New Video: The Seated Rockback Ultimate Tutorial
Archive post from 1/9/23
The seated rockback has been my favorite core exercise for rowers for a couple years now, since learning it from rowing physical therapists and researchers Dr. Fiona Wilson and Kellie Wilkie as a preventer of low back pain and rib stress injuries. It requires no additional equipment beyond your bodyweight and a seat, and there are dozens of progressions and variations of the exercise to keep it challenging.
More popular plank and crunch exercise variations tend to dominate most rowers’ core training. These are okay for general core strength, but fail the specificity test for the actual demands of rowing with a stable spine and a mobile hip joint. Planks have the stable spine, but a fixed hip position in the static hold. Crunches, situps, the fallaciously named “scullers” and similar variations have a mobile hip, but also a mobile spine that flexes and extends with each rep.
I’ve worked with plenty of rowers who are strong in terms of plank hold time and crunch exercise reps, but who still struggle with stroke errors commonly diagnosed as core weakness, and who are extremely challenged by even the most basic seated rockback variations. The rockback offers a way to teach basic elements of rowing technique and train the relevant muscles through the specific movement pattern, while also reducing risk of injury for low back pain and rib stress injury. It’s a triple-win exercise that I’d love to see more rowers and coaches using.
Check out my new video for 13 minutes of demonstrations with voiceover tutorial for the how and why behind the progressions and variations. I teamed up with friend, fellow rowing strength coach, and former Science of Rowing colleague Blake Gourley for this one. Blake does great videos too on his Youtube and on Instagram, and we figured we’d combine with all the different variations we both use in our strength coaching for rowers of all ages, types, and levels. Blake’s been busy since leaving Science of Rowing last year as well, with online coaching and personal training in Los Gatos, CA, as well as more writing and designing app-based training programs.
Happy rockin’.