Rowperfect (On-Demand)

Rowing pages on Facebook

Rebecca Caroe — Sat, 18 May 2013 09:00:00 +0000

Do you know you can get a summary of popular Facebook Rowing pages right here? Just go to http://www.rowperfect.co.uk/facebook-rowing/ and scroll down the page.

We have collated lots of popular Facebook pages into one – includes regattas, national teams, Rowing Confessions and Rowing Related blog by Bryan Kitch.

Saves clicking around inside Facebook!

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Does taking Bicarbonate of Soda improve your 2k score?

Rebecca Caroe — Fri, 17 May 2013 09:00:00 +0000

One of the urban legends about legal methods of increasing a personal test score or an important race is to take bicarbonate of soda before a 2k erg test.

Sodium bicarbonate, sodium hydrogencarbonate, sodium bicarb, “baking soda”, “bread soda”, “cooking soda” (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Here’s a useful article that sets out how to calculate how much bicarb to take (body weight), and what the effects were on a test group of athletes.

The theory of baking soda

During intense exercise a significant proportion of the energy required for muscle contraction comes from anaerobic respiration. This is when you produce energy whilst having a limited oxygen supply. This has the negative effect of increasing cellular and blood acidity. High acidity limits the ability of your muscles to contract, meaning you slow down. Bicarbonate is an alkaline, meaning it will neutralise an acid. This is also referred to as a buffer (because it ‘buffers’ the effects of an acid). Bicarbonate is the body’s primary extra cellular (outside of cells) buffer. As such, ingesting bicarbonate before intensive exercise should increase the body’s buffering capacity (how much acid your body can buffer). So we may hypothesise that by consuming bicarbonate of soda before exercise, we can delay the point of slowing down (because our body will buffer the acidity for longer).

The side effects

Most athletes experience some bad side effects – principally runny tummy and cramps as a result. THis is well-known and puts many people off using bicarb.

I thought it interesting that the study scientists dissolved the bicarb in water. I’ve always heard that athletes swallow the powder insider gelatine caplets (as pharmaceutical medicines use). The large amount of water may make you feel bloated and I’m not sure an hour beforehand is enough time for the body to process the liquid into urine.

The outcome

Although they say the scores were ‘better’ but not statistically significant. Well, in my book, any improvement in a maximal output test score is a good thing – as an athlete I wouldn’t worry about the significance of the statistics – I only want to be able to submit a better score.

What do you think? Anyone tried this?

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Seat Racing – what’s wrong with this race schedule?

Rebecca Caroe — Fri, 17 May 2013 09:00:00 +0000

We read this suggestion as a way of picking a quad scull crew reported in a rowing forum.

What do you think is inherently unfair about the selection process?

Three seats are already assigned, and fixed. Three more rowers (A, B, C) will race for the remaining spot in the number 2 seat. Proposed schedule: 2x 1250 m with tailwind (if any) in the morning, half an hour between races, first with A then with B.

Winner is he who is faster by 2 s or more or, if inside that margin, chosen by the national team coach. Then in the afternoon, the same again with the winner and C. Labels A/B/C are assigned by random draw.

Who would you want to be, A/B or C?

Read other articles about Testing and Selection.

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Rowperfect spare parts & maintenance service guide

Rebecca Caroe — Thu, 16 May 2013 05:09:43 +0000

Buy spares for your Rowperfect classic indoor rowing machine or your RP3 Rowperfect (built since 2012).

Rowperfect Spare parts listed in the store:

Elastic Bungee
chain
U bolt for handle
Main shaft (spindle for fly wheel)
Replacement bar (long or short version)

Download the spare parts list for the Rowperfect Classic here Rowperfect Component List

Self-service manual and tuition guides for Rowperfect

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RowingChat 23 May Ben Hunt-Davis

Rebecca Caroe — Thu, 16 May 2013 01:51:33 +0000

There’s no excuse to miss Ben Hunt-Davis talking on RowingChat about taking lessons from Rowing into his Business.

Ben Hunt-Davis – interviewee on RowingChat

Ben will answer your questions – remember to include it when you reserve your ticket.

To join us for this RowingChat go to the following link and grab your ticket HERE.

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Technique debate – should you pull yourself up the slide?

Rebecca Caroe — Wed, 15 May 2013 23:01:00 +0000

Rowing and Regatta (British Rowing’s house magazine), issue #70 of May 2013. Page 57, in an article by Robin Williams. “The hull speed should carry you up the rest of the slide”. Thanks to Henry Law for spotting this.

Oh No It Doesn’t

Here’s the correct rowing physics

Clearly there is drag on the boat, which continues to decelerate due to fluid friction if there is no other force to keep it moving forwards.

