Video Analysis Thread (post em here!)

[dr3do]

Kirby, thanks for your feedback.

Try to keep your head straight.

I usually have my head upright as I can (it's a little limited at the catch due to my humpback) and look to the monitor. I assume it was was the nervosity to do it very it good and because I really hate it, to be filmend or photographed. To check my "positioning" I usually look once/twice every 5-20' to the side (shadow) and down (shins).

Your hands also dip very low toward the catch. You might want to try some "arms only" rowing before each session to correct this issue [...]

Aye aye Captain. Thanks!

[Paul Victory]

Boris, it looks like a good strong stroke to me. No over-extension at the catch, arms kept straight at the start of the stroke, nice lean back at the end. The only things I noticed were the two things mentioned by Kirby. You dipped your head quite a bit on some of the strokes and your hands came right down over your stomach at the return instead of going straight out.

Paul V

[kirbyt]

Okay, jumping right in here. Bear in mind My knee issues and rustiness. R20-21 and about 2:13 pace:

[youtube]http://youtu.be/7wKWq2E5m2M[/youtube]

Oh never mind the video wouldn't embed for me. I feel really old right now.

[Recess]

Okay, jumping right in here. Bear in mind My knee issues and rustiness. R20-21 and about 2:13 pace:

[youtube]http://youtu.be/7wKWq2E5m2M[/youtube]

Oh never mind the video wouldn't embed for me. I feel really old right now.

Her you go;

[dr3do]

Okay, jumping right in here. Bear in mind My knee issues and rustiness. R20-21 and about 2:13 pace

For my understanding I probably could see…

• At the catch you start first to lean back and start early to pull with you arms, then you start to use you legs for drive.
• On some pulls it looks like you reach recovery position with arms before you have extended your legs. But on other pulls pulls it looks like you reach recovery and then immediately start to bend/open your legs.
• At the end of a stroke, when you pull the last centimeters with your arms, the seat slips/rolls back, but I think this could be related to the early opening of legs.
• At the beginning of recovery you start first to lean forward and then to move you arms.
• After recovery, on the way to catch position, you lower your arms after you passed you knees, but short after you reached catch position you move them up again.

What impressed me…

• only 11 days after post-op, wow! =D>
• I even can't say/see for sure which knee was affected. Possibly the left one?
• Nice long and straight arms at catch
• no overcompression and nice straight back at catch
• Can't see any rustiness.

[kirbyt]

Thanks, John, I was kinda hoping someone would fix it for me. you can do more with your iPhone in Boston than I can do with my iPad at home.

Boris, I pretty much agree with everything you said. It really looks to me like I push with my legs and pull with my arms at the same time instead of legs first. I'd also like to keep my toes down on the drive a little better, I can see my toes lifting off a bit. I do have long arms for my body so I wonder if that makes any difference on the timing of legs and arms but it's probably just an excuse.
Oh and it's the right knee.

[Recess]

It's interesting watching these videos, then reading what people say - just to see whether your own take on what a technique should look like is accurate or not. The first thing i spotted when watching yours Kirby was the last point that Boris made. There's a defined two-step return to the catch position. Whether making this more fluid would help - I guess would probably be down to improving rhythm rather than functional effort.

Is it fair to say you look quite stiff through your torso into your head too? Could just be the angle, or that you're returning post-op but you look very rigid.

That said, it's easy to see that where your speed comes from when you are at full capacity. Hope you get there soon!

Once my chest/ribs heal (I'm going to take a week off) I'll make a video, but handily, someone on Sunday filmed and uploaded the whole race with a static shot. My legs are obscured by the erg next to me - but it might be useful as a 'starter' video. It's interesting watching the first minute, then skipping to the end - see the change in the rate / technique. And pain in my face!

[kirbyt]

John, thanks for the observations, and I think you're dead on re the stiffness. Hard to say how much of that is injury related and how much is just my tense self. My physiotherapist says I'm still very protective of that knee even 3 months post injury. I will do another video in a few months at a higher rating and (hopefully) fully healed. R20 is not natural to me under normal circumstances.

I looked at you during the race and see nothing particularly wrong with your stroke. You seem to me to be quite flexible--good compression at the catch. I thought maybe your arms could be straighter but looking at the others I don't see a huge difference so maybe it's just the extreme speed. The three men to your right, I believe, are the medalists and the man in yellow is the world record holder and his stroke looks perhaps the sloppiest, although he is rating quite high I believe. What was your rating during the race, if you recall?

PS. Your coxswain is a handsome devil in a Ryan Reynolds/Gosling kind of way.

