RowingChat

Get stronger by doing resistance work in the boat using a bungee. What's it useful for? How to set up your boat.

Timestamps

02:00 Resistance training in rowing

All masters rowers need this to keep up strength and bone density. We lose strength as we age. I

You don't have to go into the gym.

03:45 Weights on the water give you specificity

It aligns the weight training with the rowing action and movement.

In the boat gearing helps you to not get over-loaded.

05:00 Why do resistance training?

06:45 Strength and conditioning includes work on core muscles

Resistance training helps us to recruit more muscles into the rowing stroke. It's hard to learn the overlap between the legs - back - arms. Watching masters rowing, very few have an active back swing.

Video of good rowing technique demonstrating legs - back - arms.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sv07y9mEO5M

Compare this to a video of yourself.

When you have a heavy load, figure out which muscles are working because they have to work harder. On the erg, increase the fan resistance to 10 and try it.

10:30 How to do resistance training in the boat.

1 - Lower the rate.

Do this resistance work at low rates, moving slowly and thoughtfully to make yourself deliberate and check your movements while you do each stroke. I like rates 16-20 if you can manage. Otherwise rate 24 is good.

2 - Increase the resistance - in a crew boat get half the crew to sit out so you carry their mass while you row.

Caution - you are carrying a large load build up gradually to doing this. Start with 20 strokes and then switch to the other half of the crew doing the work. Three sets of 20 is enough to begin with. Do 2-3 sessions of this before changing the number of strokes or repetitions (sets).

Well-trained athletes can build up to 50 or 60 strokes and many more sets.

14:15 How to do the workout

Do your warm up, then steady state for 10 minutes, 3 sets of power strokes, then paddle light or stop and have a rest. Then do another 10 minutes of steady state rowing, another 3 sets of power strokes and then warm down and end.

To increase the amount of power strokes

- increase the repetitions

- increase the sets

- reduce the amount of steady state

15:15 Other ways to increase the load in the boat

You can also increase the gearing on your oars.

Or you can add a bungee on the boat - under the hull to provide the resistance. This can be an elastic cord or a boat tie.

17:00 How to attach a bungee to your boat

Take a boat tie and put under the hull so it reduces the smoothness of the boat hull. Attach it behind the rigger because when you row it could slip off if put sternwards of your rigger!

increase the resistance by twisting the boat tie under the hull. You can also add a short section of garden hose - thread the boat tie through the hose.

19:30 The best part of resistance training

The end of the workout - take it off the boat. Then row your last steady state work without a bungee - your learned pattern of movement from the resistance training gets put into your normal stroke nad that additional work from overcoming the resistance helps to make the boat go faster (check it on your app / speed coach).

21:00 The biggest impact is on your technique

Using the recruited muscles and building into your stroke. Rowing slowly and deliberate movements really helps to improve your technique, especially at the catch. The slower hull boat speed means your placement into the water can be more accurate, once under the water you will also really feel the load. If you can slow the rate down to 16 - the boat is going through the water more slowly and the additional load at the catch placement helps you to feel what you're doing better. After taking the bungee off you continue to row with that level of skill in the final 10 minutes of rowing.

Compromises are needed sometimes in rowing. What happens to you and what can you do about them? How can you decide what to do?

Timestamps

00:30 Happy new rowing year.

What's in the January training program? 1k base preparation for those racing in April-June; 2k-5k Head racing in March; Crash-B program.

CRASH-B Date change to Feb 4th from Mar 5th in prior years. This caused us to have to adjust the program to race day being 4 weeks earlier. 4 weeks of training you can't do.

Land training to align with the training program; analysing force curves on the erg, the year in review, sleep monitoring and sculling right over left.

Review our training programs

https://fastermastersrowing.com/our-courses/

04:30 Compromises in rowing

We discussed among the coaches - this is not something we could influence or change. The race date is fixed. Review our planned workouts and the end goal for the last month and the taper week before the race. Review the test days planned and were these dates appropriate given the new race date. Review individual workouts especially race distance, higher intensity, race ratings.

07:30 The compromise we chose to make for CRASH-B training.

