by GRP Row Coach S. Hap Whelpley

Disclaimer from the author: This tech tip is very much two things: 1) a sharing of other information sources that some of our community may or may not already be aware of and 2) a musing that is still in process and exploration. I will aim to still keep it functional on some level and to be overly practical in my next tech tip.

In many areas of life including rowing, we tend to look at the superlative as the ultimate example of what to do. We then take that example and walk backwards from it trying to glean what makes it successful. One could call this reverse engineering. From there, we take these observations and try to apply aspects of them to our own applications.

For rowing, we look for these superlative archetypes in the top international rowers. Whether they expect it or like it, we examine them regardless due to their indisputable speed that results from their position at the very top of rowing's competitive pyramid.

However, while the competitive process puts pressure on many aspects of a sculler's abilities, including technique, I am not sure if the resultant technique is always the archetype we should follow. This may sound similar to my tech tip from August 2024, but I'm coming at it from a different angle. In that post, I mentioned that elite athletes are often working on the same fundamentals as everyone else. Here, I would like to suggest that the competitive process may put greater pressure on other parts of the athlete's system than technique.

We are very fortunate that, despite the minimal commercialization and professionalization of our sport, we have garnered the assistance and interest of specialists in supportive fields like strength and conditioning, physiology, and biomechanics. Like many of us, biomechanists have often journeyed down the same path of reverse engineering the work of our top athletes. This produces some very valuable data and information. Two of the premier biomechanists in the sport are Valery Kleshnev who operates BioRow and Conny Draper.

Here are three foundational texts from Dr. Kleshnev that call for an early application of force through the foot stretcher at the front end:

To overly simplify what is being said, there is an exceptional emphasis on a sequenced stroke that begins exclusively with the leg drive. This isolation of the legs off the front generates force quicker and earlier than any other means, and the data supports that a more immediate and quick application of force is best for the boat's acceleration.

While I do coach many of these principles, I think you need to take the lessons with a grain of salt for several reasons. First, biomechanical results do not always stem from direct biomechanical input due to coordinative or perceptual challenges (an old display of proprioceptive challenges is found here). For instance, a blade may get rowed into the water at the front end, but the athlete may be attempting to "scoop" the catch with what he or she feels is a backing in of the blade. Secondly, and emphasized in this tech tip, the population studied may or may not be representative of all abilities. For instance, the analysis of an Olympian may not be applicable to a high schooler just as the analysis of a lightweight may not be applicable to an openweight. Lastly and relatedly, the data collection in our sport at this point may not be comprehensive enough to even represent the studied population. When something cites the curve of an Olympic rower, it often represents a subset of Olympic rowers.

I am currently fixated on telemetry as I continue to explore the use of XBoat with GRP athletes. I find myself staring and analyzing a set of curves like the following:

With these curves, I ask myself the following series of questions:

What am I looking at from a physics perspective? What do these curves say about what is happening? What is the boat doing?
What is the athlete feeling?
What do I think is happening for the athlete?
What do I think should happen or change?
How do we drive that change?

My mind gets split between the data of biomechanists and my Craftsburian self always questing for the elusive perfect stroke by an almost artistic feel. That elusive stroke strives to unlock the ultimate harmony between the boat and the crew that yields an ongoing efficiency for the entire system. In the world of high performance rowing, I think the competitive system selects for physiology and subsequently disposition more than it does technique. I believe that coaches and selectors see physiology as both more objective and more impactful on success in the sport. As physiology drives the system, the disposition of the athlete evolves to rise to the exceptionally daunting tasks of physiological development. All along we talk about technique, but do not lead with it.

While you can see a technical evolution in certain rowers over time, like Olli Zeidler, it still does not outweigh the advantages of a larger engine. In the eyes of peak competition, technique ceremoniously has athletes chase a couple tenths, but not shave off the valuable seconds derived from fitness. Not to single one great athlete out, but the classic example of Mahé Dryesdale's deep blades did not prevent him from winning many races.

In particular, the statistical fact referenced earlier of applying force quickly and very directly with the legs is something that is valuable, but in my opinion, should not be done at all costs. The application of force by any means must pair with the boat's speed to some degree in order to yield maximum efficiency for the athlete. The boat's speed can vary immensely based on boat class (single v. eight), conditions (headwind v. tailwind), and crew. In the words of Steve Fairbairn, "The run of a boat varies at every stroke, and stroke and crew must vary accordingly."

In a presentation completed while employed by the Australia Institute of Sport, Kleshnev shared the following slide:

While this demonstrates the relationship between a crew's application of force and the boat's speed, many coaches do not believe that an athlete's movements should be altered to match it. There is messaging that an athlete should simply apply force as readily and directly as he or she can with the implication that the speed of the boat alone will transform that application of force. I would posit that the more an athlete can intentionally align his or her application of force with the speed of the boat, then the more readily the boat will receive it and the more efficiently the athlete will spend his or her calories. Some athletes inherently do this without thinking. They do not think twice about headwind or tailwind, or big boat or small boat. They simply apply their force in a natural and synergistic way. We often refer to this as "boat feel." I believe that "boat feel" can always be cultivated. Those with "boat feel" can continue to enhance it. Those without can work to better understand it. I will say it can be very hard to learn because our expectation and anticipation to apply effort often gets in the way.

Many Olympic level athletes have such significant physiology that even if coaches spend a fraction of their time talking about efficiency, it pales in comparison to their cultivation of effort, work, and physiology. Furthermore, efficiency is frequently not discussed until a crew is selected, and then, it is often too late to make a substantial impact. When I think about the below boat acceleration graph in Dr. Kleshnev's newsletter, I wonder if the Olympic level athlete has a physical capacity that not only lets him or her apply force in a different manner but also in a less frugal manner. Is this an ideal boat acceleration profile because it is the best a rowing stroke can do in a hull or is this the boat acceleration profile of the fittest, strongest person doing a rowing stroke? And are those two the same?

As a related sidebar, I think there could be an interesting analysis of World's Best Times on the water and the ergometer to see if the rate of improvement is parallel or not. Granted, there are other factors like weather and equipment, but those should only further the advancement of water times (warmer temperatures and more advanced materials would make water times faster).

My suggestion from here is to find the crossroads of it all and try to balance your rowing in a more holistic manner. When you head to the water make sure to consider three things and in this order: what does the data say I should try, can I decrease the effort at a given speed, and most importantly, what does the boat need.

Tech Tip: Is What the Best Do Best?