Here is a simple drill you can do to work on your sculling grip. No water needed.
If you stand with your feet shoulder width apart and body relaxed let your arms hang down loose and long at your sides. Let your hands relax as well. Your fingers might be a little bit curled and that’s ok. There shouldn’t be any tension. Your thumb should be long and relaxed as well.
Then what I want you to do is take the tips of your fingers and very lightly and easily curl them up towards the underside of your thumb. Try to do this without tensing. You don’t need to make a closed or clenched fist. You should have space between the palm of your hand and the tips of your fingers. Try to also keep some space between your fingers. They don’t need to be glued together.
Now take your arms and new hand position and swing them up in front of you. Keep your arms extended but don’t reach from the lats. Try to stay relaxed but engaged ever so slightly to maintain the position.
Now imagine sliding a sculling handle into your hand so it rests along the crease at the base of your fingers and the top two finger bones. Allow your thumb to touch the end of the handle but not tense up. It should still be long. Don’t do anything other than let your hand rest in the position you’ve established on top of the handle.
This is how your grip should feel on the recovery. Your hand is at rest and balancing the weight of the blade with a little bit of downward pressure. And it should stay this way during the drive except there will obviously be more tension in your hands as you squeeze the handle through to the release.
If you’re not sure you’re doing it right there are some simple things to keep an eye out for to help assess your grip.
1. Dramatically bent wrists in both directions.
2. Feeling the handle at the base of your palm.
3. Fingers glued together on the recovery.
4. General rage at why you can’t control your oars or relax.
These are all signs of too much tension and too much hand on the handle. Learning how to work the fingers independent of the wrist is a skill in rowing that takes time. And starting with a loose and restful hand position is the first step.
If you’ve got grip issues this can be a great warm up drill to get you focusing on relaxing and establishing good hand posturing. You can also repeat during and after a row to release built up tension and remind yourself how you want your grip to be.
Thanks for reading. And remember you are the master of your boat!
