Broken Oars Podcast

Broken Oars Podcast, Episode 48: Harry Brightmore: From Chester to World Champion ... and Beyond.

Ladies and Gentleman,

 

When we're in the presence of greatness, we sometimes do one sentence introductions, like this:

 

Harry Brightmore - World Champion, GB Men's Eight.

 

And to be honest, we could leave it there and we'd be justified in doing so.

 

But we can't, and it isn't just because the Northern One who writes our episode descriptions has a tendency towards sesquipedalian logorrhea (Leave him alone! He's bought these words! He's going to use all of them!).

 

No, it's because after a difficult last cycle culminating in Tokyo and lots of people, not all of whom were qualified to do so, pointing fingers in all directions (and you'll notice that yes, we did some finger-wagging, but as athletes we came down heavily on the side of supporting and backing the people who actually put their bodies on the line rather than getting involved in managerial flame wars), British Rowing has bounced back in some style. 

 

The entire squad basically used the recent World Champions in the same way rock stars use a sold out arena venue - as a stage and a chance to show off the performances they've been working on in private: The British athletes put in stellar displays across the board, capped by the GB Men's Eight storming to Gold.

 

Now, anyone who has ever rowed will tell you that an Eight is only as good as its Cox. Seriously, try getting eight strong-willed, opinionated driven individuals to get the boat off the rack together (let alone send them down the track like a scalded cheetah) with a drafted in bored junior who'd rather be elsewhere and then come back and tell us how long it took you to get on the water and how crap the outing was as a result.

 

As we continue to be allowed to make episodes, Lewin and I realise with every passing conversation how lucky we actually were at Agecroft - not just in terms of facilities, culture and oustanding coaches and rowers, but in terms of having Coxswains like Maddie, Lucy, Valerie and Liz as part of our crew. Their word was law, their calls were actioned without question (on the water), their outings were meticulous, so were they and we were and became better rowers and crews as a result.

 

Believe us: Thanks to them, we know that coxing is an art, and a science - just like moving a boat.

 

And great as they are, with Henley medals in sock drawers, Harry Brightmore is next generation and next level.

 

Now, we're always guilty of saying that our latest episode is the best thing we've ever done ... because usually it is.

 

However, this one is a must for any rower, coach, manager or individual who is really genuinely interested in maximising themselves and those around them. It's a truly fantastic deep dive, not only into Harry's evolution from promising young footballer to World Champion cox, but also the pressures and practices that drove and shaped that development.

 

We talk about how early disappointment was translated into inner drive; how that became passion when we found rowing; and then how a clear-eyed assessment of his own personal psychology and identity helped spur his development and coxing practice.

 

Lewin and I have occasionally cavilled about British Rowing's lack of transparency about certain things, but Harry takes us through the processes and paradigms that inform the life and work of a GB elite athlete - resulting in a frank, insightful and illuminating conversation that really is essential listening.

 

Get a pen. Take notes. We did.

(To follow Harry and GB's journey, catch up with him on:

@brightmoreharry

@harry_brightmore

www.britishrowing.org/athlete/harry-brightmore/ )

 

All Eight. Meet Harry.

Get Some!

 

Get 20% OFF @manscaped + Free Shipping with promo code BROKENOARS at MANSCAPED.com! #ad #manscapedpod

 

Broken Oars, Episode 47: Tony Larkman - ’Everything is Difficult Before it Becomes Easy.’

After the doom and gloom of the Doping in Rowing episode, Broken Oars Podcast returns with a spirit-lifting, life-affirming perfect episode and a spirit-lifting life-affirming guest to accompany the start of a new season - a time of new resolutions, new energy, and new adventures.

 

Tony Larkman is one of the best coaches currently working - as well as being a fierce competitor to boot. His training plans are legendary for delivering results; and his own history as a rower and coach, frankly, put Lewin and I in the shade.

 

We caught up with Tony while he was visiting his folks for a fascinating, in-depth chat. Delving into his start in rowing back in the good old days (pre-Jurgen), we talk about the importance of mentors and environment in our rowing journeys; old school training methods (pull - now pull harder); being within touching distance of the squad; balancing training and being young; winning and balancing life and goals.

 

Covering Tony's shift towards Indoor Rowing (and yes, we at Broken Oars think that if you indoor row you're just as much of a rower as anyone who gets on the water. We're in the twenty-first century here. Let's get with the programme lads and lasses ...), we get into the nuts and bolts of targeted training.

