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While rowers compete on the water in rowing shells with up to eight rowers in the boat, the lakes freezing in Wisconsin do not allow us to be on the water from November through March. It is detrimental to our training that we continue to practice over these few months on our rowing skills we had improved on. During this time we move our on water training to rowing on rowing machines, called ergs. On an erg, you are alone instead of having the same race outcome as seven other rowers. Additionally, the technique on the erg varies slightly to on the water as there is no trunk rotation at the catch of the stroke on a rowing machine. Many rowers train on ergs over the winter due to the fact that positive transfer of learning occurs to rowing on the water. Positive transfer of learning is defined as a beneficial effect of one skill based on practice of some other skill. This occurs in that countless hours of erging leads to a rower being more proficient at rowing on the water when the ice melts. While the rowers have not been on the water practicing this skill for a few months, they are able to come back even stronger than before based on the fact that they have been improving their skill of erging. Due to the fact that erging allows for many rowers to become better rowers, practicing on a rowing machine is very common when a team is not able to row. Many coaches understand that this positive transfer of learning occurs and have their team erg whenever possible if they cannot row on the water.

The video below is of me training on an erg indoors in order to improve my rowing performance on the water (click on the download button in the lower right corner to view).

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One thing our head coach really emphasizes to get the most of our training is mental practice. Mental practice is defined as the active cognitive rehearsal of a physical skill in the absence of overt physical movements. This mental practice is implemented every morning during our mental warmup. We all lay on the ground with heart rate monitors as our coach leads us through imagery. Imagery is when a person imagines the rowing stroke being completed by themselves without actually doing the action. Our head coach leads most mental warmups as internal imagery, when you picture being inside your own body and performing the rowing race, experiencing the sensations you would feel in the real race. One example of a mental warmup statement that my head coach may use is "picture yourself at the start of the race. Your heart rate is calm and your head is in the boat ready to explode off the starting line. You take one last breath in as the starting horn goes off. Your start is quick and efficient as you come off the line in front of all of the other teams. Imagine the feeling of seeing all of the boats behind you as your legs start to burn of good pain.". While the mental imagery can vary each day, this warmup before the physical warmup can be very important for us to improve our well learned skill of rowing and racing. Additionally, when we come to the racing situation that we have pictured many times in our head, we are in the mindset that we know what to expect. This allows us to be less anxious about the race and focus on having our best performance.

The image below shows displays the fact that the mental warmup can have a great impact on our performance in a similar way that lifting would have a great impact on our strength, both helping the overall performance of our team.

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While abilities are unmodifiable by practice, skills can be modified by practice.adlet

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Some individuals have certain abilities that allow them to be better at rowing than others. Abilities are defined as a general trait of an individual
that is a determinant of a person’s
achievement potential for the
performance of a specific skill. Fleishman defined a taxonomy of physical proficiency abilities. A variety of these abilities would be to an advantage for a rower. Dynamic strength is the ability to apply a force repeatedly over a period of time. Being better at this ability would allow a rower to apply more strength over the course of a race during the many strokes taken. Another ability used in rowing is trunk strength, defined as the strength of the abdominal muscles to move the trunk repeatedly or and to support the trunk over a period of time. In rowing you have to have strong core muscles in your trunk in order to have good posture for the technique and strength of the stroke. Third, dynamic flexibility is defined as controlled speed and moving a muscle through its entire range of motion around a joint. This ability allows a rower to flex their hip joint in order to get their trunk as flexed as possible over their legs as they go up the recovery of the stroke. Last, stamina is defined as the ability to sustain prolonged physical or mental effort. This ability is very important in rowing in that it is very challenging for an athlete to maintain this high level of pain over a long race. Having better stamina would allow a rower to push through this pain and to continue racing as hard as they can. While abilities are unmodifiable by practice, skills can be modified by practice. The technique of the rowing stroke is a skill that a rower can continue to practice throughout their rowing career. This practice over time leads to better technique to help the power application of the stroke, leading to a better rowing performance. Additionally, an rower can continue to lift in order to increase their muscle strength. This continued training would additionally allow the rower to perform better. While abilities are not able to be changed with practice, skills in the sport can lead to better performance.

The video below shows one of our boats putting in countless hours of training in order to improve their skill in rowing to have a better performance at an upcoming race (click on the download button in the lower right corner to view).

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In this image, the rower is holding one oar with both hands. Therefore, they are sweep rowing.

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Boats and boating--Equipment and supplies

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As you can see in the image below, this sculler has two oars in their hands as they demonstrate symmetric bimanual coordination.

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Boats and boating--Equipment and supplies

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There are two types of rowing on the water; sculling and sweeping. While sweep rowers hold one larger oar with both hands, a sculler holds one oar in each hand. Therefore, the coordination of both of your hands is very important for sculling. Similar to the way each rower has to be in synchrony, a sculler has to coordinate both of their limbs. As we learned in the Coordination lecture, coordination is defined as the patterning of limb motions relative to the patterning of
environmental objects and events. As two body limbs during sculling move in synchrony, this is called symmetric bimanual coordination. There is a strong preference for two limbs to be moving in the same motion that leads to more accurate performance. As you are at the catch in rowing with your legs flexed, arms extended and your blades in the water, the power is applied to the footboards in the boat as the oars pull through the water, generating the power to move the boat. In sculling, if your two oars are not moving in a symmetrical motion, the boat can turn to one side or the other and you will not be rowing straight. When this occurs, your performance in the boat is hindered as their is assymetrical bimanual coordination in that your hands are not moving in the same way together. Therefore, the symmetric bimanual coordination of both limbs in sculling is very important to ensure you have your best performance.
(The two illustrations for this post are below)

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In an eight person boat, it is very to be in complete synchrony with the rowers around you. This synchrony allows for the fastest boat speed as all eight of the oars enter the water at the same time. In order for all rowers to move together, it is very important to watch the rower in front of you in the boat. This requires undivided attention to the speed of their body as they complete certain phases of the rowing stroke. However, this visual attention on the rower in front of you sometimes is impeded as attention leaves your teammate's motions. As we discussed in the Attention lecture, there are dimensions of attentional focus, created by Robert Nideffer. Rowing in a boat requires a narrow/external attentional focus. This focus is narrow due to the fact that I am paying attention to the motions that one person in front of me is doing. If each rower has a narrow focus on the one rower they can see well in front of them, everyone will follow each other and the boat will move in synchrony. The focus is external due to the fact that how fast we are rowing depends on how fast the boat is moving next to us or the environment we are training in. If the boat next to us in a race is starting to pass us, we may take up the rate (how many strokes per minute) in order to pass them. Therefore, the pace we are going at can depend on the environment stimuli. This attentional focus can be shifted involuntary to the many moving parts around the boat. This involuntary attention shift occurs when the stimulus in our environment steals our attention away from the focus on the rower in front of us. There are two types of involuntary attentional switching; novelty and meaning. When something is new in the environment around you, causing you to switch your focus to this new object, it is called novelty switching. In rowing, this could occur if a fish splashed in the water next to you, causing you to move your eyes or head to outside of the boat. The second switching of attention occurs when something in the environment changes that has meaning to you. This can occur in rowing if you are in a race and a boat suddenly appear next to you, meaning they are about to pass you. This would have meaning due to the fact that you want to beat any boat around you, so you may turn your focus to this new crew beside you. Due to the moving water, potential boats around us and being outdoors, it can be very easy for a rower's attention to leave the focus they had on the synchrony of the boat.

This image below is a picture of competitive spring racing. As you can see the boats are side by side, making it easier to switch your attention to the hectic environment around you.