Tracking Improvements – The EmPower Oarlock

The marriage between sport and technology has become more and more important with every passing year. Gone are the days where an athlete mindlessly smashes a ball into the middle distance, or absently swings a club with little to no understanding of why, how and where they’re doing it. The age of marginal gains is upon us, and rowing is a sport where that theory has gained prevalence in the last few years.

Coaches and athletes can now track the movement, power output, twist, curve and thrust of a blade through the water with figures and data, as opposed to the haphazard guesswork of bystanders on the bank. At the forefront of sport must be the constant need for self-improvement – that inexhaustible pursuit of perfection that defines every athletic conquest. Rowing is no different, and so it is crucial that each crew has the necessary tools to maintain their relentless speed-fuelled chase.

Nielsen-Kellerman, forever at the front of a pack of sports electronic suppliers jostling for position, spotted this. So they created the EmPower Oarlock – a simple feedback system designed to translate your length, engagement and power onto your SpeedCoach Model 2.

We think it’s the future. But don’t take our word for it. Nielsen-Kellerman recently released an article discussing the effects of the EmPower Oarlock on a university crew in the USA. The results were remarkable; the raw data from the apparatus allowed all eight rowers to sync their catches to within two degrees of each other, having previously spanned across four degrees. In addition, without exerting extra pressure, the crew had picked up the splits by 0.5 seconds per 500m – an incremental increase but one that would make up a boat length over 2000m. The full piece can be read here but the salient point is that the EmPower Oarlock contributed a great deal to the efficiency of the crew by making small adjustments to the synchronicity and timing of the athletes.

There is a wealth of information on Nielsen-Kellerman’s website about the Oarlock, and it is information abundance that stands the EmPower Oarlock out from the technical crowd. It is so easy to track your power output on an ergo but the translation has always been lost when taking to the water. Simply, the Oarlock will allow athletes to gain more from each stroke. As rowers, is there any great requirement from our stroke than squeezing an extra couple of inches out of the run of the shell?

If Drexel University, the crew who tested the EmPower Oarlock in the aforementioned article, truly gained 0.5 seconds per 500m, then what can be achieved by consistent and informed application of the benefits of the Oarlock? The value of shells and blades and even kit is often touted as extra speed, but a piece of technical equipment can and will improve your crew.

Now – you need to trust in the future.

About The Author

Tom Morgan

Tom is the Founder of JRN. He has been creating content around rowing for over a decade and has been fortunate enough to witness some of the greatest athletes and races to ever grace our sport.

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