There are a lot of people offering training plans online and working as personal trainers - and without naming names (hullo 99.9% of instagram influencers!) there are a lot of shysters and BS artists out there.


Tony is one of the best in the business, with a track record of success with clients from the couch to the elite level as well as personally showing the proof in the pudding. It was fascinating and deeply informative to hear him break down how to use goals and targets to backwork a training plan; and then how to structure that training plan.

 

Highlighting the importance of using fitness tests to establish baselines before designing a programme that progressively builds, Tony was insightful in explaining how training in blocks builds over time to create successful gains and results. Breaking things down into building the base (using weights and training to build muscle and correct imbalances, establishing a strength base, looking at minutes rather than distances to put the foundations in) Tony explains the shift to pre-competition and increasing intensity. Talking about the vital importance of keeping it mentally and physically fresh and using cross-training, Tony explains why although you might be slower in tests following a periodised training plan early in the season, the science and progressive loading of this approach means you're more likely to hit your target in the event that matters - whether that's doing your first 5k Park Run; nailing a 2k PB; or making Henley.

Speaking as a Northern Monkey who thinks 'a little bit of slow, a little bit of fast, a little bit of throwing heavy stuff around = fitness' it was and eye-opening and insightful deep dive with a coach and competitor who truly knows their business.

Catch up with Tony here:

 

@tonylarkman

 

www.tonylarkman.com

 

All eight? Prepare for 16 weeks of pain ...

 

Get some!

Broken Oars, Episode 46: Christopher Bailey, His Positive Test, and Protecting British Rowing’s Culture

Usually Broken Oars Podcast returns with a spring in its step and a song in its heart - we love doing this podcast, because we get to do what every rower everywhere does when they're in the company of another rower: talk about rowing, and rowers, and water, and boats, and training, and racing, and cake, and seals, and otters, and ... when we were at Agecroft ...

 

When we were in the war ...

 

Shut up, Granddad. Get hep to the new sounds going around, Daddio!

 

However, we're returning with somewhat grim looks as World Rowing has returned a positive drug test for an indoor rower called Christopher Bailey and sanctioned him to a ban.

 

This is in itself a major blow for our sport.

 

If you're an indoor rower you're just as much a rower as a water rower.

 

However, what made the blow doubly depressing is that Lewin got in touch with Christopher Bailey - and the long and the short of their conversation was that Christopher Bailey doesn't feel he did anything wrong as he wasn't using the PED's he tested positive for at the time that he failed the test.

 

Not that he didn't didn't use them.

 

That he wasn't using them at the time he was tested.

 

That Christopher Bailey was up front and honest about the fact that he used the PED's; and that he was upset that he has been labelled a drug cheat because HE WASN'T USING THEM AT THE TIME HE TESTED POSITIVE is significant.

 

It's significant because it highlights the chilling cultural difference between sports that take PED use for granted and accept it, like body building, power lifting and fitness influencing, which is Christopher Bailey's background ... and sports that say if you take PED's AT ANY POINT you are a drug user and drug cheat ... like, well, like every other sport really, but especially rowing.

 

So, in this episode, Lewin and I get deep into the weeds about Christopher Bailey's positive test. As well as talking about how to make an otter by taking a seal, some dog hair, and some Pritt Stick, we get into the science behind what Christopher Bailey took (Masterone); we talk through the effects of Masterone; what it's used for as a PED; and what it means in terms of performance - in body building, physique training, and endurance sports like rowing.

 

We discuss Christopher Bailey's position (I'm not a cheat, because I wasn't taking them at the time I was tested and competing) and tease out what it means for rowing if sportsmen and women from sporting cultures that accept, encourage, condone or support drug use, whether tacitly or explicitly cross over via the gateway of indoor rowing competitions to rowing itself - and what that means for a sport whose culture is explicitly and tacitly that 'we don't take PED's. Ever.'

 

We look at how the narcissism of the screen age fuels PED use; and how that has fuelled an the acceptance of PED use among influencers and related sports; before expressing our fears about how this acceptance can potentially cross over into all sports - and what that means for rowing, where the culture depends on acceptance and trust in the collective and the individual.

 

We can usually find the good in most things and generally there is very little that we can't make a quip about. But on this occasion, we definitively state that although we want people to come into rowing and stay in rowing, if you take PED's to make yourself fitter, faster, stronger, more muscular, or for other personal internal pyschological reasons ...

