How the pandemic got me into rowing
So last December I decided I needed to get back in shape… again…for the gazillionth year in a row. This time though, I bought myself a calorie crusher, an almost all in 1 workout machine, the best quality/value rower out there: the Concept 2.
Bonjour! I’m Marc-André, a product designer from Montreal craving for good food, great looking UI and well thought UX. Today, I felt like sharing with you my path and process as I went toward a healthier me in pandemic times. Now…before I go any further, let me get things straight. I’m so far from being a health coach/professional so you shouldn’t take everything I say as gold. Everything I’m about to share here is about my own experience. Nothing more. Although I do hope this text will inspire some of you to pursue their own journey towards a healthier life.
Before I get into my actual daily routine, let me take you a bit more than a year back in time and explain how I got to today.
The Journey begins
Somewhere in October 2020, working from home like everyone, I decided I had to invest in some gym equipment since I simply wasn’t moving anymore. I basically have the most sedentary setup ever. My home office is in my bedroom so since the beginning of this pandemic, commuting distance is exactly 6 steps. I spend an average of 16 hours out of 24 in the exact same room. Thinking about that fact, after 6 months into the pandemic, made me a bit depressed so I knew I had to inject something new in my routine, something that would definitely make me move and get out of my room. Winter was coming at that moment so I was kind of looking for an indoor activity I could easily do at any moment of the day all year long. I had to find something that would fire up my whole body, on short periods of time.
I then started reading a few articles and watching a few Youtube videos about diverse kind of indoor gym setups and activities people were doing to get through the pandemic physically and mentally. I found out rowing was THE THING people were turning to the most at this time in order to get themsleves in shape at home. Curious, I started to gather more information on the subject and I stumbled upon a few videos by Shane Farmer on his take about rowing in general and how great rowing is and how everyone should row. I must admit, he’s pretty convincing and everything he says in those videos made total sense in my opinion.
So for those of you who have never been rowing on an indoor rower, here’s the main reasons why it’s a solid option for home gyms.
1- The vast majority of your muscle groups are at work when you row. 60% of efforts come from the legs, 20% from the core and another 20% from the arms.
2- It’s a cardio AND a strength machine. The harder you push, the more you work those muscles! On most machines, you can adjust the resistance which means you can always go at a slow stroke rate but with increased resistance so you can work on strength.
3- There’s litteraly no impact at all when you row. Perfect for people with joints and mobility issues.
4- A rowing stroke is not an intuitive sequence of movement. If you want to be efficient in terms of energy input vs distance output, you need to be focus about your posture and the order in which you perform your movements. The repetitive movements and constant focus kind of makes rowing a meditative activity as well.
After watching something like 12 hours of Shane’s videos within the span of a few days, I told myself “Why not give it a shot”.
My wife knew I was interested in getting myself a rower and she showed me that gorgeous wooden water rower on Costco’s website she found that I could easily portrayed in my basement, right beside the treadmill. Without thinking about it twice, we bought it. It took about 2 weeks for the rower to be delivered and as someone who never owned any serious home gym equipment, I was excited like a 5 year old kid on Christmas Eve.
End of November, a rower freshly installed in my basement, I started rowing almost every day. Motivation was at its peak and I really didn’t want it to fade away. I then realized I should subscribe to some rowing program to keep me motivated and to get better/more efficient at rowing. Being an Apple products fan boy, Apple Fitness+ was a no brainer choice for me. I started rowing with Josh and Anja (Apple coaches) everyday and it felt good. But then, problems started to arise.
My rower started to make noise and I realized the problem was the pulleys not having proper bearings. This happened around 2 months after purchasing the rower so no need to say I was pissed off that an expensive piece of equipment, like the rower I got, could have problems this soon. Those pulleys weren’t spinning smoothly so it also made the bungee cord underneath the rower ware out. I called the company, explained the problem and they were so very kind to send me new pulleys with proper bearings and a new bungee cord. A week later, after replacing the broken parts with the new ones, I was back on track and the frustration went away … until I had other issues with it. The water tank started to leak a bit after an intense 20/30 minutes workout. At that point, I started to just get frustrated when I simply thought about rowing in general. It took a few phone calls to explain the situation to the company and I finally got a complete reimbursement for the rower. Summer 2021, the rower went away, so did my motivation.
Getting into rowing 2.0
I spent that summer enjoying the nice weather and hanging out with friends and family as the lockdown measures was loosening a bit. Once the warm season over, with kids back to school and the usual routine making its work, I began thinking again about getting back into rowing. Only difference is this time, I would make sure I‘d get a rowing machine that would last a lifetime and at an affordable price. In the end, I had 2 rowers in my shortlist that I was hesitating on getting. An Ash WaterRower and a Concept 2 RowErg. Both are very good machines and have their respective qualities and flaws. In the end, since I had a bad experience with the water tank of my last rower, I ended up choosing the Concept2 which is an air resistance rower so no water to deal with. The fact that it is a relatively simple machine, a tough and easily repairable one, I felt pretty confident the Concept 2 was the indoor rower I needed to get through my sedentary day to day.
It’s been almost 3 months since I got my Concept 2 and everything works like a charm. I feel great! I’ve never felt healthier in my life and I can already see results in the mirror. Now the thing is, I didn’t decide to get myself into rowing to change my physical appearance. The main goal over here was to just get my body back on a sustainable healthy path. I admit, loosing those love handles was also part of the motivation but not to the extent of building muscle mass, that fast. This might also have to do with the fact that I read a lot of articles saying that incorporating strength training to your routine can only be beneficial and prevents from loosing muscle mass on a weight loss journey. I definitely don’t want to wake up one day realizing I have toothpick arms and legs. So I basically alternate between rowing days and resistance days to make sure I loose fat and not muscles.
So here I am, still really motivated after 3 months of purchasing a Concept 2. I know, it’s still just the early beginning but something feels different this time. I feel like I’m on a good path to make this rowing routine an habit. In a year from now, I’ll make a quick update and hopefully, I’ll be as excited and stoked about rowing as I am now.
I hope you also find a physical activity that you truly love and keeps you healthy. If it’s still not the case, keep trying new things that are good for you. Just like in design in general, the first idea/prototype is rarely the good one. When we fail at something, we learn and make better decisions onward. You’ve got to keep exploring and testing new things to make sure you get closer to the thing you truly like doing.
Cheers!
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Concept 2 rower
https://www.concept2.com/indoor-rowers/concept2-rower
Shane Farmer’s website
https://darkhorserowing.com
Apple Fitness+
https://www.apple.com/apple-fitness-plus/