08:15 Athlete compromises

Athlete availability is an area where you may need to compromise. Ways to keep continuity while supporting members who are absent. To boat a regular eight you need twelve people available. Use the extra people to build the next eight crew you want for the group.

This creates club continuity - adaptable athletes who can row with anyone in the group. Everyone rows to the same base pattern.

10:30 Weather compromises

Dealing with windy days - find a wind shadow if you can.

Switching workout to cross training - on the erg you generally can do a straight switch. But if it's higher rate, go two points in rate lower on the erg. The loading is different on a fixed head rowing machine.

Bike rides are a good substitute - for an equivalent training session for 1 hour on the water or erg is equivalent to 45 minutes of running or 90 minutes cycling. Get the same physiological benefit.

13:15 Race day compromises

Who is your planned alternate? Someone who can slot in. In a series of crews - first 8, 2nd eight etc. What happens if someone goes ill or injured and who will move up from the next crew to take their place. Or some masters who will slot into youth crews at the last minute if someone isn't available.

Key is don't let these things put you off your stride.

14:30 Race preparation compromises

Some things are just too hard to do. In a short period a coach can train a crew to have a faster catch within the context of the existing planned workouts. But in 2 weeks you won't get a lot of base fitness gain. Choose your trade-offs carefully.

You may just have to abandon a technical change if they athlete can't learn it fast enough before the race.

Moving up the skill ladder from beginner to intermediate and then advanced requires improved skill.

These 9 drills are essential for you to master, and to revisit regularly.

01:00 The skills ladder - a helpful concept

Execution to a high standard is the main difference between advanced scullers and beginners.

04:45 Nine Essential Rowing drills

1 - Legs Only - from the catch to legs straight.

Watch for keeping shoulders sternward of the hips. Do it square blades for beginners and the most advanced single scullers.

2 - Legs and Back Only - keep the arms straight.

Teaches the transition from leg drive to adding the back swing. This helps to recruit other muscles into the stroke power delivery. Variant - 10 strokes legs only, 10 strokes legs and back rowing.

3 - Wide Grip - sweep inside hand down the shaft; sculling hands on end of rubber grip or on the shaft.

This increases the load in sculling to help to feel the grip connection at the catch - notice when the oars are in the water. Sweep it's useful to teach the outside / inside hand movements. Variant - progressively move hands back to normal grip.

4 - Inside Arm Only - sweep only. Use this to time feathering and to load up the leg drive at the catch.

Variant - hold outside hand and put inside hand onto backstay. This teaches how to rotate around the gate.

5 - Quarter Slide Push - the start of the power phase (reverse pick drill). Use only the first quarter of the slide from the catch. Variant - do the the drill slowly and have inside hand hold the back of your seat to work out where the seat stops moving - that's the timing point to place the catch. The handles move faster than the seat on the recovery.

6 - No Handle Rowing - for the indoor rowing machine (dynamic is best for this drill). Put the handle down and roll up and down the slide - push in the power phase. This helps to teach the ratio and rhythm especially to athletes who rush the slide. They move in time with the machine. Pick up the handle and keep the legs working the same and later add in the arm draw. In a crew boat have half the crew sit the boat - push the handles away so the oars are parallel with the side of the boat. They must do it in time together.

7 - Left Hand Lead - get the sequence off the finish to the cross-over with the hands nested tightly together. Delay straightening the right hand, hold it against your chest as the left hand straightens. Teaches the left hand to move faster to the crossover so it can get in front of the right hand. Variation - do it with an intermediate position gradually reducing the right hand's waiting time. Check the body is leaning back in the finish position - no body movement during the drill.

8 - Single Strokes to Weight on the Feet - a pause point where you can get weight onto the soles of your feet. This position is important because it's where your body catch angle is set and is the point to deeply relax your legs during the recovery. It gives you feeling of moving with the boat.

9 - Double Quick Hands - move from the extraction at the finish to the arms away position twice as fast as normal. Then move to normal speed. It's a good way to follow on from the Left Hand Lead exercise. It develops the smoothness of the handle tap down and feather movement. Variant - make the double quick arms and body swing finishing it at weight on the feet. Another variant is to do double quick hands and then do a double slow slide.

