Upper East Side

By Coach Alex Prakken

As CrossFitters, our highest commitment is to our movement. Us coaches constantly preach mechanics and form first, then and only then do we add intensity via increased speed or increased load. We spend hours upon hours perfecting our Olympic lifts with a PVC pipe, then an empty barbell, and only after moving well in an unloaded environment do we add weight. It’s wonderful to see people spend extra time on these highly technical movements and achieve their goals. Successful CrossFitters should be striving for movement efficiency since that is ultimately what will improve your time in a repeatable workout. We practice our barbell movements to make them more efficient — moving more weight over a shorter amount of time.

However, there is one movement in which I consistently see inefficiency: Rowing. When done properly, rowing is such a fantastic exercise — it’s full body yet low impact on our joints, develops both our aerobic and anaerobic capacity, and builds our muscle endurance. Rowing is one of the few sports that uses all major muscle groups besides the pectoral muscles, which is why it can be incredibly tiring.

I often hear things like “Well I can go faster if I go at 34 strokes per minute,” or “I can get a stronger pull if I don’t lean back as far.” But just like our Olympic lifts, and everything else we do in the box, there is a right and wrong way to move, and rowing is no exception. I have no doubt that with a few tweaks to our form, we can all lower our 500-meter splits and row more calories more efficiently, which equates to faster. I hope this post gets us on the right track.

Let’s first review points of performance on the erg.

SET-UP
1. In the starting position, pinkies are falling off the edge of the handle for a wide grip.
2. Feet are strapped in the (adjustable) foot stretcher with the strap snugly around the widest part of the foot, usually the ball of the foot.
3. The chest is elevated and core and back are engaged, as they will be for the entire stroke.

PICK DRILL
A great way to make sure the body is moving in the correct pattern is by breaking down the stroke into a pick drill. To start the pick drill, begin at the end of the pull.

1. This is our finish position. Think about the body as a clock, from the angle I’ve taken these pictures. The torso leans slightly back to a 1:00 position, the handle bar is just below the chest, the head is in a neutral position, and elbows past the body.

2. From here, begin by taking small strokes with just the arms. Fully extending them, then bring them back to the finish position, keeping the handle at chest level the whole time.

3. Next, engage the upper body. Once the arms are fully extend, allow the upper body to unhinge at the hips, and hinge forward to 11 o’clock. The body hinges forward only after the arms are fully extended.

4. Now we can introduce the legs. Starting with a small bend in the knees, allow the seat to move forward a few inches. Then, driving through the heels, fully extend the knees, lean back to 1:00, and then pull the handle into the chest. In the recovery, simply go back in the opposite order: extend the arms, unhinge the upper body, then bend the knees. A good rule of thumb is to ensure that the paddle passes the knee before rebending the knee during the catch.

5. Once comfortable, we can add a bigger bend in the knees to find the full catch position. In this position, lean forward with arms straight, shins vertical, and chest elevated.

COMMON FAULTS AND HOW TO FIX THEM

1. Pulling early with the arms. The hips and knees must be fully extended before pulling with the arms. This negates power potential. Just like Olympic lifts, the power ends when the arms bend.
FIX: Slow down and review the pick drill. In the pull, the sequence is legs, body, and — only then — arms.

2. Disengaging the upper body, allowing the chest to drop. In this position we lose use of the muscles in the upper back and put pressure on the lower back.
FIX: Think about keeping the chest elevated and pressing shoulders down and back.



3. Ending with the handle too high in the finish. As opposed to keeping the chain moving in a straight line, pulling up at the end of the stroke is an added unnecessary range of motion, and therefore, diminishes power.
FIX: Always keep the handle at the chest, or sternum level and focus on keeping the chain straight throughout the entire stroke.

4. Letting the handle sink below the knees in the catch. Much like the previous fault, this is wasted range of motion. From the catch to the end of the pull, you always want to have the chain parallel to the ground and remain at chest level.
FIX: Think about keeping the chest elevated and shoulders down and back. I GUARANTEE this slight change will lower your average 500m split at least two or three seconds.

5. Leaning back too far at the end of the pull. You only want to lean your upper body back to the 1 o’clock position. Going too far back only makes getting back into our stroke that much harder.
FIX: Set up the erg next to the wall, and put a tape mark on the wall at the 1:00 position. Try to hit that mark every stroke.



6. Not leaning back enough at the end of the pull. In this position, there is full knee and hip extension, but decreased range of motion and power potential by not leaning back to the 1:00 position.
FIX: Same as previous fault.

7. Going too fast. I sometimes see athletes pulling upwards of 35 strokes per minute, speeding up the stroke to lower their split. If the stroke rate is too fast, we can’t possibly get full range of motion in the pull, nor is there sufficient time to recover for the next stroke. It is also very difficult to maintain such an aggressive pace.
FIX: Slow down and focus on stronger, quality pulls. Unless it is an all out sprint (250 meters, 8 to 10 cal), I always try to keep my stroke rate between 25 and 30, which allows for optimal range of motion and recovery time.

Rowing is such an awesome exercise when done correctly. And it mimics many of our other core to extremity movements. Think about how the body works in our clean or in our sumo deadlift high pull — the similarities to rowing are uncanny.

If you want to lower your splits and become more efficient in your strokes, take 5 minutes at the beginning or end of class and record yourself doing 10 strokes on the erg. Most of these faults are easy fixes, so just being more aware of our bad habits and making a conscious effort to fix them is a step in the right direction, even if they aren’t corrected overnight. Reach out to a coach of your choice for some one-on-one help, or check out a rowing class at our sister studio, Row House!