As clearly, there is no fluid drag on the rower, so they must (Newton’s first Law tells us) continue moving towards the finish line without deceleration.

So how does the rower get from back-stops to front-stops, except by pulling with their feet on the stretcher? Otherwise the would certainly remain indefinitely at back-stops. Carl Douglas quoted from RSR

Now what coaches say is sometimes done to communicate a concept and not to be taken literally.

Harry Mahon was a top coach and he told me that he often asks a crew to do one thing knowing that what they actually do is different – but IS the effect he’s seeking.

His example was to tell them to row with no body swing. What would happen was for 3-4 strokes they’d be bolt upright and then they’d start swinging their bodies with the movement of the boat and achieve the perfect range of forward and backward swing that he wanted.

Voodoo? Possibly.

I use the same technique a lot. But afterwards I tell the crew that what they did was right but it was a trick I play on them to get the correct outcome.

What do you think? Should rowing coaches understand physics? Could this be a small error by Robin Williams?

Read the related article below – Why shouldn’t rowers pull themselves up the slide?

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Quarterly Rowing Club Fundraising Ideas

Spring — Wed, 15 May 2013 09:00:00 +0000

This quarterly fundraising post is unique to our previous ideas. We’re focusing strictly on food, crafts, and creative inspiration. Absolutely none of these ideas remotely resembles an erg-a-thon.

Hint: If you’re hunting for fund raising ideas remember to to search in non-obvious places, like Pinterest.

Three boards relevant to Fundraising, to get you started:

Everybody wants a Bite

Farmers Market

Set up a booth at the Farmers Market, or in the case of the Trail Mix bar, sporting events such as school athletic competitions.

An old-fashioned, rustic popcorn bar – would be great to host a movie night a month in the school auditorium and sell popcorn and tickets to the show!
Mini S’mores grill at a hot-chocolate bar. If you want to go big, couple with renting out an ice-skating rink for a day, or get it on donation. Charge tickets for students at your school to attend, and charge for tasty refreshments!
Trail Mix Bar – everything an athlete needs to keep going.

Club Pancake Breakfast

Host a pancake breakfast like Rochester Rowing Club did. Because a) everybody loves breakfast, and b) pancakes are immensely easy to make tasty. Which makes this a great event for high school rowers or those with a little less cooking experience. Sell tickets to attend.

DIY

It’s time to get crafty. A great group activity – your team can have DIY nights in preparation for these events.

Get crafty – make mini pinatas and sell them at the elementary schools in your area for birthday parties. You could also have a stand at the farmers market or other craft markets in your area.
These paper fortune cookies couldn’t be easier to make. They’re fun for dinner parties, or can be part of a bigger fundraiser – as favors on tables at a dinner or luncheon fundraising event. They can also be sold at your craft table, along with your team’s other DIY goods.
Punch box for party favours – As a fundraising alternative you could have each color as a different donation level with items you need behind each box – or for daring donors – mystery items at all different levels.

Inspiration

Use a website like, 50 Creative and Easy Fundraising Ideas, to spur your imagination in creating your own fundraisers. A few of our favorites are below, and are targeted at junior rowing teams.

Favorites:

Karaoke Time: Trust me, people will pay to see you sing. Have participants raise pledges for their commitment to karaoke and sell tickets to the performance. If contestants are feeling timid about their vocal abilities, they can always lip-sync.
Wrap it Up: You’re team is working for what you get here, but alternating days with different members, you might be surprised what you can earn for your club: coordinate with a store to offer gift wrap services during the holidays.
Another Man’s Treasure: A Yard sale, simple, and to the point. Collect gently used items from group members to be sold at a yard sale.
Sit-a-thon: Offer babysitting services for a designated evening or two.
Go Hairless: Feeling brave? Volunteers commit to shaving their heads if a specified amount is raised by a deadline.
Make the Grade: Have students get pledges for “A’s” and “B’s” at the beginning of a quarter and collect the donations after report card time.
Luncheon, Fashion Show and Raffle, all in one. Steel City Rowing Club did it, and you can too.

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An interview with Rowing Confessions

Jonathan Lewis — Wed, 15 May 2013 02:07:27 +0000

In this article we interviewed the popular rowing Facebook page – Rowing Confessions. With over 5000 likes and regular fan contributions it is no wonder this page has taken off.

What first gave you the inspiration to start commenting on rowing on Facebook and what made you decide to share it with the rowing community in October 2012?

I wanted to create a page that would become popular within the rowing community. Finding out what people really think about rowing is hilarious, especially when someone you know sends in a confession.

Without giving too much away, what is your rowing background?