24:45 Do these drills regularly - that's the important part. Your boat skills reduce when you have time out of the boat. Use these drills to re-familiarise yourself when you get back into the boat.

Lose fine motor skills quickly and your catch placement timing is what you'll lose first after time out.

Upskill your technique with some self-coached drills. This week we focus on your hand holding the handle - fingers flat on the recovery.

00:30 The open palm drill helps with getting improved skill handling the oars and sculls in the boat is key to improving your boat comfort.

It sorts out your grip and handle placement on the recovery.

01:46 What is the drill for

It teaches how to have a loose grip on the recovery and also to have the weight of the oar in your hand so you can control the handle for correct feathering. Also, via the fulcrum you control the tip of the blade.

This is a semi-advanced drill - not for beginners.

02:45 How to do it

Take the oar out of the water at the finish, feather and extend your arms and at that point straighten your fingers so the oar handle rests under your palm (where the palm and fingers meet). Have a straight line from knuckle, wrist and elbow. Put downwards pressure on the handle without gripping it. Then rock forward and move through the recovery, bend your knees and roll up the slide. When you get to the position where you would normally square your blade, wrap your fingers around the handle and roll the blade square. And you’re ready to take the catch. Row a normal power phase, then repeat the open palm recovery.

04:30 Teaching the drill

Start stationary - practice while sitting in the boat - arms straight and open fingers and wrap them back around the handle. Develop a sense of the amount of downward pressure needed to keep the handle at the same height and how to use the motion of wrapping the fingers around and squaring simultaneously.

Check exactly where athletes are holding the handle on their palm. When wrapping the fingers - make it smooth and lead the wrapping movement into the squaring movement. You have done it correctly when the blade is square the your knuckle/wrist/elbow are in a straight line.

06:00 How to use the drill

Row ten strokes of open palm rowing alternate with 10 strokes normal rowing.

Can you stay in rhythm, all square together and stay in time on the recovery while opening the fingers without losing control of the oar?

Good to use in warm up or during a steady paddle workout.

07:30 Errors

Too nervous to actually straighten fingers and get to a flat palm position. Give the athlete confidence by practicing alone in a stable boat.

Rushing to straighten the fingers. Define one point when everyone has the palm flat - slow this down so the crew aligns timing and has correct movements.

Oar handle in the correct place on the palm.

Tapped down the blade extraction on the handle to clear the water at the finish and maintain that same height through the recovery.

Squaring completed in a single smooth movement.

Square at the same time in the crew and start squaring early enough so it’s fully complete before you reach front stops.

Consistent press down so the depth is identical through the crew on every stroke.

Can the athlete recognise the feeling of weight in the palm of the hand and how to use this feeling to control the oar during the recovery?

10:00 Advanced drill variations

- Check the athletes keep pressure on during the drill - so boat speed stays the same while doing the drill.

- Alternate strokes - open palm and normal hand grip. Particularly good for sweep practice.

- Sweep rowing - open palm only with inside hand. Or open palm only with outside hand.

- Pauses - at half slide with open palms.

- Pause at one quarter slide with open palms and add a double press-down on the handle. To practice feeling the control in the handle height, then roll forward to complete the recovery, square and place the catch.

- Alternate square blades and feather with open palm.

- Open palm at high rates and/or at firm pressure.

- Incorporate open palm as part of a pause drill - try saying the words “roll and slide” using the word association of sliding your seat and rolling fingers to make the squaring action. Define where you start the squaring movement to reinforce the movement.

Often the first rowing drill taught, but so often executed poorly and without care. This is one of the best drills to teach how to recruit more muscles into your stroke.

Learn how to teach it, what it does for your boat and errors to watch out for.

Timestamps

01:00 The arms and body drill - how to set up the boat from the finish, get run on the boat and recruit more muscles.

Sitting in the finish position - shoulders behind your hips, leaning backwards and feet pressed flat into the shoes. Row with your arms square blades with your arms only - straighten, then bend them keep your body and legs still.

