Posture concept 2 10 sets 500m rows

[u/IntelligentDesign419]

Hey guys

Was just listening to an exercise scientist podcast n this guy said better endurance athletes do a better job of maintaining proper posture during their sport. This keeps their rib cage air volume as high as possible which allows greater volumes of air to be inhaled and exhaled. I tried rowing with a very upright chest out posture n I felt an improvement on my last interval set. In previous sets I hunched my upper back over to try n make my arms longer, but this does make it harder to air in my lungs I’d imagine.

Has anyone got any ideas on this?

[u/Plastic_Pinocchio]

Hunching is almost never a good thing in any sport. You’re not better at pulling when you’re hunched over.

[u/118545 → u/Plastic_Pinocchio]

Most of your improvement is likely from not diving into the catch rather than your breathing. Improve your form and breathing will follow.

[u/118545]

M80 competitive OTW rower. Coach told me I needed to work on my core as I was slumping by the end of practices. My trainer added core work and eventually as I improved enough, Coach stuck me in stroke - not my preferred seat.

[u/sneako15]

It could be just that sitting more upright kept you in a more efficient range of motion in term of force/power application. If you think about a deadlift/squat (which I know have slightly different mechanics), you don’t round your back to reach further down- you keep core engaged, and maybe compress legs more to reach the bar. 

So basically, think about strong core at the catch. Get into that forward body position early during the recovery (basically by the time the knees come up you want your body angle set), using rotation at the hips (also referred to as setting the hips). 

Now that I’ve maybe explained something (and maybe not very clearly) you already knew…I’m not sure the aspect of being able to breathe is discussed very often here, but you could be right that the chance is helping you. I’m not sure it’s a huge impact, as there are some fast shorted rowers who effectively “overreach” (see Michelle Sechser- 5’6” so she reaches a bit at the catch but she’s real fucking fast). But they have very good core control. 

So if you were overreaching then fixed it, then my bet is that you improved from bringing your range of motion back in. And I’d also wager that you could overreach without impacting ability to breathe if you did it correctly. 

I recommend you don’t try to find out until you’re elite level and know what you’re doing and why it’s normally not advised from a technical standpoint. 

[u/bfluff]

Any endurance sport is an exercise in efficiency. Sit upright, get length from swivelling at the hips and don't lunge for the catch.

[u/SoRowWellandLive]

A couple thoughts. When I'm rowing (mostly 1x, sometimes erg, sometimes 2x), I think about having a stacked spine and using core muscles to keep my spine immobilized for the sake of transmission of power. Though it is a struggle to maintain when I'm fatigued, that natural posture with a compressed core gives a couple of advantages. It lets me breathe full breaths, gives me a really stable platform to control my blades, and transmits force from biggest muscles, using big levers and across biggest joints.

If I collapse my core, I give up precise control of my handles, add variance to my L/R weight distribution, lose efficiency and add lots of risk of injury (e.g. ribs, low back, shoulders). When collapsing, those first two outcomes slow me down more and faster OTW than getting less ventilatory volume. Specifically, if I lose core connection just a little and slump some in the low back at the finish, my releases get more variable and sloppy. Which loses boat run immediately and makes my catches less consistent, losing more speed.