Episodes
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I (Northern One), have thought of so many ways to introduce this:
The finest rower of his generation is joined by Drew Ginn, Andrew McNeil, Anthony Bergelin and Lewin Hynes to ...
You know - that tongue-in-cheek quippy thing that you've come to expect from your Northern Correspondent while your Southern Correspondent (Lewin) does all of the science-y bits and the intelligent questions.
Or, something like:
The world's finest rowing podcast (Crossy's Corner excluded. We'll not hear a word said against Martin. He's a living legend) returns and gives three unknowns from a land down under a chance to talk about shovelling a boat backwards down a river ...
You know - the self-deprecating / self-aggrandising stuff that we do so well on Broken Oars Podcast (while also being, you know, the best rowing podcast in the world ... ).
But I can't.
Because, ladies and gentlemen (and children of all ages), we bring to you:
THE GREAT AUSTRALIAN ROUNDTABLE!
It's our first ever roundtable, and we're not sure we'll ever be able to top it. Why? Not just because it's taken over a year to organise, but because your genial Southern One (Lewin) and your genially-grumpy Northern one (Aaron) are joined by Anthony Bergelin, Andrew McNeil and Drew Ginn.
Yes, this is an absolute brains trust of rowing and performance, and you, like us, get to join in with one of the best conversations about rowing you're every likely to hear, but unlike most in the field, Berge, Drew and Macca come at these elements from the refreshing perspective of engaging with and enjoying what you're doing first, and connecting who you're doing it with ... because if you tick those boxes, the first two will surely follow.
So, strap in, buckle up, and tune in to hear about the early years, why culture is not something you write on a piece of paper but live through your values; why lightweights are bitter and twisted; why the club system is so, so important; about how connection is all, not just to the water, but to those around you: how you build trust by empowering people to have a voice; why why is the most important question you can ask (and if people say 'because I say so' you're in the wrong place); why feel beats data in rowing when data in rowing doesn't also feel; why more mileage doesn't equal better rowers but buying a frisbee just might; how great coaches give of themselves, while lesser ones might take or look to over-control; that being fast going in straight lines is great, but rowing on rivers where there's a beer and bbq waiting for you at the end might just be the thing you're looking for; how jumping in a boat with the juniors or the masters lads and lasses doesn't take away from you as a senior (believe us, if one of the greatest to ever do it is not just willing but vocal about diving in with a mate's daughter and enjoying it, you should be too ... ); music, patterns, rowers vs. athletes, the athletic mindset, running thought experiments on yourself, and training back in the curiosity and love of life you had trained out of you by the 'this is how you do it ...' approach.
Seriously, get a notebook, get a pen, get a cup of coffee and take notes.
Berge, Macca and Drew are about to change your lives.
The Broken Oars listenership is a generous and giving one, so if you could follow back to vsk.org.au, and support their and Drew's work, we'd appreciate it. Cancer will hit 1 in every 2 of us at some point in our lives, so if it doesn't hit us, it's likely to affect someone close to us ... so let's get in this fight and push back.
And hit the guys up on Twitter with your comments, thoughts and feedback - or just to let them know how much they absolutely SMASHED this:
@Bergeonline @drewginn @andrewsmcneil Ladies and Gentlemen, we give you: THE GREAT AUSSIE ROUNDTABLE! A year in the making? Totally worth it! (Redgrave, Pinsent, Cracknell ... ? Or more likely Hodgey, Pete and Alex? The ball's in your court ... ). Stern four? Quiet. Bow four. Easy oars. You're in the presence of greatness.-----
Enjoyed this episode?
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Dear Listener, thank you for your attention to our podcast, which, unlike many and most activities on the internet is not free to make. Should you be enjoying the podcast and wish to help us make more episode please consider buying us a coffee or purchasing one of our digital downloads at https://www.buymeacoffee.com/brokenoarsd. Thank you again for listening.
My cousin Cath passed away recently, following Ovarian Cancer.
This is a brief remembrance of her and some happier times.
The moments we have are too few. The time goes too quickly; and we lose sight of what's really important and worth treasuring while we put emphasis on or pursue things that don't actually matter. Our families grew up together before, as tends to happen, we grow apart and into our own lives. In the end, the moments, though, are all we have. I'm glad I had some with you, Cath.
Thanks to Lewin for listening.
Easy Oars ...
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Episodes manquant?
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Dear Listener, thank you for your attention to our podcast, which, unlike many and most activities on the internet is not free to make. Should you be enjoying the podcast and wish to help us make more episode please consider buying us a coffee or purchasing one of our digital downloads at https://www.buymeacoffee.com/brokenoarsd. Thank you again for listening.
'Welcome back my friends to the show that never ends, we're so glad you could attend, come inside, come inside ... '
A new branch of the Broken Oars tree, Broken Oars University was dreamed up over the summer as an occasional series for your two stalwarts to explore some things other than rowing ...
... 'What?' I hear you cry. 'There are no such other things!
