2025 Reflection
This year was busy and full of excitement with very good results for my clients. From building great relationships to establishing new connections and the overall growth of my business, there is much to be grateful for in 2025. So…
Luke Smyth
Pet Peeve – Pause Finishes in “Continuous Rowing”
Lately something that has been grinding my geers more and more is this pause-finish during normal rowing in river boat-shells. More and more videos online are showing crews using this pause. I would love to know a coach’s justification for…
HRV – Your Best Tool for Measuring Recovery
HRV stands for heart rate variability. The variability comes from the time between heart beats. This is measured in miliseconds. When training we use a dose-response relationship. We want to be fitter so we give the body a dose of…
World Rowing Beach Sprints Course in Türkiye
This past week I had the fortunate experience of attending World Rowing Beach Sprints course in Türkiye. Getting a break from the Irish rain was very enjoyable as the course was on in Manavgat, Türkiye. The course attendees came form…
Who Can Do it Better? Coastal, or Flat-water Rowers?
Now that rowing beach sprints have been added to the Olympics for 2028, the interest and demand for beach sprints has grown. Naturally, athletes see an avenue to Olympic glory in 2028. The same rowers might be just missing out…
How Do You Structure Your Coaching Intervention?
Recently I was working with a number of coaches on a level 1 coaching course for Rowing Ireland. The task at hand was for the coaches to identify technique errors in videos of rowers of different abilities and age categories.…
Level 2 S&C Course in UCD
Recently I hosted a Rowing Ireland Level 2 S&C course in UCD. This S&C course forms part of the Level 2 Coaching Certification through Rowing Ireland. The course was held in the UCD high performance gym. Over the 2 days…
Rowers: Fundraise For Your Gym Too!
With the advancements in boat production for river and coastal rowing boats, prices have gone up. A brand new eight could go for between 50,000.00 and 80,000.00 depenidng on who makes it, and what add-ons/features you get. With clubs trying…
How Much Does a Junior Rower Lift in a Season? (part 2)
A few weeks ago I posted about the amount of weight one of my clients lifted as a club, and accross the age groups. Of course, I included the limitations in the accuracy of the numbers. Limitations such as reporting…
Where Did All The Rowers Go?
It’s about two weeks after the national championship of Ireland in rowing at the time of writing this. Since the programming and coaching demands have decreased, there is more time to fit my own training into the schedule. Yesterday I…