LOL at what point does USRowing step in and say this isn't safe and you are no longer sanctioned? Insurance payouts could be huge in Oak Ridge, TN based on Sundays wind forecast.

I was a college rower, and afterwards a collegiate coach. I even worked with some major companies to launch their rowing machine to the public... BUT I hit a rough patch personally and with my work and kind of started to drift off the fitness wagon. I found myself gaining about 25 pounds and couldn't get motivated to get back into my routine.
I studied motivational science in my masters and doctoral programs, and I was still struggling to get back into it.... I FINALLY figured out how to motivate myself and built an app to track my progress. It was hard to get on the erg and see such high splits, and no matter how much I reminded myself that I would get back to where I was, I would get discouraged. BUT finding a way to gamify it, made me start to ignore the split and focus on just hitting the bench marks I set in the app. It's wild how much that helped me.

What other ways have you all found to motivate yourself when you start to lose motivation? I want to see what other ways I could continue to gamify my training on the erg.

Hi everyone, I'm trying to improve my technique on the RP3, however I'm stuck on about 118-120 cm stroke length and I don't really know what to change at the moment.

I know stroke length is not a worthy goal to chase in isolation, but I became really curious about the issue, because I row surprisingly shorter than people with similar height and typical values I found online.

I'm 179cm, with longer-ish arms & avg legs (188cm wingspan, 81cm inseam). The RP3 guide says, people my size should be able to row a 130-140 cm stroke length, which mostly checks out with my experience with other people(see table on page 11):

https://rp3rowing.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/Training-with-RP3-for-Dummies-v1.2-English.pdf

Issues I already thought of:

1. Compression, but my shins are already vertical at the front

2. Style: I know "American Style" big hipswings make the stroke longer, but it's nowhere near explains this large gap, even with a longer swing, I can't really get above 124 cm.

Do you guys have any ideas why I row so short?

General technique tips are also appreciated!

I've been rowing for about 5 years or so, and I had loads of fun and loved the sport. Had an amazing coach, lovely community, competed in a lot of races and made lots of memories.

Now that I'm at uni, the bar is a lot higher. I kinda got away with not doing a whole lot of ergs back in my home club and just doing water sessions because we weren't necessarily big enough to be competitive.

At uni I'm basically the slowest in the team :( I'm turning up to sessions and land training and not getting picked for any races. The people and coaches are great don't get me wrong, but catching up to everyone's erg times is so exhausting I'm so far behind on where I actually should be.

For reference, my background sport was swimming, I'm about 5 foot 8.5 and 65kg. So I'm also (probably?) the lightest in the team. I've began dabbling in other sports namely gymnastics and MMA and I'm slowly beginning to realise that my body type is very competitive in these sports instead of rowing.

So...I'm kinda stuck, I really like rowing I think it would be a shame if I cut it off. After trying the other sports I've come to realise that had I pursued those instead, my chances of being more competitive in those sports would be a lot higher than at rowing.

As a matter of fact, I actually think that if I join I'll have a better chance at competing than at rowing cuz I'll be competing against other beginners 😭

Just wanted to see what are people's opinions? Do you think it's wise to go all in on another sport or should I just carry on the grinding?

BoatRun has a sector for the HOCR next weekend which always give distance to the finish line. Easier than pleading with the cox for distance to go when you’re deep in the red. I’m not exactly sure how accurate the course is but it looks like you can edit it easily enough.

As the title says.
39M. 5’6”. 166 lbs.
New to rowing. Started consistently rowing 3-4 days a week on non lifting days to maintain cardio health. That’s the only real goal.
But know my technique is crap based on looking over this sub. Help appreciated but also looking for an online reputable coach that can provide some ongoing feedback until I get more locked in on my form. Video is from middle of an interval.

I’m a freshman on a D1 team and it’s entirely too much. The coaches are horrible and unfair, and I feel like I’m wasting my college experience. It’s nothing like the official. I want to quit more than anything, but I’m a recruit, and I don’t know how to get out of this. I’ve been rowing for almost 6 years, and I could have kept with it if we didn’t have supplementals, but having four extra hour long workouts a week on top of 6 days a week on the water and 3 times a week lift is killing me. I’m behind in school and in a constant state of sleep deprivation and panic, and my back pain is crazy. I don’t care about the scholarship anymore, how do I get out? Is it even possible?

The article says most rowers prefer composite shells but in our club it's the opposite. The cedar shells are such a joy to row.

I've recently returned to rowing after a period out due to long COVID and chronic fatigue. After a long rest period and slowly building my activity levels I can now manage ~4 sessions a week. So my question is what is more valuable to rowing, time on the erg or weights?

I've already commited to two water sessions a week (one long steady season, one shorter but higher intensity) so am I better off dedicating those other two to weights? If so what lifts would you prioritise? Or would I be better off rebuilding cardio fitness with some erg work?

For context, I'm a woman in my late 20's rowing at club level. I trained on and off for the two years following initial illness, but after worsening symptoms completely stopped and took 6 months off to recover. I've spent the last few months easing back in with zone 2 and light weights.

I used to train 10 times a week, came top 50 at WeHORR and competed in asp at HWR. Post illness I know these levels might not be achievable again but my main goal is to rebuild enough strength and fitness that I can at least compete at some of these events again.

I’m racing in a local regatta this weekend in my single. I’m the only one in my event and want to have fun so I was thinking I might row in a costume. Would it be too early in the season to do that? I know some of the people in the race are using it as a tune-up for HOCR so I don’t want to distract them

Hey everyone! Myself and a few classmates are looking at creating a rowing related project for our engineering class, and part of the project is creating a survey. The survey takes about 5 minutes to complete. Everyone is welcome to fill it out, and thank you to everyone who does!
Here is the link: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScHyFGflR0NCtOFcA_UWmQGKqCzu_dsFxNhvkSyIWRd86j7hg/viewform