Looking backwards to go forwards: what rowing taught me about big tech and what big tech taught me about rowing with Matt Brittin.

Timestamps

01:00 From schoolboy to the Olympics - from a family of ball sport heros.

Matt was inspired by Martin Cross to row to a high level - he was his school teacher. Later he was President of his university club where he led the introduction of professional coaching.

04:00 Rowing teaches skills

Matt was running Google in Africa, Middle East and Europe for the past 10 years - he tells a lot of anecdotes about rowing. Steve Gunn (a harsh coach) taught how to take responsibility for what you are doing. Are you a piece of sh*t on the end of the oar?

When the mindset is right but the self-appraisal was not.

The things Matt learned at rowing were the human things - more useful than Business School, Consultancies and University. I wouldn't be where I am in the business world without the rowing lessons.

08:30 Act like an owner

The unique side of rowing is that when I'm seat racing, I'm against you. When we are in the crew, I'm with you. Act like an owner at Google - take responsibility for what you're doing and win as a team. We collaborate hard - and sometimes a collaborative competitiveness gives a better outcome.

11:00 High Pressure Situations

The start line of a Henley Royal Regatta final is where Matt felt the most intense pressure.

Take confidence from the feeling of nerves and the adrenaline surge - this is a sign you are ready for a big performance. Get the attention off yourself - focus on the process is helpful. Know there is someone there who wants you to succeed.

14:45 Henley Royal Regatta Progress

Matt is a Henley steward - he marks the progress over recent years. Sir Steve Redgrave asked Matt to help the committee to plan a 10 year strategy. It looks unchanging yet it's always evolving. Three new womens quad scull events were announced - near parity in Open events and Womens events. Since 2015 every race has been on YouTube live and on demand. You Win or You Learn.

20:00 Returning to Rowing

It has been a joy and a recalibration too. The gains as you come back are lovely - rediscovering the joy. A lot is about remembering the feelings.

How to balance training and travelling for work. How you manage your time at work is important. Matt blocks his diary to take kids to school twice a week - the most important time of the week.

He does the same for rowing training. The discipline when traveling of visiting the hotel gym.

The more senior you get the more important it is to show up refreshed and feeling great - in good shape. Leaders need to be in the moment and to have time for staff.

Matt is planning to mentor people in business, improve his sculling, rowing strength training this year.

Masters rowing is "running up the down escalator". It doesn't have to be the same each year - unlike younger rowing years. Choose something fun to plan for your future rowing.

Alex Wolf & Sam Dutney in conversation. Two leading thinkers and innovators for masters rowing discuss strength training for masters.

The principles around maximal force applies everywhere.

Teach athletes how to express maximal force. Learn the ceiling of what you can do. Turn muscles on and off.

Practice being forceful really quickly.

Building habitual capability. your day to day. Take a small change from what you do now and a little bit more than you can already do. That's enough.

Strength training is one of the most potent stimuluses for our health.

The only thing which can repair your muscle structure is targeted loading, not rest.

The kenee takes a load of up to 2 times body weight for rowers - masters it will be 1.2 to 1.7 times body weight.

When squatting the leg is not the limiting factor - the lumbar spine tolerance is the limit. This is not the case in a rowing boat because the forces are horizontal.

The 7 stroke max test has a strong correlation to performance. Increasing this has got a 1:1 correlation with improvement.

How can you know if the improvement will come from force production or maximal force?

The rowing stroke is primarily concentric force production. Does eccentric have an effect?

Yes, it's a long stretch shortening cycle. The end of the drive back to the catch has a significant contribution to boat speed. The Reactive Strength Index. How you control a decelerating force and turn it round into an accelerating force.

Rate of force is how much, when and how quickly.

Utilise each exercise efficiently is key. The king of exercises is the one that reaches your outcome. You must lift enough to create an adaptive response.

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Defensive protectors for oars and sculls to prevent the paint wearing off and the spoon degrading.

Things you can do to preserve the spoons and handles.

