the water and start moving to the stern on the recovery. Speed of the handle into the body is approximately equal to speed out from the body. Only move the shoulders after the arm is straight. This makes the rhythm for the recovery. On the recovery the blade shaft should be parallel to the water surface and approximately the same as all the other blades on your side of the boat. Four jobs for your outside hand - height at the catch - pivot through the drive - a clean release at the finish - rhythm on the recovery.

How gripping tighter makes you slower. In this episode you’ll discover why the tightest grip on the handle is often the slowest stroke, and what to do about it instead. The idea comes from Tai Chi, not the boathouse, but it applies directly to your hands, wrists and shoulders on the water. Here is the reframe. Softness is not the absence of power. It is how power actually travels through the body. Tension blocks it. Softness lets it flow. Soft hands, hard drive. Let's go. Timestamps 01:00 Tight handle grip does not give you control You might think that if you grip harder, you'll row faster but if your thumb is tight, your whole hand is tight. Tension is like a virus - it spreads. A tight thumb leads to tight fingers, wrists, shoulders. Fear of losing your grip or catching a crab when under pressure makes you clamp down instinctively. How should you hold a blade handle? Imagine you're holding a kitten or a puppy - or like it's a banana - if you squeeze too tight the skin splits and you have squashed banana on your hands. Tension blocks power When you have a tight hand or thumb it locks your wrist and forearm and travels up the kinetic chain of your body. Control and power are two different problems. A tight hand is just stiff and loses strength rapidly. Relaxing while keeping your fingers hooked around the handle gives you control and security. 04:00 What to do When trying harder (like when rowing firm pressure) your instinct is to grip harder. This stiffens the kinetic chain and slows the transfer of power from your legs and body to the blade. Soften your hand grip starting with your thumbs, then move to your fingers and you'll find this also loosens your forearm and try to row with a long neck (drop your shoulders). A muscle which is already tight finds it harder to activate when you are calling for that muscle to work during the power phase of the stroke. A relaxed muscle is easier to engage and activate to move the boat. Let your focus come down to the mass of your body and your leg drive doing the work rather than your hands being the driver of effort. Keeping your hands soft allows the mass/weight of your body to make the power. A mental re-frame - soft hands, hard drive. Softness isn't weakness it's how explosive power propels the water. Tai Chi says Tightness is life running out of a stroke, softness is life flowing through it. Hand tension blocks power and gives you a slower catch, a slower grip on the water. Let this flow into soft shoulders which will enable you to get your body weight behind pushing the blade through the water.

How little energy you burn in one race - about one banana. The real skill is racing more than once in a day - what to eat and drink. Timestamps 00:50 Fueling at regattas If you have more than one race in a single day you need to fuel appropriately. A single race barely touches your "fuel tank". The key is timing your meals and recovery between races. A race is not a big calorie burn - about 150 - 200 calories for 1k. Your body stores thousands of calories of glycogen. When you put out a lot of effort you assume the intensity means you are burning a lot of fuel. Separate habit from what you need to fuel on race day. 03:00 What's actually happening? If you race once in a day - fuel is not your limiter. Your hydration and glycogen are where they need to be if you've had a good meal the night before and on the morning of the regatta. Your job is to feel good on the day. You cannot empty your tank in one sprint race. Racing more than once in a day the goal is about recovery in the gaps between your races. You have to replace fluid, nudge glycogen up a little but still keep your gut feeling comfortable. 04:00 Stop fueling the race, start managing the day. After the first race don't eat a big meal - go small, frequent and easy to digest. 3 levers - rehydration (do this first). Fluids, a bit of sodium, rehydration salts. Sip between races. Choose a rehydration mix you like and know - it can have protein as well as carbohydrates in it. - refuel (do this second). Small, easy carbs in modest amounts or a small protein snack if you have time to digest it before your next race. Choose a banana, a small protein bar. Enough to feel topped up but not full. Finish eating with time to spare before your next race to allow for digestion. Ideally 40 minutes to 1 hour. Different people find this different - practice and notice what happens to you on race day. Time when you ate and how you feel at the second race. How your tummy feels may affect your nerves and affect digestion rates. Never trial a new food on race day - it's not worth the risk. 06:45 Key takeaways - I'm not replacing calories, I'm staying ready. - Know you're not depleted removes the panic eating - Fuel for one race by how you feel - Fuel for many races by planning the gaps between races. Use a race day plan / timetable - add fueling into the timetable and checklist. Here's an article which may help you. https://fastermastersrowing.com/rowing-regatta-checklist/