 

Find a different sport.

 

(And in case you think we've gone all serious, we also invent Anna Bolic, a steriod-addled fitness influencer who keeps crapping her liver out. It won't go in The Beano, so dear Viz, please get in touch. We've got ideas for storylines. We also talk about meeting things with a plum and the Battle of Richmond).

 

All eight? Don't get some!

 

Our trial period with Manscaped continues, so you can still get 20% off all Manscaped products by using the promo code 'brokenoars' at the manscaped website. Get smooth and smell beautiful with Manscaped and Broken Oars.

 

Get 20% OFF @manscaped + Free Shipping with promo code BROKENOARS at MANSCAPED.com! #ad #manscapedpod

Broken Oars Technique Clinic: An Alien’s Guide To Rowing Well, Part One

For your delight and delectation, the Northern One of Broken Oars Podcast offers a from the ground-up look at the basics and essentials of moving a boat well.

 

Given that every rower who as ever rowed knows exactly how to row a boat and it isn't what everyone else is doing but them, this represents Broken Oars creating a hostage to fortune ...

 

... but given that hostage is Northern, he is therefore expendable, as many Northerners have found out to their cost in things like two World Wars and the 1970's scramble for North Sea Oil.

 

Rowing is not a matter of life and death in that regard. No, it's far more important than that.

 

So, here we talk about basic and complex concepts, breaking them down and looking at things we can do to improve every part of our stroke profile so that when we put it all together we create the beautiful, flowing motion that is good rowing. Think of it as an alien's guide to rowing well - if aliens who can travel across the galaxy using gravity propulsion engines that warp the laws of space and time ever decided that what they really wanted to do was to get in a boat and pull hard on an oar.

 

In this episode we talk about:

1) Moving a boat - how an oar actually works.

 

2) Getting a Grip - learning to feel the difference between holding the water and weight on the face and ripping or slipping it.

 

3) The Best Kind of Stroke (and this is where the arguments start, but I've got physics and rowing on my side).

 

4) Creating the Unbroken Sequence: understanding how each part of the stroke profile informs the next and the whole.

 

5) Sitting at Backstops: why sorting this out starts sorting everything else out.

 

6) Posture: Kev was right - sit up, head up, airways clear, push the small of your back towards your belly button and ... relax!

 

7) Hands: relaxing the death grip and learning to play the piano.

 

8) The Importance of the Centre Line: learning to control your sack of potatoes.

 

9) Balance: can help in life; is essential in a boat.

 

10) Why Lateral Pressure is your Friend.

 

11) Controlling the Slide: Stop crashing frontstops and slamming backstops, ffs.

 

12) Why the Knees are Important - and not just if you want to do the Charleston well.

 

13) Compression: or why the 'length is good = more length is better' idea is absolute bollocks.

 

14) Shoulders: why everything is dictated by your shoulders.

 

In Part Two: if i haven't been lynched by angry coaches, rowers and broken oars listeners, we'll be talking about the catch, the drive, and GETTING YOUR BLOODY BLADE OFF THE WATER BY SORTING OUT ALL OF THE ABOVE!

 

So, if aliens ever come to earth, and they by some strange chance watch or listen to this, they'll be able to take us on in a winner-takes-all 2000 metre race for earth. And if you prefer to watch, we're now on Youtube:

 

https://youtu.be/SXuu0Y_BXmo

 

Get Some.

 

Stern Four? Bow Four? Listen to this. All of this ... ? This is what you're not doing.

Broken Oars, Episode 44: Of Mice and Men - Rowing as Sense-memory, Saying Goodbye and Clearing the Stour

We return with a quick one after the wonder and glory that was Small Ergs, Big Dreams.

 

Did you really think that we'd quit?

 

We're rowers. The word 'quit' is not in our dictionary. In fact, owing to a tragic accident any words between 'twizzle' and 'zygotic' are not in either of our dictionaries. We possess, in fact, highly selective dictionaries.

 

In this episode, Lewin takes the coastal shilling and argues that going nautical is the future of community-based rowing activities, offering, as it does, a damned fine day out for the entire family, plus racing where everyone gets points and medals.

 

We then ponder our mortality as Lewin says goodbye to an old friend, and ask why it is that rowing, of all sports, can define points in time, enshrining and encapsulating moments, experiences, sensations and emotions in a way that not only shapes us but stays with us throughout our lives.