Then move to a second position - adding a body swing forwards after the arms are fully straight - place the oar into the water, swing back and then bend your arms to complete the stroke.

The familiarity of the drill makes us less careful in the execution.

02:30 What is the arms and body drill for?

It's to teach sequencing. Release the oar from the water at the end of the power phase, how to enable the arms to lead the recovery with the body following on.

Also

- how to make a square blade extraction

- correct hight of blade handle at the finish

- weight in the hand to control the handle as you extract

- it leads into learning timing for feathering.

03:40 How to use this drill - key coaching points

Timing of the finish release and moving onto the recovery.

Getting the oar out of the. water depends on doing it before the handle reaches the body and before you lose contact with the footstretcher. Try varying your finish extraction point by 1cm, 2 cm with loose shoe laces to find when you lose pressure on your feet to find the timing point for your finish extraction.

Getting a strong finish

If the oar isn't continuously accelerated through the power phase it becomes harder to get the oar out of the water. Doing the drill with good pressure helps the oar come out easily. In sweep you can add more power with your inside hand due to the rotation of the oar around the pin.

Getting the body position correct after extraction

Ensure shoulders are behind the hips and the swing back is inline with your crew mates. Keep the body position still while extracting the blade and straightening the arm is important - I call it "separation"

09:30 How to teach the drill

Start by getting the static positions correct - the finish blade squared and buried under the water - move to hands away position - then rock to body over - and then place the blade in the water for the point of entry. Understand the handle height when the oar is under the water.

If you can place the oar under the water at the point of full reach forward you can sharpen the catch timing and use your hands to anticipate the moment of change of direction.

11:30 Errors to watch out for

Sloppy body positions - swing back and forward, arms straight before swing forwards (or simultaneous)?

Blade height above the water on the recovery - does it stay at the same height above the water until the catch?

Handle height at the water entry point - check alignment with the back of the person in front of you (or the stern canvas).

Feathering too early - trying to feather underwater or feathering the oar out of the water rather than having a square blade extraction. Check weight in the hand to press handle downwards and that there's enough power behind the blade. Masters often compromise their back swing - it should add to the boat speed.

15:45 Advanced versions of this drill

Add a backspash when the oar enters the water - handle rising ahead of the change of direction.

Timing the release with improved downward pressure on the handle (1cm / 2cm earlier)

Wide grip on the handles (sculling slide hands down the shaft; sweep inside hand slide down the shaft) do you get a different feeling of control?

Do at firm pressure and add in more people so the boat goes faster - how does this affect release timing and placement?

What's the drill for? How to use it to improve your skills and errors to watch out for.

01:00 Drills and Skills

We do them for crew alignment, blade handling, technique, isolating part of the stroke or exaggerating part of the stroke to amplify its effect.

01:30 The reverse pick drill

This starts at the catch - sitting at full compression. Start with a very short stroke (2 inches of the slide). Some like to start with a blade placement before this stage.

- Tapping and placement

- 2 inches stroke (5 cm)

- from catch to 3/4 slide [using one quarter of the slide]

- from catch to 1/2 slide

- from catch to 1/4 slide

- legs only rowing [note different from normal rowing]

- legs and body [straight arms]

- normal rowing including arms

04:45 what's the drill for?

1) Placing the blade before the leg drive begins. Some people assume the blade placement and leg drive are simultaneous. They are not. These are sequential movements - on the recovery your hands move upwards so the blade goes down towards the water while still moving forwards on the slide.

2) Get the correct sequencing off the catch - legs initiate the drive and back/arms follow.

06:00 How to use this drill

The effect of this drill is to make a longer stroke if the blade is placed more rapidly and closer to full compression on the legs (so you miss less water). It helps to align the leg drive of the crew.

Coaches - view your crew from 45 degrees from the stern to watch their knees rising and falling through the stroke cycle.

When to coach an individual versus whole crew

https://fastermastersrowing.com/focus-on-whole-crew-or-an-individual/

08:15 How to teach the reverse pick drill

You need to slow it right down and if possible in a stable environment with half the crew sitting out. So others can use square blades.

