efficient rowing boat movement with jimmy joy

Efficiency of Movement & Intensive Coaching

James Joy 9 August 2013

Genesee Water,Rochester,NY.

Sunday, September 15, 2013

My Background

My study of this subject began near the end of World War II when I was a young athlete in St. Catharines, Ontario. Rowing would be my 8th sport.Efficiency has captivated my interest throughout my life and I have come to realize the profound implications for life beyond athletics. It is a life lived with FLOW!


The training objective.

Winter practice - Simulation exercises.

Value of meditation - ‘Spirintel

Observe the contorted placement of the specific body components - head, shoulders, arms, trunk, elbows, hands, knees, and legs.

Smooth Movements

Hands on the Handle.

“Pull what you can handle”as a principle. Reduce the strain and the rush.

The essentials of sculling

Water Practices.

Summary.

Bibliography.

Topics


The Training Objective

Produce qualitative movements, a smooth action, for speed, strength and endurance development that have simplicity, relaxation, linearity, balance, and wholeness. These qualities produce a stable platform at each end of the slide.

Training encompasses the physical, the mental, the spiritual, and the technical - integral training. The all important mental component is living with Spirintel, moving to a universe people. An appreciation of the grandeur of this earthly home.


Winter Practices: simulations* on the

ergometer - Neural patterns.

i) With the handle.

ii) Without the handle.

iii) Meditation

Note: *These drills were used effectively at Yale from 1966 to 1972 and at Hobart - William Smith from

1990 to 1999. Now again at Hobart from 2012 to the present.


Simulation exercises with handle - winter training.


Simulations without the handle - winter training.


Simulation exercises without the handle- winter training.


American Athletes Meditating before the CAN AM MEX competition


Post practice meditation - On

the Androscoggin.


Develops the quality of stillness - mentally and physically - our internal energy comes from stillness.

Develops a layer of silence within that serves as a buffer for stress and noise.

Improves our ability to focus and concentrate.

Lowers the base heart rate.

Develops our awareness and mindfulness.

Opportunity to experience no boundaries - we are part of our environment.

The value of meditation - Spirintel/ IUniverse state people


The value of meditation - continuedPractice deep abdominal, nasal,breathing helps reduce the anxiety levels .

Practice good posture.

Opportunity to merge the subject and the object.

Opportunity to regenerate the total being.

Develops the ability to remain in the moment - stroke by stroke.

Experience a deeper spiritual self and intelligence - the supramental and the supraspiritual self- Spirintel.*The Spirintel is a wholistic training approach covering the mental, physical and spiritual. Eventually the mental framework moves from a nation state people to an Universe state people.

** - A new term coined by Jim.


The beginning on water -early spring.

Saturday, July 14, 2012


Relaxation, uniformity, and wholeness.

Heads in line.Knee angles.Trunk angles.Shoulders level.Hands level.Blades level and close to water surface.

Relaxation, uniformity, and wholeness.

Heads in line.

Knee angles.

Trunk angles.

Shoulders level.

Hands level.

Blades level and close to water surface.

Saturday, July 14, 2012Sunday, September 15, 2013

Uniformity & lower edge rowing- hand levels.Lower legs perpendicular to gunwale at the entry.

In competition:



Sculler or slugger & ecologySensitive sculling can involve four of our five senses with every stroke: we feel the run of the shell and the invigorating breezes of early spring: we enjoy the various smells emanating from the banks as the great Diamond Sculls winner F.S. Kelley experienced as he sculled Henley, ‘smell by smell’:we see the levelness of our stern and the bubbling effect of the shell’s wake;our subtle touch to the handles eventually becomes masterful with our handling of the sculls with fingers and flat wrist sculling. Our sense of touch reaches a deeper level of being because we are seated inches from the the water’s surface through the flimsy membrane of the shell for long periods of time in our training. We are resurrecting our primordial nature. Where the primates once sat on the earth for extended periods, unfortunately, we now sit on elevated chairs for much of the day. So the rowing seat engages our ancient sensibilities allowing us as an animal to operate adeptly, embedded in our earthly cosmology, not on it but in it. In addition, each time we bury the blades we are touching the earth, ecosculling. With good sitting posture, a mindset that thinks upward, we resist the downward pull of gravity, and open ourselves to love of sculling, and indirectly, in a small way to the love of the earth. So it is essential for the athletes to have meditative experiences in the fall, late spring, and summer, outdoors on an earthly cushion, and in the winter months on the floor. My crews would follow this practice at the completion of a water session in the fall and late spring by retreating to a grassy circle position adjacent to the boathouse, thoroughly regenerating themselves through this quiet concentration session. Sitting on the ground, or in the shell, or on the floor returns us briefly to a forgotten state of being; we revive the union between our animate spirit and the earth. The implications of the sculling seat is mainly overlooked because we lack an understanding of the profound importance of sitting in a shell, or on the floor, or on the earth’s carpet and the benefit to our larger more holistic life.- from ‘Beyond the Centaur’ by Jim Joy.


Anthropocosmic: Evolution from egocentric to ethnocentric to kosmocentric.

