Lesson with Gordon Hamilton

Gordon began lesson with the usual précis about what he hoped to cover:

When You Think of the Core Think of a Cylinder — Rowers mistake the abdominal corset for the core. The core, however, is much more than the abdominal corset. Think of a cylinder that wraps around the trunk of the body from the shoulders over the chest and abdomen and pelvic girdle all the way to the hip joints.

Rowers Should Not Try to Relax — The biggest mistake coaches make is advising rowers to relax. Rowers should never relax. Instead rowers should push into the oar and stay connected to the boat. This means stay connected to the pins, the stretcher, and the seat. Staying connected will enable rowers to listen to the boat, which will tell them what they need to do.

Pronate the Arms — Remember to keep the arms pronated, that is, the elbows out and higher than the hands, and the shoulders low and away from the ears. Don’t pull the elbows past the trunk of the body. Rowers do this thinking that if they tug at the Finish it will accelerate the boat. But it doesn’t. Instead it only causes rowers to wash out.

Don’t Collapse Onto the Seat — Raise yourself up straight. There are two ways to do this: the first is to tighten the buttocks; the second is to press down on the stretcher with the heels. Use the the heels. It’s the better way.

Stop to Take Breaks — Long workouts without breaks serve little purpose, so whenever you feel your rowing deviate from excellence, stop and take a break. And do not train on the erg without breaking at least every 15 minutes. While a break every 15 minutes will not interfere with the results of a workout, it will make the workout safer and more pleasant.

Protect the Natural Shaped Curve of the Spine — Later at dinner we were discussing how thinking of the core as a cylinder facilitated spinal stabilization. “Anything that makes it easier for rowers to maintain the natural shaped curve of their spines,” I said, “helps prevent back injury and for this reason is vitally important to rowers. But this begs a question, doesn’t it? How does one go about finding the natural shaped curve in his or her own spine?” “That’s easy,” said Gordon. “I’ll show you.” Gordon then pressed his heels into the floor, straightened his arms with palms flat and facing forward, raised his arms parallel to the floor, and then lowered his shoulders away from his ears and angled his straight arms perpendicular to the sides of his body.