WODdoc Episode 230 Project365: Correct Knee Position While Rowing.

Had the pleasure of working with Alex Silver-Fagan this morning on rowing technique. She is a row instructor at City Row and knows her stuff. I asked her what were the most common faults she saw during her rowing classes. Her response:

1. Early and excessive knee bend where athletes end up bringing the handle up and over the their knees.

2. Opposite of that….  where athletes excessive bend at the waist (normally rounding their backs) and forget to bend their knees at all.

3. The knee cavers:  This is the one we are going to address today because it’s such an easy fix.

Allowing our knees to cave-in is a sign of reduced glut activation. We solve this sucker just like when we’re standing and squatting. Guess why???? Because rowing uses a squatting mechanism. The key is to bring “knees out” from a unconscious to a conscious thought for the athlete without overloading them.

Really simply done by taking a light band as shown. Tie it around the athlete’s knees at a width where they have to hold some tension against the band to stop their knees from caving in. … Then boom … the magic happens.

Try it out!

Today’s WODdocket:

1. Row 200 meters without banded knees

2. Row 200 meters with banded knees

3. Note the differences.