Rehearse each of the static positions slowly with the boat stationary.

They must all know these first - start at the catch (blade square and buried); move to 2 inches from the catch; one quarter from the catch; half slide from the catch; three quarters slide from the catch; legs only. Straight arm rowing and finally adding the arms so you end the drill at the finish position with the blade still buried under the water.

Rehearse each several times.

10:30 Start to do the drill at the catch placement into the water with raising and lowering the blade in and out of the water. Watch for shoulder shrugs and folks using a back swing to place the blade rather than the arms lifting moving alone.

Move onto 2 inches on the slide. Show the athletes how to push on the foot stretcher to initiate the drive phase. Emphasise the hips driving backwards and the body angle doesn't change.

11:30 Many people find it difficult to separate the leg drive from the body swing. Watch for chins lifting if this happens.

12:15 Best not to do more than 10 strokes at each position. It's a lot of load on the body.

Inflexible athletes will find it hard.

Article on easy setup for comfort in the boat.

https://fastermastersrowing.com/adapting-rowing-rigging-for-masters-physiology/

Join in the rest of the crew progressively so that the people who have done the drill are are focused on their catch and leg driven power phase - as the boat moves faster, they will find it more challenging to get the same feeling of placement and "grip" on the water before it moved. They can anticipate the catch and adjust their timing to keep the feeling of load.

15:00 Repeat the drill three times during an outing. Teaching it on the land first using an erg can be helpful as you can get up close and position an athlete's body.

How to get the athlete to learn the leg drive using hips first.

16:00 Errors to watch out for

- Using the shoulders lifting to place the blade

- The slide doesn't move the same distance from the catch as the handle does

- Drive before placement

- Wait at the catch before placing the blade

18:30 This drill benefits from frequent practice. Maybe use it in your warm up or on the erg.

We need to map an athlete pathway for masters. All other parts of rowing have this as it guides federations, funding, coach resources and competition. Why don't masters have a pathway?

Timestamps:

01:00 Rebecca's advocacy work to get masters taken seriously, our needs to be noted.

Speaking out on behalf of masters as the fastest-growing part of the rowing community.

Would people who run the sport and set policy acknowledge the needs of masters? We are not the same as youth rowers - what's right for them is not right for us.

02:30 A pathway for masters

This is one aspect of big-picture policy setting for masters. Pathways guide policy for sport and I hope this will enable masters to be part of the overall plan for sport in your club / region / country.

04:00 Systems thinking is a framework we can use to find answers for masters needs

A call for a working group to create the pathway and change our sport to become masters-friendly.

Link to Rebecca's slides for download

https://www.slideshare.net/rcaroe/sys...

06:00 Systems Thinking for Masters Rowing speech

The situation in 2019 - what is broken in masters rowing?

The Frustrations of Masters Rowers article.

08:45 How masters come to the sport and how the sport of rowing organises around masters - clubs and federations' roles.

What is needed for "Rowing For Life"?

10:15 Four things that help us to solve the problems faced by masters rowers.

A list of solutions already in place to help masters overcome the frustrations listed earlier. Three of the 9 solutions are:

- Too few masters regattas

- Ignorance of rigging

- Reducing friction in club administration

15:15 The Athlete Pathway for masters

As it is now - starting with learn to row. The learning journey is not smooth and needs to include intermediate stages where athletes masters parts of what's needed to race well in competition. It's rare for someone to jump up these levels.

16:45 A Masters Pathway proposal

Includes 2-5 years of racing with people whose learning is equivalent to yours. Masters train fewer times a week compared to young athletes and so it takes us longer to acquire the same level of skill and capability at the end of a novice year.

Federations should acknowledge this as a status - providing credibility.

Clubs need to continue learn to row classes.

Regattas should offer racing in these classifications.

Hyper-local events are needed for this group of new masters learning to race.

19:45 Without Masters diversity fails.

Diversity and inclusion fails if it doesn't also include anti-agist work for masters.