 

That tomorrow is not guaranteed is not simply an Instagram slogan but a cold, hard and awful reality. Seize the day, squeeze the day, and tell those you love how much you love them.

 

Finally, for the first time Broken Oars Podcast puts out the begging bowl, as Lewin asks for help to clear the Plucks Gutter river of encroaching willow trees before their stretch of water is overgrown, impassable and colonised by Eurasian beavers. If 150 Broken Oars listeners put £10-00 each into the below link, rowing will stay in Kent, and Lewin won't have to go coastal again until the next time he wants another piece of silverware. I'll start off by putting the Northern equivalent of whatever 10 pounds is in Southern money.

 

https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/tree-clearance-on-the-river-stour

 

Middle Four, rowing on. Bow four, load for beaver.

Broken Oars, Episode 43: Small Ergs, Big Dreams on Leeds, Rowing and Conquering Social Media

Enjoyed this episode?

 

Buy us a coffee, download a training plan, and support us so we can carry on making Broken Oars Podcast, the best rowing podcast in the world.

 

https://www.buymeacoffee.com/brokenoarsd

 

Thank You!

 

-----

 

We're blessed on this podcast.

 

We get to talk about the sport we love with the best and the brightest in the business. We've met heroes and heroines. We've been privileged to hear not just about lives behind the oar, but how much rowing means to people, and how it's shaped and guided lives.

 

Unfortunately, all good things come to end - and it is with a glad, sad heart that we announce the end of Broken Oars podcast. 

 

The end of Broken Oars podcast?

 

Yes.

 

Lewin and I are no strangers to great pairs. We are one, for one thing, and we both have them. We've also seen Murray and Bond and Hodge and Reed in the flesh. But we've never met a more natural pair than Ethan and Archie, the masterminds behind the best rowing social media account currently in operation, the awesome Small Ergs, Big Dreams Instagram account:

 

www.instagram.com/smallergs_bigdreams/

 

In this episode, we discover the thinking behind the Small Ergs Big Dreams account; find out why they are not associated with University of Leeds Boat Club (why, UOL, you're missing a trick. These lads are social media gold); and discover why swords and bumps should be introduced to the Olympic rowing regatta. We hear about life in Leeds (apparently, we both should have done our degrees there, we missed out); find out how two people who weren't even born when one of us started rowing (ahem) got into the sport, found it at again at university and how they juggle life with coursework and rowing ambitions (Henley - incoming).

 

We know here on Broken Oars that at a certain age, the older generation is supposed to sneer at the younger. We're supposed to say things like 'in my day' and be sarcastic about modern youth with their TikToks and their Snapchats and their weird slang and their terrible music where you 'can't hear what they're singing' and their strange catches and their abysmal finishes.

 

It's part of the natural trajectory from youthful idealism to tired, shop-worn old cynicism. Wordsworth did it - but he's a poet, so sod him. Redgrave did it - travelling from fierce young iconoclast who'd die before rowing in the four in 84 to pillar of the Establishment (the rebels it can't kill, Britain simply knights).

 

But Lewin and I can't sneer and snarl. Because frankly, we've met the future, and it's in safe hands.

 

It is not often that Lewin (posh, southern, preternaturally competitive) and I (northern, illiterate, pretenaturally competitive) ever admit defeat (Green Lake only beat us because they were better than us). But on this occasion, we have to. Ladies and Gentlemen, we're laying our microphones down because we can't top this.  We've met the mighty Small Ergs, Big Dreams - our work is done.

 

The future's golden, the future is at university in Leeds.

 

Stern pair?  Swim for home. Ethan and Archie are subbing in.

 

Enjoyed this episode?

 

Buy us a coffee, download a training plan, and support us so we can carry on making Broken Oars Podcast, the best rowing podcast in the world.

 

https://www.buymeacoffee.com/brokenoarsd

 

Thank You!

 

Follow us on Twitter: www.twitter.com/brokenoarspodc1

 

Follow us on Instagram: www.instagram.com/thelandingstage/

                                          www.instagram.com/brokenoarsindoors/

 

Read more Broken Oars: www.thelandingstage.net

Broken Oars, Episode 42: Jezz Moore on Self-care, Self-awareness and why a Comfort Zone is a Good Thing

Enjoyed this episode?

 

Buy us a coffee, download a training plan, and support us so we can carry on making Broken Oars Podcast, the best rowing podcast in the world.

 

https://www.buymeacoffee.com/brokenoarsd

 

Thank You!

