Broken Oars Podcast

Broken Oars, Episode 45: Racing, 2k’s and Manscaping

Your dynamic duo return with an episode heralding the new season.

Lewin (The Southern One) talks about the David Villers memorial 2k, letting slip that he at 46 can come within one second of what Aaron (The Northern One) could do at 36 - damn his freakishly freakish genetics. We talk of salmons and seals, establishing that not only was Henry Williamson a Fascist, but he knew nothing of the salmon Jurgen Grobler lurking off Tynemouth for his returning charges.

 

Come on, Salar! Let's see those leaps!

We ask if dolphins are really cute and brainy or if they're just dead-eyed 500lb killing machines with good propaganda? Hint: if your family ever invites you to share a dolphin swimming experience, be afraid, be very afraid!

 

We talk about the joys of racing, training side by side, and why Zoe and Anna of Tyne United are names to remember!

 

We then herald something of a development for Broken Oars Podcast as we welcome our first sponsor to the pod. Manscaped is a Californian company specialising in highly-designed, highly-effective male manscaping and hygiene products.

For those watching on Youtube, and those listening, we do our first unboxing and trial runs of the Manscape Performance Package. Lewin gets smelly with sandalwood and citrus and Aaron tries the best pair of boxers he's ever worn as we try everything they sent us.

It's a trial period between ourselves and Manscaped, lasting from 12th September to 12th November to see if we're a good fit for each other - during which time you'll receive 20% off all Manscaped products and free shipping using the promotional code: brokenoars at the manscaped website.

 

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

 

Get some!

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

The Northern One, or as we like to call him when he's writing the podcast blurb, the technically flawless one, returns with Part Two of An Alien's Guide to Rowing Well - The Revenge. This Time He's Back, and He's Read the Manual.

 

You know the premise - if aliens capable of travelling interstellar distances in spacecraft capable of warping our perceptions of space and time ever came to Earth and wanted to get in a boat and pull hard on an oar, this primer would take them through the basics, breaking down each element of the rowing stroke to its fundamental pieces, and talking it through with conceptual ideas, spatial triggers and technical drills that would help them beat us in a winner take all 2k race.

 

Yeah. We're rooting for the aliens ...

 

In this episode, we recap the key points of the first, and then get right into it:

 

In this episode, we talk about:

 

1) The stretcher / footplate - and why it's vital to understand what it does, and what you do to it.

 

2) Talking to your boatman, and the tears that may ensue when you do.

 

3) Squaring, and why squaring early and positively is a good muscle memory habit to get into.

 

4) Raising the hands to the catch and why your partner's kidneys are a good thing in this case.

 

And now we've compressed down, everything is in the right position and we're poised, we talk about the catch, how it should feel, how it should look, we talk about why having Great Apes in our ancestry is a good thing, and why half slide rowing rate up twos until it falls apart are one of the best things you can do to sharpen it into a thing of lethal beauty.

 

5) Learned responses vs. stimulus responses and why hard, harder, hardest ideas of loading up lose out to everything all at once when you look at the realities of the blade in the water vs. the moving boat when it comes to the legs ...

 

But then, dear listeners, we go further, and in doing so we totally destroy our self-curated myth that we're a bunch of chancers who know nothing about rowing, because we go on to talk about:

 

6) Why rowing isn't, in fact, all about the legs, but about how the power of the legs sets up the use of the body and the body's weight to drive the oar hard against the pin, creating boatspeed and why the draw to the finish contributes to this when done properly.

 

We reach the finish, but not the finish of Broken Oars Technique Clinic, as next time, we'll get into extraction, recovery, ideas about gearing and rigging, watermanship and some of the fads and fashions that have come and gone. 

 

As we always do, we emphasise that however you choose to move a boat, the best way to do it is by getting everyone on the same page doing the same things - whether you're a GB profile advocate, a Spracklen devotee, or a Fairbairn apologist. So, feel free to get in touch with us and tell us where we're going wrong.

