Indoor rowing is one of the fastest growing fitness trends in the US. Head to any major city and you’ll find rowing gyms. Even the local YMCAs are taking the rowing machines out of the corner and moving them to a prominent spot. But, with the rise of rowing, we also find many people rowing with poor technique. In addition to holding an RKC certification and regularly teaching kettlebells at FitWit Studio, I also started to teach rowing this past year and became a certified rowing instructor through UCanRow2. Many of my clients already have a background in kettlebells, and I’ve found that kettlebells can be a highly effective method to teach rowing.
First, a little bit about rowing… You may have seen athletes at the gym leaning all the way back at the end of a stroke and moving with lightning speed up and down the slide. For the most part, you’ve probably observed very poor form. Rowing, like kettlebell training, is highly technical. The power of the stroke comes from the push-back (legs) and the movement forward is all recovery. A goal is to set up for a strong push during the recovery. Basically, the movement pattern starting from the front of the erg is to push back with the legs, then the body goes back at a “one o’clock” position while the arms pull in. Return to the front of the erg by straightening the arms, hinging at the hips to the “eleven o’clock” position, before moving forward on the erg to the start or “catch” position. The order of the movement: legs, body, arms, arms, body, legs. Repeat this pattern one million times and you are rowing!
As I began to teach clients the rowing technique, I found myself moving them off the erg and over to the kettlebell so they could really learn how to properly row using the deadlift, goblet squat, and swing.
Kettlebell Deadlift: Hinge
When rowing, the body closely mimics the deadlift position. But, since it’s often difficult for clients to understand the concept of the hinge while on the machine, we practice our kettlebell deadlift set-up. We work on the hinge, and use the power of the legs to drive the kettlebell up. Then we get back on the erg and mimic the same position. The deadlift also helps clients really understand the correct shoulder position—rather than allowing the shoulders to round forward at the end of each stroke, they learn to keep their back in a strong position.