Well, ordinarily we'd agree with you, but the Northern One is working through some projects at the moment that mean that the subject matter of this one is pretty close to hand and heart ... and the best way to learn anything is to try and teach it, because then you're forced to break it all down.
The Broken Oars University tag was inspired by so many of our friends on Twitter et al heading off to University - which is an expansive experience, not just in terms of the teaching and the course, but also the new perspectives and understandings it can bring.
We (he, Northern One) hopes that the Broken Oars University will be a similar experience, giving fresh perspectives on some things that perhaps you already know, but which might also be new to some. An occasional series, we'll introduce things we're working on or thinking about in our professional and other lives that might entertain, inform, tickle or make you throw things at the screen.
Sound like it might be fun ...
It might be.
So, to kick it off, Module One sees the Northern One exploring how stories work in an age where narratives no long end but instead roll into the next content output.
In his usual fashion, he will self-deprecate his expertise in this area to the point where you'll think 'who the hell is this person', but essentially this opening episodes touches on the following points:
- Expertise: what is it, why is it more defined by knowing what you don't know rather than what you do.
- Polymaths: what are they, why he isn't one, and neither is Stephen Fry.
- Narrative: why stories have a beginning, middle and end, and why it doesn't matter what order these elements come in.
- Why this isn't a discussion of the pathetic fallacy of individuals and their output.
- What Netflix buying up Roald Dahl's Intellectual Property means and why they've done it.
- The 'Exploring the x Universe' idea: why it's a nonsense and a fallacy.
- How the reality that stories have a beginning, middle and end is important for structure, motive drive, engagement, immersion and imagination.
- What happens if you disregard this and start endlessly colouring in the map.
- Tricks, licks and conceits - how and why they don't work if the narrative's motive force are lost, or the internal logic and consistency are lost.
- Why platforms need content, but content doesn't need platforms.
- Why we now live in the age of the never-ending story as a reaction to market mechanics. We're looking at you, MC universe / DC universe / Tolkien Universe / never-ending everything universe.
- How a never-ending story leads to audience disengagement, a fall off in quality, and diminishing returns in all senses.
- Why stories that have a beginning, middle and end (in whatever order) are more emotionally and intellectually satisfying and more culturally representative - and why, as I work through my projects, I'll be keeping this very much in mind. And if you're thinking 'wtf!', don't worry. There'll be some rowing along soon.
Get some!
Try listening to us with a coffee - and if you're feeling generous, stand us one.
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Why is Broken Oars Podcast the world's best rowing podcast (Crossy's Corner excepted ...)?
Because no other podcast can move from grumping to an analysis of the status statement piece that is the Skillrow to the emancipation of rowers in the South East of England to the Wombles to the Second World War and escapism for wounded minds with such grace, elan and diablerie.
And we would take the time to point out that whilst not exactly unbiased this is a genuine review, based on the posh Southern one paying to go to a gym that has a Skillrow, and giving it a thrash a couple or three times.
That's why.
Get some !
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Dear Listener, thank you for your attention to our podcast, which, unlike many and most activities on the internet is not free to make. Should you be enjoying the podcast and wish to help us make more episode please consider buying us a coffee or purchasing one of our digital downloads at https://www.buymeacoffee.com/brokenoarsd. Thank you again for listening.
Probably best viewed on YouTube but...
The Posh Southern one heads out on a journey to examine the biggest winners and losers in the Indoor Rowing and Rowing channels on YT, on YT. Amongst theses luminaries are Cam Buchan , Scots Sculler Extraordinaire, Austin Hendrickson's Training Tall, Shane Farmer's Darkhorse Rowing, British Rowing's own criminally underinvested in Go Row Indoors videos, The Awesome Asensei, and the even more awesome RowAlong from John Steventon.
Cam Buchan - https://www.youtube.com/c/CameronBuchan
Training Tall - https://www.youtube.com/c/TrainingTall
Dark Horse Rowing - https://www.youtube.com/c/DarkHorseRo...
British Rowing - https://www.youtube.com/user/britishr...
asensei - https://www.youtube.com/c/asensei
RowAlong - https://www.youtube.com/c/RowAlongFre...
These are all good, the last two are awesome Oh and Ame in a Van, only has 175k subscribers. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCMoX...
Its Isabel Paige, who spends a lot of time looking "Wistful" in the wilderness on a very hi def camera that has 3/4 million subs. https://www.youtube.com/user/pinsandn...
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Your Northern correspondent returns with the third and final chapter (and last word on rowing technique and rowing well). What some are calling a work of timeless genius, others are calling how you move a boat and yet more are calling what happens when you let a Northerner on the mic without the calming presence of a Southern Overlord, this is the third instalment of the original two-part series.
Another writer might have titled it 'Concerning Rowing and Rowers ...' but Tolkien was never much cop on the water and had a crap 2k score, so let's only refer to Tollers when we have a question about Beowulf or Asterisk Realities in Philology.
So, never, then ...