Timestamps

00:45 Oars get wear and tear

You paint the spoons in the club colours and the paint wears in the middle of the back of the oar and the tips of the blades get worn off at the corners (so you no longer have a sharp corner).

Defensive protectors for oars

Our dock is wood and the surface gets greasy and is a slip hazard. We put non-slip matting onto the dock - water drains through the holes. The brand is Ako Matting and is recommended for ice, snow and water uses. The downside is the surface is abrasive on oars because of the non-slip elements.

03:00 Rules for oars

We have a rule that when you land and leave the dock we always put our oars tip side down on the dock. This helps to preserve the paint and stop the wear patterns on the back of the oars.

Tips down meant we got wear on the tip of the blade.

Croker Oars have tip protectors - little triangles which fit over the corners and you superglue in place.

https://www.crokeroars.com/product-page/row-tip-protectors-pair-4-tips

The plastic takes the wear rather than the carbon oar.

Concept2 oar users can use the vortex edge - it's a strip which goes along the length of the oar tip.

https://www.concept2.com/oars/sculls/blades#vortexedge

The wear on the tip of the oars reduces the surface area of the spoon. And the wear is always in the same direction - my sculls ended up thinner than 3mm. This is the legal minimum for World Rowing rules - I had to sand down the tips of the blade to restore the minimum 3mm.

05:30 Protective decals

A scuff pack kit made to protect the back of the oar from rubbing when your oars are on the bank.

Defensive protectors for oars https://crayfishrowing.com/shop/ols/products/scuffpatch-kit-for-two-oars and the Croker oar corners

Lastly - blade wraps - vinyl that is pre-printed with your club colours and they are cut to the oar spoon shape. Use a heat gun to apply them and it also gives some protection to the oar spoon.

https://regattaprint.com/blade-wraps-team-sweep-oars/

How to wrap oars

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FxcaeTeOz_g&t=10s

Take care of your oars to make them last longer.

If you paint your oars the old fashioned way is to sand them and use marine-grade gloss paint with undercoat and topcoat paint layers. Others have used spray can car paint too.

We had stickers (decals) of the club logo made to put on the shaft of the oars so that they can be identified - helpful if you don't paint your oars and they look the same as every other club. Easy for them to get lost at a regatta.

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Ways to improve speed of the oar through the water. Keep the stroke rate the same and increase the speed.

Timestamps

00:45 This is a long term project.

Less experienced rowers push the oar less hard than the more experienced and you need to train this.

Time through the water at stroke rate of 20 is approximately 3 seconds per stroke. Pushing the oar through the water on the power phase takes 1.2 to 1.5 seconds and yet we row with a ratio of at least 2:1 at low rates.

Experienced rowers get more rest every stroke. They push the oar with high intensity through the water and so they have more time with the oar out of the water.

03:30 Same rate more speed

How to row at the same stroke rate and deliver more force into the boat hull. The key to training this on the erg was to start with a focus point once every 5 minutes for 10 strokes.

For ten strokes push harder through the power phase but you're not allowed to take the rate up.

This showed us how much harder we could push and how much more rest we got as a result.

It depends on your muscular strength and fitness. Then we moved to doing this for a minute. After each intense stroke period we allowed 5 strokes to recover and take a little rest. Over time, you don't need to take that rest.

06:00 Up one: down one

Taking the same principle of increased intensity into the boat. We call "Up one down one" which means take the stroke rate up one point in rate through the water and down one point in rate on the slide. So at rate 20 you move to rate 21 through the water and rate 19 on the slide - which averages to 20.

This has the effect of intensifying the power phase.

Train yourself to do this and it gets a better ratio in the stroke - you learn how to relax more as you rest on the recovery.

The benefit is slightly more boat speed, slightly more rest and this helps to keep the boat moving fast through the water.

Here's an earlier episode which covers this topic further of how to train yourself to relax.

https://fastermastersrowing.com/get-more-speed-on-the-recovery/

Do this for short periods to begin with as it's tiring. Introduce it to your warmup just for 5 strokes at each stage in the pick drill.

