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Top - Wrong grip
Bottom - correct grip

After the pose, the student should learn to hold his belt. Inadvertently when rowing to apply some force, he will tighten his belt tightly, even pinch it. Now this is nothing but a waste of forces, because it makes the muscles, namely those of the lower arm, tense and tired, without obtaining any greater result. The hands should only serve as a means of connecting the strap to the body; so the looser the belt is held, the better, and to that end only the two extremities of the fingers are bent, as a result of which a hook is formed, as it were, which wraps around the belt; (bottom picture) the thumb is held under the belt and also only with the extreme member pressed against it. The wrist joints should absolutely not be bent downwards, because this is precisely what makes the muscles of the lower arm tense, which is of no use and should therefore be strictly forbidden. After all, the aim must be not to exert a muscle without obtaining any result proportional to the effort. The hand must therefore be held in such a way that it forms a straight line with the arm.

Author

Nederlandsch handboek voor roeisport (Dutch manual for rowing sport)
By Pieter Helbert Damsté and Frans Eduard Pels Rijcken
Published around 1886
Available as a free download from gutenberg.org

Posted on

Monday 3 August 2020

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602*500

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