 

-----

 

Ladies and Gentlemen, to celebrate our second birthday, we return in the company of a man who made us both wish we had a time-machine, so we could go back and either row for him or with him.

 

We are talking, of course, about Jezz Moore, former Thames Tradesman and Marlow rower, former Leander coach, former Business owner and all-round deep thinker and practitioner on the subject of being your best authentic self.

 

Of course, being your best self is a slogan thrown around nowadays now that concepts like wellness, meditation, and mindfulness have been monetised and that outcome promised at the push of a button.

 

Jezz drills down into what it really means In a nuanced deep-dive that reaches far beyond rowing to talk about the necessity of challenge and change; the importance of honest self-auditing; and the need to commit to the stroke in the boat as well as life if you actually want more. We talk about the challenges of his move to Portugal; keeping a flexible and athletic mindset; and policing what informs and charges your personal and social energies. Oh, and why Henley Qualifiers is the best bit of Henley, and why it needs to go fully co-ed!

 

One to return to again and again for life and rowing.

 

Absolutely the best way to welcome in our second year - have a slice of podcast birthday cake on us!

 

Get some!

Bow pair, put the party hats on. That's an order!

 

Enjoyed this episode?

 

Buy us a coffee, download a training plan, and support us so we can carry on making Broken Oars Podcast, the best rowing podcast in the world.

 

https://www.buymeacoffee.com/brokenoarsd

 

Thank You!

 

Follow us on Twitter: www.twitter.com/brokenoarspodc1

 

Follow us on Instagram: www.instagram.com/thelandingstage/

                                          www.instagram.com/brokenoarsindoors/

 

Read more Broken Oars: www.thelandingstage.net

Broken Oars, Great Training Plans of Our Time 2: The Wolverine Plan vs. The Pete Plan

It's fitting as we approach the summer blockbuster season that we return with Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) vs. Pete. We only know one Pete, and that's the inimitable, the incredible Pete Brewer - a man among men and a God among coaches.

 

So there's only one winner really. All together now (to the tune of Seven Nation Army):

 

Oh, Pete, Peter Brewer. Oh, Pete, Peter Brewer ...

 

But seriously, as we approach two years in the podcast business we've finally started talking about training plans and training approaches. Lewin is largely driving this because he really, really likes numbers and details. I'm more basic in my approach but that's largely because after years of following lots of different plans under lots of different coaches I know that all you have to do is some long slow stuff, some short fast stuff, some resistance stuff and some stretchy stuff and keep doing it and you'll end up fit.

 

However, for those of you who want to know where and how to start, following on from Lewin's deep dive into Concept II's powerhouse resource for the rowing machine (which is easily translatable to the water), we return with a look at the Wolverine Plan vs. the Pete Plan.

 

The Wolverine Plan is a highly detailed university training programme from the USA that was successful for its originator. It gets granular on not just sessions but stroke rates within sessions and actual distances to complete in each block, with every element building up over the season to a progressively loaded programme.

 

By contrast, although following a similar loading strucuture, the Pete Plan is simpler and easier to follow - and for those on restricted time or sessions offers a nought to race approach that we generally favour, being goal-setting, goal-orientated types.

 

There are some quips about the current British political landscape, Mummy and Daddy falling out and making up on camera (yes, we're on video now), and all sorts of good nuggets for anyone who is thinking about training, but is currently enjoying the current heatwave and thinking 'later, lad, when it's cooler.'

 

Get Some!

Broken Oars Does Sherlock Holmes: The Mystery of The Murderous Doctor

 

 

Enjoyed this episode?

 

Buy us a coffee, download a training plan, and support us so we can carry on making Broken Oars Podcast, the best rowing podcast in the world.

 

https://www.buymeacoffee.com/brokenoarsd.

 

Thank You!

 

-----

 

We ran a poll asking if you'd still listen if we branched out from just being the world's best rowing podcast to talk about other things.

 

You said yes, you'd still listen.

 

We ran another poll asking what other things you'd like us to talk about. Something literary, perhaps? Or something musical? Or something something?

 

You all voted for something something.

 

So, here for your listening pleasure is the palate-cleanser of a Sherlock Holmes adventure, never before read, seen or heard.

 

We give you ...

 

The Mystery of the Murderous Doctor!

 

With added violins.

 

Yes, bow pair. If it goes well, we will write one that has a rowing theme to it ...

 

Enjoyed this episode?