20:45 Get the free advocacy articles for yourself or your club.

https://fastermastersrowing.com/advocacy

Please invite Rebecca to speak to your group and hear this presentation.

Buying rowing training programs online - making your decision.

Timestamps

01:00 A customer writes ""I have presented the options to our club & pushed heavily for the program. There are some very vocal people who feel like there are robust free training plans online Some suggest we reuse our plan from 6 years ago and that would suffice for our purposes. It’s more of an uphill battle than I expected. The next step is for people to submit their own recommendations for our committee to consider. Once that’s done, we will put it to a vote.

People are just very largely against paying for a plan and think that we have enough talented, intelligent people on our team to put something together that’ll be good enough. We are a recreationally competitive club with no real desire to progress beyond that."

Is this a situation that looks familiar to you?

02:00 Our challenges are often similar but local situations have nuance.

- A committee that makes decisions

- Vocal people in the group

- Perceptions about what will "do the job" of a programme.

03:00 any free rowing program MUST be written for masters. If you're athletic, and well-trained, aged 40 or less You will have no problem using free online programs written for 2k racing.

Men and women cannot do the same program because our physiology changes through the decades.

Try a sample of the Faster Masters Rowing programs sign up free here

https://fastermastersrowing.com/rowing-program

05:00 When buying a training program, speak to the person who has written it - ask about their experience training masters.

Do they have a good understanding of masters physiology? The diversity of people from beginners through returning rowers. How to deal with adult novices, rigging adjustments, general adaptations for masters to row in comfort?

06:30 Broken Oars Podcast reviewed online training programs including Faster Masters Rowing.

The review is from the point of view of any athlete.

This is what they said about Faster Masters programs.

07:00 "This program for 4 weeks ticks a lot of good boxes".

Your Guide to Purchasing Rowing Coaching

Good reasons to spend money on a specific program for 1k racing.

This program takes you there quite quickly - it has one week of training (specific preparation with a taper week). You get 7 days of training which you repeat each week and then move into the taper week before the regatta.

As you get closer to the race, you need to practice distance in meters, not minutes of workout.

This workout is focused on 500m, 750m and 250m workouts aligned with learning the race distance within one workout.

This is a GOOD Training program for one thousand meters, I found it hard to get my training right for this distance.

11:30 Feedback we gave to Rebecca Caroe - the price could be increased to include a consultation - or to buy a consult on its own to get individual coaching suited for yourself.

Buy coaching from Faster Masters Rowing - buy time and expertise in the technique review service.

http://fastermastersrowing.com/our-courses/

13:00 The full Faster Masters program offering is currently US$39 per month [2023]; it also includes gym strength and conditioning training as well as 4 articles on technique, peak performance, rowing lifestyle and a bonus.

Coaches can buy these programs in a Word doc format so you can edit them and adjust to your own situation.

https://fastermastersrowing.com/coach/

Our offer is 100% refund if within 14 days you aren't fully satisfied. Keep the program as our gift for you.

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

5 dos and don'ts for. crew alignment... when to coach the whole crew versus coach one individual.

Timestamps

01:00 When in a mixed ability crew it can be challenging, especially if you think you're the least experienced.

Working on one thing for the whole crew at the same time created common endeavour in the boat. Whole crew coaching creates a singular focus.

Five situations where there's an advantage of picking whole crew or individual coaching

03:30 Warming up

We all do this every practice - the outcome we want is to refresh our memory of the movement and to be warm enough to do the workout. I need the warmup to activate muscles and get into the rowing stroke pattern. This is best done with a coaching focus on the whole crew.

Focus points - these help each person to check their own movement and technique in one area of the stroke. It brings everyone together in one point of the stroke cycle and creates alignment. Try using these in your next workout.

First create a common understanding of the static positions in the rowing stroke.

07:30 Drills - learning

When doing them for the first time, it's important this is done by the whole crew, practicing together.

Do the drill 3 times in a workout so the crew learns it fully and is confident executing it.

Older Athlete and Aging webinar

https://fastermastersrowing.com/older-athlete-aging/

10:15 Drills - repeating

You already know how to do the drill this is the moment to move to an individual focus. Are we all moving in the same way? Check they are doing the drill correctly, that they are moving in time with the rest of the crew.

