THE SPORT OF ROWING So, as far as leg and back effort is concerned, there is no such thing as sequential effort! It’s all concurrent. So what’s the big deal? The big deal is that the words a coach uses can have a profound effect on the attitude that forms in the mind of the rower. Stan Pocock describes a hybrid- effort which gives the concurrent appearance of sequentiality, while George Pocock in his time described the sequential result, and even though the two men were describing the same phenomenon, the identical technique, the impression each gave is very different. This becomes a very important distinction, because the concept of concurrent effort in the mind of a rower yields a force curve pattern materially different from the concept of sequential movement in the same mind, even if they both may yield a superficially similar outward appearance! It’s this simple. If a rower thinks concurrent, he will tend to apply force continuously, even if he is taught to emphasize one muscle group over another. If a rower thinks sequential, he will tend to apply force segmentally. As Steve Fairbairn1690 believed, the word picture a coach paints for his crew can do more harm than good if it focuses on individual components instead of on the stroke as a whole. Stan Pocock: “The danger in micro- describing the sequence of actions is that one can be led into a kind of ‘connect-the- dot rowing,’ as Frank Cunningham1691 loves to describe it. If one is trying to take ‘one cut’ at it, there is simply not enough time to think about which follows what.”1692 1690 See Chapter 19. 1691 See Chapter 63. 1692 S. Pocock, op.cit. What George Pocock intended was a concurrent effort 0-9, 0-9, 0-10 pullthrough, the only variation from the Conibear Stroke being the ferryman’s finish, but if you interpret his writings literally, you get virtually the opposite word picture, 0-9, 4-9, 6-10, and a very different force pattern! For instance, the instruction manual that Concept2, Inc. includes with its ergometers contains a literal restatement of George Pocock’s writings: “Begin the drive by pressing down your legs. Keep your arms straight and your back firm to transfer your leg power to the handle. Gradually bend your arms and swing back with your upper body until you reach a slight backward lean at the finish. Pull handle all the way into your abdomen.”1693 In summary, Concept2’s “official” sequential pullthrough is initiated by the legs only, with the back and arms joining in at mid-stroke and arms alone completing the motion. This was not the Pocock Stroke as George Pocock intended it, and one look at a health club rower will prove the point. Better to see great oarsmen executing a technique very much in the spirit of George Pocock. The Australian 2004 Olympic Champion coxless-pair, Drew Ginn and James Tomkins, rowed with leg drive sufficient to immobilize their arms and nearly immobilize their backs. Their hybrid-concurrent effort/sequential motion pullthrough ended in a ferryman’s finish. See the video frames on the following page. Steve Fairbairn was very successful in communicating what he considered to be the ideal boat-moving mindset: “As he springs and stretches the body, he should . . . feel he is hanging stretched in the air, hanging between the rowlock and the stretcher, pulling at and trying to climb the oar.”1694 1693 Concept2, p. 12 1694 Fairbairn On Rowing, p. 266 448