[gregsmith01748]

Hi: I just took a look at the videos posted here. I am glad that this thread is getting so active. I think it really serves two purposes. First is the obvious advantage of getting other people to provide constructive comments. The second might be more important. At least for me, when I post something here, I am forced to actually look at it myself and think about it. That kind of self review is hard to do and having something t o force it is a good thing.

Now on to the suggestions:

Boris: Your rowing looks good to me. The comments that others have made about keeping hands level on recovery and avoiding the habit of looking way down on some strokes are the only things that I noticed. In all other ways, I am envious of the precise sequencing in your recovery. One suggestion to try to work on the hands dropping is to put a piece of tape below the chain at the chain guard high enough so that the chain rubs if you drop your hands. It makes a very annoying noise. It has to be reasonable tough tape (like duct tape) to survive.

Kirby: Amazing recovery from surgery! You look great! I think the problems that you point out in sequencing are not that bad at all. You definitely start to open your back as soon as you start the drive, but I don't think that is costing you much efficiency. On the recovery, you are breaking your knees almost immediately and arms, back and legs are all happening at the same time. Unless you plan to row on the water, I'm not sure if that is such a bad thing. The good stuff that I saw was very good erect posture and stable head position.

[dr3do]

It's interesting watching these videos, then reading what people say - just to see whether your own take on what a technique should look like is accurate or not.

I am glad that this thread is getting so active. I think it really serves two purposes. First is the obvious advantage of getting other people to provide constructive comments.

ACK, this thread is amazing. Free Spirits are very constructive and there's NO stupid stuff (like bashing/flaming/hating/harassment), just friendly posts with the intention of being helpful.

WOW! =D>

[dr3do]

Hey Greg

Boris: Your rowing looks good to me. The comments that others have made about keeping hands level on recovery and avoiding the habit of looking way down on some strokes are the only things that I noticed. In all other ways, I am envious of the precise sequencing in your recovery.

Thanks for your feedback, which I appreciated very much.

Status quo: I'm working on it. For lower rates, like 15-18 SPM, it's very difficult and feels quite unnatural for me. But I could reduce the amount of lowering my hands/arms. Means… Reaching the end of a stroke I still like/need to put my hands down, but don't scrub along my legs any more. If keep my hands up (chain on same level) I can't sustain the lower rate, as I start to shorten my recovery and start to spee up (by SPM). On the other hand, on higher rates (>18) during short and intense sessions it feels quite good doing it the "new way".

During my research I found the rowing technique with the moving hands quite often.

One suggestion to try to work on the hands dropping is to put a piece of tape below the chain at the chain guard high enough so that the chain rubs if you drop your hands. It makes a very annoying noise. It has to be reasonable tough tape (like duct tape) to survive.

Frrrrr… flapflapflap… frrr… flapflapflap… frrr… flapflapflap… "Horrible nice" sound to help to work on technique.

[Recess]

Hey folks. Resurrecting this thread with a clip of the first 10 minutes of a 60. Not much changes through the 10 minutes, but if anyone could comment on my technique, that'd be great! It's at 25spm, so a bit lazy looking, I know..

[Draggon]

Here's me showing that I don't know what I'm doing... It's in HD, so if you click the "Watch on Youtube" button at the bottom of the video, you can get better resolution.

From the Description:

A short video showing a 2:05/500M pace at two different SPM's - 1st 60sec at 20spm, 2nd 60 sec at 24spm. Each pace features 10 seconds of slo-mo about 1/2-way through.

[gregsmith01748]

Hi,

I have a couple of suggestions.

1. You have very long shins. That's a great thing. You might want to drop you feet a bit so that you can get your shins closer to vertical at the catch, right now it looks like you are about 20deg short of vertical at the catch
2. Your recovery looks terrific to me. Very well sequenced. On the drive, it looks to me that you are opening up your back right at the catch, this is robbing you of some power in the strokes. If you can work on staying forward through the leg drive, you will get a bit of free speed out of it. A good drill for this is to do some "legs only" practice. It's just what it sounds like. You get into the catch position and you take strokes using only your legs and you try to maintain your back and arm position exactly like it is at the catch.
3. This is much less significant, but you might want to work on keeping your hands level through the stroke. You are dropping your hands as you come into the catch and then lift them back up again as you start the drive. I think this is one of the things that is causing you to open your back early.

Let me know if this is unclear or you have any questions.

[Draggon]

Thanks for that feedback, Greg. After posting the video, I had noticed 2 of the 3 things you mentioned (non-vertical shins and dropping hands on recovery), but had not noticed the early opening of the torso.

I watched a few technique videos yesterday and tried some legs-only rowing and could feel the difference. Hopefully I can make it stick!

Again, thanks for taking the time to reply!