But rowing looks so simple

I just wrote the following to a rower:

For the "ideal" rowing stroke, the blade should come out square, *then* feather as part of the recovery. But in order for this to happen, the drive has to be set up well - that means the drive has to be initiated with the legs, then with back swing (sitting up straight and tall), then pulling in straight and high so the oar handle comes in right at the bottom of your ribcage. If the connection is good through the drive, it is *then* possible to tap down the oar handle with the outside hand (with a flat outside wrist), and *then* feather the oar with the inside hand.

And then, all of that work translates over into what happens on the recovery: outside hand taps down, inside hand feathers, and then you lead out the recovery with flat hands. Still sit up tall, once the hands are out, *then* the shoulders swing forward, *then* the legs start to creep up the slide. At half slide, the square-up should begin, so the blade is square and ready to go in the water by the time you reach 3/4 slide. Then, from 3/4 to full, the only things which have to happen are the legs moving up to the catch, and the blade moving down to the water at the top of the catch.

The hardest part of all of this is that this is the "ideal" rowing stroke. In the real world (aka how our team has tended to row), the boat isn't always perfectly set, and that causes hand heights to rock around. The rowers sitting in front of you don't always have well-coordinated releases, so shoulders swing out at different times, and that causes the boat to rock around even more. As a result of all of that, a lot of our rowers have developed defensive habits - habits that allow them to survive, but NOT habits that allow them to apply power effectively (the thing which actually makes the boat go fast).

Now, how to make changes. One thing I can think of is to spend a bit more time with our dear friend the erg. Not rowing hard at first, rowing *well*. Start out rowing arms-only, and check a few things: are you sitting up tall, are your wrists flat, are you pulling in the erg handle to the appropriate spot, are your shoulders relaxed, are your elbows out at a comfortable angle (not "chicken wings" but also not squeezed up against the sides of your body).

Then go to arms and back, and add some things to the checklist - are your arms coming forward before the shoulders start to move, are you getting a comfortable amount of reach at the catch, but not too much (still sitting up tall with a straight spine, reaching from the hips), are you engaging the shoulders before the arms, etc. Then go to half slide, and add in: are you creeping up the slide gradually with the legs, then reversing the motion on the drive, kicking down the legs while keeping the back tall? Full slide will be similar.

On top of this basic warm-up and constant checklist (I run through a checklist like this whenever I am rowing), add in some full-slide erging with pause drills at arms and back. That's a way to re-check for good posture.

I'm trying to really work with the whole team to get everyone to build an assertive rowing stroke. The best time for this should be during warm-ups, when everyone is fresh, and when half of the boat is sitting out and *actively* helping to keep the boat set. If the boat is set, we have zero excuses for rowing with poor form or not paying attention.

----

Of course, having posted that, I'll bet other rowers out there will agree or disagree with various aspects of this description, or declare it to be unclear or overly simplified. In a lot of cases, a picture or video (or two) is worth a thousand words. See, for instance:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W8a9nKkp1OM&feature=related
and
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o3MdSkh2s2o

It looks simple, yeah. When it is done well.