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Basic Physics of Rowing (2007)

eodg.atm.ox.ac.uk

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Re: Basic Physics of Rowing (2007)

#11

Post by inasio »

One cool fact is that rowing offers a bigger efficiency advantage over swimming than biking over running:

The efficiency advantage of biking versus running is around 2.66x, the hour record on bikes is currently 56 km (56km/hr), and the fastest marathon run is around 21km/hr.

On rowing vs swimming, the current freestyle 1500m record is 14:31 (6.2km/hr), whereas the best time for single scullers is 2km in 6:30 (18.5km/hr), for an advantage of around 3x.

* I tried to pick roughly similar distances to compare.

Re: Basic Physics of Rowing (2007)

#12

Post by CraigJPerry »

ninkendo wrote: post #4

I rowed in high school, and one of the things the coaches always wanted to see is for you to slide forward slowly in your seat as you move the oar between strokes. The reasoning being that as you slide “forward” in your seat, you’re actually pushing the boat backwards with your momentum, since you face backwards in the boat. It always struck me as strange advice though, because in a race you’re trying to get high str…

>> pushing with your legs first, then torso, then arms

I think that makes sense, i’ve got a rowing machine so i don’t know if it translates perfectly to real rowing but that’s the motion i do. Use the big leg muscles to move as much “oar” distance as possible first, then use your hips and core, then arms for whatever space is left between oar and chest.

I never feel my hips or core are tired but if i screw up this sequence my arms will get tired.

Re: Basic Physics of Rowing (2007)

#13

Post by kitd »

Note that this is only a subsection of Anu Dudhia's full set of rowing-related pages. The top of the tree is here:

http://eodg.atm.ox.ac.uk/user/dudhia/rowing/physics/index.ht...

And includes the basic physics of rowing machines (ergometers/ergs/ergos in the rowing world) for those confined to gyms & land training:

http://eodg.atm.ox.ac.uk/user/dudhia/rowing/physics/index.ht...

I've leaned on Anu's work many times in my rowing experience. I even raced him once!

Re: Basic Physics of Rowing (2007)

#16

Post by throwaway22032 »

inasio wrote: post #11

One cool fact is that rowing offers a bigger efficiency advantage over swimming than biking over running: The efficiency advantage of biking versus running is around 2.66x, the hour record on bikes is currently 56 km (56km/hr), and the fastest marathon run is around 21km/hr. On rowing vs swimming, the current freestyle 1500m record is 14:31 (6.2km/hr), whereas the best time for single scullers is 2km in 6:30 (18.5km/…

21kmh for a marathon is absolutely insane. Somehow I've never put two and two together on that before.

Re: Basic Physics of Rowing (2007)

#17

Post by sankumsek »

inasio wrote: post #11

One cool fact is that rowing offers a bigger efficiency advantage over swimming than biking over running: The efficiency advantage of biking versus running is around 2.66x, the hour record on bikes is currently 56 km (56km/hr), and the fastest marathon run is around 21km/hr. On rowing vs swimming, the current freestyle 1500m record is 14:31 (6.2km/hr), whereas the best time for single scullers is 2km in 6:30 (18.5km/…

Wouldn't this be better if we just picked the hour record for running?[1]

Coincidentally it's right at 21km/hr! :)

1.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One_hour_run

Re: Basic Physics of Rowing (2007)

#18

Post by swarupberia »

germinalphrase wrote: post #15

This seems as good a place to ask an any: is there a best “bang for your buck” rowing machine (or style of machine) for a novice? Edit: thanks!

Concept 2 Rowerg Model D is one of the best. https://www.wodarmour.in/collections/concept2/products/conce...

Re: Basic Physics of Rowing (2007)

#20

Post by slow_typist »

crote wrote: post #8
ninkendo wrote: post #4

I rowed in high school, and one of the things the coaches always wanted to see is for you to slide forward slowly in your seat as you move the oar between strokes. The reasoning being that as you slide “forward” in your seat, you’re actually pushing the boat backwards with your momentum, since you face backwards in the boat. It always struck me as strange advice though, because in a race you’re trying to get high str…

> slide forward slowly It's an efficiency thing, the linked page partially covers this in section 5. Going forwards slowly impacts the same momentum , but as it is done gradually it results in a greater overall boat speed because you avoid sudden speed jolts. And remember that going forwards quickly also means you must decelerate your body quite a bit at the catch! When a coach is telling you to slide forward slowly…

+1 Coach could also ask to accelerate an decelerate smoothly while recovering but telling rowers to recover more slowly or „calmly“ usually does the trick
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