The cause and cure for feeling low in energy during racing. A 5k race burns only about 350 calories. Timestamps 00:45 Mid-race low energy Most rowers think they've run out of energy half way through a race. Most races aren't energy-depletion events (porridge is 350 calories; banana is 95 calories). You likely aren't running out of fuel. 02:00 The misconception The feeling of distress in sprint racing comes in two places - about 40 seconds after the start and again just after the midway point. It feels like exhaustion but your body uses the same "alarm signal" for multiple problems. Believing you're out of energy gives you mental permission to slow down. But you haven't yet earned the right to slow down. 03:00 What's actually happening? Lactate - that burn feeling is your body accumulating lactate faster than your body can clear it. It's a signal that you are working really hard. Not that you're out of energy. Pacing and mental focus can help you get beyond that feeling of pain. Rebecca and her doubles partner adjusted their race plan to give a focus at the point the pain kicked in. 04:45 What to do at mid-race Do not back off on your rate and pressure. That instinct is probably wrong. You have fuel - you have to let lactate clearance catch up with output. A fractional reduction in output can allow lactate clearance to get ahead. - breathing - if it's chaotic - focus breathing out at the finish for 3 strokes. To stabilise your breathing - pressure - if something has to give, let the pressure drop fractionally. Hold the rate if you can (it's harder to rebuild than pressure). Make a 1% change in your pressure. - check your legs are still driving and you're using the right technique Practice the 1% drop in pressure in training. Push for 10 strokes - power strokes; then do another 10 strokes dropping the pressure 1% and keeping the rate the same; then do a third 10 strokes back onto full pressure. It's a tiny step down and then a deliberate step up. You can repeat this set of 30 again if you need. The mental reframing is necessary as well. Tell yourself "this is lactate" and I have got fuel to continue. Once you know what it feels like you can choose your response.

