Improve Your Fight Gone Bad Score – The Rower (Calories)

I have a very strong hate for the rower, I’m terribly inefficient and find it more of a torture device than anything else.  It’s the station I score the least on in Fight Gone Bad and something I’ve been working on. In CrossFit we find our “goat” (the things we suck at) and we make them our focus until we become comfortable with them. So I’ve been playing around on the rower this month trying to figure out the best strategies to improve my score.

StreTch’s tips to master the rower:

1. Learn the technique – there is more to rowing than simply going in and out as fast as possible

• During the Drive (outwards) phase you must think about “legs, hips, and then arms” – rowing is more about your legs and hips, just like the Olympic clean or snatch. With Olympic lifting the goal is to drive the bar straight up, with the rower the goal is to drive the handle straight back.

Legs: We initiate both the Olympic lifts and the rowing movements by extending the legs and maintaining midline stability to prevent our back from rounding. A common cue in to think about “pushing the floor away,” or in this case, think about pushing the rower away with your leg drive. In both movements we want to keep our chest up and pull our shoulder blades together to establish tension and set a strong position.

We must also be conscious of keeping the knees out to establish torque in the hips and allow the hamstrings and glutes to fire correctly.  Rowing with your knees collapsing inwards is the same as trying to squat with your knees collapsing inwards. We all know better than this!

Hips: Try to imagine your torso is like an upside-down pendulum swinging between one and 11 o’clock. At the beginning of the drive phase (this is called the catch) your torso should be at one o ‘clock. At the end of the drive phase, after extending your legs, we aim to open the hips slightly and lean back until the torso reaches 11 o’clock. Leaning back past 11 o’clock is going to be inefficient, as you will need to start doing sit-ups to regain the one o’clock position for the recovery.

Arms: Finally you must pull the handle into your bottom rib with the arms, with the aim of lengthening the chain as much as possible. Think of your arms as ropes and your hands as hooks, the arms remain straight until the final stage of the pull. As coach Mike Burgener (CrossFit Olympic weightlifting coach) would say, “if the arms bend, power ends.” You do not lift the weight or row with your arms.

• During the Recovery (inwards) phase you must think about “arms, legs, then hips” – the recovery phase is the exact opposite of the drive phase.

Arms: At the end of the drive phase you want to push the arms away as quickly as possible to help change the momentum of the body. As soon as the handle touches your bottom rib push it away.  I’m not sure if this is true but a professional rower once told me that pushing the handle away quickly on the Concept 2 rowers actually increases your cadence score.

Hips: Do not bend the knees until the handle passed your knees.  If you bend your knees early you will either hit them with the handle or need to lift the handle above them.   One of my favorite cues when teaching someone new to deadlift is “you are not allowed to bend your kneed until the bar passes your knees.”  This same cue holds true for the rower, on the recovery phase you are not allowed to bend your knees until then handle passes over the knees.” By being patient and waiting for the handle to pass the knees you will establish more tension in the glutes and hamstrings that will increase the power in your next drive phase.

Legs: Last of all bend your knees and glide back into the starting position.  As soon as you reach the catch position (hips and knees in flexion) you need to commence the drive as soon as possible.

• Drive with power and recover with ease – you need to understand that the rower is simply a turbine that you are accelerating with every pull. There is no point in trying to row at 100 miles an hour in-and-out as fast as possible. You are simply wasting “ship loads” of energy with very little gain. You must let the turbine slow down before commencing each consecutive drive phase. If the turbine is moving slow, the chain will grip it and the power in your drive will successfully accelerate the turbine. If the turbine is moving fast, the power in the drive will not accelerate the turbine.This means you should drive with power, just like you do with the Olympic lifts.  Once completing the drive and pushing the arms away you should take your time to complete the recovery phase. Slowing down here will conserve energy and allow you to maximise every single drive.  This also gives you a chance to breathe!  Try to exhale during the drive phase and inhale on the recovery phase.  You should be able to achieve one calorie per stroke.You might like to watch some of the CrossFit Athletes pull with power and recover with ease. Try the rower test and re-test details at the end of this post.

2. Keep the chain in a straight line – the shortest distance between two points is a straight line. To maximise the power output of each drive phase you need to keep the chain moving in one direction, towards your bottom rib. Lifting the handle up and down has no benefit.

3. Foot placement matters? – Have you even noticed that the foot holsters can be adjusted?  What setting should you be using? Incorrect foot position can adversely affect everything from your leg drive to your lower back. Taking just a few minutes to determine proper postion will make all the difference in terms of comfort and performance.

The aim is to have a vertical shins at the start of the catch phase. It’s okay for your heels to lift slightly.

Taller = longer shin = bigger foot = lower foot placement (less holes showing)
Shorter = shorter shin = smaller foot= higher foot placement (more holes showing)

4. What’s with the damper setting? – this is a personal preference and something you need to play with it to get a feel for it.  The higher the setting (highest being 10) the harder your legs must work during the drive phase. Although, the higher the setting the quicker the distance or calories score will increase.  Professional rowers normally set this between 3-5 to replicate the resistance of the oar passing through the water.

During Fight Gone Bad your legs are going to be working hard with wall balls, SDHP, Box Jump and even the Push-Press.  Choosing a lighter damper setting on the rower can produce a better score and give your legs some slack. You can use the rower test and re-test to figure out what setting works best for you.

5. The need for speed during the drive phase– acceleration is critical (see point 2) and taking the rower from zero to max speed quickly is important. I’ve been testing this little trick in the last couple of weeks and believe me it is very effective. In the first 2 strokes on the rower you should NOT be completing full strokes, as your aim is to increase the speed on the turbine as quickly as possible. A short quick ½ stroke, followed by a ¾ strokes, and then a full stroke will achieve this more efficiently than initiating the row with a full stroke from the word go.

If your cadence (rows per minute) starts to slow down during the row you can repeat this trick. Quickly do a ½ stoke, followed by a ¾ stroke and then continue to do full strokes. This short quick burst of acceleration will increase the cadence and therefore your distance/calories score.

6. Focus on consistent steady movement – You can be the master of the numbers on the screen, not the victim of them. Steady consistent movement are more efficient. Remember you are on the “water” – smooth movement is rewarded. Smooth movement is fast and efficient. Jerky movements make waves and flip boats.  If the numbers start to slow down you might need a quick boost (point 4)

The Rower Test and Re-Test

If you’re not sure about some of the points above, why not put them to the test?

1. Start by rowing with 10 strokes the normal way you would do them, as hard and fast as you like. How far did you travel with those 10 pulls?

2. Make a change to your technique (any of the points above) or change the damper setting and then repeat the 10 strokes.  Did you go further this time? Find our what technique and what damper setting works best for you.

3.Maybe 10 strokes are not enough for you to see or feel the difference.  You can aim to row 100m or 200m and compare the time it takes for each.  Make sure you have enough rest between attempts.

Fight Gone Bad Tips continue: you’ve now completed all five stations and you have a minute to rest before you commence the next round.  Take some deep breaths and try to gather your thoughts and remember your plan before starting the next round.  Pay attention to the stations that you find easy and make note of the stations where you struggle.  This will help you set your plan for the next time FGB is scheduled.