Aram, I can't begin to tell you how much I appreciate your coaching videos. I'm relatively new at rowing, with only 3 years experience, and I'm hoping to get back on the water next spring after an 8 year layoff due to injuries. Old bodies heal slowly. Your videos have answered a lot of questions I had, and made clearer things I did not understand.

Aram, I am a novice with 4.5 months on the water! Your methods are very helpful to me (as you said, explain the theory, explain the ideal end state, then discuss the different ways to achieve that...I hope that is a valid interpretation of what you said at the beginning) since I am 6 ft 3in tall, and the coach I have is 5 ft even (if that). She is very good at recognizing the differences, though, and has offered many helpful tips (she is not without experience or insight is what I am trying to say). Setting the boat is an issue for me. When I am "loose" in the arms at the catch, the oars tend to go way deep and getting them out at the end takes alot of time and effort (and one oar always seems to come out before the other and the set is WAY off, as you can imagine). 99% of the time it is the left oar that goes way deep and does not come out at the finish. That is what "loose" arms gets me. But fighting with stiff arms to keep the oars balanced also makes it very hard to drive with the legs properly. To try to find a way to get the oars balanced in the water, and not too deep, I have visualized a spot on my body between the navel and bottom of my sternum. As I finish straightening me knees I think of bringing my hands to that point. That usually gets my oars at least at the same level, though maybe not as deep or shallow as they would be optimally. Being novice, though, I am looking for an easy way to set the oars just before they go into the water, and unfortunately if they are level and I pull, my hands want to meet (not cross over). Anticipating this, I often start the drive with the right hand lower and the left hand higher, and this leads to problems mentioned earlier. Do I have to learn to have one hand higher than the other at the catch? If there is a video where you discuss the height of the oars and crossover it would really help me out. Thank you, MIKO in Chattanooga

Dear Aram, You mentioned that the pull you feel in your feet is necessary at the finish. I'm a dutch rower and at our club we are taught to maintain pressure in the soles of our feet at the finish and then stop the pull before pulling the blade out of the water. This makes the puddles more quiet. My question then is: is feeling a pull in your feet necessary at the finish?

Yes, please to a novice Q & A series. I so appreciate your technical explanations. As you know, there are many different approaches to rowing. I am reading Sculling in a Nutshell. He coaches that the slide on the recovery should be powered through outward pressure on the pins, in the direction of the blades. No use of the feet to pull yourself to the catch. I focused on this my last row and found it difficult. I don't know if it is because it is new to me or if it is just wrong for me. I felt that after 1/4 slide, that my seat just moved without any force up to full slide. My rowing buddy in the quad also felt that auto-propulsion, if you will. BTW, the Nutshell book also coaches a gentle entry into the water with the blade. It is nice to have a consensus on something! And just my humble opinion, I didn't find the sweep rowing details useful as I'm only into sculling. I know you work to keep your videos concise.

Hi Aram! I would love to see how to set up a phone mount using an old backstay. Many thanks for all your expert content.

Hi Aram I always like the way you explain things. This one seemed a bit harder for me as I’m still trying to understand how quickly I must feather asta the finish and when exactly “ disconnect “ at the chest as you put it . Thanks

Can you do a review of the ASR Nereus v Imperial College London A - Temple | Henley regatta final from 2021?

Dear Aram, What you say about loose arms, hands an shoulders I completely agree. But no weight on the handles I disagree a bit. The balance is totally in your hands. In the recovery you lean with both hands on the handles with to the gram acutely the same weight ( that is why I love the German language: Gleichgewicht!!!!!!) Only if the weight on both handles is exactly the same, there is balance. So contact with your hands is crucial. Lots of rowers concentrate on their legs and body but for balancing a boat, good contact with your hands is in my opinion the most important thing. An exercise for singles and doubles: the rower sits at the finish with square blades and than with a lot of contact with both hands, the rower very slowly takes out halve of the blade (dowing so with a LOT of feeling in the hands) if the rower is dowing this right, the boat should be in perfect balance. Then ask the rower to put a gram or two more weight on one of the hands. The boat will tilt immediately to the side with the most weight. Coming to the catch I explain them to imagine making a nice drawing on a blackboard. You can’t do that without good contact with your hands an thus with relaxed shoulders, elbows and hands. Most of the time tis will fix the problems.. Greets, Rob Kluvers, Ins & Outs Rowing

How can i protect my back from injury?!