Broken Oars, Episode 47: Tony Larkman - ’Everything is Difficult Before it Becomes Easy.’

Ladies and Gentlemen,   Knight of the Realm, Four-time Olympic Champion, ten-time World Champion, Boat Race Winner, Henley Winner, greatest stroke of his generation, Henley Steward, Henley Umpire, Boat Race Umpire, BBC Investigative Journalist, Documentary maker, passionate advocate for sport, the reason The Northern One started rowing and The Southern One has such a fierce 2k pb ...   Sir Matthew Pinsent.   Our work here is done.   (Mic drop).

Order a copy of 'The Mystery of the Cambridge Bow' - an original Broken Oars Sherlock Holmes adventure written to celebrate the Oxford / Cambridge Boat Race:   https://www.lulu.com/shop/ai-jackson/the-mystery-of-the-cambridge-bow/paperback/product-m222pkn.html?q=the+mystery+of+the+cambridge+bow&page=1&pageSize=4   -----   We return!   We return in time for WEHORR (what's left of it); the Boat Race; and a summer regatta season just around the corner with the perfect episode ...   Why?   Because we return with Lucy Denyer - whose Telegraph article on returning to rowing at York recently went viral. Extolling, as it does, the reasons why we row, the joy of moving a boat through flat water and still air (and occasionally in the UK through lumpy water and air that's basically an upright sea with slits in it), and the importance of exercise, community and just getting out there and getting on with it ... ?   Well, we just had to sit down and have a chat.   So join as Lucy takes us through her early rowing experiences on Tyne, the Tyne, the mucky Tyne the Queen of all the rivers with NUBC; and her subsequent shift into life, and an American sojourn that led to a career in journalism that culiminated in an editorial role at The Telegraph (one of the few broadsheets to cover rowing, tbf). Staying active all the while, while dealing with the things all rowers deal with when life starts getting in the way of rowing (work, marriage, children, moving around for career), Lucy talks about her decision to come back; going freelance; rowing and identity; getting on the water again at York (we've all binned a single, right? Right?!?!); and rowing on a river that Lewin I once charged down for Agecroft, complaining that for somewhere that floods everytime it rains it's a very narrow river for an eight to steer down, and the fun she's had since.   And then AI generates some totally random pictures of our interview that gives Lewin and I abs again ...   And it's out in time for the drive to WEHORR, the weekend's events, and the drive to the boathouse tomorrow?   We're too good to you!   Get some!   -----    

The world's greatest rowing podcast makes a further claim to be regarded as the world's best sporting podcast by returning with yet another world-class practitioner.   Honestly, how many have we had now?   Hundreds. If not thousands. Hodge. Eric. Sally. Drew. Jack. Jezz. Pete ... the lists are long, the tapestry of episodes and insights vast, colourful and eye-catching.   And following on from Professor Andy Jones, the beetroot guy, we're back with Professor Andy Lane.   A competitive boxer and athlete who transitioned into sports psychology, Andy has been a leading-edge academic and practitioner for over two decades - a man whose work with athletes, academics, and programmes has identified the mental strategies all athletes develop on their journey through their sporting careers and refined how they can be developed, implemented and used by all of us at any stage.   We talk about Andy's own trajectory - his life as a competitive athlete, continued competitive nature, his academic career, work with outlets like the BBC and luminaries like Michael Johnson and James Cracknell, and deep dive into concepts like associate / disassociative training strategies, visualisation, pros and cons of music as a training stimulus, when too much data is too much data, the powers of false positives, the necessity of ownership of process, journey, engagement and outcomes ... and the automation of the sports psychology process.   It's basically your one-stop stop for everything you'll ever need to develop mental strength as an intrinsic part of your physical training programme.   A fascinating and wide-ranging chat with one of the best in the business? Get some!   -----   Enjoyed this episode?   To purchase a copy of 'Water's Gleaming Gold' with an exclusive Broken Oars Listener discount, please go to https://www.troubador.co.uk/bookshop/biography/waters-gleaming-gold-hb and quote " BROKENOARS " at the checkout page.   This discount code will allow you to buy the book at a 15% discount - and enjoy one of the great rowing stories!    Buy us a coffee, download a training plan, and support us so we can carry on making Broken Oars Podcast, the best rowing podcast in the world: www.buymeacoffee.com/brokenoarsd

