How Do I Keep Erg Technique Sharp Without a Coach?

Training without a coach physically present is the reality for most people on a travel-based training block, but it doesn’t have to mean your technique drifts. The key is replacing live coaching feedback with a few deliberate habits that catch breakdowns before they become ingrained.

Filming yourself is the single most useful substitute for an in-person coach. Prop your phone up to the side of the machine at a consistent angle and record full pieces, not just the first few easy strokes — most technical breakdowns show up specifically under fatigue, so you need footage of the part of the piece where things actually go wrong. Review it against a short list of your own known cues (sequencing at the catch, finish posture, consistent ratio of drive to recovery) rather than trying to fix everything at once.

Slow, low-intensity technical pieces are just as valuable as hard intervals when you’re self-coaching. Use them specifically to rehearse correct movement patterns with full attention, since it’s far easier to groove good habits at low intensity than to fix bad ones once they’re embedded at race pace. Pair this with occasional “thinking strokes” during longer pieces — brief moments where you deliberately bring your attention back to one specific cue, cycling through your checklist rather than just grinding meters on autopilot.

If you’re at a gym with other experienced rowers or coaches around, even briefly asking someone to watch a few strokes and give a single piece of feedback can be more valuable than an entire session of unobserved training. Don’t assume you need a dedicated rowing coach — anyone with a trained eye for movement can often spot an obvious issue you can’t feel from the inside.