Row Technique demystified

I am a certified rowing instructor through UCanRow2/Concept2 and since my certification in 2012, along with countless hours of coaching athletes in my CrossFit St. Louis hybrid row class, I like to brag that I can "straighten out anyone's rowing in 30 min or less".  I would say 15 minutes, but I like to give them a little practice time. (insert winking emoji here).  I thought it would be fun to do some "before and afters" of athletes who commit to improving their technique and call it "Row Tech. U."  

I recently had a client who had come to me after purchasing a donation I made to a "Girls on the Run" auction of a one hour rowing technique session.  With the popularity of the rower in many on trend fitness classes (and the rampant bad rowing technique that I have witnessed in said classes), I hoped that someone would appreciate some technique tips to help them power through the rowing portions of whatever fitness classes they took.  Luckily, my new client enjoyed Orange Theory classes, so it was the perfect opportunity for me to help her improve her rowing technique so she could be more efficient and produce more power in her workouts.  Check out the before and after videos below and see what a difference 30 minutes with a certified instructor can make.

This is the BEFORE video.  I like to see what someone looks like "raw" so I can assess and prioritize what we need to address.  In assessing this athlete, another key feature to start with is basic seat position. I didn't say it in the video, but it is so important to make sure an athlete is sitting up tall on their sit bones and not "tucked under".  There is no way you can properly hinge at the hips if you are sitting on your tail bone and not your sit bones.

This is the AFTER video.  Notice that the athlete does a much better job positioning herself at the catch and finish and takes her time on the recovery to set up for the next stroke.