What "should" a masters rower be able to do? Training frequency, training volume, training intensity.
What is the next big change in YOUR rowing training you can expect as you age?
Timestamps
01:00 When masters start rowing we are likely here for a while.
Longevity in the sport is longer for masters than juniors or young adults.
We come back to rowing thinking we are the same athlete as we were when we last were in a boat. 
Article - Rowing and Aging Each Decade
https://fastermastersrowing.com/rowing-and-aging-each-decade/
02:00 Physiology certainties
Once you age past a certain point you will not be as strong as you were in your youth. This is inevitable - yet it can be delayed with careful training. This is a hard reality check.
03:15 in your 20s and 30s an athletic lifestyle can be achieved within work/family life. Many endurance sports peak in their 30s. You may be able to do 6-9 sessions per week.
In your 40s this is a decade where time is often limited. Time constraints mean your goal is to get adequate training to support your goals. Quality workouts are more important than quantity workout. The strength decline starts in this decade. Focus on rest and recovery to optimise your physical benefits of 5-7 workouts per week.
06:00 In your 50s the really competitive people get going here.
Regatta entries for D and E are large, and growing. Metabolic changes happen here - diet changes for weight control and for women and protein ingestion is more important. Also, menopausal changes also happen. You may need to change sleep patterns by introducing daytime naps to ensure you get enough rest. 
Review your rowing technique to align with your physiological capabilities - you may swap to sculling from sweep because it's symmetrical.
In your 60s more metabolic changes happen. You may be retiring to row and can do more training because you aren't working full time. Your erg score remains steady in your 60s - but technique improvements have big impact here as we lose strength we can gain speed by rowing better.
10:30 There are more rowers in their 70s than ever before. The body response to exercise becomes unpredictable and so affects rest and can cause injury. Flexibility and sensitivity to your recovery needs are a new habit. Maintain muscle mass with strength and conditioning work. 
13:45 To get the best out of yourself each decade, assessing your capability is essential. Test your base aerobic fitness, peak power and anaerobic threshold using the Faster Five assessment.
Your training adaptations will be visible when you test.
15:00 Rigging is essential.
Change your rig to suit your age and strength. The testing will enable you to determine what to do. Adjust rating and gearing to suit your capability.
Webinar - Rigging for Masters has charts for oar designs, across the ages and skill.
https://fastermastersrowing.com/member-register/rigging/ 
Many masters prefer the long distance races as we age - it's easier to keep your aerobic base as we age - what we lose is the high rating and sprint ability. 


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Rowing And Aging Each Decade

Your boat speed depends BOTH on the power phase and the recovery phase. You've done the work - now get the benefit. 
Timestamps
01:00 Get more speed
Your net boat speed is the power you put in to the power phase and the amount the boat slows down when the oars are out of the water. Rowing boats surge through the stroke cycle.
03:15 Simplicity is key to the recovery
Keep the movements sequential and well-organised.
Maximum boat speed comes after the extraction at the finish and as you transfer your body weight onto the feet. A key point is when you can get weight on the feet.
As your arms straighten and your body follows - then the boat gets an extra burst of speed if you can sequence this correctly and smoothly.
05:00 4 focus points.
1 - Keep the slide seat wheels moving, rolling towards the stern and full compression.
2 - Poise and relaxation, both are needed. Keep your body lifted and in a fixed state so you sit high on the front of the seat along with relaxation. 
3 - Muscles get tired when they aren't getting enough rest. The more rest they get on the recovery the more we can activate muscles on the power phase. How to activate and release muscles.
4 - Continue sliding until the blade is under the water. Don't chicken out. 
10:30 Common errors
You must have weight in the hand - elbows have to be higher than your wrist in order to give downward pressure.
Keep a flat wrist as you feather into your fingers allows you to keep weight in the hand. In sweep only the inside wrist bends.
Squaring on the recovery can mess with the rhythm. If you square late or it's a large movement this contributes to losing rhythm.
When to release your knees - a critical timing point to when to relax your muscles. You will get this right when you know what the feeling of weight in the hand is and the feeling of total relaxation in your leg muscles are. 
Increase relaxation - know how to do this will help you to improve the other focus points.
14:20 Things to try
Increase relaxation by 1% and what happens to the boat run, ratio and how the recovery feels. Does the boat speed change? [Remember they average over 3 strokes].

Get Speed On The Recovery

Live Dj Mix for your listening enjoyment!  This one is specific to the specialized worldwide off rowing challenge "Strength in Numbers"

Listen, Like, Comment, Follow, Share!

