6 Ways to Improve your Rowing Technique for Crossfit

As a two-time world silver medalist and former Olympic Rower, Cam Nichol’s insight into rowing is unquestionable. We are pleased to bring you his top five tips on how to improve your engine through rowing.

Cam recently swapped the oar for the barbell, as well as becoming a full time doctor. Cam competes and coaches out of Blitz CrossFit, Twickenham, most recently helping European athletes. His passion for rowing is evident, as he on in a mission to unite the Crossfit community through his free project RowingWOD.

Follow Cam’s tips, jump on your rowing machine and join in!

Cam coaching Games podium athlete Sara Sigmundsdottir, leading up to the 2015 CrossFit Games

6. Big Engines Are Not Built Overnight

I’m often asked about the best workout to build an engine. The answer is all of them. Building your engine is a long journey. That journey should be progressive and structured but also fun. Enjoy the process and you’ll likely accumulate more workouts and miles in the bank. As my former coach Jurgen Grobler would say “miles make champions”. And he’s made quite a few.

All the rowing (again) this morning! One thing is for sure, and thats that @cameronnicholgb will have us prepared for any long mind numbing rows that pop up at the @crossfitgames! #Repost @iamkhanporter with @repostapp.
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We learned a valuable lesson today. Never train with Europeans. 6x2000m rows as a warm up. Thanks for that lads. @steveyf22 @bjorgvink @philhesketh @cfmatthealey @bennygarard Matt and I whinged the whole time.

A post shared by Steven Fawcett (@steveyf22) on Jul 8, 2015 at 1:42pm PDT

Cam’s work was followed by other Games athletes, in the lead up to the Games.

5. Record Your Journey; Record Your Progress

Crossfit rowing is varied and demands that we know more about the machine than professional rowers. Finding a cruising pace that leaves you fresh enough to attack a set of thrusters is just as valuable as your 2k time or maximum split (time/500m). Likewise, being able to transition on and off the machine efficiently is a skill that allows you to outperform international rowers on certain workouts. Practice makes perfect.

Monitoring and recording your speed, rate and distance during training is an essential first step to achieving this. You’d never walk up to a barbell, add an any old weight, lift it, then walk away. Yet I see the equivalent on the rowing machine. Whatever the workout, take notice of your numbers, record your progress and hold yourself accountable. That’s how you’ll dominate CrossFit rowing workouts.

The community of RowingWOD, sharing progress and scores. 

4. Let Your Scores Do The Talking

To see results on the rower, you must push yourself. But falling off the machine and rolling on the floor like Ronaldo won’t clear lactate. Your workout is only as good as your recovery and in the rowing team, our mentality was that the next training session started as soon as the previous finished.

To accumulate volume and build a big engine, this means clearing lactate from your system as quickly as possible after a workout. Get the work done and start your recovery instantly by sliding up and down the machine. Your hard work is shown in the score, not your post-workout lactate dance.

It's the WEEKEND!! Lots of you have been getting after your rowing WOD at the weekends – a great idea. Which has been your favourite session so far? We've smashed past 5million metres as a crew and am so looking forward to seeing you all smash the next 2 weeks before we launch phase 2! Grab some friends and take after @crossfitbathbox in this video – strengthen your rhythm together. Head over to our Facebook Group 'Rowing WOD' to post scores, questions and comments. Keep using the #rowingwod hashtag and tagging me in your photos to be featured on our site. Happy weekend and get after it! #RowingWOD @blitzcrossfit #crossfit #crossfitgames #crossfitrowing #rowing #rowingWOD #row #rower #training #movement #movementismedicine #trainingcamp #strong #strength #workout #WOD #concept2 #barbell #weights #weightlifting #weightlifting101 #moveeattreat

A post shared by Dr. Cam Nichol (@cameronnicholgb) on Aug 21, 2015 at 11:49pm PDT

The Crew at CrossFit Bath chipping away at the RowingWOD programming.

3. The Magic Is In The Movement

Using your body weight to move the handle is a skill that unlocks real speed on the machine. Easy to learn; hard to master. The first secret to learn is that it’s all in the legs. Almost two-thirds of the power in the rowing stroke comes from the legs and they should be pushing your feet into the footplate from the moment the handle starts moving away from the wheel until it comes into contact with your body.

I like to think of everything we do to move the handle as an addition to this long leg drive. The back opens smoothly but forcefully as the legs start to flatten. The arms finish off the stroke when the legs are flat but are still pushing your feet into the footplate. This is a strong drive phase.

The recovery is simply the reversal of this movement and organises the body to take another stroke. The movement should flow so freely from one stroke to the next that an onlooker couldn’t point out a clear start/stop position at any point in the stroke. Think cycling rather than reps.

Get this right and it’s one of the most physiologically demanding movements on earth. Perfect for building yourself a V12 engine.

2. Rowing Is Rhythm

From our heartbeat and breath to the way we move, rhythm is part of us. It’s also the driving force for speed on the rower. One of the best ways to strengthen your rhythm is to row together.

So line up and cruise through the miles as a crew.

Rowing WOD (link in bio) is well and truly in full swing. We have 1000+ athletes in over a dozen countries picking up the handle to start their rowing journey. There have been a few questions floating around, most of which can be answered in this post. Some have struggled with consistency others have found pacing difficult, and a few have been challenged to stay at rate 24 for one of the tests. My first rule is always: ROWING IS RHYTHM. Whatever the rate, whatever the distance, your rhythm will save you. Each stroke should flow to the next and the movement should look like one continuous cycle. To achieve this takes a lot of practice but is so rewarding when you get it right. A couple ways to improve this are: 1. Tune in to the sound of the wheel, hear the noise you create and the natural crescendo of the drive phase. 2. Row with some mates. Help each other out and line a couple machines up next to each other and generate a strong rhythm together. 3. Music. I sometimes ask athletes to think of waltz music (1…2,3 or for the music geeks amongst us: 3/4 time) when they row. That timing creates a naturally strong rhythm to row in. A great little way to hack this is to pick your favorite tunes and use the 'tempofy' app to change the rhythm and tempo. Focus on the rhythm this week and visit www.RowingWOD.co to get access to the programme. Upload your rowing photos to Instagram and tag me (@caneronnicholgb) & the hashtag #RowingWOD to be featured on the site. Lastly, join the 1000+ athletes in our Facebook group 'Rowing WOD' and become part of the crew. @britishrowing @blitzcrossfit @weightlifting_101 #crossfit #crossfitgames #crossfitrowing #rowing #rowingWOD #row #rower #training #movement #movementismedicine #trainingcamp #strong #strength #workout #WOD #concept2 #barbell #weights #weightlifting #weightlifting101 #moveeattreat

A post shared by Dr. Cam Nichol (@cameronnicholgb) on Aug 4, 2015 at 9:41am PDT

Cam’s golden rule. Tune into the sound of the wheel, hear the noise you create and the natural crescendo of the drive phase.

1. Row Correction technique with Ben Bergeron

Ben Bergeron is the coach of Katrin Davidsdottir and Mat Fraser, the female and male winners of the 2016 CrossFit Games. Check out his tips to help improve your rowing technique in workouts.

Join Cam’s crew at www.RowingWOD.co and on Facebook.

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