 

Buy us a coffee, download a training plan, and support us so we can carry on making Broken Oars Podcast, the best rowing podcast in the world.

 

https://www.buymeacoffee.com/brokenoarsd

 

Thank You!

 

Follow us on Twitter: www.twitter.com/brokenoarspodc1

 

Follow us on Instagram: www.instagram.com/thelandingstage/

                                          www.instagram.com/brokenoarsindoors/

 

Read more Broken Oars: www.thelandingstage.net

Broken Oars, Episode 41: The Joy of Henley Royal Regatta!

 

 

Enjoyed this episode?

 

Buy us a coffee, download a training plan, and support us so we can carry on making Broken Oars Podcast, the best rowing podcast in the world.

 

https://www.buymeacoffee.com/brokenoarsd.

 

Thank You!

 

-----

 

Ladies, Gentlemen, children of all ages ...

 

The only rowing podcast that matters (apart from all of the others) returns - and it does so to celebrate all that is great and good about Henley Royal Regatta - just in time for the 2022 edition of one of the world's oldest and certainly one of the world's most prestigious rowing events.

 

Broken Oars Podcast has earned an enviable reputation for journalistic integrity (without ever really asking for it) by fearlessly asking the questions that no-one else will (probably because no-one else wanted to). There are some who have suggested that this, and our famed lightness of touch and willingness to take the rise out everything including ourselves, might be better construed as plebeian snark; classless sarcasm; and throwing rocks at our elders and betters ... not least when we have questioned some of the goings on at Henley in 2021 and cheating in the 2021 - 2022 season.

 

Nothing could be further from the truth - just because we occasionally ask hard questions and get hard answers should never take away from the simple reality that Lewin (Posh, Southern) and I (Aaron, Northern, illiterate) love this crazy sport of ours; and are in the enviable position of not only being able to talk about it, its events, its programmes, and its people but being lucky enough to do so with some of the best and brightest in the business.

 

And at the heart of that love is a love for the joy of moving a boat through the water with your crewmates and friends ... and we have never, in our history, ever said anything other than Henley Royal Regatta is the shining palace on the hill that we all aspire to and celebrate if that is your joy in life - and while we take the piss out of our own competitive history, we know how lucky we are to have seen the elephant and gone to the circus.

 

So to help us celebrate it, we've invited one of our first guests back on in the form of Terence 'Tez' Chipchase. Rower, former umpire, former long-time part of the signals team and longstanding member of Stewards, we asked him on this special episode to sing hail glory hosannah to the chief of all regattas.

 

In this episode, we cover the best place to watch the action at Henley Royal; how to get yourself into a launch; what happens if a herd of bison enter the Competitor's Enclosure; some of the races to look forward to; the topography; how the Regatta operates; why coming back to Henley Royal is like coming home; Henley Royal on the water and Henley Royal off the water; why actually making it to Henley Royal is so, so important to watermen and women; the social whirl; the gathering of the tribes and how the moving parts all come together to create both an illusion and a reality where both are equally valid experiences.

 

On your way to the Regatta? Having a doze at lunch? Walking home after a long day on the bank? Watching the commentary and thinking 'Bloody hell, Martin Cross is a damned good commentator ...' (He is, isn't he?).

 

Perfect listening at any time ...

 

Stern four? Some of us have actually rowed on sacred water, you know ...


WHO SAID GREEN LAKE!

-----

 

 

 

Enjoyed this episode?

 

Buy us a coffee, download a training plan, and support us so we can carry on making Broken Oars Podcast, the best rowing podcast in the world.

 

https://www.buymeacoffee.com/brokenoarsd.

 

Thank You!

 

Follow us on Twitter: www.twitter.com/brokenoarspodc1

 

Follow us on Instagram: www.instagram.com/thelandingstage/

                                          www.instagram.com/brokenoarsindoors/

 

Read more Broken Oars: www.thelandingstage.net

 

Broken Oars, Great Training Plans of our Time 1: The Concept2 UK Indoor Rowing Training Guide V - Full audio!

In a new BrokenOars Indoors series we will be going through some of the best (and the worst) training programs out there for indoor rowing (and rowing). The first, whilst no means perfect, is one of the best. The (old) Concept2 UK Indoor Rowing Training Guide V2.

