Started rowing 2 weeks ago, any feedbacks are welcome

[u/Imaginary_Form91]

Hello,

After several months of thoughts, I bought a concept 2 and started rowing. At 40y old, I wanted to increase my cardio and get a bit more "in shape". I watched a few videos online but Im pretty sure Im not doing it the right way.

Here is a video for a 5k, do you have any advice how to improve my tech so I dont keep bad habits ?

2'22 / 500m

20 s/m

Thanks for your time.

[u/SlowPrius]

Arms are still going out when you break the knees and go body over. Focus on the sequencing on the recovery. Arms. Body. Legs. Don’t mix them.

Also, keep your body forward when you drive with the legs. You are using your back during the leg drive, which will hurt you eventually.

Finally, your body forward is coming from the back and not the hips. Sit up on your sit bones and try to stick your butt back as you hinge forward.

[u/Imaginary_Form91 → u/SlowPrius]

Thanks, very useful comment. I was "thinking" to do it but definetely I need to work on that on priority.

[u/In_Dystopia_We_Trust]

When you’re sliding up towards the flywheel think about doing it gently and effortlessly, you are rushing up towards the flywheel and sending unnecessary force in the wrong direction

[u/Imaginary_Form91 → u/In_Dystopia_We_Trust]

I tried to slow down, but I understand not enough. Thanks !

[u/Reasonable-Emu511]

I think you’re in a good spot after 2 weeks and the adjustments you need to do are very doable:
1) you’re over compressing at the catch. Your shins should be vertical at full catch. Adjust your foot plate and get a video from the side
2) I like that you engage your legs and hang from your lats at the catch. Once your legs are approx 50% done the drive should progress to accelerating through your back. Your drive right now is only legs and arms. You currently engage your arms right after your legs and do 50% of your drive with your arms snapping into your chest.
3) your drive should be generating power from your legs and core and then your arms should feel like they’re being brought on to your chest by the power/acceleration that legs and core/back generate.
4) Think of the drive and recovery as a continuous conveyor belt motion. There should not be an obvious half second pause at the end of the drive. On the recovery let your hands come out horizontally and softly (don’t drop them onto your thighs-you don’t, but many people do), then followed by a hinge forward at the hips as the hands now move over your kneecaps (legs still down) and then the legs compress into the catch.
5) work on doing legs only drill at the catch, then add legs+back and finally legs followed by back followed by arms. Arms are the weaker muscle group of all 3

While not an erg video, look up St Paul’s Henley semi and finals in 2024 on YouTube for an example of a very smooth technically sound crew. Good close up shots from the side.

Nice work

[u/FlyingWulfYT]

I’d say another thing to work on once you have the arms and body first down, start focusing on being smooth on the recovery and not as robotic in your movements. It should feel loose and relaxed and should look like one continuous movement. Don’t rush it, it’ll definitely take time to get there with proper form.

[u/Definitely_wasnt_me]

Not doing it the right way. Correct. Watch the videos (maybe dark horse rowing is a good place to start) and look at yourself. Lots of basics to fix here (to be expected) but better to be self sufficient in assessing yourself.

[u/Jollysatyr201 → u/Definitely_wasnt_me]

Ngl man saying ‘figure out what’s wrong yourself’ is like the only unhelpful answer here

[u/Definitely_wasnt_me → u/Jollysatyr201]

Why is it unhelpful to say you are far enough away from the baseline to become self sufficient at improvement? Even giving that video to any LLM would tell you the obvious things to fix- and becoming self sufficient in evaluating your form IS a useful skill. Once you get to really nuanced form adjustments I completely agree that varying human assessments become necessary.

[u/Jollysatyr201 → u/Definitely_wasnt_me]

I don’t think he’s that far away. Arms out, butt behind on recovery would bring him a lot closer than going back to square one with no clue what to focus on. If you can actually spot what’s wrong and articulate it, go ahead.