I signed up for this because I thought, as someone who was manifestly un-athletic (and hates exercise as a rule), that rowing wouldn't be too bad on the joints, it would be a full-body workout, and, you know, "how hard could it be?" You're just rowing, right?
I was right about the joints (it doesn't hurt them at all), and I was right about the full-body aspect (you'll work out muscles you didn't know you had), but I was as wrong as you could be about the difficulty of it. I was so out of shape I felt like I was going to pass out the first time I went. I probably almost DID pass out. It's really intense!
Fortunately, Garrett gives you a LOT of personal attention (which you'll need if you've never done rowing before -- the form and timing is very important, and not at all intuitive at first). He even brought me a little ice pack in one of my lower moments. But he's also very encouraging, even if (perhaps especially if) you're as hopeless as I was.
I've continued going to GoRow for at least twice a week for the last seven months (minus a break when I had a cold). I'm never going to be in the Olympics, but I've been able to track my progress dramatically. I feel a LOT better than I did before, all of the mysterious back pains I was getting from an overly-sedentary existence have gone away, and I actually (and I am surprised to even say this) look forward to the difficulty of the workout. So this review is for all of the people out there who don't do ten types of other exercise, and are instead for the people who aren't sure whether they can hack this. If I can get through this, you can too.
The workout itself consists of rowing exercises mixed with mat and dumbbell exists. A typical session (they can vary at Garrett's whim) involves doing some warm-up exercises on the water rowers (which are far superior to the chain-based rowers you'll find elsewhere, as an aside). These steadily ramp up to some pretty tough expenditures of energy (but you generate your own resistance, so it's always as hard as you make it). Then you go to the mats where you do some stretching, and abdominal exercises (scissor kicks, crunches, some yoga things).
Then "back on the rower we go," and now we're doing some more intensive things, often little challenges (e.g., see what time you can get for 300 meters, now try to knock so many seconds off of it for 200 meters, now try to do a sprint of 100 meters in half that time, etc.). And it's not just straight rowing -- the water rower allows you to do things with it that you can't on the chain rowers, like pushing the pull bar above your head. Then back on the mat, often for weight work (there are adjustable dumbbells, and Garrett chooses your weights based on your past performance). When one is on the rower, one longs for the mat; when one is on the mat, one wishes one was on the rower again. Both are difficult in their own, different ways.
Finally you get back on the rower again for "go time," the last rowing exercise, in which you try for at least 500 meters (~1-2 minutes of high-intensity rowing), or, if you've been going for a long time, longer distances (Garrett challenging regulars to 750 m is not uncommon; there are some very athletic souls who do 1000 meters occasionally). Garrett pumps up the rock music and you just see "what you have left in the tank." It's both wonderful and horrible at the same time. It's so hard. But then it's over (one way or another) and you can look at your score and, after while, know what it means (it feels great to beat your past times, and it even feels great to basically hit your own personal "par" when you feel like you've got nothing left). Then you stretch, do some leg band work, and other low-intensity stuff as the cool down. Then you "are officially cooked" and you're done.
It's about an hour of workout, but your body feels like it's been through three hours of workout. It's heavy on sprints, as opposed to the long-endurance of spinning. It's full-body, but easy on the joints. And it's relatively intimate: with a max capacity of 10 people, you're always getting personal attention (especially if you're doing something wrong, like me) from Garrett, and personal encouragement. It's also (unlike spinning, in my view) never too loud, never too dark, never too... cultish. The other regulars are a diverse group of people of all ages and physiques. Truly a no judgment zone.
Garrett knows what he is doing, and has been doing this sort of thing for years, and is quite good at debugging weird pains (I had a mysterious back pain that arose as an issue with bad form on a bad rower -- I was out of town and trying to use a hotel gym -- and Garrett knew exactly which bizarre stretch to do that made it almost instantly go away). He'll remember your name and story after the first time you meet him.
Is rowing for you? I don't know. But it's the only form of regular exercise I've managed to commit to so far in my life. read more