Download here -

https://drive.google.com/file/d/19h3RpbMkNhsfOt5jl3BljV0vGWjn1Fe0/view?usp=sharing

Best viewed on our YouTube Channel (still add free) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DUcMZVJ99uk&feature=youtu.be

This is a review of a 253 page long primer on all aspects of endurance training as it relates to the rowing stroke. There are 5 scheduled training programs from fitness, to weight loss to all out performance, 4 different weight training programs including one written by Jurgen Grobler, a comprehensive gym free training program, for your holidays, advice on nutrition, and training through the menstrual cycle and pregnancy (all caveats apply). 

It also presents the claim that Concept2 UK were responsible for luring Jurgen Grobler to Britain in the 1990's and thus creating the GB Rowing gold rush of the last 25 years.

Suck it, all you people that say Concept2's don't float!

Broken Oars, Great Training Plans of our Time 1: The Concept2 UK Indoor Rowing Training Guide V2,

In a new BrokenOars series we will be going through some of the best (and the worst) training programs out there for indoor rowing (and rowing). The first, whilst no means perfect, is one of the best. The (old) Concept2 UK Indoor Rowing Training Guide V2.

Download here -

https://drive.google.com/file/d/19h3RpbMkNhsfOt5jl3BljV0vGWjn1Fe0/view?usp=sharing

Best viewed on our YouTube Channel (still add free) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DUcMZVJ99uk&feature=youtu.be

This is a review of a 253 page long primer on all aspects of endurance training as it relates to the rowing stroke. There are 5 scheduled training programs from fitness, to weight loss to all out performance, 4 different weight training programs including one written by Jurgen Grobler, a comprehensive gym free training program, for your holidays, advice on nutrition, and training through the menstrual cycle and pregnancy (all caveats apply). 

 

It also presents the claim that Concept2 UK were responsible for luring Jurgen Grobler to Britain in the 1990's and thus creating the GB Rowing gold rush of the last 25 years.

 

Suck it, all you people that say Concept2's don't float!

 

Broken Oars Broken Thoughts Bonus Episode: Sharp Practice, Cheating and Not Defending the Indefensible

 

 

Enjoyed this episode?

 

Buy us a coffee, download a training plan, and support us so we can carry on making Broken Oars Podcast, the best rowing podcast in the world.

 

https://www.buymeacoffee.com/brokenoarsd.

 

Thank You!

 

----

 

Over the last few days, weeks and months, Broken Oars Podcast has highlighted on social media incidents where clubs, crews and athletes have indulged in practices they shouldn't. After they reared their ugly heads again at 2022's Henley Women's Regatta, rather than reiterating the same points over and over on various Twitter feeds and conversations, we (by which I mean, I, the Northern One), decided to contextualise and record our response to what is, bluntly, cheating.

 

Trying to squeeze up on someone at the start of a Head Race and push the crew behind you away on the stagger is part of the fun of the racing as is making someone actually overtake you (looking at you, Peterborough), but deliberately manipulating crews and entries for your own advantage, or not racing within the letter of the rules and the spirit of the sport is quite another - and the modern practice of saying 'you're only picking on us because we're x, y, z' has to stop too. We're better than that as a sport, and our mea culpas should be a damned sight better and more believable than Boris's.

 

This takes in a lot of history, and explains why I (and I'm pretty sure Lewin agrees with me) have responded to those events the way we have. Hopefully, this episode will stop us having to endlessly restate our position on the Twitter timelines; and ultimately lead to a restatement of our values as a sport and pursuit.

 

Get Some!

 

 

 

Enjoyed this episode?

 

Buy us a coffee, download a training plan, and support us so we can carry on making Broken Oars Podcast, the best rowing podcast in the world.

 

https://www.buymeacoffee.com/brokenoarsd.

 

Thank You!

 

Follow us on Twitter: www.twitter.com/brokenoarspodc1

 

Follow us on Instagram: www.instagram.com/thelandingstage/

                                          www.instagram.com/brokenoarsindoors/

 

Read more Broken Oars: www.thelandingstage.net

Broken Oars, Episode 40: Mark Davies, Chair of British Rowing on Leaving The Sport in a Better Place

Ladies and Gentlemen, to celebrate our fiftieth release we have brought you ... 

 

(Drum roll ....)

 

The Head of British Rowing!

 

(And in case you were wondering, Hodge, the rest of Mark's body is still attached).

 

Now, the clever among you (hullo all natural bowsiders) will be quick to point out that this is actually Episode 39. But because of our numbering system and our extra Broken Thoughts and Broken Doors Indoors episodes, we have reached a podcast landmark. That's right - 50 dollops of high quality content. (You can argue about the high quality appellation among yourselves), spread over two glorious years (when most of you though we wouldn't last the week. Okay. Just us. We thought we wouldn't last the week).

