Rowing (sport)

Rowing . Sports discipline that consists of moving a boat in the water using one or more oars. Rowing is a universal activity that has been practiced since the beginning of history in any place where there has been an appropriate body of water. For centuries it was the most common and safest mode of transportation on water until sails and later the steam engine came along. However, rowing is today a form of sport and fun. The governing body for these competitions is the International Rowing Federation , founded in 1892 .

Summary

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• 1 The beginnings of Rowing
  • 1 Some innovations
• 2 History of rowing and regattas
• 3 Technique
  • 1 The proper technique
• 4 Strength training in rowing
  • 1 The exercises
  • 2 Work volumes and training method
• 5 Cuban outstanding athletes
• 6 Sources

The beginnings of Rowing

It tells the story of Edward the Pacific , who reigned in England during the years 944 to 975 of our era, launched into the water a boat with eight oars, with a crew made up of eight kings, belonging to countries that were under submission or allies him, including the King of Scotland . Edward, as a helmsman seated in the stern, led the crew that rowed down the River Dee, from the palace in Chester to near St. John’s Church. It was nothing more and nothing less than the coronation itself.

The history of Rowing goes, however, much further back and in other corners of the world. It is said that the Chinese were the first to use rowing as a sport, performing regattas in rivers and still waters, with large boats manned by more than twenty rowers. History has reflected Egyptian drawings dating back to 6000 BC of flat-bottomed rowing regattas in Siam .

Thucydides, the greatest of ancient Greek historians , refers to rowing in his accounts, noting that, although rowing events are not remembered in the Ancient Olympic Games , there are possibilities that they were part of the Isthmian Games.

However, it was not until the 18th century that a properly organized rowing regatta became known. Thomas Doggett, a famous English comedian, convened in August of 1715 at a regatta with boats six rowers on the Thames from London Bridge to Chelsea , with prize money. Dogget, upon death, left a capital in a Bank of London that would guarantee the continuity of this regatta, which has been carried out to date, although with certain modifications, typical of the development of this sport.

Rowing later passed to the United States of America , where, in 1834, various clubs joined together to form the ” Castle Garden Boat Club Association ” in New York , which sponsored the first known rowing regatta in that country. , with boats of six rowers with helmsman, in 1837 on the Hudson River . Then the enthusiasm for these regattas continued until reaching the universities, taking place, in 1875 , the First Poughkeepsie Intercollegiate. However, all of the above was not until the arrival of the Modern Olympic Games, that the sport of rowing gains worldwide popularity.

As the sport became more widely known, obstacles to the practice arose; In rowing, not only was the regulation of the events a problem (par, four, six, eight), but also the difficulty of regulating the teams. Probably no other sport has made such great progress in the teams and at the same time has created so many setbacks to celebrate competitions, on that date more athletic than technical.

Some innovations

• First appeared Clasper, an Englishman who in 1845 designed a fork suspended outside the boat, over the water, from some iron angles, now called candlesticks, a system known as “outriggers”. This changed the distance between the elements of the lever, giving it greater distance between resistance and power, since it is a second-class lever.
• Then came Matt Taylor , another Englishman, who in 1856 , with a keelless boat, was the creator of an innovation that changed the style of boats to the present form.
• The most important of all innovations was, without a doubt, the sliding seat, invented in 1869 by another Englishman: Walter Brown . It was first used in 1872 in Henley , England, home of the traditional oxford-cambridge regattas.
• The history of short oars was developing hand in hand with long oars, mainly in England , the United States, Canada and Australia , countries where this sport became very popular at the end of the 19th century . In these years this sport had an almost exclusively professional trend. Professional rowers, in different locations, bargained for prizes ranging from fifty to one hundred dollars.

Thanks to the official inclusion of this sport in the Modern Olympic Games, in 1900 , professionalism was declining and today it is one of the few totally amateur sports in the world. This condition is established as this sport has a marked class character that means that money is not the motive for the practice.

Since the II Modern Olympic Games , held in Paris in 1900, rowing is an Olympic sport, increasing progressively, both in modalities (events) and in the participation of athletes.

FISA international federation in that the 25 as June as 1892 was created by only five federations, today is a properly organized system, with 88 member federations.

History of rowing and regattas

Organized crews rowing competitions is one of the oldest sports. In Egypt and Rome there were already races between galleys of rowers.

The current form dates from 1715 when Thomas Doggett instituted a race on the River Thames, which would later become known as Doggett’s Coat and Badge Race; It is the oldest rowing event in the world.

The first known regatta was held on the Thames at Putney in 1775 . In the 19th century the regatta between the universities of Oxford and Cambridge and the Royal Henley Regatta popularized this sport. Henley continues to attract the best crews and scullers in the world. The drifting regattas held in the north of Spain and those in Banyoles in Catalonia are also very popular .

