Step #4 In Your Personal Speed System: Freak Your Technique

So the first pillar of boat speed is setting up a Personal Speed System, right? Next you build a fierce mindset, get rock-star athletes, and develop mindful training. Those four pillars make a solid foundation that can help you be successful in your hunt for boat speed.

Ah . . . and there is more. Specifically, there are three more pillars that can make your foundation even stronger, and your boats even faster.

And the next pillar of those three is to freak your technique.

What’s a freak?

There are numerous people today we consider extraordinary but in their youth would have been called many other things—things not so nice. For instance consider Albert Einstein.

He was a rebellious and difficult student. Like Leonardo, he was dyslexic . . . leading one of his teachers to tell him that he would “never amount to anything.”

Mike Gelb wrote that about Einstein in his book Discover Your Genius.

Growing up Albert was probably hard for two reasons: he marched to his own drummer, and he was notably different than kids his own age. I mean, here was a kid who stopped to think about problems of space and time.

By many accounts youngster Einstein was no doubt thought of as a freak by his peers. Yet today he is known as one of the most intellectual humans to have recently lived. If you put your mind to it you could probably write a list of many others like Einstein—many other freaks. Maybe you were one.

And what Einstein did (how he thought and acted) is what you need to do to your rowing technique, that is, if you want to find speed.

Not long ago freak was used only to describe people (Man, that Einstein guy sure is a freak). But today freak also means look at the world differently and that is exactly what you should be doing with your technique. Look at it like a freak (differently) to make it better—to find more speed.

Specifically there are four things you can do to freak your technique.

Freak #1: Befriend your technique.

I wasn’t always smart about rowing technique. In fact I probably spent many years doing and teaching it wrong. For as long as I can remember I was told that technique was for wussy boys. And that sentiment stayed with me for many years. Back then we sacrificed technique and focused more on strength, which means many of us worked way too hard to get whatever speed we could achieve. And this still goes on today in the rowing world.

I’m going to suggest you stop that.

Instead, look to become wickedly efficient with your technique. Strive to get more distance per stroke rather than more strokes per distance. I know it seems all wrong (a 38 must be faster than a 32) and seems actually, kinda . . . well . . . freaky, but there is some pretty good science behind the concept.

By befriending your technique you can greatly increase your chances to get fast.

Freak #2: Ask, look and listen.

Not long ago I wrote a post about looking at boat speed differently. It sparked intense conversations. In essence I reported on Jim Mitchell’s research showing the catch to be the fastest part of the rowing stroke. People weighed in and I did get called quite a few nice names in the process. What I noticed was a real entrenchment by many to not even consider any alternative to the status quo (the finish must be the fastest because we’ve always been told that). That’s not being very mindful (regardless of the merit of the concept).

This brings up an interesting point, what should your rowing technique actually be? Two thoughts.

First, many of us having a rowing technique that we neither question nor deeply understand. We do it because we were taught it. And that certainly is understandable since most of us were taught by coaches who learned a style handed down to them by coaches who had the style handed down to them. Our learning comes from on high so many of us just accept it as the gospel.

Second, rowing is a comfortable sport (for the most part) and the stroke is fairly natural. The small details are often what separates the fast from the wanna-be-fast.

So, again, what should your rowing technique be? That depends on what your goal is, what boat you are rowing, your skill level and a host of other things. The best way to determine what it should be is hook up with a mindful coach (or mindful rower) who can teach you the best way for you.

Ask who that might be, find them and look at their results, and then listen to them to see if the person is the right one to teach you the right technique for you.

Freak #3: Work hard.

I’ll be very blunt here, you will need to invest time (a lot) in your technique to get really good at it. Malcolm Gladwell, in his book Outliers: The Story of Success, promotes the idea that to become a world-class expert at anything (anything) you will need to invest upwards of 10,000 hours. That’s around 20 hours per week for 10 years. But what if you don’t have world-dominating aspirations? Once you find the right technique you will still need to dedicate yourself to it to get efficient and find your speed.

Freak #4: Play.

Some of the great breakthroughs that occur in science, sport and numerous other areas of life happen when people are playing. That play may be rigid-playing such as experiment, or doddling, or daydreaming, or goofing off . . . regardless, sometimes the results are great. Look no further than the business world to see examples such as Post-It Notes and Silly Putty, both products of play.

You’ll need to work hard to perfect your technique, yet  you’ll also need to play, fiddle with it, experiment, to see what works for you, and what doesn’t.

You have permission to experiment, and if you think you’ll get in trouble I’ll write you a note.

Take Action Now.

Okay, go be a freak. Your technique will love you for it.

Step 5 on it’s way.

Let me know how I’m doing in the comments below.

• Post 1: A Hunt For Speed
• Post 2:  A Cheater’s Guide To Making A Boat Go Fast
• Post 3: Coxswain’s Head Explodes. Too Much Speed The Cause
• Post 4: Step 1 of Your Personal Speed System: Fierce Mindset
• Post 5: Step 2 of Your Personal Speed System: Rock-star Athlete(s)
• Post 6: Step 3 of Your Personal Speed System: Mindful Training
• Rowing Slow: The Secret For Going Fast And Getting What You Really Want From Rowing