Better rowing is the basis for more fun and for faster rowing
Four e-learnings for rowers who want to go further than “decent”.
Recognise this?
Most rowers row at a certain level, but stop getting better, or don’t know how. Most just “wing it”. The same trip up and down to the end point every week. What do we need to do for the next race? How do we break the habit? How do we move up the field?
Many rowers resign themselves to it: getting older means getting slower, and that’s just how it is. Or they do it the way they once learned it, and the way everyone does it.
“Ergo’s don’t flow.” An ergometer is not rowing. Yet rowers mostly measure themselves with it, and a lot of instruction is about how to row better on these machines. Whether you have been rowing for a while, quite a few years, or have just finished the introductory course at the club, by now you really do know how it works. But why you are not improving is actually unclear. The few rowers up the field are so much faster, but exactly why is not quite clear either. Do you want to know why?
Why it keeps getting harder
Rowing faster keeps getting harder. Producing more power for more speed costs more and more, and the power you put on the water depends strongly on your technique. That is why understanding decides more and more, the higher you go. You cannot train without limit. You can get better without limit.
| Level | What | Time the change takes (minimum) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 to 3 | Learning to row until you can go out in a boat | 3 to 6 months |
| 4 to 5 | Rowing in smaller and narrower boat types | 1 to 2 years |
| 6 to 7 | Rowing faster up to the highest national level | 2 to 3 years |
| 8 to 9 | Highest international level | another 4 to 5 years |
| 10 | The highest level of all | nobody fully reaches it |
What this is, and what it isn’t
This is not rowing instruction. Instruction teaches you the movement in the boat, from nothing to rowing. These e-learnings start where instruction stops, at levels 4 to 7: understanding why, and which details decide. You usually don’t get that in instruction. From 7 to 8 and 9: moving up the field to win with the best result is about the final details.
Who it’s for
For you if you know the basics and want to get better:
- you have finished instruction, you have the rowing skills and now want to get better. Better is more fun, and when it works, faster is often more fun too.
- you do want to take part in a race at some point.
- you already row national races, but would like to compete for the prizes too.
- you row internationally and at the World Rowing Masters Regatta, or you could row there easily but don’t yet, because you feel that if you go, you would want to compete too.
- you are up the front of the field and would like to win now and then.
Not for you, but certainly not forbidden, if:
- you still have to learn to row (you do that at your club);
- you don’t have the time, priority, perseverance or motivation: you have to keep this up for a while to see results.
- you are a student or junior with your own coach. Beat Your Best is available to you too, especially if your coach uses Beat Your Best Crew Coach.
Masters often have no coaches, or hardly any. That is exactly where self-coaching has a big effect, and these e-learnings are made for that.
My story
I have been rowing since 1987, and in the nineties I rowed at elite level, nationally and internationally. If I had known then what I know now, I would have been a better rower back then too. As a master I went from the middle of the field (tier 4, Copenhagen 2016) to the top (tier 1, Banyoles 2025) in about ten years. In 2026 I won almost everything at the highest international level, and often in the fastest time of the whole field. For the third time in a row I won the NovemberVieren. That is the result of a route, an approach, mine, and it took years.
With a large number of other rowers I see, in their speeds and their data, a pattern: rowing nicely at a level, but not getting better any more. Also not knowing how, resigning themselves to age-related decline.
These e-learnings did not exist: I worked them out myself, from my own experience. They are my own learnings, written down in four e-learnings. I use this knowledge in my role as a coach, successfully. The approach especially supports self-coaching, where coach capacity and the availability of exactly this knowledge and experience are lacking. They come with no guarantee. Without this knowledge it probably won’t work. With these learnings you have a chance, if you bring the perseverance, the time and the motivation yourself to apply it successfully.
Stephan Bon. Read more about me →
Four things you need to understand
It is always about the balance of fitness, strength, technique and lifestyle. Training more is the easiest dial to turn, but not the only one, and not unlimited. Without these four the chance of success is much smaller:
| What you need to understand | What you will do | E-learning |
|---|---|---|
| how the RP3 works and how to train well with it | Choose the machine you get better on | Training with RP3 |
| how rowing works: catch, timing, biomechanics | See the technique and timing you don’t see now | Rowing technique |
| what training is: fitness, strength, technique and lifestyle | Train with a plan that suits you | Training Better for Master Rowers |
| what the data tells you, and what you do with it | Use data to see what is happening | Coaching with data |
Where to start
Start with Rowing technique or Training with RP3; the other follows. Then Training Better, and last Coaching with data: measuring needs a model, and something to know and be able to do.
- Just finished instruction? Start with Rowing technique.
- Switching to the RP3? More and more rowers choose it as their preferred machine. The switch takes a bit more attention and care, and that experience is in Training with RP3. Start there.
How you learn
Every chapter has the same structure: lesson text, a few questions with immediate feedback and explanation, and your score at the end. If you reach the pass mark you get a certificate. Want to try it first? Do the free introduction: a piece of real lesson text from each e-learning, with three questions.