In the United States in the 18th century , rowing was an informal sport. The first public notice of a test appeared in 1811 . In the following years rowing clubs were created on the Atlantic coast and in the Midwest. In the mid-19th century there were many types of clubs, competitions, and boats.

Regattas became popular events in coastal cities attended by large spectators. In the 1870s international competitions began to be held between British, Canadian and American crews.

The governing body for these competitions is the International Rowing Federation, founded in 1892 , two years after the Belgian Federation of Rowing Clubs held a European Championship with a unique category of boats, the scull class.

In the 20th century the sport spread across Europe and Oceania . Professional rowing emerged in the 19th and 20th centuries in England, Canada, Australia, and the United States.

Rowing was adopted as an Olympic sport in 1900 and was formally incorporated into the 1908 Olympiad . Today the preeminence in Olympic rowing is shared by several countries and women have increased their participation in competitions.

The first World Championships were held in Lucerne in 1962 ; women’s tests were first conducted in 1974 . In the Championships of the World 1994 , held in the US city of Indianapolis there were 23 tests. In them, Matthew Pinset and Steve Redgrave won the test of two without a helmsman for the fourth time in a row. In 1990 a skiff men’s and women’s World Cup was instituted over a series of regattas for one season.

Technique

The essential beauty of the sport of rowing is found in the rhythm of the strokes to propel the boat. The style and rhythm of the strokes have varied over time, evolving into a series of different movements, which at the same time maintain a pattern of continuous movement.

The stroke begins with the introduction of the paddle into the water and ends when the paddle leaves and is suspended in the air to start a new cycle. The stroke (or stroke) can be divided into recovery, grip, momentum and release.

The power of the stroke comes from the momentum taken by the rower leaning forward, flexing the legs and then extending the shoulders and back back; the sliding seat helps generate great power through the rower’s feet and legs. This sequence of rhythmic and balanced movements is repeated 32 to 40 times per minute, depending on the conditions, strategy and length of the race.

The proper technique

In rowing as in other sports the end result is the combination of mechanical, biomechanical and physiological principles. These principles almost always go their separate ways, but achieving good performance depends on the combination of these aspects that will result in the implementation of an appropriate paddling technique. Basically we could say that there are four types of paddling.

• The robot paddling

If we put a robot to row, the force-time curve would give the application of a great force in the attack and the maintenance of it until the end, which introduces two variables force and time.

Multiplying both quantities we obtain the momentum. The average of the impulse in each stroke determines the speed of the boat, not the force alone or the length of the stroke. The application of great force in the attack does not guarantee that the boat moves faster. On the contrary, the larger the gray area under the curve (momentum), the greater the speed that the boat will develop.

• The powerful attack

This stroke was common twenty years ago, it is about the instantaneous application of force in the attack of the stroke through a rapid and explosive participation of the legs. Which produces that towards the end of the row it is only accompanied by the inertia of the rower .

• The powerful serve

Another type of stroke is about applying force in increasing order producing maximum force near the end. This paddling produces an excessive pitch of the boat .

• The sustained pressure paddle

This is about maintaining power throughout the stroke. We can see that it is the one that is closest to the “robot” paddling. In a 2000 meter regatta, the appropriate stroke is sustained pressure for the following reasons:

• The application of a great force in the attack of the stroke is very expensive energetically.
• At the muscular level, there is an activation of fast-twitch fibers that causes an early accumulation of lactic acid .
• With regard to the powerful serve, it creates similar problems. The greatest effort is in the back and shoulders, although the impulse is similar, the power is produced by a smaller number of muscle groups and the local production of lactic acid is increased.

Sustained pressure paddling is based on the grip and controlled action of the legs throughout the entire stroke. The idea is to keep the pressure going over time. The production of lactic acid is also important, although it is distributed in a greater amount of muscles, which makes this row the most efficient.

The component of force that contributes to the propulsion of the boat is relatively low at the intake and at the end and high in the middle of the turn. Most of the momentum is centered between 70 and 110 degrees of the oars.

You have to get as close as possible to this type of paddling, but this entails long training sessions where emphasis should be placed on paddling technique.

The rower must feel the “path” of the boat and when it is most efficient; Together with the coach, they must work from a technical and physiological point of view, learning to apply force in a controlled manner and as evenly as possible.

Strength training in rowing

Rowing is a sport that has a combination of intense dynamic exercises with a need to develop great strength during each stroke. In the biomechanics of rowing is complex and leads to the need to integrate the movement of the boat, the paddles and the body.