Weight on the feet is one of the three key concepts for rowing and sculling mastery. How it's a key transition point in the stroke cycle and the giant advantages for crews who can all get there at the same time. Timestamps 01:00 Weight on the feet This can be hard to understand how to do weight on the feet. After learning how to do this you will learn slide control (stop rushing) and how to move your body in time with the hull of the boat. Learn how to slow down the boat speed less on the recovery - your speed is the net of power phase acceleration and recovery phase deceleration. 03:00 How to locate weight on the feet Sit on a hard chair and take your two forefingers and put them under yourself and find the "sit bones" which is the ischial tuberosity. It will crush your fingers a bit. While your fingers are there, rock forwards and back with a straight spine. If you are using your pelvis to rock you'll feel the sit bones moving over your fingers. Note if you curve your spine and don't rock from the pelvis, the sit bones do not move over your fingers. 05:00 Find weight on the feet Stand up from your chair (sit on the very front of the seat to to this). As you stand up you will rock your shoulders forwards and feel pressure through your socks and shoes onto the floor. In order to push through your feet in rowing you have to get your body mass rocked forward and your hips pivoted. Get your hands and arms straight and your body rocked forward then bend your knees a little and you will feel pressure on the soles of your feet. This is "weight on the feet". The leaning forwards is an important part of the sequence because it's hard to get weight on the feet when leaning backwards. Get the feeling of weight on the feet by clenching your glute muscles. At the finish, tighten your glutes which helps you to locate your sit bones on the seat, then straighten your arms and when they cannot straighten any more - the shoulders naturally follow and your legs bend till you feel you can push on your feet. This may be at one quarter slide or half slide - it depends on your flexibility. You HAVE to get your shoulders forward, if you do not do this you will find it harder to locate pressure on your feet. The glute engagement connects your back and legs like a door hinge. Soggy glute muscles means you don't get the connection or the transition of body weight forward successfully. 09:00 The key transition point When you have your feet pressed into the foot stretcher, it's an important transition point in the rowing and sculling stroke. Weight on the feet is the moment when you move from tension to deep relaxation in the stroke cycle. You stay relaxed until the oar goes into the water at the catch. With deep relaxation you have very deep muscle relaxation in your legs and you can remove all tension from your body (while maintaining poise in your posture). Elite rowers work hard because they give themselves extreme relaxation and "turn off" muscles when they are not needed - this means they don't get tired so quickly. At weight on the feet your oars should be off the water in a high balance position (shafts horizontal to the water surface), controlling the blades with your hands. The control of the oars and your body means you are able to relax your body and prepare early for the next catch. Weight on the feet is one of the 4 key concepts we teach in our Sculling Intensive course. https://fastermastersrowing.com/member-register/sculling-intensive/ The advantages for crews "From Frustration to Flow" using the four quarters method taught by Richard Parr - learn how to do this quarter in his masterclass webinar. https://fastermastersrowing.com/member-register/frustration-to-flow/ Once you can handle weight on the feet you can do three things 1- better prepare for the catch. blade entry 2 - further control the balance on the recovery 3 - manage wind/waves better

Repeating workouts to improve your skill at doing them - how to sharpen into the piece, count down, ways to swap with bow four. How not to waste strokes and ways to start on the right stroke rate. Execution quality is a performance variable in its own right. Timestamps 01:00 Execution quality matters What do you think is happening when you do a workout? Execution skill improves with repetition. There are repeating workouts in any training program - this builds fitness and your ability to do that practice. The second time you do a workout, you know what it feels like, how to make your effort work consistently across the whole piece. This is performance-relevant knowledge. Poor execution comes from wasted strokes at the start of the piece, being at the wrong stroke rate, the wrong pressure, taking 5 strokes to get to the specified stroke rate. This affects your pacing (too hard or too light) and also changeovers (steps up in rate for example). Your physiological adaptation needs to be as good as it possibly can be. Over a season there is a compounding effect of successful physiological response to training stimulus. 03:45 Use a countdown Get into the work and don't waste your approach. For a 20 stroke firm / 10 light piece. All the 20 firm need to be at the right stroke rate and intensity. Use the last few light pressure strokes to build pressure and rate. By counting down into the work piece so each stroke builds to the stroke #1 rate and pressure. Have in your mind the target stroke rate - what does SR 24 feel like? Build your familiarity without needing a stroke coach to count rating. 06:30 Build in the right order First add pressure before adding rate. Rate without pressure leaves you "spinning" especially at rates over 24. Call "Going up in 3 -2 1 - GO" or "Going up, on the next stroke [wait one stroke] now". Our cox calls "Build pressure now'; two strokes pass then 'Rate up now'. At rates below 25 it's easy to hit the rate just using increased pressure - it is harder at rates from 26 and above to get the rate - you have to be more deliberate building the pressure then the rate. Start a change like that at the correct place in the stroke cycle. Make these changes at the catch. The pressure change starts at the catch; stroke rate changes begin at the catch. To do this effectively, athletes must know they are making a change half a stroke cycle in advance of the change. Call the change at the FINISH. This gives them advance warning of the change. There are changes which happen at the finish like stepping down in stroke rate or a rhythm call and these must be called at the catch. Be half a stroke ahead of time if you give the calls. Listen to when the cox or the caller made the call to change. Your goal for the workout is to execute more and more successfully.

