Rowing Question - How can I Avoid Digging Too Deep?

Question

I am a new sweep rower, been rowing for barely one month, 7 seat in an 8... I want to know how I can avoid digging too deep during the drive, as I think this has been messing my entire stroke up.

Answer 1

i think ur talking about some boat like a conoe...so u should be able 2 see at least see 3 quarters of the paddle...

Answer 2

Lower your hands.  You are probably pulling your hands too high up on your chest.  Imagine a straight horizontal line just above your knees, and let your hands follow that line.  Low hands, shallow blade.  High hands, deep blade.

Answer 3

Keep your arms relaxed and your back up until you finish driving with your legs.  Then you can open up ur back and finish with the arms.  If you pry ur back or bend ur arms early, that tends to cause the oar handle to lift through the strong part of the stroke.

The effect this has is an ovular stroke.  When your oar is this deep, you get less leverage to move the boat, and since the rest of your teamates are doing their best to avoid this, deep strokes off the set.

So focus on driving with legs, then prying the back, then finishing the arms.  Obviously in a race, these steps will overlap when the stroke-rate goes up, but when ur coach has u rowing at a slow rate, you can really focus on this timing, and it will help you comit the technique to memory.  Good luck.