 

We couldn't think of a better way to celebrate this landmark than by welcoming Mark Davies on for a chat. Like our episode with Drew Ginn, this episode has been a long time in the making. We first had a chat with Mark about coming on back in lockdown 1.0. However, all good things come to those who wait (a metaphor for a rowing finish if ever we heard one), and this is a good thing.

 

A rower and successful Boat Race cox in his own right, and a founder member and driving force behind Crabtee, Mark's work in the private sector led to roles with British Archery and then the hottest of hot seats when he became Chair of British Rowing.

 

This chat touches on his trajectory through the sport through to this role, offering a fascinating and even-handed insight into the challenges, opportunities and responsibilities the NGB has in its oversight of the sport.

 

Driven by the belief that an essential part of his role is to leave the sport in a better place than he found it (which, in truth, is a stewardship responsibility we all share), he talks open and candidly about British Rowing's progress in this regard. From the essential need to balance the books to stopping the relentless churn of rowers (10,000 leave the sport every year ...) and where we might be if we could slow and then stop that to the reset opportunities that Covid provided, why rowing has been undersold in this country and the social and cultural impact the sport can have if we change that, to the Zoom Ergos revolution, the importance of community and the next four years ...

 

This is essential listening.

 

And yes, we always say that.

 

And yes, we always mean it.

 

But this is the Chair of British Rowing, who admits he and his team have faced their fair share of criticism and opprobrium talking openly, clearly and passionately about how we can all be the guardians of our sport and see it thrive.

 

Get some!

 

Full Crew - it's Episode 51 really, but don't tell them. They try sooooo hard!

Broken Oars, Episode 39: Judith Packer - Rowing; Umpiring and How Rowing, Rowers and Clubs Can Help the Mental Health Crisis

 

 

Enjoyed this episode?

 

Buy us a coffee, download a training plan, and support us so we can carry on making Broken Oars Podcast, the best rowing podcast in the world.

 

https://www.buymeacoffee.com/brokenoarsd.

 

Thank You!

 

-----

 

Broken Oars Podcast returns, with your Northern Correspondent and your Southern Overlord being joined by Judith Packer.

 

A lifelong rower from her early days at University who then transitioned into umpiring, going on to oversee one of Hodge's last races and one of the most prestigious events in world rowing in the Women's Oxford and Cambridge Boat Race, Judith then became a a stalwart of Zoom Ergos. Her sessions with Di Binley and their tours of rivers and locations became the stuff of legend as we battled the dark, dark days of the lockdowns, bringing much needed light and colour to all of us who were suddenly missing their usual connection to the water and the communities therein.

 

In discussing Judith's trajectory through rowing, Zoom Ergos became a jumping off point for a much-needed and wider discussion of the Mental Health epidemic that is blighting and limiting lives in every age cohort in the UK, overwhelming already over-stretched NHS services.

 

With 1 in 6 of us likely to have had a mental health related issue in the last week, 1 in 4 of us experiencing one in any given year and 1 in 3 of us doing so in our lifetimes, with a shocking figure of 70-75% of us not getting treatment or help, while great strides have been made in the UK in terms of understanding Mental Health, the stigmas still remain below the surface, and not enough is being done. Particularly worrying is the rise in the number of children who are diagnosed with Mental Health issues - especially as the rise in diagnosed cases underscores that the vast majority of cases won't be.

 

Touching on personal experiences, and talking about Bernie Hollywood's Boat of Hope campaign, we discuss the role rowing clubs can play in creating safe emotional and physical spaces for all; in providing support and signposting; and how we can go further to ensure that no-one, of any age, gets left behind.

 

A vital and much-needed conversation about the hidden epidemic in our midst and what we can do about it.

 

Full Crew - We're All In For This!

 

 

 

Enjoyed this episode?

 

Buy us a coffee, download a training plan, and support us so we can carry on making Broken Oars Podcast, the best rowing podcast in the world.

 

https://www.buymeacoffee.com/brokenoarsd.

 

Thank You!

 

Follow us on Twitter: www.twitter.com/brokenoarspodc1

 

Follow us on Instagram: www.instagram.com/thelandingstage/

                                          www.instagram.com/brokenoarsindoors/

 

Read more Broken Oars: www.thelandingstage.net