Drive

The Rowing Drive

The drive is the part of the stroke when the rower uses the legs, body, and arms in a specific sequence and coordination of movements to propel the boat forward, past the blade that is anchored in the water. Many people believe that rowing is mostly about pulling the oar handle. In fact, the legs are much more powerful than the arms and are critical to a powerful drive. A good drive is one where the rowers:

  1. push against the boat’s footboard with their legs,
  2. allow the core muscles, lats, and arms to engage in order to connect the boat to the handle, and
  3. coordinate/overlap the movements of legs, back, and arms.

Body Position and Execution

The image on the left shows a rower in the catch position and then as she is executing the initial part of the drive. Notice how the body angle and shoulders are in the same relative position, in front of the hips, as she initiates the drive with her legs.

COACHING TIP
Have a coach/friend observe you side on to ensure you are initiating the drive with your legs and not your body or shoulders. A video would be great for self-coaching.

Catch position
Initial drive

After the legs initiate the drive, the hips will join to add power to the middle of the drive and the arms assist the legs and hips at the end of the drive. The legs, hips and arms finish the stoke together.

Approaching the finish
The finish

Images courtesy of concept 2

Steps for a Powerful Drive

1Before you initiate the drive, ensure that you are set and ready with the arms fully extended, the body forward with the shoulders ahead of the hips, the bum forward on the seat, and the blade fully buried. This comes from a good recovery.
2Initiate the drive by the pushing against the foot board. Engage your core muscles to connect the oar handle to the foot board. As you push with your legs, keep your body angle forward but ensure that the oar handle moves back with your bum.
3When the legs are almost flat and the handle is moving over your knees, use the momentum from the legs to swing back from the hips. The handle should speed up as it passes over your knees. Keep your head and shoulders relaxed.
4Use the momentum from the leg drive and back swing to draw the handle straight into your body with your arms. Your outside hand should do most of the work and your elbows should finish past your body.
5As you finish the stroke, engage your core muscles to keep pressure on the foot board as and to maintain a stable position at the finish.

NOTE
The timing and execution of the blade placement and the initial push on the foot board must be precise. The coxswain may call that you are ‘missing water’ if the blade moves forward, or you move your legs and body before the blade is in the water.

The Drive Checklist

Use the following checklist to work on specific aspects of the drive as you practice on the erg or in the boat. Choose one or two skills and focus on them for a couple of minutes at a time.

Drive tips and key pointsYes/No
Setup: vertical shins, trunk is forward at the hips, arms extended, loose shoulders
Blade: fully buried, including the top curved edge (note your hand level here)
key point! the blade must be in the water before you initiate the drive
Initial drive:
  • push on the foot board, getting your heels down quickly and pushing through your whole foot
  • keep your arms straight and do not grab or pull
  • keep your hands and shoulders relaxed allowing your hands to grip the handle and your core to engage as you push on the foot board
  • keep your shoulders in front of your hips during the initial part of the drive
Mid drive:
  • add a backward hip hinge to your initial leg drive to generate more handle speed as it moves over your knees
  • drive straight back with no vertical movement of your shoulders, head or hands
Finish:
  • as you approach the end of the leg drive and backward hip hinge, pull the handle straight in to your body, avoid slamming it against your body or pulling down into your lap
  • stay connected to the footboard with good torso tension as you pull the handle in (i.e. do not allow your torso to go back too far into the bow of the boat)
Blade work:
  • control the oar handle throughout the drive so that the blade stays on a horizontal path just under the water’s surface; the hands follow a straight path from the catch position to the body

NOTE
Sequence of the blade placement, initial push with the legs, adding of the backward hip hinge, and pulling the handle in to the body is critical here but so is timing. Sequence is easy to teach and learn; timing of each movement is a little harder and takes a considerable amount of “feel”. Allow the back to open or swing back at its natural point and start the arm draw when the back and legs are almost finished – wait for it and get a feel for the timing.

Common Mistakes

  • Starting the drive by lifting the head and shoulders up and back instead of pushing with the legs – the cox may call that you are ‘rowing it in’ or you are ‘missing water.’
  • Shooting the tail – pushing your bum back without actually moving the handle, the blade, or the boat.
  • Swinging the back and pulling with the arms before using the legs.
  • Releasing pressure on the legs too early – continue to push with the legs through the entire drive.
  • Moving your upper body forward at the finish of the drive to meet the handle.
  • Allowing your torso and shoulders to go too far back into the bow of the boat, even when the blade is out of the water or there is no pressure on the blade face.

Drills

Drills to develop a good drive:

  1. Tempo/ratio rowing – slow recovery with emphasis on the catch and leg drive
  2. Pick drill, especially with feet out of the straps
  3. Reverse pick drill, especially with feet out of the straps

See Technique Drills – Top 10 for details on each drill.