Rowers

Rowing is a sport in which athletes race against each other on river, lakes or on the ocean, depending upon the type of race and the discipline. The boats are propelled by the reaction forces on the oar blades as they are pushed against the water. more...

Home
Airsoft
Camping, Hiking, Backpacking
Cycling
Exercise & Fitness
Cardiovascular Equipment
Ellipticals
Exercise Bikes
Other
Recumbent
Upright
Gliders
Other Cardiovascular Equip
Rowers
Ski Machines
Stair Machines & Steppers
Trampolines
Treadmills
Conditioning & Low Impact
Exercise Apparel & Shoes
Exercise Monitors, Computers
Fitness Accessories
Other
Strength Training
Supplements and Diet
Workout Instructional
Fishing
Golf
Hunting
Paintball
Skiing & Snowboarding

The sport can be both recreational, focusing on learning the techniques required, and competitive where overall fitness plays a large role. It is also one of the oldest Olympic sports. In the United States, Australia and Canada, high school and collegiate rowing is sometimes referred to as crew.

Basics

While rowing, the athlete sits in the boat facing backwards (towards the stern), and uses the oars which are held in place by the oarlocks to propel the boat forward (towards the bow). This may be done on a river, lake, sea, or other large body of water. It is a demanding sport requiring strong core balance as well as physical strength and cardiovascular endurance.

Whilst the action of rowing and equipment used remains fairly consistent throughout the world, there are many different types of competition. These include endurance races, time trials, stake racing, bumps racing, and the side-by-side format used in the Olympic games. The many different formats are a result of the long history of the sport, its development in different regions of the world, and specific local requirements and restrictions.

There are two forms of rowing. In Sweep or Sweep-oar rowing, each rower has one oar, held in both hands. This is done in pairs, fours and eights. Each rower in a sweep boat is referred to either as "port" or "starboard", depending on which side of the boat the rower's oar extends to. In areas such as the UK, the port side is usually referred to as stroke side, and the starboard side as bow side; this applies even if the stroke oarsman is rowing on bow side and/or the bow oarsman on stroke side.

In sculling each rower has two oars (or sculls), one in each hand. Sculling is usually done without a coxswain, in quadruples, doubles or singles. The oar in the sculler's right hand extends to port (stroke side), and the oar in the left hand extends to starboard (bow side).

Anatomy of a stroke

The two fundamental reference points in the rowing stroke are the catch where the oar blade is placed in the water, and the extraction (also known as the 'finish' or the 'release') where the oar blade is removed from the water. The rower leans forward, and bends the legs, sliding forward in their seat. After the blade is placed in the water at the catch, they apply pressure to the oar simultaneously sliding in their seat into the unbent legs position. The part where pressure is applied is called the drive phase of the stroke, which occurs after the blade is vertically placed in the water. Once the rower extracts the oar from the water, the recovery phase begins, setting up the rower's body for the next stroke.

Read more at Wikipedia.org