A note from a volunteer at the CRASHB indoor rowing world championship

hi xeno, i bought your DVDs a few months ago as a gift for someone else
and then started watching them when i started rowing myself. i like
them alot, both for making the workout less monotonous and for improving
my technique. i've been pretty fanatical about trying to follow your
technique.

anyways, i volunteered to help out at the crash b's in boston in order
to be able to watch good rowers up close. i was shocked at how their
technique deviates from what you teach. i saw every bad technique that
you make fun of in your technique DVD; i thought only inexperienced
rowers in a gym would row that way. people were pulling w/ their arms
too soon (especially brits), pulling their hands up to their chin,
bending their knees first on the recovery, and leaning waaaaay back at the
end of the drive.

another weird thing is that everyone seemed to be rowing at a really
high stroke rate: usually 30-34 spm. in your cardio dvd, i think you
said you don't go over 26 spm. what stroke rate would you use for a 2k
in competition?

but all of these people who had worse technique than me were still
MUCH faster than me. does technique not matter for short distances such
as 2k? (sorry, i did marathons and triathlons, so 2k is short!) or
would these people have faster times if they worked on their technique?

Hi
Thank you SO MUCH for your nice words and compliments. I am proud of you to notice different rowing "styles".
Technique is important on the rowing machine in order to avoid injury. Some people create their own technique, by overusing small muscle groups and underusing the larger muscles groups. When we row we should always remember what others have told us about picking up heavy objects from the floor: "Use your legs and keep your back supported."
I race 2K at stroke rates between 31- 35. This means that I am pulling less hard per stroke, but because of this I can put more strokes in per minute. Most of the rowers you looked at at CRASH B do not use the "SLIDE" by concept2. Rowing Concept2s machine the stationary way leads to bad technique and muscle strain. If those "people" were taught how to use their larger muscle groups more efficiently they would pull meter 2000 meter scores.
I hope this shed some light.
XENO

Xeno Muller, Olympic gold and silver medalist, indoor rowing, rowing technique.