Two things it helps. First, there is one point that it’s guaranteed that everyone is at the same point in the cycle. Second, it encourages a relaxed recovery, which in turn assists catch fluency.

It amazes me how you can tell us something in so many different ways, and suddenly the way you explain it this one time is what clicks. Just started sculling this year, after years in sail boat that "rows". I have self taught myself after watching so many of your videos. After 1,000 miles sculling since Spring, I feel amazing. I'm obsessed. Fortunately I live on a lake, and I can jump in the water whenever I get the itch. Thank you for all of your time and education.

I was very involved with rowing in the 90s and 2000s and got out of the scene right around the time Drew Ginn's video "Will it make the boar go faster? came out. Having returned to rowing a couple of years ago, it was immediately clear to me just how influential that video was. Prior to this video, at least in the US, pausing at the finish was just a drill. After the video is clearly became part of how crews row, at least at lower rates.

In this video Aram tackles with great logic the opposite of what unfortunately many coaches have been saying for years; throws hands in front after clearing him. which considerably reduces the stability of the boat. Congratulations to Aram who dares to say things clearly without dogmatism. In this video Aram gives free tips that require a great deal of experience to discover them. It was by using the biorower that I personally discovered what is said here.

One aspect not mentioned in the video is the benefit to synchronize a crew. You get a much better feeling about finishing a stroke at the same time together and starting a new one. In higher rates the pause becomes just a fixed timing point where the whole crew finishes the stroke. I personally always rowed like this, ever since we saw the Ginn video.

10 days ago, I was in a boat for the first time since Corona started (switched jobs and moved between towns in the meantime, and then got totally buried working overtime until recently, so I never bothered to find a new club). First time in a racing shell in about 10 years (had only been sitting in a gig a couple of times per year in the meantime due to busy schedule). We had severe trouble getting the 8 to "stand". Might have been me, might have been that the crew had never rowed in this composition before, might have been bad luck. Who knows. Last saturday, one week later, the guy running the master's group at my new club put me in a pair. Ok, second row after a >2 year break, 2nd time in a racing shell after 10+ years of only gigs, and 1st time in a small boat since over ten years. Nearly 12 years since I rowed a pair the last time. What could possibly go wrong? My partner had learned to row during his studies in London, so the anglo-saxon pause at the finish was well known to him, and we both agreed we would try that style. To our great surprise, we manged to somewhat balance the boat, we did not fall in, and travelled in a surprisingly straight line. While we were out on the lake, the wind picked up, and the water became rather rough. We made it back to boathouse in one piece, and to our great surprise, kept the boat balanced even with a tailwind and accompanying waves. We even found a rythm and felt the boat "sing..." Granted, there is still lots of work to do. I am still not totally comfortable at the catch, both in regards to balance/confidence and mobility/stabilitywhich means we were short-stroking, leaving some length at the catch, and I needed frequent breaks as not to loose concentration. But all in all, this outing went far better than anyone could have hoped for. That we, who had never rowed together before, were able to successfully balance a pair and find a rythm even in bad weather, even with me not having been in a racing shell and a small boat for over a decade, is foremost testament to my partner's skill and adaptability. But I also feel that the pause-finish helped us a lot here. I learned to row in the early 1990s, when quick hands-away was drilled into us. The idea of setting up the boat at the finish, as well as the use of upper body mass and pivot at the hip were not really a thing back then. I am not exaggerating when I say that last saturdays's row was a revelation. This is so much easier than the rowing that I remember from my teenage days.

Hi! This makes sense to me as well. I have been told to pull out the arms as quickly as they came to the body, but at lower rates, I like to feel the boat singing by just pausing after the finnish. It's a kind of reward to me and I like it! Fullstop!

Usefull as uzual . Thank you Araam.

You might also consider drag. The friction between water and hull increases exponentially with speed. At the finish it is more drag efficient to pause at maximum speed which delays that further acceleration from pulling the boat under you (the mass of you or a crew is far greater than that of the boat). Theoretically you should accelerate down the the slide (that is accelerate the pull of the boat forward) in order to maintain constant speed of the boat through the water. This works well at low rate but at 40, other aspects of technique may be more important. Pausing at the finish gives a sense of completion of the stroke, assists timing with crews and acceleration to the catch gives a sense of springing ( when you attempt a stationary jump you naturally move downward first). I knew a coach back in the sixties who would call "slow, fast" (meaning slow at the finish, fast to the catch).