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Three ways to get faster (or avoid slowing down) in training.

Timestamps

00:45 Can you increase the average speed of your boat?

The net of how fast it accelerates in the power phase and how much it slows in the recovery phase.

Our past episode about how to get speed on the recovery

https://youtube.com/live/RRF3o7LxNXM

01:45 Row to the Conditions

Pay attention to the water surface, to the wind and waves, to the water swirls under a bridge. This allows you to make subtle changes to how your boat is moving.

Rowing in a headwind - at the start the waves are highest (they've progressively built up) and these lower as you get closer to the end of 1k. With large waves you cannot rate high. When rowing to the conditions as you notice the wave height reducing, push on and increase the rate by half a point. You can also change the ratio (intensity through the water compared to relaxation up the slide).

04:30 No huge moves

If you do a big push the chances are you will suffer a large fall off in boat speed after the push is done. Choose moderate moves and you are more likely to be able to hold the new boat speed after it ends. Make your moves sustainable longer.

Pushing hard means you may compensate by trying to save energy and your pace judgement may suffer.

06:00 Avoid rowing in dirty water

The puddles of the crew in front are disturbed water. When the water block is churned by someone else's oar it makes the water unstable and hard for you to get your oar to grip the water. This affects the boat run and your ability to put energy into pushing the boat forwards.

When rowing near other crews, put their puddles under your riggers - between the hull and your spoon. The disturbed water will neither affect the run of your hull nor your spoon grip on the water.

Rowing in dirty water is hard to avoid if your eight has an unconventional rig (Two people on the same side in sweep eights) this may result in bow and stroke being on the same side. Only the fastest mens eights can avoid stroke rowing into bow's previous puddle.

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David Frost reviews Practical and Personal Looks at Coronary Artery Diseases (CAD) in Master's Rowers - download the additional information link below.

Timestamps

00:45 David Frost's journey through CAD

Coronary artery calcification - men need checking after age 70 more than women.

Even rowers who are known for being stoic - if you feel something in your chest, get it checked out.

"You have the coronary arteries of a 92 year old" was my signal that I needed help. The Agatston Score is is a proxy for heart health.

04:30 Five things that cause inflammation

- environmental stress

- toxins stress

- too much sunlight

- smoking

- exercise

Inflammation in your arteries can cause an issue if you work too hard, too fast for too long.

08:00 Rowers have a higher than average incidence of atrial fibrillation (AFIB)

Maybe rowers are doing themselves a disservice by training long and hard. What to do about this?

12:00 Heart age vs calendar age

There are interesting heart age metrics - pulse wave velocity measure tells how elastic your arteries are. Heart Rate Variability - the higher it is the better you are recovering.

David encourages masters to measure these and track their trends.

Dr Churchill in Boston is studying masters rowers' aorta for ASCVD.

Get a calcium CT scan - it helped David understand his condition.

18:00 A self-scan system

Perceived exertion, rest and hydration are a good guide to how you are feeling each day. David is mindful of recovery as well.

What age should you start getting the calcium CT scan done?

For men from age 40 and women maybe 50. For the plus wave velocity test this could be done from mid life - age 40 maybe ladies a bit later. Note David is a layman, not a doctor.

Rowing training is more 80% steady state and 20% higher intensity. This has trended upwards from about 60% when David was younger.

As humans we are slow to recognise when our body moved into the "next" stage. The competitive mindset can make us live in denial of aging.

It's not good for you to carry to much body fat - your waist to hip ratio is worth checking.

25:00 Burden or banish? David's new book

Sloth and gluttony contribute to heart disease - 80% is preventable. Lifestyle measures can defer the onset of heart disease.

Hopefully rowers can start to banish the preventable problem.

STRESSED spelled backwards is DESSERTS.

David's package of information

https://1drv.ms/p/c/af369003831e6951/EZ82vA6IqaRAtv172PZYmW0BV8HomDD4kselkTqn1Ykffw

Three more drills to learn sequentially which will improve your recovery. These will help fix balance issues.

