Exploring efficient rowing movement

Abstract

Rowing power moving a competitive boat is generated by coordinating action among leg, trunk, and arm. Their temporal and/or spatial coordination is critical to determine the efficiency of moving a boat. Although a wide variety of rowing style has been proposed, it has not been fully elucidated which technique is superior and if the optimal technique exists. In order to approach this issue, we have developed a system to measure the handle force and position, the seat position and the force exerted against the foot-stretcher (foot plate) during performing rowing movement on Concept 2 rowing ergometer. This system enabled both athletes and us to check how they row in a real time fashion and to see the analyzed data immediately after several rowing strokes. The data collected using this system from the athletes with various competitive levels revealed several characteristics that superior athletes possessed. Firstly, contrary to the expectation that the superior athletes should have faster knee extension velocity (i.e., backward seat velocity), they had slower seat velocity. Secondly, the direction of force exerted on the foot-stretcher was more horizontal for the superior athletes. We speculated that the superior athletes had the ability to control the force direction on the foot-stretcher, which might contribute to reduce the seat velocity because the greater effort of knee joint extension torque was needed for the more horizontal force exertion. The ability to control the force direction is likely to be associated with more efficient rowing power generation in completive rowing athletes.