Tell the crew *how* to make the change, not just the change you want made. This can help everyone to do the movement in the same way. Example how to get blades closer to the water before the catch.

For regular crews, you may already had agreed how to do a drill or movement - so this may not be needed.

13:30 Pieces

This is a whole crew focus situation where a common mental focus is needed and helps the piece to be executed better. A call to focus on one part of the stroke is good as the crew all does it together. Keep 10 strokes between every focus call, ensure the crew had done the focus you called. It's the only thing the crew is trying to do together.

Exception is to call it a second time if the crew doesn't do the change you called.

15:30 Moving from a drill to a piece

Take a technical focus into a hard work piece is an opportunity for individual focus. It's harder to do the change when you are under pressure, in a more challenging situation.

This helps create more alignment in the crew.

Talk about what happens after the workout - did the changes work? Was it more effective to do individual or crew coaching?

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

Dave Houchin is researching masters rowers and intrinsic motivation. What makes us what to do what we do?

Timestamps

01:00 Dave started rowing 18 months ago after retirement at Ancholme Rowing Club.

If you row and race, you accept that motivation is part of the deal. Masters are the most diverse population in our sport.

02:00 Masters diverse motivations

The approach is different from juniors - coached in a different way, explanations and buy-in are different.

He wants to know more about masters' motivators and the positive and negative factors affecting your enthusiasm for rowing.

There is little academic research into masters' motivation. Dave is leading the charge.

With masters there's no obligation to show up and what you put into rowing is up to you. So the coach needs to be flexible. It's harder to set the learning environment and atmosphere for masters when you are coaching.

Motivation is about how we move into action.

Dave believes masters motivation needs a different approach.

06:00 Self-determination theory

This assumes we have 3 psychological needs - competence, relatedness and autonomy. Dave is researching if the balance of these three alters as we get older.

Autonomy is about doing things because we want to do them - self-motivation.

How can coaches best meet these autonomy needs?

Help Dave's research with a 3 minute survey. He is gathering survey responses here [12 November deadline].

https://wolverhamptonpsych.eu.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_3qKe0jwJQs8LoZE

Coach Mastermind Group - monthly meeting.

Coaching very senior executives is interesting - why are they coming to rowing, how do they take direction from a rowing coach? Relativity - people are very experienced in what they do with skills developed over decades. Relatedness is low when you are new to a club. Autonomy - you hand this over to the coach to guide your learning. Dealing with these people, most have enough expertise to say what they want, despite being new to rowing.

10:30 Sports coaching is very controlling - this doesn't work for masters nor is what they usually want.

The Older Athlete and Aging Webinar 2023

https://fastermastersrowing.com/older-athlete-aging/

12:30 Executive coach versus sports coach

How to find ways to improve your own coaching delivery. A shift in emphasis - less telling and directing and more asking questions and listening. A coach should probe and explore with questions to get to the core of what the person wants.

Sports coaching courses often include athlete-centred coaching information.

Give the athlete more responsibility - it makes it easier for the coach.

17:30 an executive coach never takes anything at face value. They are challenging for participants.

What does it look like to set out to win the World Rowing Masters Championships?

What do you mean from me to achieve that?

Let the other person come up with the plan and commit to their process.This is internal commitment.

Intrinsic versus extrinsic motivation.

20:00 Do your autonomy needs (volition and control) need change as we get older? Dave's research is about do these things apply equally to the whole population.

The key elements are your age, number of years rowing, the frequency of coaching you get.

22:00 Key takeaways for us to reflect on.

Make it a 2-way process with a contract at the start of the session. Challenge your athlete but give them a high degree of choice and responsibility.

Give rationale for what you are trying to achieve and how it relates to what the athlete is trying to achieve.

Create shared responsibility by giving more responsibility to the athlete so they're more likely to commit.

Many coaches at a club level are there because they want to get athletes to where they want to do. The coaches need motivation too - so as athletes can you help the coach feel motivated working with you - a shared participation?

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