Hi my name is Garry Mannion and I've been coaching rowing for 20 years. Now rowing
is a fantastic sport that works both your cardio system and your muscles so
you get the benefit of a full body workout and can achieve some great
results, but you don't need to be near a vast body of water in order to benefit
from rowing you can achieve the same things from an indoor rowing machine and
with the help of Shanika here I'm going to show you how. The first thing to do is
to set up the machine and get your positioning right for our purposes today
we're going to be using the Technogym SKILLROW. The aim is to sit on your sit
bones towards the back of the seat with a strong neutral spine so not too
upright and not bent over. Then we place the feet into the foot straps into a
nice comfortable position adjust the resistance to about a level 4 because
that replicates water nicely for us and then we take the handle now we want a
nice good grip on the handle so not high in the fingers and we're also aiming to
have the knuckles wrist and elbow all in line. So now you've got your positioning
sorted how should you move? The key thing to remember here is that rowing is a
pushing sport and not a pulling sport because it's your legs that contribute
the most to the power the rowing stroke is broken down into two phases we have
the power phase and the recovery phase which come together to form one
continuous stroke the power phase segments are run like this
we have legs trunk arms and this is followed by the recovery phase which is
arms trunk legs and they form one continuous loop for the rowing stroke
the key thing that we're looking for here is that the handle should never
stop moving.
That's the basic movement, but let's look a little bit deeper at the phases. So at
the beginning of the power phase the shins will be vertical the arms will be
straight but not locked and the hips will be rotated forward we begin the
phase by pushing off with our legs our trunk then comes in to help with a
momentum and we continue that all the way through with our arms so at the end
of the power phase the legs are flat the hips have opened up and the elbows have
been drawn past the body with everything nice and in line. The challenge here is
to keep the movement smooth and dynamic whilst keeping in all of those sequence
elements in place. So that's the power phase now on to the recovery phase. Now
the recovery phase is your muscles opportunity to have a break so we really
want to try and relax them at the end of the power phase particularly our hip
flexors. The sequence of the recovery phase is that the arms go away first the
hips rotate forwards and the legs compress to the point at which our shins
are vertical from here we go back into the power phase and continue our rowing
cycle. Now the other element we want to add to it is a dynamic aspect. We want a
gradual acceleration through the rowing phase and a deceleration through the
recovery phase add this aspect to your training and you'll be sure to get the
very most from your workout.
So those are all the key elements of the rowing stroke the thing to remember here
is that rowing isn't a natural movement so practicing these sequences in order
will really pay dividends. For more information and sporting tips be sure to
visit: www.nuffieldhealth.com