Power is generated based on overcoming the resistance force of the water and not of the wind, the latter occupying a second place in importance. Rowing combines intense dynamic exercises with a need to develop great strength during each stroke.

The biomechanics of rowing is complex and leads to the need to integrate the movement of the boat, the paddles and the body. Power is generated primarily to overcome the resistance force of water, with wind being of secondary importance .

The resistance of the water against the vote increases with the speed squared when a uniform speed is applied. However the speed of the boat varies by approximately 30% during each stroke; Contrary to what might be expected, the highest speed is reached when the paddle is out of the water and the bodies of the paddlers move in the opposite direction to the direction of the boat.

The best rowers tend to have a lot of slow-twitch muscle fibers, averaging 70%. Furthermore, the size of the muscle fibers of rowers is large compared to untrained individuals. They also have a lot of capillaries around them: 7.3 vs. 3.1 in controls. These values ​​indicate the importance of local muscular adaptation in rowing. These fibers should have high power and aerobic capacity, such as type I. This consideration is especially relevant when training on water is not possible and must be carried out. in previous. It is advisable to use rowing machines and tanks for rowing.

The exercises

Weightlifting exercises

As aids to rowing preparation More and more (but not yet enough) coaches and physical trainers for rowing are becoming aware of the importance of resistance training for the rower and placing it at an important place in training planning. But first you have to define the following:

• Weightlifting aid rower preparation as a means but an end. To the extent that strength results are obtained, all other variables will improve, rowing combines intense dynamic exercises with a need to develop great strength during each stroke.
• Dynamic exercises are those that develop great intensity and promote the coordinated performance of different muscle planes. For rowing, we have chosen from the wide range of weightlifting exercises those that are closest to rowing movements, taking Clin Parado as the standard exercise. The requirements regarding exercise technique are the same as for a weightlifter, attention must be paid to proper technique to avoid waste of energy and the possibility of injury.

Work volumes and training method

In training with the rower purser, the following variables are used:

• Tonnage: The number of kilos in the implement multiplied by the number of repetitions and by the number of series.

Example: 3 rep / 100 Kg. 10 rep / 75 Kg. TON = (3X100) + (10 X 75) = 1050 Kgs.

• Repetitions: Number of movements in each series
• Average weight: Results from the quotient between tonnage and the number of repetitions.

Continuing with the previous example Average weight = 1050/13 = 80

• Intensity: Parameter that is used and results from the quotient between the MP per 100 and the maximum result of the exercise.

Assuming that the maximum result for the exercise in the previous example is 105 Kilos. Intensity = 80×100 / 135 = 59%

• Determination of the volumes of work: There is no a priori way to determine a value of monthly repetitions that guarantees us a good result. The determination of the volumes of work starts from the observation of the rower in a period of 2 or 3 weeks of adaptation where the physical trainer will know the rower and this in turn will learn the proper technique.

From this observation we will determine who is able to support more or less volume, more or less load, training days, schedules, etc. At the end of this period of adaptation to “scoring”, we will perform the strength test, taking as the standard exercise the standing clin and the squat.

• The strength test: As already explained, there are various factors that influence the load and intensity that a rower can lift at a given moment, which is why the strength test is called the test of the maximum theoretical result that is taken as a parameter. for planning resistance training.

It is very possible that today the rower rower “pulls” 150 kilos in squat in 1 repetition and in two days he may pull 155, which would nullify the previous result, it is for this reason that it is called theoretical.

Practically, the performance of the “Maximum Test” is very simple, the athlete is asked to warm up, then a load is placed on him and he is asked to perform 8 repetitions, then the load is increased and he is asked to do 6 and so on until you reach 1-2 repetitions this value will be 100% -95%. If the test is carried out on rowers who are not very experienced in the gym, the load will be increased until they can do only 4 repetitions, which will correspond to 80-85% of the maximum result.

• Load distribution: This is a widely used load distribution, it will depend on the training period, competition calendar, etc.

As can be seen, the load distribution is as follows: 22% of the volume of the mesocycle for Microcycle 1, 28% for Microcycle 2, 32% for Microcycle 3 and 18% for Microcycle 4. 3 microcycles of load are produced for one discharge, in turn the intensity decreases as the volume increases.

• The intensity: As we can see, the intensity decreases as the volume increases, with which a rich system of variations is obtained in which high intensity series (90-105%) can be included with medium intensity series ( 60-80%). The flexibility of this type of system is very suitable for rowing, as it gives the possibility of varying the training including also at the end, special resistance exercises , such as the standing clin, using series of more than 20 repetitions or series per time , (example 210 rep. – 30 repetitions per minute, using two bars, one with 40% and the other with 60%).