Three fixes for your indoor rowing technique faults. Timestamps 01:00 The unforgiving erg Interrupt the fault before it becomes a habit. Foot connection gets lost at the finish as your toes come away from the footstretcher. When you lose connection you aren't moving the boat forwards, same on the erg because the feet are the only connection to the boat. Take a $10 bank note and put it under the toes of the athlete - if they lose foot connection at the end of the drive, the money falls to the ground. Have a bet with your athlete - they can keep the money if it's still under their toes. The whole of the sole of your foot needs to stay pushing on the footstretcher at the finish. Try it separately for both feet. 04:00 Catch position Avoid over-compressing at the catch with knees going over your toes. Take a bungee cord or some electrical tape and wrap it around the rail so the seat wheel butts up to it at the correct catch position. The athlete will feel the wheels rolling over the tape - it acts as a gentle physical reminder to stop at the catch position. Check your catch position first using a mirror or a photo - get your shins vertical. Do some steady rowing to learn where your new compression limit is. 06:00 Slide control If you tend to pause at the catch, try this. On the erg the rail slopes downwards towards the footstretcher. Lift up the front leg of the rowing machine by 10-15 cms. Use a crate, an aerobics step or a big book. The incline means it's harder to rush forwards. Note if your catch alters when you change direction with the front leg raised. Gravity will tend to make you want to roll backwards away from the flywheel.

Three cheap and simple hacks to help your sculling. Small clever fixes to real problems that scullers deal with all the time. One for your head, your wrists and your blade depth. Timestamps 01:00 Sculling Hacks for self-coaching Sculling technique faults are very subtle and you can't always feel them from inside the boat. These three hacks move that feedback from external to the boat (from your coach) to inside (you can feel changes yourself and can act on them). 01:50 Hat brim position If you move your head during the stroke, this is the hack for you. Ideally you want your head to be in line with your spine during the stroke and to stay in line when you swing your body back/forwards. The head is heavy - 15 lbs or 7 kg. Wear a cap with a stiff brim so that you can see the horizon from under the cap brim. The horizon is always horizontal - pick a single point to watch (a tree, a house, the back of the head of the person in front). Keep an eye on the horizon point while you row - this will give you clues about how your head moves. 05:30 Wrist tape When feathering in sculling you want to use your fingers and not your wrist. Take a piece of tape from your forearm across your wrist towards your knuckles - masking tape / electrical tape / micropore are all suitable. If you move your wrist it will pull on your arm hairs and serve as a reminder. As a rule of thumb tape 20 minutes before you start rowing - this gives time for the adhesive to bond with your skin. 07:30 Shaft tape A hack for those whose oar spoons go too shallow, too deep or corrugate through the stroke. Tape the oar so that when the oar is sitting in the water at the correct depth, you can just see white tape on the oar shaft. How to position the tape - sit in the boat with it level and put the oar, squared, into the water carefully so you don't get the shaft wet. Let go of the handles and the blade will naturally sit at the correct depth. The blade will tend to sit 1 cm above the water surface (this gets covered up when you are rowing as you push a mound of water in front of the spoon). Track where the shaft gets wet and that's where you put the white tape. Measure the distance from the spoon insertion point and you can then put tape on other oars at the same place. As you row, the white tape is then above the water surface while you are rowing - adjust your handle height so that the tape stays visible.