This final episode kicks off with a mea culpa. Having played the cheerful and moronic Northern One to Pip's scientific genius, your correspondent has finally grown a set. No-one knows a set of what, but they're currently being biopsied and we're hoping for something edible. However, in Part Two, I said something to the effect that it doesn't matter what you do in a boat the most important thing is that you do it together.
Now, that episode was posted in summer, and I've been considering that statement since. And now I'm rowing back from it (see what I did there?) - because ...
It's just plain wrong.
Here's the thing: it doesn't matter how together you are if you're learning or reinforcing bad habits. That's point one. Point two is that after saying there is room in rowing for different stylistic approaches, I was wrong. There isn't. There's only one way to row a blade (and thus a boat) and that way is hard, skilfully and with reference to the actual physics and mechanics involved.
As I've been saying all along.
The point is that if that's the case, the technical approaches we take and language we use is all about getting us back to the point where we move the boat well.
And that's where this episode comes in. Rowing is a feel sport. We all know what it feels like to move a boat well, either for one stroke, or ten, or one hundred, or one outing, or race, or training block.
The technical calls and drills and language only exist to prompt us to make changes and develop the skills that get us consistently back to that feeling.
So, with that in mind, we go back to the importance of clarifying technical calls and drills to identify what they mean and what they are supposed to do rather than playing coaching and crew mood music.
Talking about the importance of precise language and understandings in a feel sport; we move onto boat physics; why talking to your boatman is vital (Hullo Duncan ...); set up; first principles; only changing one thing at a time; giving those changes time to work through; arcs and angles; and then we look at some of the fads and fashions that have come and gone in rowing ... and why mileage, ultimately, makes champions:
It isn't because it makes you fit enough to row well (although it helps). It's because mileage allows us to identify the feeling of moving the boat well, learn it, remember it, chase it, and become more and more efficient at doing it.
If you listen to these three episodes, and then do the work, you'll never, ever have to watch another Youtube video again promising to make you a better rower; and you'll be able to call bs when your coach is talking bollocks.
Always a win in our book ...
Get some!
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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!
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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!
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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.
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Broken Oars Podcast is, for all of the back-and-forth of Lewin and I about North and South, fundamentally apolitical.
You row, we row, we all row together.
We take and give ribs and jibes in good heart because we believe that the things that unite us as friends, and in a wider context, as people, as communities and as a country number far more than any differences we may have.
We believe in discussion, in compromise, in agreeing to disagree and that, overall, most people are fundamentally decent human beings who are doing the best they can in the circumstances.
'I was down by the river watching Dan and Tyne United's rowers out on the water when the church bells started tolling up the valley. Church bells in Britain only ring out of time when war has been declared or when a Monarch dies. So, when I heard them, I knew that the Queen had died in Balmoral.'
That is the first paragraph of something that I wrote for my girls when I got home on Thursday night to help them make sense of what will happen over the next few days and weeks. Below is the rest, and while I would never think to speak for Lewin, I think it probably stands for us at Broken Oars and might both help and be a palliative for Thursday's news.
'I am not, fundamentally, a Royalist. You both know that the reason that we have a King or Queen is because not too long ago, one person stabbed another to death on a muddy field and said ‘I am King now.’ Kings and Queens take and hold power at the point of a sword.
But that does not necessarily mean that I am anti-Monarchy. Britain's institutions have evolved over time to help four nations of some seventy-odd million individuals broadly manage to rub along together collectively. Although they have been quite deliberately attacked, challenged and undermined in my lifetime and yours, the Monarchy is part of those systems of checks and balances and compromises. Those system are by no means perfect, but they are as good as some and better than many.
The death of a member of the Royal Family in Britain is always accompanied by lots of flag-waving; and soundbites about ‘service’, ‘continuity’, Britain’s ‘glorious history’, ‘coming together’ as a nation and all of that jazz. Remember, Rudyard Kipling, an arch-patriot, said that wrapping oneself in the flag was the last bastion of a scoundrel. He called them 'jelly-bellied flag flappers' who knew nothing of the country or its people and who only waved the flag because they didn't know what it actually stood for. And he was right. Boris Johnson did it, and he was a liar; a cheat; a scrounger; and a bully.
Try and remember that the Queen was a person, and a Mum, and a wife, and a Grandma, and a Great-Grandma first. She was a human being who loved and was loved by her family and will be missed by them – in the same way that we loved and miss Uncle David and Great-Grandma Smith; or Berry and Dylan.
If you feel sad at her death, feel sad for those reasons.
People come and go in Britain but its institutions survive. The Monarchy will continue. Charles will now be King. Time will roll on.
But it is actually people who are important. People don’t remember if you were a King or Queen; or if you were rich or poor; or if you won a Gold medal or if you didn’t.
People remember if you lived a rich and full life; and if they enjoyed your company; and how you made them feel.
That’s what important.
Remember that.
I love you both.
Dad.'
Full crew? Easy Oars.
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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.
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Get some!
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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!
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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.
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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.
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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!
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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.
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
-
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
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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!
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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!
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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
-
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!
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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
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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!
- Montre plus
