Any rowers?

[Crankin]

I had a very nice indoor rowing machine at home, right after DS #2 was born. I thought I could use it, when he was a newborn, instead of the gym. During the few times he didn't immediately start crying as soon as I got on the thing, I found it kind of boring. I was in very good shape, but it was just hard to find the key to motivating myself. I think I could do it now, but not sure. I find it hard to enjoy any indoor type of aerobic activity, that could be done outdoors. I continually watch the clock when I am indoors, except at boot camp, and even once in awhile, there. I thought I would die of boredom in spin class today.

[Catrin]

I hear you Crankin! While I am a gym rat for sure, when it comes to cardio work I prefer that to be done outside (outside of strength-cardio). While I've been ramping up my trail running, my cold-air asthma trigger will likely be a problem with running just as it is with riding. I HATE the "cardio machines". The rower seems a bit different - probably because it requires much of my attention to do it efficiently. My gym has a rowing challenge each year between Thanksgiving and Christmas, all of the trainers and fitness instructors lead a team. A bit of healthy competition helps!

I've not been to one spin class since changing gyms almost 2 years ago - my neck HATES the old Schwinns we have. We are, however, going to get all new spin bikes. Hopefully the new bikes will be something that I can actually ride - it would be nice to get back to spinning in the winter. Meanwhile, my Gunnar is finally going on the trainer this weekend.

[Catrin]

Today I rowed another >10K meters - (65 minutes) and it felt really good. Granted, it was the first thing I did, afterwards I went a played on a hip press machine, but it felt really, really good. My legs hardly felt like I had done anything afterwards I've only been rowing twice a week, and the others have been ~5K since the last 10K+ at the end of October. I think I need to proceed with caution - I can see myself over-doing on this. Unsure why I like it so much, I rarely care for indoor cardio outside of using strength work for cardio.

I DO pace myself, row for a set distance, rest for a set time, then back at it.

[Crankin]

Last night we went out to eat in the city I grew up in. A few doors down from the restaurant, is a rowing gym. They have about 25 machines set up, and they do group rowing classes, like spin classes. I haven't seen this anywhere else.

[Catrin]

Last night we went out to eat in the city I grew up in. A few doors down from the restaurant, is a rowing gym. They have about 25 machines set up, and they do group rowing classes, like spin classes. I haven't seen this anywhere else.

Interesting! I am curious Crankin, is this an area where outdoors rowing is popular? Just curious if this is seen as a way to keep in shape in the off season.

We are doing a holiday staff rowing challenge at my gym. Our team is small compared to some, and SOME of the rowers on other teams are rowing 12K-17K almost daily! My little team is lagging behind as most of us are sticking with 2K-3K rows, which is quite respectable considering everything else we do.

[Crankin]

Rowing is a popular sport here, but I have no idea how many adults really do this. We have strong college rowing teams, as well as several high schools that have teams. My second to last teaching job had a HS rowing team and several of the girls whom i had in 7th grade went on to be extremely successful in this sport. The town built a "boathouse" on a lake which was really nice and was rented out as meeting space, as well as to other area rowing teams.
The rowing club is in an area where a lot of competitive athletes live, especially runners, as well as cyclists. I could see some of them seeing this as a winter training activity. I hope they play good music, as I don't know if I could do that for an hour. At least in a spin class, you can stand, do drills, sprints, etc.

[Catrin]

I hear you Crankin - but for me I don't find the rower boring, at least not yet. It is about technique and rowing as efficiently as possible. With the right music cranking in my ears it goes pretty quickly... AS LONG AS I don't have the rower's computer showing meters traveled. For some reason that really makes things slow down for me. Instead I have the computer either showing calories rowed, the power graph, or both. So I row X number of calories, rest X number (rowing very slowly), or get up to knock out some kettlebell swings or something else periodically.

It might get boring eventually, but for now it is a way to get some indoor cardio in that is more fun than my trainer at home