 

Like you always do!

 

Stern Four? I said, 'play the piano! Do it now!'

 

Get Some!

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.

 

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Thank You!

 

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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.

 

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Thank You!

 

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

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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.

 

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Thank You!

 

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

 

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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

 

 

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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.

 

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

 

 

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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.

 

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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

 

 

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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.

 

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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

 

 

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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!

 

 

 

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Broken Oars, Episode 37: Mark Lewis - Better Than Average Youtube Sensation, Fitness Journeys, and TRT

 

 

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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.

 

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-----

 

We return like the bad pennies we are (hey, we prefer to think of ourselves as a high-class currency, but ...), and on this occasion we're joined by Mark Lewis.

 

Mark Lewis is the man behind the burgeoning Youtube channel, Better Than Average - a channel which takes a different tack to the 'look at me, I'm perfect, buy my products' approach taken by the bulk of the Instafitness generation.

 

Through his channel, the content he creates, and the challenges he takes on, Mark hopes to inspire us to believe and go for the reality that we can, actually, be better than we already are with a bit of grit, a bit of wit, and bit of a sense of humour and achievement along the way.

 

Periodically, as part of his channel's varied and always entertaining output, he takes on a challenge to show the gap between what we think an elite athlete does - and what they ACTUALLY do. He first came to our attention when he, as a non-rower, who'd not been on a rowing a machine for the best part of 25 years, decided to see if he could row as fast as Sir Steve Redgrave did on his worst day on an erg - the infamous pre-Sydney 6 - 15 2k test collapse.

 

(If you haven't watched this video, or indeed any of Mark's content, the links are down below. We won't spoil the ending for you, but it's well worth your time).

 

As rowers, we knew we had to have a chat with this tall, fit interloper who thought he could into our sport, smash our records and this bugger off back to Youtube. We also wanted to have a chat with Mark because he has been very open on his channel in talking about his Testosterone Replacement Therapy medication. As individuals and a sport who has always taken a hard line against any form of drugs in sport, we really wanted to find out more about how this usage squared with his fitness goals, looking at the ethics, morality and advantages that it might give someone who is, essentially, a professional Youtuber whose success depends on his ability to work and inspire physical performance in others.

 

Well, we're glad we got in touch with Mark as it turned out to be a fascinating and nuanced chat. Taking in his early life and background, his trajectory into sport, we also found out about his trajectory out of it, something exacerbated by lifestyle choices and social factors we can all identify with. Openly discussing his lowest points, and also his conscious decision to put the doughnuts away and starting fighting back, Mark showed a human side not usually associated with the filtered perfection of the professional social media fitness type.

 

In this context, he talked about how even though he was eating better, and exercising regularly, and the weight had shifted somewhat, he still struggled with motivation and enthusiasm, going on to explain that going onto TRT was a lightbulb moment - one that gave him back the energy and the drive that he had been lacking even when he was doing all of the right things.

 

This is an important discussion. The UK is well behind America and Europe in terms of Hormone Replacement Therapies in both sexes; and as Mark points out, a lot of issues that are diagnosed as depression have roots in hormone imbalances that can be addressed, but aren't by an NHS that is behind the curve. We discuss morality and ethicality of his TRT use, and its implications for age-group sports like rowing as its use becomes more and more widespread. After all, what could possibly go wrong with giving a therapeutic drug that also gives you more energy and drive and recovery to a cohort who really, really like to go a bit faster than they already are?

 

A fascinating chat with a great guy, and an important discussion. TRT is coming, and as rowers and older sportsmen and women, we have to get our heads around it.

 

Better Than Average Youtube Link:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC6dr32gbapkzgw_Eyr6VsJw

 

Better than Average Official Website:

https://www.marklewis.co.uk/

 

Better Than Average Official Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/marklewispics/

 

Stern Four? You've been assigned for random drug testing. Pee in a cup. Not now, Six!

 

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.

 

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