Limiting beliefs can hold you back due to fear of failure. Is this the biggest hurdle for your rowing progress? Timestamps 00:45 Fear of failure I would love to go and race at (this regatta) but I don't want to come last. What is it that they are frightened of? Would you like to do the world masters regatta? 02:30 Redefine failure What holds us back? Feeling well prepared for your event is important but masters' fears show up differently than kids'. Children are less good at thinking through the consequences of their actions. Anxiety holds you back from trying new things. A mind shift to assess what failure means to you. A failed piece is one where you have learned nothing about your own effort or your own pacing. Did you stay within your capabilities? Did you try anything different, notice anything different? 04:40 Separate training from racing Try to think differently about "failure" in training - we should feel safer here and able to try new things. Some feel more anxious when rowing with more experienced athletes - how could you give confidence to someone less experienced than you? Buy the worst house in the best street - a definition of success tends to look up (better) than you. 06:00 Take risks in training While out practicing, could you try a high risk drill during your training? Take the training wheels off and take a risk - limited but "do-able". What about a 5 stroke rule - commit to doing five strokes of your new thing / drill in a way that is confident and reflects your new norm. Do it at the same point on your waterway every single time you go out. Even if those strokes aren't perfect you will still learn from them. The point is the repetition and becoming more familiar and this builds confidence. 07:30 3 simple strategies When you come off the water after rowing you do a debrief - what did I do well, what could I deliberately risk next time? Use understanding risks as a mindset change to help you conquer your fear of failure. It only needs to enable you to feel just a little bit more capable of trying something different. A limiting belief is something you tell yourself but which you won't get past unless you try. "I cannot do square blades" won't enable you to learn square blade rowing. Challenge your limiting belief or it will stay with you. Taking risks may help you get more satisfaction from your rowing by learning something new. In the debrief, share one good failure you had and what you learned from it. Fear of failure steals boat speed more than lack of fitness. Pick one "low stakes" thing which you can try this week - intentionally take a risk. How did you go, what happened as a result and did you learn something from it?

Three cheap and simple hacks to help your sweep rowing. Small clever fixes to real problems that sweep rowers deal with all the time. Timestamps 00:45 What is a rowing hack? Tricks and techniques for your own rowing - a low cost, improvised fix to a persistent problem. The best hacks give you physical feedback in the moment as a constant reminder so you don't have to keep something front of mind. Moving you into unconscious competence. Learn more about unconscious competence and the 4 stage adult learning model https://fastermastersrowing.com/rowing-technique-makes-my-brain-hurt/ 02:00 Elastic band on the oar handle If your inside hand moves up and down the handle - it drifts. This affects the amount of effort / load you can put onto the oar from square off to the finish. Take an elastic band and wrap it around the oar handle so it sits on the outside of your hand next to your little finger. If the band is tight, when your hand starts to move it won't roll the elastic band - you'll feel it and realise if your hand has moved off position. If your hand goes the other way, put the elastic band next to your forefinger instead. First check you have the correct spacing between your hands first. 04:00 The coxing plank When you have someone who is too large to fit into the coxswain's seat - use the coxing plank. A plank of wood sitting across the transom / sax board of your eight. We put a sculling seat on top so it's comfortable to sit on. Put your feet into the bottom of the boat. And add a lanyard to attach to the steering wires in case the plank moved or fell off and it remained attached to the boat. The cox can then see above the heads of the athletes giving greater line of sight for coaching the crew. If your crew has to take turns steering the eight - this is the hack for you. 06:30 Wrist tape If you feather with both hands and twist your wrist to turn the oar when squaring and feathering - this is for you. The correct sweep feather action is to allow the oar handle to turn inside your hand grip for the outside hand, while only your inside hand wrist rises or lowers to turn the handle. Take a piece of tape - sellotape/scotch tape or micropore or masking tape or electrical tape. Run it from your knuckle across your wrist and to your lower forearm. The idea is that it sticks to the hairs on the back of your hand so when you turn your wrist (and you shouldn't) it pulls on the hairs. This hurts.... you feel the tape tighten and serves as a reminder not to move your wrist.

