IMPROVING YOUR ROWING PERFORMANCE AND PREVENTING INJURY

As a rower you'll know just how hard the sport can be! It is one of the few sports that involves almost every muscle in your body and a combination of technique, strength and endurance. 

The sport is all about how effectively you can apply force through the water and for how long. Did you know that by improving certain ranges of motion in your body it can make it easier for you to increase the length of your stroke?  
You can also improve how you apply power through your stroke by changing the range of motion in your hips. Keep reading to find out how! 

There are common patterns of tightness and injuries that we see in all rowers that can be helped/ prevented with sports massage.

How to quickly improve your stroke without any more training! 

You don't always need to train more to go faster. Have a read through the following dot points to see how improve your range of motion off the water can improve your speed and power. 

  • Consistency and time on the water helps you improve your stroke and your fitness. It is key! If you get injured, you risk time away from the sport you love. That is why looking after your body, ensuring your don't increase your training too quickly and working on your flexibility and strength is so important. 
 
  • Foam roller your calves. Shock horror ankle range of motion (ROM)  is necessary for rowing. If you do not have good enough ankle range of motion can't can't compress enough at the catch . Improve your ankle ROM and it can help you to have a longer stroke. 

  • Thoracic Mobility - You need thoracic mobility to help you hold your oars in the water at the finish and help you rotate in sweep rowing. By improving your thoracic mobility by foam rolling your back, stretching your lats and getting regular massage (we love loosening people's thoracic spines) it can help to increase the length of your stroke and even make you more efficient around the finish. 

  • Hip Mobility - If you don't have enough rock over your lower back will take the load. This can lead to injury and time out of the boat. Additionally if you can't rock over your are more likely to open up too early which means that your stoke may not be as powerful. Trigger your gluts, loosen through your hamstrings and hip flexors to ensure you have good hip mobility. 

  • Prevent lower back pain by loosening your quads and hip flexors. It seems counter intuitive to loosen through the front of your legs to help your back. However, if your quads and hip flexors are too tight they can pull your hips forward which can load up your lower back. Additionally it makes it more difficult to engage your gluts when your pelvis is in this position. This can add to your risk of injury and decrease your power through the water. 

  • Core stability - I want to tell you a story. When I was rowing ( 8 years ago! Goodness that was a long time ago!) I managed to irritate both my L4/L5 disc and L5/S1 discs. My physio at the time suggested that I stop rowing altogether. However, I had other plans. I  was determined to continue. I was out of the boat for 3 months but focused on improving my core stability. All I could do was swimming. I managed to get back in the boat for the second time trial of the season. I came back faster than I had ever been before and ranked 1 across all time trials in Australia. It shows how important having a strong foundation can be. Focusing on strong movement and getting the basics right can quickly increase your speed in the water even if you aren't rowing. The main muscles that I focused on were strengthening my superficial and deep abdominals, gluts and lats. I also made sure I freed up my hip flexors, thoracic spine and gluts. This is why we harp on about strength - because it matters and can make a HUGE difference. 

Common Rowing Injuries: ​


  • Lower Back Pain & Rowing 
  • Rib Stress Fractures and Rowing
  • Rowing and Disc Injuries
  • Wrist Tendinopathies
  • Blisters - don't forget that changing how you hold the oars can affect your stroke. 
  • Supraspinatus Bursitis
  • Hamstring Pain & Tendinopathies  - really common in rowers. This is something that you should monitor closely
  • Numb Feet - This can be as simple as loosening off your gluts and piriformis muscle of something much more sinister. It was worth asking your massage therapist about next time you are in for a massage. 
  • Piriformis Syndrome (See above) 
  • Sacroilliac Pain - This is very common in rowers because of the amount of force that we apply through our bodies as we go through the drive phase. Loosening off certain muscles and strengthening can help relive this type of pain. 
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How you can help! 

Like we discussed earlier - by loosening through certain parts of your body you can improve your technique, speed and power. Have a read through our article on self triggering and self massage for rowing. 

Do you have a race plan? 

It is worth taking some time to sit down and think about how you are going to execute a good race. It also helps if you are nervous because you focus on the process rather than the outcome. The key is only focus on the things you can control - which for rowers is their stroke and their power and efficiency through the water. 

What we know: 
  • First 5 - 10 Stroke (A Free Pass) You've got adrenaline and your using your anaerobic energy so you can go hard for a short period of time without impacting your level of fatigue too much! 

  • First ¼ of the race. What are you feeling through in this part of the race? How do you stop yourself from going to hard too soon but of hard enough that you don't have energy left at the end of the race? You change energy systems at the 1 - 2 minute mark. Everyone feels average at this point - so what are you going to say to yourself or what are you going to focus on to make sure if this happens you don't 'lose it!' 

  • Second quarter of the race - this is where everyone usually settles into a good rhythm. Have a plan as to what you are going to focus on to make sure you are rowing well.  

  • Everyone hits a wall through the third 500m of a 2km or the third 250 of a 1km - We like to think of it like the golden quarter because it's usually where you can make the most gains in a race. The ones who have a plan and stick to is usually push forward the ones who haven't stuck to their plan, don't quite have the fitness and/ or don't have a plan at all usually start to fall away. What are you going to focus on to get you through this part of the race? Technique Pushes? Power Pushes? Push for 6 strokes, hold for 4? Anticipate how you will feel so when it happens you are not alarmed and have a plan to manage those feelings.

  • Last quarter - Everyone is hurting at this point yet we can all go harder than we think we can. What are you doing to do (10 stroke lifts? focus on your techniques etc) to make sure that you leave nothing on the line at the finish? 

 The key is to practice the plan in training and know it inside and out. In this way you're rowing your race and not someone else's. It makes you anticipate how you are going to feel at certain times of the race and helps you put strategies in place to manage those feelings. If there are times in the race you know you usually start to lose focus or start to struggle PUT A PLAN IN PLACE to manage it.

Having a race plan helps you focus and control your nerves by keeping your mind focused on what you can control. 

We'll keep updating this page and adding to our rowing information