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Where to row (indoors) in San Francisco?

BW rowing OMpower

It was only a matter of time before rowing was discovered as the most efficient way to work out. And why not. Rowing involves practically every muscle in the body, has huge cardiovascular demands and is low impact on the joints. For the most exercise for the money look no further in San Francisco — Indoor Rowing is your answer and below are 3 fitness centers that can bring you this awesome class. Whirl away!

Active Sports/Wellness (formerly known as Club One) at Embarcadero #2 on the second floor. This club understood the full potential of this sport over 18 years ago, and began classes with the help of Duncan Kennedy, collegiate and US champion rower and former US team national team member. Duncan and Jim Karanas helped build this class over time with a very loyal following. Classes are Monday, Wednesday, and Friday at 11:30 am – 12:10 pm. Former seasoned collegiate rowers have been running these classes for years! They have over 19 indoor rowing machines and you better sign up fast as this class fills up! Strength is it has 19 people rowing in one room together…motivating, just like at the boathouse! Weakness is it only has 3 classes a week.

OMpower SF located at 66 Townsend Street is a beautiful open brick boutique fitness center offering Rowing, Cycling, Yoga, Dance, running boot camps and personal training. Again, rowing fitness entrepreneur, Duncan Kennedy was consulted by savvy OMpower SF owner, and nutritionist Jennifer Kartiganer to “get me some indoor rowing.” Jennifer understands the trends in the business and also what is legit. “Working to get rowing classes a part of the OMpower SF culture was not hard”, says Duncan. “Jennifer knows what works, what people are clambering for, and an ambiance that is inviting.” OMpower prides itself on “Authentic Transformation” and all their instructors are real rowers who either rowed in college, or currently coach rowers on the water. The whirl of the rowing machine wheels can be heard throughout the fitness center from its open air loft 14 classes a week. Strength is their adherence to building form and technique into your rowing with a serious side to training. Weakness is the location has parking problems when the Giants are playing home games. Check their website for details at www.ompowersf.com

RowClub: A small row only boutique club on the lower level on Belden place off Pine Street. It is the west coast answer to Row House, or City Row — a boutique fitness center focusing on rowing only.They have 7 instructors, several of whom have collegiate rowing experience and one with national team experience. The classes are rowing based with some weight lifting in between to give the classes a little more than just rowing. They have over 20 classes per week. Strength of this club is it is dedicated to the indoor rowing class. Weakness of the club is the subterranean workout room. A little claustrophobic! Check their website for more schedule details at www.rowclub.com

An Assortment of the best “Excruciating Rowing Workouts”

Struggling to figure out what you want to do for a workout on the indoor rowing machine?? The beauty of the erg is that you can structure a workout to fit any kind of goal, whether it be low steady state, high intensity interval training (HIIT), long interval anaerobic threshold training, max power, etc…the erg does it all. So stop wasting time and read below from the readers of ROW 2K (including a bevy of rowing coaches, former national teamers and regular “Joes”).

You are sure to find one that will work for you! Row Away!

Excruciating Erg Workouts

from the readers of row2k

Every day in an ergroom near you

Bread and Butter (just try to keep it down)
from MURR0683@aol.com
7 by 2k: (2 min rest)
22, 24, open, 26, open, 24, 22
And you have to be within ten seconds of your best 2k score on the open cadence pieces.
More than one way to make 500m feel like forever

from Jon Hackathorn
The absolute worst ever administered by my coach, Tim Carrigg @ Ohio State, was 12x500m w/ 1′ rest. He felt our 2500 times were lacking, so a little interval work was the cure for what ailed us. This was done in the basment of a student union @ OSU that served as our boathouse. It has a very “gulag” like appeal, with grey walls and exposed pipes. Combine the bleak February landscape outside and the lactic enducing hell we were going through inside, this workout broke more than a few spirits. The strong surrvived, 2500m scores went down, and medals were won in the spring.

From Eric Leeder
here’s my candidate for worst workout, probably not an uncommon one, but you’ll remember it once you’ve done it:
The Dirty Dozen
12 x 500m @ 100% (all scores recorded)
you switch off with another rower. your time off is the time that it takes him to strap in, pull his 500, then roll off, while a cox or coach writes down the results. real fun.
Quien es mas macho

from Sean Gorman
This is a Dan Lyons specialty, that has a simplicity that makes it oh so brutal.
You simply hold a 1:28 split until it slips for three continuous strokes then the piece is done with.

