This Sock Wrap Trick keeps you foot secure when you forget–or forgo–shoes for erg practice.
Forgot to bring your sneakers to the erg room? Or just prefer to row in your socks? Either way, you might find the heel cup rubbing the back of your ankle raw.
Turns out there’s a trick out there making the rounds for that unfortunate side-effect: just pull the tops of your socks down and wrap them over the back of the heel cup to secure your feet. It’s the Sock Wrap Trick.
Lafayette assistant coach Derek Richmond spotted one of his novice rowers putting it to use the other day, and sent us a photo, calling it an “interesting way to keep his heels in the stretchers.”
We caught up with Owen Ward, the enterprising Lafayette novice pictured above, to find out more, and it turns out he saw a guy doing it in an Instagram reel of a team erg work out.
“I didn’t think much of it at the time, especially since I usually hate erging without shoes,” Owen said. “But then, of course, I forgot my sneakers and figured I’d give it a try to help keep my heels down and make it a bit more comfortable.”
Since erg foot-stretchers are pretty much designed to hook onto the back of the athlete’s sneakers, going shoeless can be hard on the back of your heel, especially on a long piece. (Of course, there is a whole school of thought about how erging shoe-free could be better for feel and connection, but even folks who go that route have to deal with the heel cup issue.)
“It made it a lot more bearable,” Owen reports. “I still definitely prefer shoes, but it’s a solid hack if you forget them.”
We agree, and if this sock wrap trick keeps catching on, we’ll have to add it to the list of great sock-forward Rowing Hacks we’ve seen over the years, like Track-Bite Guards, Sock-ed Riggers, Sock-Covered Boat-Straps, and Sock-ed Water Bottles.
Have a trick you’ve seen at work in the erg room? If so, share your ideas–and hacks–in the comments below.
If you have a great rowing hack to suggest for future inclusion, then please send it to us like Owen and his coach did and we will feature your idea in a future column.
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