I have coached a lot of rowers. Anyone from high schoolers to collegiate athletes to octogenarians.
Typically, older rowers really struggle with grip and controlling the oars. Whether it’s muscular tension or just plain fear this is the single biggest prohibitive factor I observe in their rowing.
The most frustrating thing for me is that people don’t understand they have the power to unlock their potential and enjoyment of the sport with one simple change. Stop using their wrists and forearms to control the handles. And instead using the pads of their fingers and thumb to do the work. Keeping a neutral wrist and creating a tactile relationship with the handles that helps them understand how to control the oars.
Here is the deal. If you want to change your grip you might end up flipping. If you’re used to over gripping the handles to rotate the blades it is going to feel very bad not to do that. You will feel like you have no control. You’ll likely get some adrenaline pumping that will make you feel even shakier. Everything in your body will want you to stay comfortable. Because comfortable is safe.
But the only way to make a change is to do something different. To change your grip you have to actually change your grip. You have to be willing to be uncomfortable and scared and to possibly fall in the darn water. This is particularly scary if you row on the Charles River. Less so if you row on Lake Washington. 🙂
But what people forget is that there is always the possibility that you might not fall in the water. Fear of flipping is a story you are writing in your own head to keep from taking a risk. Because complacency is more comfortable than change. But do you really feel good rowing with too much of the handle in your blistered palms and super tense forearms and shoulders?
If you do fall in the water you’ll see that it’s not as bad as you thought it was. And you’ll learn a new survival skill to get back in your boat. And maybe you’ll laugh. After all swimming is fun. Especially when it’s hot out.
Every stroke you take with a death grip reinforces a bad habit. Every time you flip and live to tell the story enforces that it’s going to be ok. You’ll survive. And learn. And adapt. And every time you take a stroke where you feel real connection and not just muscular tension in all the wrong places will give you a dopamine hit that you are going to want to repeat. That’s how rowing becomes addicting. What would it mean to you to make this change?
It sounds simplistic but the only way to change your grip is to change your grip. Period. It will not happen any other way. It’s not about wanting or wishing or visualizing. It’s about doing. Doing it now. On this stroke. And then on the next. And the next. And the next. If it doesn’t feel different it’s not a change.
Yes I understand that you might have arthritis or small hands or crappy handles or ingrained bad habits. I get it. I had them too. But I wanted to control my rowing not have my rowing control me. So I took the risk. I let go and changed my grip. I didn’t flip.
Some people are content eating slow churned ice cream instead of the real thing. And some rowers are content never feeling what it’s like to truly connect to the water. They fake it. For years. They decide every single day to go out and not really row. They yank on handles and donkey kick the foot plate and never feel the boat glide. That’s all they do.
I get that it’s scary. I do. I’ve been there. But I wanted to be really fast more than I wanted to be safe. Once I learned to release my death grip I made leaps and bounds in my rowing. And all it took was just doing it. Not saying on the next one. Or tomorrow. Or later. But doing it right f-ing now.
Stop wasting your time fake rowing. Change your grip and you’ll never be the same rower again.
Check out some of my previous posts about how to improve your grip here or here.
Remember you are the master of your boat.
Thanks for reading.