Timestamps

00:45 Finesse really helps in the recovery

Crew alignment, bladework skills and body movement. The benefit is that the boat slows down less when you achieve these. The biggest gains in boat speed can be achieved here (assuming you aren't going to get much fitter/stronger).

By keeping the same peak in the power but slow the boat down less on the recovery, the average speed of the boat each stroke will be higher, and you will go faster.

Our teaching method: do one drill and then layer another drill on top of it - making it progressively harder. this allows you to build your skill and also crews of different ability can row together.

04:00 Skimming drill

Understand the impact your hands and handle heights have on boat balance.

On the recovery - let your oars run along the surface during the recovery. This teaches where the oar handles need to be relative to each other. The water is level - so your handles reflect the correct height during the power phase. In sculling this also helps to recognise the left hand over the right hand differential. Check the "nested" versus "stacked" hands demonstration at the crossover position.

Then add progressively deeper tap downs on the recovery - 1 cm, 2 cm, 3, cm. Can you keep the boat level?

It can be hard to keep your left hand higher than the right from half slide to the catch (the left hand is always higher than the right).

08:45 Pauses drills

From hands away / body over / quarter slide. Advanced rowers can also pause at weight on the feet. This is explained in the drills compendium.

Build on the skimming drill - now check your hands and body posture at different stages of the recovery. Watch the elbows of the person in front for timing.

10:15 Reverse ratio drill

The idea here is to arrive at full compression with your blade already in the water. Time the movement so the blade placement is before you change direction on the seat. Go fast up the slide and then drift your oars through the power phase. This helps you to make handle movements fluid.

Buy the Drills Compendium (24 drills and 3 bonus ebooks)

https://fastermastersrowing.com/member-register/drills/

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How to increase stroke power using three layered drills.

Timestamps

00:45 Drills for power

These are all part of the Drills Compendium (24 drills + 3 ebooks bundle).

Masters rowers tend to row a good leg drive and arm draw but neglect the back swing. The back is crucial to joining the leg drive and arm draw. How to ensure back swing adds to the speed of the boat.

03:15 The body sequence

From the catch (where boat is slowest) the stroke power takes the boat to its fastest speed. After the leg drive is half completed you need to start to layer the back swing so it overlaps with the end of the leg drive. Later the arm draw overlaps with the end of the back swing.

Learn how to use each body part in turn without dropping boat power at the changeover.

04:30 Body swing only drill

This is the least intuitive part! Start with legs straight and arms straight with blade in the water while leaning forwards. Swing your back to take the stroke and take the oars out when your. back swing is completed. Do this square blades and then once confident, add power to the stroke by engaging your core and glutes.

06:00 Body and arms and half slide rowing are the second and third parts of this drill. The glutes provide the connection between the legs and back. By building up the stroke progressively you should feel the spoon of the blade accelerate through the water - as you add in more body parts this must continue. The arms have to pick up already moving water (from your back swing) and make it faster still.

In a crew add in more people so the boat goes faster - notice how your body movements have to change to take account of the boat moving faster. If you aren't adding to the acceleration you should feel that you have no pressure on the end of the blade.

Try an exaggeration rowing at half slide and finish your legs/back/arms at the same time.

10:30 Our teaching method

The way we teach is designed to work for adult learners. We teach how we row and then make it progressively harder so you can continue to challenge yourself, continue to experiment with ways to make the movement and lastly check your experience with your crew mates - am I getting the right feeling here? Even the most experienced rowers can do these alongside the less experienced.

Do the drills at least 3 times in a single practice so you're familiar with the drill and can see your progress as you do it better each time.

Want easy live streams like this? Instant broadcasts to Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn. Faster Masters uses StreamYard: https://streamyard.com/pal/d/5694205242376192

Learn steps towards getting a good catch using drills.

Timestamps

00:45 Am I done learning the stroke yet? Asked an athlete…. only once!

The catch is challenging to learn – supporting your learning with drills means you can self-coach as well as getting coached.

https://fastermastersrowing.com/member-register/drills/

Michael sends his crews the drills video the night before practice.

