THE SPORT OF ROWING Kleshnev: “In rowing, this late power peak would overload the trunk and arms, which are weaker body segments than legs.”8683 This opinion is not universally shared. Karl Adam, Ratzeburger Ruderclub: “The power increases all the time in order to maintain the same amount of pressure on the water surface of the blade, to compensate for the gathering speed of the boat, the oar slip- ping through the water, and the increase of angular velocity of the oar to the longitudi- nal axis of the shell.”8684 As a physics teacher, Dr. Adam under- stood very well the terms he was using, and it is my experience that accepting the chal- lenge of generating ever more power toward the release is a fundamental part of the chal- lenge of rowing one’s best. Always has been. Always will be. And this would not “overload the trunk and arms.” Force need only be maintained, not increased. Doing so at a higher speed is a challenge of skill, not of strength. There just haven’t been very many suc- cessful “even power” crews in history, so it is difficult to apply a rigorous historical test to front-loaded or Kernschlag force applica- tion. However, this discussion clarifies the fact that an optimal Schubschlag accelerat- ing pullthrough does not start with a medi- um entry and build effort to the finish. At the entry, it requires the maximum possible effort or force that the oarsman can maintain through the stroke, and it recognizes that this effort will have a cumulative impact on boat speed throughout the stroke. Schubschlag also recognizes that while force is to remain the maximal possible, the challenge of continuing to be effective at the ever-higher speeds toward the release is real and daunting. 8683 Ibid. 8684 Adam, Ratzeburg Clinic, p. 4 This interpretation of the physics of Schubschlag puts the following quotations in a much different perspective: Nash: “The idea of pulling the handle stronger and stronger all the way to the very finish is a waste of energy, and in my opin- ion, it tenses the athlete and detracts from fluidity. Remember the bend after the per- pendicular begins to unbend as the body has used the leg drive and back swing for the most part, and only the arm squeeze retains any bend in the shaft. “Balance is helped by deep finishes, but not extra amounts of power, which destroy run and smooth finishes. “I can just tell you that when the anato- my of the body and the levers of the ma- chine are almost expended, to then acceler- ate to the finish causes a double motion in the water by most rowers. “If you watch guys who force-feed the end of the stroke, they’re forcing it in to the chest to get this worthless, heavy finish. Anatomically, you’re not getting anything out of it. “If you try to send the boat by pounding the finish, you’re probably dumping. You might be tempted to try to go again after seven-eighths of the pullthrough is complet- ed because the latter part of a bench-pull is very strong, and that might cause the buck- ing that we saw many crews do in the 1980s Janoušek8685 era.”8686 But this is not what Schubschlag means. If the approach Nash describes has ever ex- isted in a successful crew, it has been an approach separate and distinct from Schub- schlag. However, the confusion is common and often has been caused by well- intentioned but imprecise word choice. Nash: “Men bucked their oars and swung out before they really finished. You saw them leading the finish with their bodies [demonstrating the ferryman’s finish]. They 8685 See Chapter 117. 8686 Nash, personal conversation, 2007 2442
