Modern rowing as a competitive sport can be traced to the early 17th century when professional watermen held races (regattas) on the River Thames in London, England.

Similarly, clubs were formed at colleges within Oxford and Cambridge on the programme for the 1896 games, racing did not take place due to bad weather.

An Egyptian funerary inscription of 1430 BC records that the warrior Amenhotep (Amenophis) II was also renowned for his feats of oarsmanship, though there is some disagreement among scholars over whether there were rowing contests in ancient Egypt.

[4] In the Aeneid, Virgil mentions rowing forming part of the funeral games arranged by Aeneas in honour of his father.

[6] The first known "modern" rowing races began from competition among the professional watermen in the United Kingdom that provided ferry and taxi service on the River Thames in London.

Prizes for wager races were often offered by the London Guilds and Livery Companies or wealthy owners of riverside houses.

[5] The oldest surviving such race, Doggett's Coat and Badge was first contested in 1715 and is still held annually from London Bridge to Chelsea.

Prize matches amongst professionals similarly became popular on other rivers throughout Great Britain in the 19th century, notably on the Tyne.

The interest in the first Boat Race and subsequent matches led the town of Henley-on-Thames to begin hosting an annual regatta in 1839.

During an 1837 parade in Providence, R.I, a group of boatmen were pulling a longboat on wheels, which carried the oldest living survivor of the 1772 Gaspee Raid.

[15] The Harvard–Yale Regatta is the oldest intercollegiate sporting event in the United States,[16][17] having been contested every year since 1852 (excepting interruptions for wars and the COVID-19 pandemic).

[25] Women row in all boat classes, from single scull to coxed eights, across the same age ranges and standards as men, from junior amateur through university-level to elite athlete.

The recovery starts with the extraction and involves coordinating the body movements with the goal to move the oar back to the catch position.

The leg compression occurs relatively slowly compared to the rest of the stroke, which affords the rower a moment to recover, and allows the boat to glide through the water.

Near the end of the recovery, the rower squares the oar spoon into perpendicular orientation with respect to the water and begins another stroke.

These structured exercises, whether performed individually (on the erg), in groups, or whole boat provide a targeted approach to improving coordination, body positioning, and teamwork.

[37][38][39] The forward pick drill, often used as a standard warm-up for rowing crews in groups of 4 or 6, focuses on isolating different components of the recovery and drive sequence.

The drill aims to enhance body preparation, providing rowers with a tactile sense of how each phase should seamlessly flow into the next.

[41] Designed for the entire crew or smaller groups, this drill involves rowing using only a quarter or half of the slide at a high rating with a full press.

[40] The Square-Wide-6 drill, conducted in groups of 6 or 4, requires rowers to take a wide grip on the oar handle, emphasizing a specific body position during the recovery.

Rowers row with eyes closed, relying solely on their sense of touch and careful listening to the boat motion and the coxswain.

This drill is designed to enhance rowers' ability to feel the subtle movements of the boat and synchronize seamlessly with their teammates.

By eliminating the visual element, rowers focus on developing a heightened sense of touch and teamwork, fostering a deeper understanding of the rowing experience.

This drill enhances the overall coordination and sensitivity to the dynamics of the boat, contributing to improved synchronization and a more nuanced rowing performance.

World Rowing rules specify minimum weights for each class of boat so that no individual team will gain a great advantage from the use of expensive materials or technology.

For that reason ergometer scores are generally not used as the sole selection criterion for crews (colloquially "ergs don't float"), and technique training is limited to the basic body position and movements.

In many competitive events there is a minimum weight, 55 kilograms (121 lb) under World Rowing rules, set for the coxswain to prevent unfair advantage.

[51] At the elite level, the World Rowing Federation recognizes an under 19 category for athletes who are age 18 or less by the end of the calendar year for a given event.

According to the World Rowing Federation, this weight category was introduced "to encourage more universality in the sport especially among nations with less statuesque people".

Holding the oars too tightly or making adjustments to technique may cause recurring or new blisters, as it is common to feather the blade.