Did you know that there is a place in Cleveland where you can learn how to row?! Right by the river across from Brick and Barrel there is a renovated old brick building that has a large room with two long pools to give users a simulated rowing experience. I've always heard that rowing is a good workout and since I'm on a health and fitness journey I'll sign up for anything to keep me interested in being active!
So I paid my $15 online and showed up for the Wednesday class at 7:30pm with a friend. There were two instructors, Morgan and Jess, and they were both so welcoming! I was worried about being an extra juicy out of shape lady but they were totally cool, answered all of my questions, helped kindly guide me, and we even shared a couple laughs. There were only four students that night which is small but worked out perfectly for timid first timers. It also helped that one of the regulars, Terry, was super friendly.
Class is an hour and we started out with some Yoga poses like downward dog, plank, and the snake? This helped to loosen us up. Next we sat on stools next to the tanks and started working with our oars. Listen, I know when you're sitting out on a patio and you see these rowers flow smoothly down the river it looks super easy, but it's definitely not! I was a hot mess trying to get the basic mechanics together, my form was so off. I was scrapping the oar against the bottom of the pool, out of sync with everyone else, forgetting to breathe, or ramming the oar handle too far into my stomach. Coaches continued to be patient and helpful. We did our right side then switched to the left side. Each time we built up speed from 16 to 26 for a stroke rate. Apparently Olympians go super fast up to 40 strokes per minute!
So I must admit that I didn't really feel much my first time, but I truly think that was because my form was not correct. I was told that for the Monday class they practice on the rowing machines and it is definitely a killer workout! I am going to go back and give that class a try. Hopefully bye bye bat wings and hello muscular thighs! read more