Crossfit Local Chapel HIll: Rowing Rewind

by Coach Chad Edwards

Recently, Alan, Beth, Dan, Carol, Jen and I took on-water rowing lessons with Carolina Masters. It was a pretty awesome experience and quite different than the erg (rowing machine), so I thought I would share some insights and takeaways with everyone.

1. Rowing on the water is uncomfortable at first.
You think rowing on the erg is bad? Try doing the same thing strapped into a narrow, lightweight boat for two hours. On the erg, we have a nice, even handle which moves in a straight line and is connected to a perfectly balanced flywheel. We rowed in a sweep boat, which means each person is holding one oar as opposed to two. As a result, the stroke is more of an arching motion to the right if you are rowing port, or to the left if you are starboard. (Sailors don’t criticize me yet: on row boat, we are facing the rear (stern) of the boat, so all nautical terms are effectively reversed). It also takes a large amount of
coordination and concentration. All 8 rowers need to move at the exact same stroke rate to be most effective. We also need to keep our oar out of the water on the recovery using the feather (rotating the oar so it is parallel to the water surface then flipping it back to perpendicular before dropping it back into the water). Other things to learn are keeping the boat set (stable and level), rowing with the oar at the correct depth in the water, and listening to the commands of your coxwain. All of these things require a significant amount of concentration, coordination, and practice to become comfortable.

2. Like CrossFitters, rowers have their own language.
Coxwain, Cox box, catch, drive, finish, feathering, check it down, hold water, let it run, power 10, set the boat, catch a crab; these are just a few of the terms we became familiar with by the end of the last session. Luckily, not everyone ended up catching a crab even though I did! Also, always remember to listen to your Cox. He/she has all the power.

3. CrossFit really does prepare us for anything.

By this, I do not mean we had erg experience; therefore, we automatically became good rowers. As I mentioned above, there are vast differences between the two. However, as our instructors can attest, we picked up rowing very quickly. We were rowing all eight at a time in only the third lesson, and added power 10s (10 strokes as hard as you can go) and increased stroke rates for long, sustained rows in our final lesson. Rowing all eight is something most classes don’t even attempt and, if they do, it is usually only for 10 strokes or so in the last lesson. I’m certain CrossFit training is the main reason for our success. The 10 General Physical Skills of CrossFit are cardiovascular/respiratory endurance, stamina, strength, flexibility, power, speed, coordination, agility, balance, and accuracy. While the first 6 are sexy, and usually what we focus on when we see gains in ability, this experience really made me realize how CrossFit helps with the less sexy physical skills: coordination, agility, balance, and accuracy. These four skills are paramount to successfully rowing on the water. Training the Olympic lifts, gymnastics, and other high-skill movements on a daily basis really helps us gain body control and physical awareness. This bodily awareness will translate to any new physical activity we experience in the future! This is something that other training programs simply do not offer.

4. Rowing on the water will translate to good technique on an erg.
I’m sure you have all heard a coach tell you to keep your stroke rate down on the erg. Typically, we advise to stay below 30 strokes per minute. To do this, we want our drive to be powerful and quick, with a slow and controlled recovery. There are two main reasons for this:

A. The recovery stroke is just that — a recovery. If we are rapidly moving up and down the slide, our legs, back, and arms have little chance to recover. As a result, each drive will become less and less effective as we get more tired. By keeping the recovery stroke at least twice as long as the drive, we are allowing our bodies ample time to recover. This will give us the ability to pull harder with each stroke resulting in a faster time overall.

B. On a boat, quickly moving down the slide will throw the momentum of the boat in the opposite direction. Think of Sir Issac Newton next time you are on the erg. If you’re rowing at a 1:1 stroke to drive ratio, all that momentum you are creating by having a fast recovery needs to have an opposite and equal reaction. On the water, this can only cause the boat to move in the opposite direction you want it to go. By keeping our recovery slow and controlled, we limit the destructive effect this will have on boat speed.

5. This was an awesome experience.
Let it be known: rowing on University Lake on a beautiful spring day is much better than staring at the wall in the box for 2000 meters. The instructors and fill-in rowers were awesome, and it was just an overall great experience. Carolina Masters will be running a few more lessons over the summer, so I highly suggest trying it out if you get the chance. They mentioned a possible intermediate class as well, which I will definitely be interested in. Let me know if you have any questions!



Crossfit Local in Chapel Hill - a strength and conditioning program centered on functional fitness. We believe that people of all ages and levels of activity benefit from combining basic functional movements in varied ways to elicit greater personal fitness. We use pullups, lifts, gymnastics movements, running, rowing, climbing, kettlebells, sandbags, and even tire flips to produce rapid fitness results. We specialize in not specializing. We train the young, the old, the professional athlete, the weekend warrior, the student, the parent, and the beginner. CrossFit produces world class athletes and healthy individuals.