To purchase a copy of 'Water's Gleaming Gold' with an exclusive Broken Oars Listener discount, please go to https://www.troubador.co.uk/bookshop/biography/waters-gleaming-gold-hb and quote " BROKENOARS " at the checkout page.   This discount code will allow you to buy the book at a 15% discount - and enjoy one of the great rowing stories!    -----   I (Northern One), have thought of so many ways to introduce this:   The finest rower of his generation is joined by Drew Ginn, Andrew McNeil, Anthony Bergelin and Lewin Hynes to ...   You know - that tongue-in-cheek quippy thing that you've come to expect from your Northern Correspondent while your Southern Correspondent (Lewin) does all of the science-y bits and the intelligent questions.   Or, something like:   The world's finest rowing podcast (Crossy's Corner excluded. We'll not hear a word said against Martin. He's a living legend) returns and gives three unknowns from a land down under a chance to talk about shovelling a boat backwards down a river ...   You know - the self-deprecating / self-aggrandising stuff that we do so well on Broken Oars Podcast (while also being, you know, the best rowing podcast in the world ... ).   But I can't.   Because, ladies and gentlemen (and children of all ages), we bring to you:   THE GREAT AUSTRALIAN ROUNDTABLE!   It's our first ever roundtable, and we're not sure we'll ever be able to top it. Why? Not just because it's taken over a year to organise, but because your genial Southern One (Lewin) and your genially-grumpy Northern one (Aaron) are joined by Anthony Bergelin, Andrew McNeil and Drew Ginn.   Yes, this is an absolute brains trust of rowing and performance, and you, like us, get to join in with one of the best conversations about rowing you're every likely to hear, but unlike most in the field, Berge, Drew and Macca come at these elements from the refreshing perspective of engaging with and enjoying what you're doing first, and connecting who you're doing it with ... because if you tick those boxes, the first two will surely follow.   So, strap in, buckle up, and tune in to hear about the early years, why culture is not something you write on a piece of paper but live through your values; why lightweights are bitter and twisted; why the club system is so, so important; about how connection is all, not just to the water, but to those around you: how you build trust by empowering people to have a voice; why why is the most important question you can ask (and if people say 'because I say so' you're in the wrong place); why feel beats data in rowing when data in rowing doesn't also feel; why more mileage doesn't equal better rowers but buying a frisbee just might; how great coaches give of themselves, while lesser ones might take or look to over-control; that being fast going in straight lines is great, but rowing on rivers where there's a beer and bbq waiting for you at the end might just be the thing you're looking for; how jumping in a boat with the juniors or the masters lads and lasses doesn't take away from you as a senior (believe us, if one of the greatest to ever do it is not just willing but vocal about diving in with a mate's daughter and enjoying it, you should be too ... ); music, patterns, rowers vs. athletes, the athletic mindset, running thought experiments on yourself, and training back in the curiosity and love of life you had trained out of you by the 'this is how you do it ...' approach.   Seriously, get a notebook, get a pen, get a cup of coffee and take notes.   Berge, Macca and Drew are about to change your lives.   The Broken Oars listenership is a generous and giving one, so if you could follow back to vsk.org.au, and support their and Drew's work, we'd appreciate it. Cancer will hit 1 in every 2 of us at some point in our lives, so if it doesn't hit us, it's likely to affect someone close to us ... so let's get in this fight and push back.   And hit the guys up on Twitter with your comments, thoughts and feedback - or just to let them know how much they absolutely SMASHED this: @Bergeonline @drewginn @andrewsmcneil     Ladies and Gentlemen, we give you:     THE GREAT AUSSIE ROUNDTABLE!   A year in the making? Totally worth it!     (Redgrave, Pinsent, Cracknell ... ? Or more likely Hodgey, Pete and Alex? The ball's in your court ... ). Stern four? Quiet. Bow four. Easy oars. You're in the presence of greatness.     -----   Enjoyed this episode?   Buy us a coffee, download a training plan, and support us so we can carry on making Broken Oars Podcast, the best rowing podcast in the world: www.buymeacoffee.com/brokenoarsd   Twitter: www.twitter.com/brokenoarspodc1   Instagram: www.instagram.com/brokenoarsindoors/   Website: www.thelandingstage.net