Two perspectives that can facilitate such a cosmic vision in a students are a new understanding of

evolution and the view of the Earth from the moon. Both of these involve an evocation of our place in

nature and our role as humans in the larger universe. It will be important to encourage students to move

from an anthropocentric view of human dominion management of nature to an anthropocosmic one of

reciprocity and respect between humans and all life forms on the Earth. An anthropocosmic

perspective implies one where humans acknowledge their embedness in nature and their evolution from

the larger cosmos.

from Mary Evelyn Tucker, Education and Ecology.

Note: There is the evolution of both the consciousness and skill level at work here! Consciously,you are operating at macrophase level, “the global or panhuman phase of human existence.”


Identify the Contorted movements.

Observing the contorted placement of the specific body components - head, shoulders, arms, trunk, elbows, hands, knees, and legs.


Body component -the head. Head up looking

at nape of neck of person in front. Blades close to the water.


Body component - the arms.Arms are a relaxed, fluid and continuous draw to the body.


Timing on the recovery & blade heights, knee angles, etc.


Body component - the hands - rig.Relaxed inside hand hold- knuckles in middle of handle and no palm.


The knees & seat position-rig.Knees in armpits at the entry.


Body component - the hands, knees & trunk.Relaxed inside hand hold- knuckles in middle of handle and no palm.

Knees in armpits at the entry .effect.


Body Component - The Legs/Knees


Blade component- “lower edge rowing” at the entry?Knees in armpits at the entry, hands, vector of the arms, and more - rig?


Blade heights, leg positions& hand positions.


Inside Hand


Pulling Position


Body component- the legs/knees.Knees in armpits at the entry .



Body component- The legs/knees.Knees in armpits at the entry and knees together at release, butterfly effect.



Body component - the legs/knees.Knees in armpits at the entry. Shoulders level.

Saturday, July 14, 2012Sunday, September 15, 2013

American Sculler competing at the World Cup II- June 22, 2013


Drill: Blades off water at end of stroke


USA Women’s Four on the recovery


Blade heights off water and trunk positions


Junior Men

Text


Junior Women


Smooth Movements

Physical Training + Technical Training + Spiritual Training = Smooth, Strong Movements


Sir Roger Bannister( Continued)

“Running the mile was an art of taking more out of yourself than you’ve got...The efficient integration of the human body, in order to achieve something like the four - minute mile, is way ahead of our capacity to measure how much is breathing, how much is heart or how much is circulation.”Sir Roger Bannister


Sir Roger Bannister’s running form

Bannister had long perfected his stride so that his movements were neither wasted nor restricted by tension.A few awkward and clumsy strides could steal momentum and to regain it a runner needed to use oxygen for more energy... To maintain evenness of stride he had practiced accelerating while striding relaxed(Rowing’s easy speed).

From The Perfect Mile


Water practices that combine the technical and the

mental.

i)Slow motion Rowing/Sculling- for accuracy, concentration, and self knowledge. For stillness, silence, and simplicity.

ii)Relaxation in Movement.

a) Easy speeds.

b)80 % Rowing- “Effortless Rowing& Golf Swing.”

c)Tension and Relaxation of the individual strokes.


Water practices that combine the technical and the mental - continued.

iii) Concentration and mindfulness

a) High quality one minute pieces: for mindfulness.

b) Placement drills - moving and stationary: for Precision and concentration.

c) Partial slide rowing at each end of the track: for wholeness

d) Long slow distance, i) with eyes closed, ii) silent: for concentration.

e) fartlek - speed play, slow, regular, quick, sprint: for concentration.


Hands on the Handle

Relaxed hand and fingers.

In this position the power is transmitted through the handle and not into the handle.

Wrists are flat and elongated.

Handle is allowed to turn in the hand with slight pressure from the fingers and pad of the hand.

Hand follows the handle to the entry.


The Five Movements of the Release: done as one movement.

i) Hands move down slightly to bring blades a quarter blade out of the water.

ii)Wrists break slightly to feather the blade.

iii) Arms extend to relaxed straight arm, movement coming from the elbow.

iv) Trunk moves slightly through the perpendicular.

v) Knees rise.


The Trunk Swing

Friday, September 6, 13


The sculling entry: lower edge sculling

Blade carried close to surface of water.

Once the blade reaches full extension the stern edge moves down to the water with a rhythmic movement of the hands/knuckles: raise the hands/knuckles

slightly, start to pull handle towards you letting the blade drop into the water.

It so simple, quick, and immediate with no square blade above the water. You see the blade on the horizontal one moment and then it disappears.

You save a movement by not squaring the squaring of the blade above the water.

This should be simulated with your hands over and over:the action of the blade.The actual rhythmic movement of the hand, knuckle, and wrist. It is continuous and

has a micro flow quality.

The hands on the handle must be relaxed to achieve this action.


Hand simulations of the entry movements.

1.

2.

3.

It is a little rhythmic movement of the hand knuckles: raise the hands slightly, raise the wrists start the pull

letting the blade drop into the water.