I started rowing at the age of 13 for a local rowing club. As with most people, rowing quickly developed into a passion and a lifestyle. The highlight of my career so far is getting to Thursday at Henley Royal Regatta.

We all love reading your posts – Have you got a couple of favourites?

They are all pretty funny, but these are my favourites:

“I can’t pass a river without checking for crews on it”

“If I see someone on the ergo in the gym doing it wrong, I go and sit next to them and do it right hoping they will notice and do it right”

“I came to university to do a degree, then I took up rowing…”

Do your friends and family know your alter ego(s) and do you plan on ever revealing your true identity?

Only my closest friends know that I run the page. I don’t intend to purposely reveal my identity.

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Do we care?

Duncan Holland — Tue, 14 May 2013 03:12:50 +0000

There was ground breaking news from the NBA this week. Jason Collins, 12 year veteran, 7ft centre and Stanford graduate has come out as gay. Amazingly he is the first professional athlete from any of North America’s four big sports leagues to come out.

Collins was apparently prompted to make his brave move by the Boston bombings, and his realisation that life can change in an instant. His comments in the mass of interviews and articles produced by the media over the last few days show him as an intelligent and self-aware man, a player any of us would be glad to have in our team, in our crew.

The media fuss around Collins has prompted me to think about similar issues in our sport of rowing. Are there any openly homosexual top rowers out there? I don’t know. Does it matter?

In my experience over the last 40 years I can’t remember any openly homosexual top athletes among the men and only a few discreetly lesbian women. At the lower levels (measured strictly on performance) there are more and, in fact, I was surprised by the on-line resources that appear if a search for “Gay Rowers” is tried on Google.

When I joined A.U.S.R Orca in 1999 I was inspecting the fleet and noticed one eight that was named in pink and with a different font than all the other club boats. When asked the why this boat was different the club’s maintenance officer coughed and l got a half answer about it being bought by a group of ex-students. Later I discovered that they had formed a crew to race at a gay sports festival, bought a boat to race in, and subsequently donated the boat to their old club. All this was admirably open and tolerant and just a touch surprising to a boy from the boondocks.

Data are confusing but the best estimates available suggest that around 3.5% of adult Americans are of a different sexual orientation rather than straight heterosexual. (My internet research for this article has introduced me to the acronym LBGT and I know a little more about this area of humanness than I did a few days ago.) So if such data are accurate the chances of there being gay rowers at the top levels of our sport is high, virtually a certainty, if we reflect society in this.

If this is the case then why are none of them a public figure as Jason Collins is and, earlier, Martina Navatilova was? Is it that rowing is so socially advanced that we don’t care? I would like to think so but I doubt it.

An alternative hypothesis is that rowing doesn’t appeal to gay athletes, I doubt it. Or, and I can’t even begin to believe it, heterosexuality helps you row fast.

So what is the answer? I don’t know but my suspicion is that that rowing society is a little mirror to our wider society where people who want to be different feel the need to hide from the disapproval of the majority. If this is the case it is an indictment of all of us.

What do you think?

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How to chat with an Olympic Gold Medal rower for FREE

Theo — Sun, 12 May 2013 23:01:26 +0000

With another FREE RowingChat coming up, there’s no excuse to miss Ben Hunt-Davis talking about how he achieved his Olympic Gold

Ben Hunt-Davis – interviewee on RowingChat

Medal and then translated his athletic lessons into business success. With his inspiring book “Will it make the boat go faster?” he’s dedicated his life to helping others achieve their dream. Get your questions in when you sign up to this free event and Ben will be ready to answer them on the 23rd of May.

To join us for this RowingChat go to the following link and grab your ticket HERE.

We’re excited to continue bringing world class rowers and coaches to you so make the most of it. Get your questions in and get talking. For some, it has been the chance of a lifetime.

Questions our guests have already asked Ben:

“If you could go back to pre 2000, what one thing would you change and do differently, and is there anything post Olympics that you would do differently?”
- Mark
“Did you ever have trouble with motivation / burnout and if so what did you do to work through it?”
- Kevin

Our chat with Carlos Dinares is still up for you to hear to so you still have a chance to experience RowingChat right now:

https://soundcloud.com/rowperfect/rowingchat-0002-carlos-dinares

RowingChat: bringing you some of the best coaches and athletes from the world of rowing

RowingChat is a live and interactive online webinar where viewers get to hear interviews with some of the greatest figures in rowing while text chatting with them directly.
Ask questions straight to our guests using the text chat service during the session or send your questions in beforehand when you sign up.
Get training tips, listen to rowing stories, and start improving yourself as a rower and a rowing coach through RowingChat.

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