Dear Listener, thank you for your attention to our podcast, which, unlike many and most activities on the internet is not free to make. Should you be enjoying the podcast and wish to help us make more episode please consider buying us a coffee or purchasing one of our digital downloads at https://www.buymeacoffee.com/brokenoarsd. Thank you again for listening. My cousin Cath passed away recently, following Ovarian Cancer.   This is a brief remembrance of her and some happier times.   The moments we have are too few. The time goes too quickly; and we lose sight of what's really important and worth treasuring while we put emphasis on or pursue things that don't actually matter. Our families grew up together before, as tends to happen, we grow apart and into our own lives. In the end, the moments, though, are all we have. I'm glad I had some with you, Cath.   Thanks to Lewin for listening.   Easy Oars ...

Dear Listener, thank you for your attention to our podcast, which, unlike many and most activities on the internet is not free to make. Should you be enjoying the podcast and wish to help us make more episode please consider buying us a coffee or purchasing one of our digital downloads at https://www.buymeacoffee.com/brokenoarsd. Thank you again for listening. 'Welcome back my friends to the show that never ends, we're so glad you could attend, come inside, come inside ... '   A new branch of the Broken Oars tree, Broken Oars University was dreamed up over the summer as an occasional series for your two stalwarts to explore some things other than rowing ...   ... 'What?' I hear you cry. 'There are no such other things!   Well, ordinarily we'd agree with you, but the Northern One is working through some projects at the moment that mean that the subject matter of this one is pretty close to hand and heart ... and the best way to learn anything is to try and teach it, because then you're forced to break it all down.   The Broken Oars University tag was inspired by so many of our friends on Twitter et al heading off to University - which is an expansive experience, not just in terms of the teaching and the course, but also the new perspectives and understandings it can bring.   We (he, Northern One) hopes that the Broken Oars University will be a similar experience, giving fresh perspectives on some things that perhaps you already know, but which might also be new to some. An occasional series, we'll introduce things we're working on or thinking about in our professional and other lives that might entertain, inform, tickle or make you throw things at the screen.   Sound like it might be fun ...   It might be.   So, to kick it off, Module One sees the Northern One exploring how stories work in an age where narratives no long end but instead roll into the next content output.   In his usual fashion, he will self-deprecate his expertise in this area to the point where you'll think 'who the hell is this person', but essentially this opening episodes touches on the following points:    - Expertise: what is it, why is it more defined by knowing what you don't know rather than what you do.   - Polymaths: what are they, why he isn't one, and neither is Stephen Fry.   - Narrative: why stories have a beginning, middle and end, and why it doesn't matter what order these elements come in.   - Why this isn't a discussion of the pathetic fallacy of individuals and their output.   - What Netflix buying up Roald Dahl's Intellectual Property means and why they've done it.   - The 'Exploring the x Universe' idea: why it's a nonsense and a fallacy.   - How the reality that stories have a beginning, middle and end is important for structure, motive drive, engagement, immersion and imagination.   - What happens if you disregard this and start endlessly colouring in the map.   - Tricks, licks and conceits - how and why they don't work if the narrative's motive force are lost, or the internal logic and consistency are lost.   - Why platforms need content, but content doesn't need platforms.   - Why we now live in the age of the never-ending story as a reaction to market mechanics. We're looking at you, MC universe / DC universe / Tolkien Universe / never-ending everything universe.   - How a never-ending story leads to audience disengagement, a fall off in quality, and diminishing returns in all senses.   - Why stories that have a beginning, middle and end (in whatever order) are more emotionally and intellectually satisfying and more culturally representative - and why, as I work through my projects, I'll be keeping this very much in mind. And if you're thinking 'wtf!', don't worry. There'll be some rowing along soon. Get some!   Try listening to us with a coffee - and if you're feeling generous, stand us one.   Buy us a coffee: www.buymeacoffee.com/brokenoarsD?new=1   Follow us on Twitter: www.twitter.com/brokenoarspodc1   Follow us on Instagram: www.instagram.com/thelandingstage/                                           www.instagram.com/brokenoarsindoors/