Each Row begins with a Shanty style track then some hip hop, rock and edm! Enjoy

Strength in Numbers

How the catch placement changes with the oar angle. Why an acute catch angle with the oar is easier. Ways to adjust your catch technique as the boat speed changes.
Timestamps
01:00 Catches and boat speed
When the blade goes into the water at the catch, it needs to be buried rapidly and the curved face of the blade needs to grip the water. the early lock on point is hard to achieve - it depends on how and where you place the blade.
02:45 Blade face to the water
The boat is a single unit moving through the water - water molecules are moving past the boat parallel to the length of the boat hull. 
The ideal oar placement should have the smallest surface area possible to the direction of travel. 
At half slide your oar is around 90 degrees to the boat length. It's slow to place the oar.
At the catch, the face of the work facing the water is reduced to around 15 cms compared to half slide. At the extreme, if the oar is parallel to the side of the boat - this reduces to about 1.5 to 3 centimeters width.
07:00 The smaller the face of work of the blade to the water, the easier the blade goes into the water. When the blade is in the same plane as the water movement, it goes in easiest. 
At very short strokes - arms only - it's hard to place the blade. 
With the smaller face of work area at the catch, using an acute angle, it feels easier to place the blade.
08:30 Prepare your catch angle on the recovery.
From half slide to the catch, your legs and seat move in a straight line up the slides to the catch.
However your handle(s) are pivoting around the arc of a circle centred on the pin of the oarlock.
Your body in sweep rotates around the pin  - keep your shoulders parallel to the oar handle and let your eyes look out on your side of the boat - this helps create more rotation because your body follows where your eyes are looking.
In sculling both your handles are pivoting around the arc of a circle  - your arms move further than your legs from half slide to the catch. In effect there are 2 speeds on the recovery  - the seat speed, and a faster speed of your hands leading the oar handles around the pin and upwards to place the oar under the water. 
By allowing your arms to go wider at the catch in sculling, you will get a more acute catch angle.
Row longer by thinking about your arms, separately from your body.
13:30 Faster boat speed
When the boat speeds up and rate increases, you have less time per stroke to anticipate the catch.
Often stroke length shortens as stroke rate rises. Counter this by moving your thinking earlier in the recovery. This gives you more reaction time.
You need to move your body proportionate to the rate - as rate rises your body speed also increases.
When you get the catch timing right the catch can feel very light (not heavily loaded on the blade). 
16:00 Train yourself by trying a drill. Go from full slide to half slide - it gives the impression you're rating very high. Prepare early at half slide so you don't miss water at the catch. Then try to maintain the same boat speed you had at full slide. You move dynamically off the catch placement.


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Catches And Boat Speed

Midlife brings challenges. Rowing is a pathway for getting your spark for life back. Join bestselling author, Rachel Marie Martin for tips and to hear her journey.
Timestamps
01:00
Rachel has a long background in technology and she uses this to communicate her message about life, motherhood and the ups and downs that life has dealt her.
04:00 the overnight success takes 8 years.
Be diligent and keep on trying. 
Get your spark back book is about Rachel's realisation that she'd lost her spark for life.
What made her realise that life wasn't sitting 'right' with her.
During the pandemic she said she didn't know who she was any more. Were was "me"? She was uneasy and went on the journey to re-find her soul without realising that was happening.
In mid-life how to find your soul's journey.
As a runner Rachel had to push past uncomfortable.
07:45 What were the clues?
When you're young you have all the time to do something in the next decade. Looking at her friends and parents she realised time is finite. She couldn't keep postponing things.
It was an awakening, not really frightening.
09:00  Choose to set your bar in the present, not based off the past.
Why do I believe this to be true? Is the key question to ask yourself.
We aren't taught to challenge our beliefs - we don't have the introspection to think.
The story of the Easter ham. Why we do things? Are they applicable to your present?
Choosing to do things that keep you 'small'. Review your own story and where is your bar - low or high?
12:00 Limiting beliefs
I hear these in athletes' rowing frustrations - their mindset shows how their beliefs are limiting.
Be willing to wonder about your beliefs. What is within your realm of possibility?
Pay attention to the words you say. 
Are we keeping ourselves from something greater? This is the only shot I have in this life now.
The audacity and risk of learning to row and not telling your family.
Ask your community to help you spot your potential. What do they think you could do? 
18:15 The story of the green shorts
Rachel used these as a "benchmark" size. The person who wore the shorts didn't do what Rachel had done. Her success and happiness is defined differently now.

https://shop.findingjoy.net/get-your-spark-back/

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Get Your Spark Back

Hear how people deal with an illness but keep up their rowing.
Overall advice is "do what you can".  
Timestamps
01:00 Many masters try to keep on rowing after a major illness or trauma diagnosis.
Getting out on the water feels good - the challenge is around what is possible for you.
02:00 What is possible?
Cancer treatment often has regular chemo and radiotherapy and you know the frequency of each session. One solution is to go rowing immediately before the hospital visit. Row when you can with a supportive friendship group.
For surgery - muscular rehabilitation and strength training follows a simple pattern over weeks.
After a stroke - lingering physical restrictions continue months afterwards.
05:00 Rowing with adaptations
As we age our bodies may require us to adjust / adapt our stroke.
For hand tremors difficulty holding a thumb on the end of the handle was hard. Suggestions include occupational therapists advice, gloves which tape onto the handle, hand exercises using old grips at home, para rowing has many solutions (adaptiverowinguk.com), baseball grip adhesive on your hands, use the little finger or side of your hand to make lateral pressure instead of your thumb. 
Carpal tunnel syndrome is a repetitive stress condition - the suggestion was to hold your handle with thumb and index finger curled around the end of the handle and to turn the oar with the middle and ring fingers.
Lady with bone cancer continues to row and to go to regattas to enjoy herself with her friends.

