The Drive

The Drive: The drive is the power phase of the rowing stroke where the rower pushes with the legs, swings the back, and pulls with the arms to accelerate the flywheel.

What is The Drive?

The drive is the work portion of the rowing stroke. It follows a sequential pattern: legs push first (60% of power), then the back swings open (30% of power), and finally the arms draw the handle to the body (10% of power). This legs-back-arms sequence maximises power by engaging the largest muscle groups first. On the erg, the drive is visible on the force curve as the portion where force is being applied to the chain. A well-executed drive produces a smooth, bell-shaped force curve. The drive should be explosive but controlled — maximum force application through the middle of the stroke, not a violent yank off the catch. Common faults include opening the back too early (shooting the slide) and pulling with the arms before the legs finish.

How Watta Uses The Drive

The drive generates the watts that Watta captures from the PM5 display. Higher watts at the same stroke rate indicate a more powerful drive. The Work Output component of the Effort Score (35% weight) is directly calculated from the average watts produced during each drive.

Further Reading

Frequently Asked Questions

Related Content

The CatchThe catch is the starting position of the rowing stroke where the blade enters the water (or on the erg, where the chain becomes taut), with shins vertical and body compressed forward.Force CurveThe force curve is a graph displayed on the PM5 monitor showing the force applied to the erg handle throughout each stroke, used to analyse rowing technique.Watts (Rowing)Watts in rowing measure the power output on an ergometer, calculated from the pace using the Concept2 formula: Watts = 2.80 / pace³.Split to Watts ConverterErg Technique GuideFor Beginners
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