Why is Broken Oars Podcast the world's best rowing podcast (Crossy's Corner excepted ...)?   Because no other podcast can move from grumping to an analysis of the status statement piece that is the Skillrow to the emancipation of rowers in the South East of England to the Wombles to the Second World War and escapism for wounded minds with such grace, elan and diablerie.    And we would take the time to point out that whilst not exactly unbiased this is a genuine review, based on the posh Southern one paying to go to a gym that has a Skillrow, and giving it a thrash a couple or three times. That's why. Get some !

Dear Listener, thank you for your attention to our podcast, which, unlike many and most activities on the internet is not free to make. Should you be enjoying the podcast and wish to help us make more episode please consider buying us a coffee or purchasing one of our digital downloads at https://www.buymeacoffee.com/brokenoarsd. Thank you again for listening.   Probably best viewed on YouTube but...   The Posh Southern one heads out on a journey to examine the biggest winners and losers in the Indoor Rowing and Rowing channels on YT, on YT. Amongst theses luminaries are Cam Buchan , Scots Sculler Extraordinaire, Austin Hendrickson's Training Tall, Shane Farmer's Darkhorse Rowing, British Rowing's own criminally underinvested in Go Row Indoors videos, The Awesome Asensei, and the even more awesome RowAlong from John Steventon. Cam Buchan - https://www.youtube.com/c/CameronBuchan Training Tall - https://www.youtube.com/c/TrainingTall Dark Horse Rowing - https://www.youtube.com/c/DarkHorseRo... British Rowing - https://www.youtube.com/user/britishr... asensei - https://www.youtube.com/c/asensei RowAlong - https://www.youtube.com/c/RowAlongFre... These are all good, the last two are awesome Oh and Ame in a Van, only has 175k subscribers. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCMoX... Its Isabel Paige, who spends a lot of time looking "Wistful" in the wilderness on a very hi def camera that has 3/4 million subs. https://www.youtube.com/user/pinsandn...  

Your Northern correspondent returns with the third and final chapter (and last word on rowing technique and rowing well). What some are calling a work of timeless genius, others are calling how you move a boat and yet more are calling what happens when you let a Northerner on the mic without the calming presence of a Southern Overlord, this is the third instalment of the original two-part series.   Another writer might have titled it 'Concerning Rowing and Rowers ...' but Tolkien was never much cop on the water and had a crap 2k score, so let's only refer to Tollers when we have a question about Beowulf or Asterisk Realities in Philology.   So, never, then ...   This final episode kicks off with a mea culpa. Having played the cheerful and moronic Northern One to Pip's scientific genius, your correspondent has finally grown a set. No-one knows a set of what, but they're currently being biopsied and we're hoping for something edible. However, in Part Two, I said something to the effect that it doesn't matter what you do in a boat the most important thing is that you do it together. Now, that episode was posted in summer, and I've been considering that statement since. And now I'm rowing back from it (see what I did there?) - because ...   It's just plain wrong.   Here's the thing: it doesn't matter how together you are if you're learning or reinforcing bad habits. That's point one. Point two is that after saying there is room in rowing for different stylistic approaches, I was wrong. There isn't. There's only one way to row a blade (and thus a boat) and that way is hard, skilfully and with reference to the actual physics and mechanics involved.   As I've been saying all along.   The point is that if that's the case, the technical approaches we take and language we use is all about getting us back to the point where we move the boat well.   And that's where this episode comes in. Rowing is a feel sport. We all know what it feels like to move a boat well, either for one stroke, or ten, or one hundred, or one outing, or race, or training block. The technical calls and drills and language only exist to prompt us to make changes and develop the skills that get us consistently back to that feeling.   So, with that in mind, we go back to the importance of clarifying technical calls and drills to identify what they mean and what they are supposed to do rather than playing coaching and crew mood music. Talking about the importance of precise language and understandings in a feel sport; we move onto boat physics; why talking to your boatman is vital (Hullo Duncan ...); set up; first principles; only changing one thing at a time; giving those changes time to work through; arcs and angles; and then we look at some of the fads and fashions that have come and gone in rowing ... and why mileage, ultimately, makes champions:    It isn't because it makes you fit enough to row well (although it helps). It's because mileage allows us to identify the feeling of moving the boat well, learn it, remember it, chase it, and become more and more efficient at doing it. If you listen to these three episodes, and then do the work, you'll never, ever have to watch another Youtube video again promising to make you a better rower; and you'll be able to call bs when your coach is talking bollocks. Always a win in our book ... Get some!

