Rowing Drills Library
This drills library gives you quick access to a variety of rowing drills organized by type and purpose.
Types of Drills Explained
Piece Drills
Piece drills are sustained rowing segments focused on building endurance, power, or technique through continuous application. These drills typically last several minutes and may incorporate rate changes, pressure shifts, or technical focus areas while maintaining continuous rowing.
Examples include base/swing pieces, rate pieces, and power pyramids.
Pick Drills
Pick drills break down the rowing stroke into component parts to isolate and improve specific technical elements. These drills typically build progressively through the stroke sequence or focus intensely on a particular phase.
Examples include the standard pick drill, splash drills, and cut the cake.
Pause Drills
Pause drills incorporate deliberate stopping points within the rowing stroke to emphasize position, timing, or sequencing. These pauses force rowers to find balance and proper positioning before continuing.
Examples include pause at catch, pause at finish, and pause at half-slide.
Using Drills Effectively
Tips for Coaches
- Match drills to your goals: Choose drills that directly address the technical or physical aspects you’re focusing on
- Explain the purpose: Always communicate why you’re doing a particular drill and what rowers should focus on
- Start simple: Begin with basic versions before adding complexity
- Give clear feedback: Provide specific feedback during and after drills
- Sequence logically: Structure practice with complementary drills that build upon each other
Reading the Boat
As you run drills, watch for:
- Sound changes: Listen for the catch timing and blade work
- Visual cues: Watch for consistent body movements and blade depths
- Boat feel: Note changes in set, run, and overall stability
- Crew comfort: Observe how quickly the crew adapts to the drill
Effective drills should produce immediate, observable improvements in the targeted area.
Piece Drills
Base/Swing
Purpose: Cardio base, technique Duration: 10-50'
Steady state rowing with powers or rate changes thrown in.
Row by 2’s
Purpose: Demonstrate how every seat contributes to boat speed, following, build empathy and commitment to rowing together Duration: 10-20"
Start with bow bank, take 10-20 power strokes, then the bank behind (towards stern) them falls in. Repeat till all are rowing, and do a piece. They can fall back out in opposite order.
How low can you go?
Purpose: Big legs, together, at low rates. Teach the crew to downshift while maintaining power Duration: 5-7"
Start at 20, tick down every 1-2" to as low as the boat can go while doing power strokes together. Aim for < 16.
49ers
Purpose: Build power endurance and timing on pressure pieces at the end of practices Duration: 7"
7" with a power 7 on the minutes. Do 2-3 of these.
Pyramid
Purpose: Build endurance and mental toughness Duration: 10-40"+
Full pressure with a rest between in increasing then decreasing sets. e.g. 10, 20, 30, 40, 30, 20, 10. Take slow paddles between each, half of the pressure until you get to 10 paddles then only 10 between.
Eyes Closed
Purpose: Using breath to set pace/rate Duration: 2-5"
Row with eyes closed. More seasoned crews should be shifting rates while eyes are closed.
Rate Pieces
Purpose: Timing, shifting rates together, building up boat pressure Duration: 5-7"
Variable rates for a 5-7" piece. e.g. 2" @ 18, 2" @ 22, 2" @ 16. A variant is to build up the rate and essentially make the last minute full power. Should be shorter, intense.
Mad Mikes
Purpose: Endurance, power together Duration: 5-7"
Paddle for 5, power 10. Repeat. Switch the powers and paddles later in season.
Low Rates
Purpose: Power, legs, recovery timing Duration: 5-15"
Row at low rates and max pressure.
Legs only
Purpose: Leg power. Good drill for a crew who has good body and blade control Duration: 4"
Push with legs only. Tap blades out, then back to catch. A little hip action is ok but not much at all. Some rowers do not like this drill.
Dumb Ass Doug (DADs)
Purpose: Anaerobic endurance, timing and drive Duration: 3x 2"
3/4 reach at SR 28-30, stretch to full.
Dead Silence
Purpose: Set and focus and swing Duration: 6"
Row dead silent, listen to the boat.
Diamond Lanes
Purpose: Transition timing Duration: 3x 2"
Rolling start + into diamond lanes (10 high (28) / 10 diamond (22) / 20 base, paddle).
Pick Drills
Pick
Purpose: Set the boat. Cox should listen for one catch for all 80 initial strokes, and focus on timing/breathing on 5" swing. This is the standard ERC warmup. Duration: ~11 min
20 arms only @ paddle, 10 half @ paddle, 10 1/2 @ 1/2 pressure, 10 3/4 @ paddle, 10 3/4 @ 3/4 pressure, 10 full @ paddle, 10 @ full power, 5’ swing.
Cut the cake
Purpose: Hands out of bow quickly, engage core, recovery spacing and timing while boat runs Duration: 5"
Take a stroke, after finish: arms away, body over, then back to finish, back to catch and take a stroke, then repeat.
Russians
Purpose: Build mental focus when crew is tired. Should be 5"+ Duration: 5-10"
At 3/4 pressure: arms only, half, 3/4, full, arms only, half, 3/4, full… Variants: reverse the order, do 5x of each segment (e.g. 5x arms, 5x half…).
Splash
Purpose: Catch timing Duration: 2-3"
Tap blades in at catch. Should be one splash.
One Hand Rowing
Purpose: Demonstrate that each hand has separate purpose, e.g. outboard = power, inboard = blade control Duration: 2x 1"
Row with inboard/outboard hand only.
Rock on Hand
Purpose: Smooth even strokes Duration: 3"
Row with flat rocks on hands, see who lasts longest before they fall.
Ghost stroke
Purpose: Blade depth, finish — track where hands are, that is your height! Duration: 2"
Gently way on boat. Strokes go to catch and let oars float, rowers follow.
Pause Drills
Pause at Finish
Purpose: Look for parallel blades on the finish. Rowers should pattern it in for whole row. They should feel the boat run. Duration: 5"
Take 3-5 strokes, then pause at finish.
Pause at Catch
Purpose: Look for parallel blades on the catch. Tap in while boat is running to demonstrate what blades in at different times does to boat speed. Duration: 5"
Take 3-5 strokes, then pause at catch. Tap in while boat has some run and go again.
Pause Half Reach
Purpose: Recovery cadence, power at low rate Duration: 5-7"
Pause at half reach and come slowly to catch, power stroke.
Data File
The full drills data is available as a CSV file at /static/tables/drills.csv for use in spreadsheets or other applications.