Thank you Bob for the nice compliments about our Concept2 Indoor Rowing DVDs

I got the DVDs as much for instructional purposes as for
"entertainment" when I'm on the erg.
On both scores I think they are terrific. From an instruction
standpoint for my high school rowers, the indoor rowing workout DVD is worth
the price of the complete set of the four. You talk your way through all
of the fundamentals and the moments where you illustrate some faults
really got my kids attention. I'm sure I'm not the first to tell you
you've fabulous technique and upper body control, and I want my rowers to
emulate you when it comes to upper body control and sequence on the
recovery, keeping the body perfectly quiet on the catch, letting the hands
rise slightly when they approach the catch, keeping the body forward on
the start of the drive, hanging your weight on the oar, bringing on the
upper body swing about 2/3 to 3/4 down the drive, the conveyor belt
concept with the hands down and away (a great image!), etc, etc. It's
interesting when you and Lucas are doing the workout together - your catch
technique seems slightly different. He seems to initiate the drive
quite gently whereas I can see a pronounced "snap" on your shoulders as
you start the drive. I actually prefer the latter with my rowers (girls)
because I think it helps them to get their seats moving fast and their
legs down quicker. The down side is that for novices, this "snappy"
turn-around at the catch causes some of them to shoot their slides, so I
do a fair amount of legs only rowing (well illustrated in your video)
to teach them how to prepare their lower backs as they approach the
catch.

All in all, really good stuff, Xeno. Did you think of the DVD's when
you made them as the kind of instructional tools I'm finding extremely
useful? And thanks for getting #4 in the mail.

Bob

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