The marks your blade leaves in the water after every stroke are one of the most honest pieces of coaching feedback you’ll ever get — and most rowers row straight past them. Today you’ll learn what a good puddle actually looks like and why size has nothing to do with it, what your puddles are telling you when they go wrong, and a practice tool that removes puddles entirely — and why that can be exactly what you need. Every stroke leaves a mark. Today we learn to read them. Timestamps 01:00 The anatomy of a good puddle This is your stroke made visible - what you actually did on that stroke. You should be aiming to make tight, swirly, deep — and no splash puddles. It's concentrated and without foamy white water around it. The depth and darkness of the water swirl indicates the power applied. The puddle is caused by the curve at the front of the blade - as you lever the boat past the point the oar went into the water. The mound test - you want water to move effectively. Water flows and you cannot compress water with a rowing oar. This is why you can create a mound in front of the face of the spoon. Look at the end of your stroke to see your mound. The water should be pushed up in front of the spoon with a corresponding hollow behind the blade spoon. Sustaining both through to the finish enables you to take the oar out of the water with very little effort. If your acceleration drops in the second half of the power phase, the mound lowers, the hollow fills up and it becomes harder to take the oar out of the water. Anyone can make a big splashy puddle by washing out - pull the handle down into your lap at the finish and you'll see the puddle changes. 04:50 Puddle Killers What goes wrong and why? Energy wasted on the extraction causes splash - feathering out, lack of a clean exit - these may be an indication of unnecessary energy being used to take the oar out of the water. The language you use can be problematic e.g. "pulling". Using your arms can mean you rip the oar against the water. Water moves as a single block at a gradient of 1:200 - rowing needs to keep the water block solid. Breaking the water block causes little air bubbles to get into the water and this makes it harder for the oar to grip the water and it becomes less effective. Use language such as burying the blade, pushing it horizontally and extracting smoothly. The boat moves forward because the water goes back relative to the boat. 07:30 Puddle-less rowing Sometimes no puddle is the whole point. Try to row without making a puddle - this helps you to focus on your technique and if you are keeping the oar at the correct depth through the stroke and taking it out cleanly. Try rowing with the oar only half under the water. This helps you to learn how to manage the handle which controls the oar height through the stroke. Align the catch and finish heights by controlling the handle. What your puddles are telling you - take a look behind you from catch to finish and watch the puddle move away from the boat using peripheral vision or by turning your head to see the full stroke.

The anger caused by a gap between expectation and reality. This episode is for intermediate rowers who are learning how to race. How to turn your anger into something useful. Timestamps 00:45 What happens if a race outcome isnt' the result you hoped for Should you suppress the anger or spiral into it? Or neither. 01:45 Identify it Anger is expectation minus reality. The bigger the gap, the bigger your anger. Name your gap not the "failure". It's an outcome not a judgement on you, the athlete. Intermediate rowers are learning how to train first, and now you are learning how to race. This is the same process. You've done enough training to have expectations of success but you haven't yet done enough racing to get the outcome you desire. Experienced racers expect this gap. Make the gap concrete - a time, a distance behind the winner. Name the gap and move it from being an identity problem to being a performance problem. Notice what you say..... "I worked hard but the crew fell apart". Name it in numbers not feelings and emotions. 04:45 Accept it Less "but" and more "and". Your post-race debrief language will have used the word but. This cancels everything which went before it such as your training investment. And allows you to hold two truths at once. I trained hard and I had a bad race. Neither cancels the other out. You accept the outcome and your next race is still ahead. As masters there's always another age group or challenge to move into. 07:00 Change one thing You're going to take one thing from your toolbox of skills, mental strength, fitness and change it. Changing everything resets expectation and creates another gap. You can only test the effect of what you've changed if you change only one thing at a time. Ask yourself - what's one thing I already know how to do better, but I didn't do today? Your answer is already there, in your toolbox. Use the "and" mindset as you think about this. If it's technical - you likely know how to fix this. If it's a tactical error - if it comes up again, you will make a different decision. If it's a fitness shortfall - train it, not blame. 09:45 Learn how to race You are learning how to do this and pattern recognition is an important part of this learning. Experiencing different situations will teach you if what you have in your toolbox is sufficient to help you close the anger gap. Training alongside another crew can help you experience more race-like situations. Go to your crew mates and coach and find out what their gap was and discuss what you're going to do about it next time.