THE SPORT OF ROWING back is diminishing its work, the arms begin and finish theirs.”5212 “The first impulse at the catch is with the legs, and there should be no concurrent movement into the bow with the head and shoulders. The photo [previous page] shows this.”5213 In fact, the film frame clearly shows that while the legs dominated, the back was also swinging at the same time, and indeed the arms were already broken as well. Some have concluded that the Rosenberg hierarchy of strength, with legs at the top, followed by backs and arms in that order, implies a similar hierarchy of importance. This could not be further from Allen’s intent. In fact, he has also stated many times that in order to maintain steady pressure, the draw into the finish requires “the hardest work in the entire stroke”.5214 He even speaks of “kicking the bejazzis out of the finish!”5215 In summary, the Rosenberg Style as he requires strong and has described it instantaneous legs at the entry, with back and arm force application following in that overlapping sequential order to produce a single, steady pullthrough. Prof. Andrew Carter describes the biomechanics of the Rosenberg Style as follows: “We don’t see extension of the vertebral column [swing of the back, in the unscientific language of everyday rowers] immediately following the entry, at least not 5212 Ferris, p. 9 5213 Rosenberg, op. cit., 2007 5214 Rosenberg, USRA Clinic, Chula Vista, CA, Sept 11-2, 2004 5215 Ibid. Allen Rosenberg and the Author, 2004 in ‘good’ technique [as defined by Rosenberg]. “However, we should not be looking for sequential recruitment5216 of the [muscle] segments. Rather, we should look for simultaneous recruitment of the segments but sequential segment movements, which will overlap one another. “This movement sequence is legs, back, arms. “The analogy of a pyramid conjures images of seamlessly building one movement upon another - summing them by the end. Hence the Law of Summation of Segment Velocities, but this should not be confused with recruitment of musculature in three [temporal] segments.”5217 Rosenberg: “I don’t have a problem with Carter’s description. In fact, I can’t Philip Mallory 5216 In biomechanics, “recruitment” of muscles means the initiation of muscular effort. 5217 Carter, personal correspondence, 2005. See Chapter 48. 1438
