Yesterday in the last two splits I made an interesting discovery. If I paused at the catch — well not really “paused” so much as slowed down — or maybe a better way of saying it might be, if I had the patience and took the time to completely finish the slide — I increased peak force and produced it earlier in the drive off the stretcher.

This afternoon, curious about what I had done differently yesterday, I made a effort to study where I was in the recovery whenever there was an increase in peak force earlier in the drive.

It turned out to be what I had suspected. It was in the last, very brief — milliseconds brief — segment of the drive. It is in this segment that I found myself taking my time to complete the slide while making a final, very small, all but unconscious adjustment in body position before driving off the stretcher.

What I was doing was slightly shortening up and slightly leaning backwards. As a result I was in a stronger position to push against the stretcher with my legs. So this leads me to think that this particular body position must my strong point — that point where I get a stronger, faster leg drive off the stretcher.

Of course rowing from my strong point Drive Length decreases because it involves shortening up. But Drive Time is faster because more force is exerted more quickly against the stretcher, so peak force is produced earlier with a higher peak.

What I have just written describes how to find your strong point. Look at the Force Curve for a high peak close to the Y-axis. This is evidence that you are achieving the stronger, faster leg drive off the stretcher.

Finding the strong point takes a little time and necessitates playing with body position, but eventually the strong point will be found. According to Steve Fairbairn the strong point will change as the condition of your muscles improve.