It makes so much sense Aram ! It’s crystal clear to me 😅 Thank you so much for explaining it like that !

Thanks for this video it's very interesting. When I was a young rower 15 years ago I was told to move the arms as fast as possible on the back so that you "clear" the boat from the weight at the front. Now I think it was exaggerated. The argument was that your boat is also moving up and down when you are rowing and the quick arms at the back allows to move the front of the boat up so that the immersed volume gets lower (so more speed). After many years of practicing and visiting different clubs which all have there how philosophy about that, I came to a quite different mouvement and conclude as you did. Once I had a coach who told me "the arms and then your body should go back at the speed of the boat, not faster, not slower". So if you are rowing at 18 it should be slow and at 30 faster. I also realise that when you row the boat should move up and down the less a possible, so the fast arms back became useless. I am not really a fan of a real pause at the back, I prefer to have a controlled arms back as another viewer said, but I really believe that we should make something like "taking our time to clear the blade out of the water before sending the arms back", because many rowers try to do the two things together as they want to send the arms fast and this result in unfinished strokes (so less speed).

I am absolutely in love with biorower! Congratulations on creating exactly what I want in a rower.

Great video. Can't wait to work on it in my 1x! Thank you :>

One of the best coaching videos I've ever seen, going to implement this myself thank you Aram

dude, i love your blade work :P

I like this and will give it a try. What you said about reducing the pause to put the rating up ties in with your analysis of the Oxford Brookes style.

Hello Aram. Great vid as usual. Some time ago I changed my mind exactly in the same way. For the same reasons you or Dermot Balaam talk about and, imho and at least for training rates, for this one as well : to get a clear and efficient finish - square blades with a correct (flat) wrist position - the hands have anyhow to go down at first, and not forward ; Which, added to the feathering, requires a short pause at the rear part of the stroke.

thank you! agreed 100%

I have found this works well for racing starts as well. Great to have a slight pause after first stroke!

The concept of “glide” is the single most irritating dogma oft repeated with out substantiation. I agree with your reasoning of torso stability and return matching boat speed. To me the first justification for pause is for flex tension to relieve out of the length of the oar that allows the blade to let go of the water to lift out and feather. I’m totally into your analytics, as I’m a student of many sports and think that the nuances of examination have cross application to the finite aspects of technique, body position mechanics its efficiency’s and effects on final performance. Keep up the good work.

Interesting video all around

I agree with a lot of your assertions. Personally I like to not pause but slow the hands after the release and allow the shell to run out at long low steady state and especially in a tail wind. I also like to have a slight bend in the elbows after the release, it helps relax the recovery.

The body weight moving towards the back of the boat increases the shell speed, whilst momentum of the boat and body mass system as a whole remains the same. Obviously the body weight has to get from the finish to the catch somehow during the recovery. But, water resistance increases markedly with increased boat speed, so average speed can be increased if the surge of boat speed that happens when the body weight moves backwards can be lessened. The highest possible boat speed (and therefore highest water resistance) will occur if more body mass moves towards the stern right at the beginning of the recovery. The surge in boat speed (and associated extra water resistance) can be lessened if the boat is allowed to run before a substantial amount of body weight moves sternwards. So, ignoring all other factors (which realistically can not actually be ignored), momentum of the boat can will most conserved, and excess water resistance due to a surge in boat shell speed through the water reduced, if the body weight is moved sternwards towards the catch as late as possible during the recovery. A pause at the finish is potentially a component of this.

totally agree with what you are saying.

Thanks!

Can you make a Video about the U19 Mens 8+ who won Gold this year in Varese. And what they could have done better to go even faster?