RecoveryInitial entry movement

Entry: blade at blade depth


The Drive1. Blade covered to blade depth 2. Even pressure on the blade throughout the length of the drive, through each of the water segments.3. “Pull what you can handle.” Feel for the right

pressure. Reduce the strain and the rush.

Friday, September 6, 13


Drive - Continued

4. The Yale fixed seat principle. Integrate the legs, trunk,arms at the entry as you would do on a fixed seat. At the end of the drive, trunk and legs finish together with arms slightly trailing .

Friday, September 6, 13Sunday, September 15, 2013

The Drive: The Fixed Seat Principle.

At the entry Integrate the trunk, legs, and arms as you would do with a fixed seat. At the end of the drive trunk and legs finish together with the arms trailing slightly.


Initial Part of the Drive

Diagram - The Coordinated Hand and knee action during the initial part of the drive.


Primary Training Principle - Economy/FlowFour practical methods of achieving economy

i) Through a clean release.

ii) Through a relaxed, effortless recovery.

iii)Through a clean entry.

iv) A pull what you can handle drive.

Underpinning these methods is a mental feeling

for economical movements - Flow.


Hobart Crew from the Stern


Hobart Crew Port Release at 40 spm


Hobart Crew Starboard Release


Vince Reynolds in a single.Double click on video to start.


William Smith College - Excellent meditators and scullers- observe the absolute relaxed unity in the crew. All heads, arms, trunks, and legs are perfectly aligned.

SSA


The Incomparable Bobby Pearce

Undefeated two time Olympic Gold Medalist and voted Australia’s bicentennial athlete in 1967. This is the origin of much of this technique through the two year involvement of Robert Fitzpatrick with Robert Pearce.


Fitzpatrick and the old oarsman.

Fitzpatrick was at his usual spot on the Welland Canal bank at Port

Dalhousie when he was approached by an old Hamilton Leander. “ Who is that sculler out there who looks like Bob Pearce?” asked the old timer. Fitz, just a little proud, said, he is a young sculler working under me. Fitz relayed this story to me in our post practice debriefing. It certainly made me feel good.


The essentials of sculling.Hand placement is two hands width separation with the knuckle line on the

midline of the top of the handle when the blade is squared in the water.

Entry is quick and clean- “we see the blade above the water horizontal and then it disappears.”

The power application is integral generated through the coordination of the trunk, legs and arms.

Knees are positioned over the armpits.

Knees at full flexion are perpendicular to the gunwhales.

Trunk is a linear, horizontal drive with equal pressure on each buttock.

Steady even pressure with the legs from the balls of the feet.

The release is the inverse coming out at a 45 degree angle.

The recovery is a well timed trunk swing morphing into a glide.


Summary1.The athlete gains self awareness; every bodily change is a mental change and vice versa - Bernard Spinoza. Relate to nature so that there is no dichotomy between the mind and the earth, Deus Sive Natura.

2.The process is challenging, enjoyable and educational for the athlete and the coach.

3. Unity versus fragmentation is the central theme and is an extremely important point for understanding life, nature, and sculling: developing the supramental, the supraphysical, and the supraspiritual athlete(The Peaceful Athlete): agitation is set aside and body awareness is heightened. SPIRINTEL.

4. The important keys for the coach is to bring the lessons of great literature into your coaching and to lead by example.


Summary continued5. Uniformity of alignment fosters flow.6. Insistence on accuracy and consistency in the movement.

7. Keel line, lower edge rowing and blade depth sculling/rowing produces consistent , simple, and efficient powerful movements.8. Insistence on relaxation in the movement.


Bibliography* Abram, David, Becoming Animal: An Earthy Cosmology.

Berry,Thomas, The Sacred Universe. Bortoft, Henri, The Wholeness of Nature: Goethe’s Way toward

a Science of Conscious Participation in Nature.

Cerutty, Percy, How to Become a Champion Hampshire, Stuart, Spinoza: An introduction to his Philosophical Thought. Heckler, Richard Strozzi, In Search of the Warrior’s

spirit: Teaching Awareness Disciplines to the Green Berets. Huxley, Aldous, The Perennial Philosophy. Liddell-Hart, Sir Basil Henry, Strategy. Teilhard de Chardin, Pierre,The Phenomenon of Man. Swimme, Brian Thomas, and Tucker Mary Evelyn, Journey of the Universe. Wilber, Ken, No Boundary.

,The Spectrum of Consciousness.* A limited, yet carefully selected bibliography.


AcknowledgementsMy appreciation and gratitude to Jim Barker, Thomas E. Weil Jr., Jon Van Amringe, Len De Francisco, the late Greg Yurkow, Vince Reynolds, Paul Bugengagen, Tom Keller, Mike Wagner, David Meggysey, and my friend, Professor Emeritus Marvin Bram, for their suggestions, contributions, and assistance with this presentation.


Thank You for your patient attention and good lucK with your integral training and integral life.


efficient rowing boat movement with jimmy joy

Sports

handle winter training

handle winter training

training objective

hands level

shoulders level

blades level

deeper level

water surface