Athletes need to know what to do in a drill and (importantly) why they are doing this drill. There are two main types of drill – exaggeration drills and isolation drills.

02:15 Handle height

This is where learning the catch starts – the height of the handle has to be understood so you know how high/low the handle needs to be. Describe the stroke cycle in high/low handle heights including the “ramp up” towards the catch position.

Learn this stationary in the boat. When the oars are flat on the water at the catch, the handle height is the same as when the oars are squared. Teaching how to arrive at this height the drill is “Slap Catches” so the athlete knows the precise moment their handle reaches the correct catch height – and the aural sound helps to align timing on both sides of the boat. Learn when to go up “the ramp”.

04:30 Making a shape

You have to actively lift your hands to make the catch ‘shape’ with the handle. Learning when and how to do this is the next stage in progressive learning. After squaring the blade, if you make the catch shape too early, the oar hits the water. If you square and your handle is too high on the recovery the oar will hit the water. An early square helps and you can figure out how high (low) the handle needs to be on the recovery so as to not hit the water.

When to make the shape? Use the second drill – backsplash drill – so the lower edge of the oar hits the water just as the handle lifts. You can hear and feel the backsplash.

06:20 Catch timing

This is relative to your body movement and the seat. Your seat is a good proxy for body movement because there’s a short moment when the seat rolls forward and stops as it changes direction. That’s when you need the oar to already be under the water.

The third drill (sweep) is to row with inside hand holding the back of the seat so you can tell when it changes direction. In sculling row with one oar only (someone holds the boat level). Watch the height of your knees too as this is also a good visual marker.

Our discussion continued around ways to keep handle moving towards the stern while placing the oar at the catch.

This series can be learned in a few practice – do two each time you go on the water. Take care that you understand the why as well as the how.

Learn steps towards getting a good catch using drills.

Timestamps

00:45 Am I done learning the stroke yet? Asked an athlete.... only once!

The catch is challenging to learn - supporting your learning with drills means you can self-coach as well as getting coached.

https://fastermastersrowing.com/member-register/drills/

Michael sends his crews the drills video the night before practice.

Athletes need to know what to do in a drill and (importantly) why they are doing this drill. There are two main types of drill - exaggeration drills and isolation drills.

02:15 Handle height

This is where learning the catch starts - the height of the handle has to be understood so you know how high/low the handle needs to be. Describe the stroke cycle in high/low handle heights including the "ramp up" towards the catch position.

Learn this stationary in the boat. When the oars are flat on the water at the catch, the handle height is the same as when the oars are squared. Teaching how to arrive at this height the drill is "Slap Catches" so the athlete knows the precise moment their handle reaches the correct catch height - and the aural sound helps to align timing on both sides of the boat. Learn when to go up "the ramp".

04:30 Making a shape

You have to actively lift your hands to make the catch 'shape' with the handle. Learning when and how to do this is the next stage in progressive learning. After squaring the blade, if you make the catch shape too early, the oar hits the water. If you square and your handle is too high on the recovery the oar will hit the water. An early square helps and you can figure out how high (low) the handle needs to be on the recovery so as to not hit the water.

When to make the shape? Use the second drill - backsplash drill - so the lower edge of the oar hits the water just as the handle lifts. You can hear and feel the backsplash.

06:20 Catch timing

This is relative to your body movement and the seat. Your seat is a good proxy for body movement because there's a short moment when the seat rolls forward and stops as it changes direction. That's when you need the oar to already be under the water.

The third drill (sweep) is to row with inside hand holding the back of the seat so you can tell when it changes direction. In sculling row with one oar only (someone holds the boat level). Watch the height of your knees too as this is also a good visual marker.

Our discussion continued around ways to keep handle moving towards the stern while placing the oar at the catch.

This series can be learned in a few practice - do two each time you go on the water. Take care that you understand the why as well as the how.

Want easy live streams like this? Instant broadcasts to Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn. Faster Masters uses StreamYard: https://streamyard.com/pal/d/5694205242376192