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Major Illness And Training

In the latest episode of the England Athletics Podcast, two-time Commonwealth medallist Jade Lally reflects on her career following her retirement from discus throwing.

Lally won silver at Birmingham 2022 and bronze at Glasgow 2014 with Team England, competing at four Commonwealth Games in total.

In a wide-ranging, honest discussion, the England record holder also talks about her job as a personal trainer and coach, her foray into indoor rowing in Australia, and the challenges associated with returning to the sport after becoming a mum.

#70: Two-time Commonwealth medallist Jade Lally reflects on discus career

Meet Chair of the Indoor Rowing Commission, Filip Ljubicic and hear about the future of indoor rowing including an exciting announcement about the e-sports Olympics in 2025.

Timestamps
01:00 The global World Rowing strategy for indoor rowing - rules, events, innovations, collaborations with erg manufacturers, digital apps and new tools.
Indoor rowing is important - around 20-25 million people use a rowing machine at least once a year. A pathway or goal is part of the strategy for all participants. 
2018 was the first Indoor Rowing World Championships.
03:30 The goal is to do both physical in person events and virtual events. Being able to compete is an opportunity for those who cannot travel. 
A new format for 2025. All the age categories are offered in addition there will be a World Champion for Indoor Rowing for the first time.
It starts with open heats where everyone submits a time. Top 150 in each continent plus top 10 age category races progress to local timezone races the next weekend. Expect more tactical racing and a different mindset and challenge.
First score submit date is 20th January 2025. There are endurance and sprint relays being offered including an age group 40-44 and 45-49 age group relay championship event.
08:30 Are drag factors recommended? No you choose your own.
Finals day the top 50 will race live at once. The top 20 go through to the Grand Final giving the World Champion top 3 placings as well as age group champions if you get through to the last races. From this global standings will be produced for everyone.
11:00 Innovations for Indoor Rowing
Looking at sport as entertainment. We are competing for the audience's leisure time and how to make the sport interesting. Other sports like athletics have different distances, formats that suit different types of athlete. We are enabling this for indoor rowing.
The Versa Challenge - 5 events over 2 days with points (like heptathlon). A 20 minute race, the person with fewest meters every 2 minutes gets cut - enabled tactical racing and new uncertainties as it was unpredictable.
15:00 Indoor rowing as an E-Sport 
In 2025 there will be a virtual series through the year including standalone monthly challenges. Also World Rowing has submitted it to be part of the Olympic E-Sports - Virtual environments and physical activity category. World Rowing is waiting to hear next steps. The plan is to grow the ecosystem around indoor rowing. Saudi Arabia is the host country for 2025.


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2025 World Rowing Indoor Championships

MCIB highlights safety issues in Irish waters, stressing the need for better emergency planning in recreational boating sports.

MCIB chair Claire Callanan

A key concept needed for sculling well, this challenging skill is essential for setting up the recovery. One drill to practice which helps teach how to control the oar handle heights.

Timestamps
00:50 Teaching a singles course for those who can already row and want to try single sculling.
There are 4 key concepts for essential skill in rowing and sculling.
Weight in the hand is the most challenging key concept.
02:15 What is weight in the hand?
Hold your handle and keep downward pressure on the handle to keep the oars off the water.
It starts by controlling the finish as you extract the oar using a downward "tap down" of the handle.
Use the outside hand in sweep; use both hands in sculling.
Keep stable at the finish and keep pressure on the pin. If your button comes away from the oarlock at the finish you have not got this control.
Facilitate the transition from body weight into the bow towards body weight towards the stern on the recovery.
04:15 How do you know if you can do weight in the hand?
If you can do weight in the hand, you can row square blades. And you can feather high over the waves and keep your boat level in a side wind. 
05:00 How to learn weight in the hand
The stationary stability drill teaches you how to control the handle using weight in the hand.
Sit the oars square and in the water at the finish. Then press down on the handles twice so just half the spoon comes out of the water. Then do a full press so the oar spoon comes fully above the water and hold this position in a pause, then return the blades under the water.
Stage two is to do the same two half presses and a full press and then feather.
Stage three is to add straightening the arms after the press down and feather.
Your body and legs stay stationary throughout this drill.
Sculling Intensive Camp 
https://fastermastersrowing.com/member-register/sculling-intensive/
A self-guided tutorial to improve your single sculling skills over 7 days. Includes drills for the whole stroke cycle including checklists to take in the boat with you.

If you want to learn how to row square blades, take our three-part mini course [free].
https://fastermastersrowing.com/square-blades-challenge-lesson-1/

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Weight In The Hand

New York based Coach by day Dj by night
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