What began so many years ago as a way of transport in Egypt and other parts of Europe has become one of the great competitive sports in human history. As a sport, the origins date back to the 17th century in England from the Oxford-Cambridge university boat races. Today, rowers compete against each other individually or in teams in races all around the world.

While there have been many unbelievable rowers over the years, six-time World Champion Sir Steve Redgrave from Great Britain is regarded as the greatest rower of all time. Steve won five gold medals competing at the Olympics and due to the extreme physical and mental demands of rowing, he’s also considered one of the top athletes of the century.

On the surface, rowing doesn’t seem like a difficult sport to master, the opposite is true. While rowing is a low impact sport, A competent rower can use in excess of 1200 calories an hour while engaging around 70% of the body’s muscles dynamically. Rowers seeking to hone their skill and technique must train regularly while incorporating a strict strength and conditioning program to keep their body peak physical conditioning.

There are four pillars that top rowers must work to improve, these include:

  • Technical development and proficiency
  • Physical Fitness
  • Knowledge and application
  • Behavioural conditioning

This is where SIVA can make all the difference. SIVA is the brains behind Sprongo’s intelligent video analysis software. It incorporates artificial intelligence and the latest machine learning algorithms to analyze your performance and provide data that can be used to understand how to propel your rowing to the next level.

By taking a video of your training and uploading this to the platform, SIVA will automatically identify and analyse body movement and provide comprehensive data on angles, speed and position. This information reveals areas of weakness and allows you to focus your training efforts where you’ll get the best results. Alternatively, SIVA can analyze videos of rowing champions and provide a side-by-side comparison of your technique vs that of the pros.

SIVA is the first video analysis tool that incorporates artificial intelligence and machine learning. It’s powerful neural engine learns from you each time you upload a new video, understanding what’s important and providing better results each time you process a video. Try SIVA out for yourself! Just head to sprongo.com and sign up for a pro account to start analysing videos straight away.