Ladies and Gentleman,   When we're in the presence of greatness, we sometimes do one sentence introductions, like this:   Harry Brightmore - World Champion, GB Men's Eight.   And to be honest, we could leave it there and we'd be justified in doing so.   But we can't, and it isn't just because the Northern One who writes our episode descriptions has a tendency towards sesquipedalian logorrhea (Leave him alone! He's bought these words! He's going to use all of them!).   No, it's because after a difficult last cycle culminating in Tokyo and lots of people, not all of whom were qualified to do so, pointing fingers in all directions (and you'll notice that yes, we did some finger-wagging, but as athletes we came down heavily on the side of supporting and backing the people who actually put their bodies on the line rather than getting involved in managerial flame wars), British Rowing has bounced back in some style.    The entire squad basically used the recent World Champions in the same way rock stars use a sold out arena venue - as a stage and a chance to show off the performances they've been working on in private: The British athletes put in stellar displays across the board, capped by the GB Men's Eight storming to Gold.   Now, anyone who has ever rowed will tell you that an Eight is only as good as its Cox. Seriously, try getting eight strong-willed, opinionated driven individuals to get the boat off the rack together (let alone send them down the track like a scalded cheetah) with a drafted in bored junior who'd rather be elsewhere and then come back and tell us how long it took you to get on the water and how crap the outing was as a result.   As we continue to be allowed to make episodes, Lewin and I realise with every passing conversation how lucky we actually were at Agecroft - not just in terms of facilities, culture and oustanding coaches and rowers, but in terms of having Coxswains like Maddie, Lucy, Valerie and Liz as part of our crew. Their word was law, their calls were actioned without question (on the water), their outings were meticulous, so were they and we were and became better rowers and crews as a result.   Believe us: Thanks to them, we know that coxing is an art, and a science - just like moving a boat.   And great as they are, with Henley medals in sock drawers, Harry Brightmore is next generation and next level.   Now, we're always guilty of saying that our latest episode is the best thing we've ever done ... because usually it is.   However, this one is a must for any rower, coach, manager or individual who is really genuinely interested in maximising themselves and those around them. It's a truly fantastic deep dive, not only into Harry's evolution from promising young footballer to World Champion cox, but also the pressures and practices that drove and shaped that development.   We talk about how early disappointment was translated into inner drive; how that became passion when we found rowing; and then how a clear-eyed assessment of his own personal psychology and identity helped spur his development and coxing practice.   Lewin and I have occasionally cavilled about British Rowing's lack of transparency about certain things, but Harry takes us through the processes and paradigms that inform the life and work of a GB elite athlete - resulting in a frank, insightful and illuminating conversation that really is essential listening.   Get a pen. Take notes. We did. (To follow Harry and GB's journey, catch up with him on: @brightmoreharry @harry_brightmore www.britishrowing.org/athlete/harry-brightmore/ )   All Eight. Meet Harry. Get Some!   Get 20% OFF @manscaped + Free Shipping with promo code BROKENOARS at MANSCAPED.com! #ad #manscapedpod