Drew Ginn- Will it make the boat go faster is an interesting video

To draw the boat through past your body the center and greater portion of inertia eg stable body/core.the weight of the boat/machine is a lesser constant but windage and surface wave resistance is a variable additive, you should have a one or two pound resistant from/to your friction fan that hands away and leg draw resistance +- additive forward inertia into the boat/machine I don’t believe is being measured in your force curve(s).or being added and measured to fan speed sustain

this is such a funny comparison! lol but i love this style definitely

Hey Aram, at about 10 minutes, you talk about the disadvantages of a fast hands away, which I agree with, but it made me think of the Sinkovic brothers, and the way they row, as they seem to have a faster hands away followed by a slow slide up to the catch. What do you think of this, as they have obviously made the style work throughout their career.

Thanks Aran! The pause at finish makes a lot of sense and will try to be more focus on when skulking. One question : will this be the same when sweep rowing ?

Hey Aram how did you find the full replays of the Tokyo 2021 rowing races?

I like the idea of this,but if I take too much time at the finish I find it difficult to get the rate up to race speed!

Absolutely fascinating. Although your hands away are faster than I would teach anyone to do - your argument is very strong. I wonder though. As an ergo-warrior who goes nowhere near the water, how much of an impact does this change make. I can see the tension still being in place, but there is no boat to slow down, so that part isn’t part of it. I’m going to post this on my RowAlong page for folks to see. This may turn my entire style on its head!

For years I am looking for an Aussi style explanation. Watching the first part of kzfaq.info/get/bejne/eK6ElZigrN66hp8.html you see a lot of strokes where the boat looks unstable after release. Blade sync seems to be not optimal at that point, so many of you - me included - see the Aussi break as an excellent method to sync on a fixed point. One comment above is the first one to look versus fluid mechanics. I’d like to take that point. There is a squared relation between boat speed and water resistance. Double speed requires four times energy. Other way round, the higher the speed, the even higher the break resistance is during recovery. Aussi style takes the boat speed (not the complete system boat/crew) at the moment of release and pause. Hands away style comprises the usage of the upper body swinging to the stern. The same time the boat is driven into bow direction, creating a higher relative acceleration to Aussi situation, causing more resistance resulting in less relative acceleration. During Aussi break the system does loose not as much speed as in hands-away, the time before catch it is the other way round, but under lower system speed conditions resulting in lower resistance. In summum with Aussi style speed is anyhow - saved. The more speed plateau is generated during recovery, the higher is the achieved medium speed. That counts. Compare it to a cycle ride. Image two virtual trips e.g. 50km. Both straight, one with a steepness of e.g. 3% one half the way up, the other half the same way down. You always get a better time the flat way. Does my explanation accounts for an effect during race pace? I got a lot of doubts. Mir wäre so eine komplexe Diskussion auf Deutsch fast lieber, Grüße

What happens in your head is everything. So the pause is actually the beginning of the catch. Imagine, imagine the catch - the catch actuall starts at the pause - that’s where the thinking happens.

I'm French, I didn't really understand, so you have to make a little stop on the back and be very linear on the whole?

Instead of a pause, wouldn’t it be better to have a slow and controlled hands away out of the finish? The hands will move the same length with more time(as there’s no pause) therefore allowing a more gentle acceleration(in this case away from where you want to go) and thus slowing the boat down less? Thanks for the great video, very informative as usual.

'just flow off the back there mate!'

Personally, especially when stroking a quad I do not pause at the finish, instead I simply keep everything still at the finish apart from pushing hands down through lose elbows, to let the boat run but still going through the stroke. Although in high rate spin the hands but not too quick so that the finish can stay strong but also relaxed

Think of this. Pause for 1 second at the finish at rate 20. What rate do you achieve if you then remove the pause and change nothing else?

Aram, you said that the fastest point of stroke - is after finish, don't you? Because my coach always said that the fastest point - right before the catch. So he argued that you should let your boat drive under you after finish of the stroke, so that's why you have to move hands out of you and start the slide (staying relaxed) as fast as you can. He wasn't right?

Not helpful in a single. A sculler levers more blade area than other rowers and keeping that body mass in the bow will drop it at the release. There is also no time to fiddle and fiddle the release at race pace. The release should be a flow and not rushed.