You get five minutes rest and repeat. The process is continued until you cannot get the monitor to show a 1:28 for one stroke.

If this is done honestly there are few greater tortures to be found spinning a wheel. Substitute your 2k split goal for 1:28 and your good to go. Or as Dan puts it, just pull 1:28 for 2k and your rowing future is set.

Enjoy

The rating’s the thing
from Dave Stephens
Hey,
High rates aren’t that bad, the worst are low rates here’s a workout we do:
6 x 10′ Category 5 (7 seconds slower then 20 min test)
Rating 12, 14, 16,12,10

Ouch.

Golf is for weenies; “Erg Speed Golf” is not. then there’s football
from Charles E. Ehrlich
I’ll contribute two workouts.
Here’s a workout I came up with last month. The idea started out as an attempt to play erg golf, but without a calculator handy I simplified things. Not knowing much about golf, I made the course par 78 (which I gather means more difficult than usual), and then I decided to put a speed element into it. The 18-hole workout was over in about 50 minutes and my guys were so toasted I had to cancel what I had planned for the next 30 minutes of practice.

ERG SPEED GOLF
150m = par 3, 350m = par 4, 500m = par 5
par = 2k target splits, over/under as in CII manual
150m, 1′ rest, 350m, 1′ rest, 500m, 1’30” rest,
350m, 1′ rest, 500m, 1′ rest, 350m, 2′ rest,
150m, 1′ rest, 350m, 1′ rest, 500m, 5′ rest,
350m, 1′ rest, 500m, 1′ rest, 350m, 2′ rest,
150m, 1′ rest, 350m, 1′ rest, 500m, 1’30” rest,
350m, 1′ rest, 500m, 1′ rest, 350m.

Then there’s the Peter Olrich Super Bowl workout (named after the only guy I’ve ever known crazy enough to do this annually):
start erging at the opening kickoff and keep going until the final whistle at half time. Get off and stretch. Start erging again at the second half kickoff and keep going until the end of the game. I challenged my guys to do this during the Fiesta Bowl this year – with the added fun that after every field goal they should maintain their 6k splits for the next commercial and after every touchdown should maintain their 2k splits for the commercial. I’m curious to see if anyone took up the challenge!

Lactate peaks at around 2:15…
from Oliver Rosenbladt
I don’t know if this is horrific compared to what some people have done, but the few times I’ve don it, it’s been a doosie:
6 x 2:30 min./erg

Every piece is flat out, 34-38 SPM, at or above 2K pace, with 5 min rest. You are expected to be sub 2K for the entire workout. (This comes from the German Men’s Heavy 8+ training program of 1995-6) 2:30 is too short to cruise and too long to row it like a 500…so it’s 800-850 meters of pain.

Athlete: “How long is the test?”
Coach: “Yes.”
from Simon Carcagno
I got 2 for you
the year before I got to Princeton, the frosh lights had to do all of the test distances in one day. so:
10k
6k
2k
1k
500m

I’m guessing at 15 minutes rest between the first two, 10 between the 6k and 2k, 5 between the 2k and 1k and another 5 between the 1k and the 500.

The worst I ever did was 5x around the island by sixes in Tampa. everytime we went around we could see our time on that big clock on the shopping center. Took us an hour and forty minutes.

Condolences
from LKD (Ken’s mother)
50K. No stopping.
This workout dreamed up and executed by Ken Davies. He only did it once.

More Vogel-iana, (and an hour of horror)
From Joel Furtek
Couldn’t let this topic go without returning to a Vogelian torture:
Vertical Death
10 flights of stairs all-out, then back down and start again you start at the bottom on 4-minute centers, time is measured on the way up, so if you take :45, that’s added to your time, and you have 3:15 to get back down and start again.

You do it 6 times, and get a composite score. Anyone not barfing by the third run isn’t going hard enough.

And my own:
Happy Hour – The Horror
with a partner: 1-2-3-2-3-2-4-2-3-2-3-2-1
your partner’s time is your rest
all pieces are flat-out, no ratings cap or pacing
all meters are recorded
what a way to end winter training
And from Chris Tolsdorf

This one I got from Tony Johnson when I was an assistant at Georgetown. My version may vary a bit, but its close enough. I used it very successfully on the UVA and Drexel Men. Successful in that they all absolutely hated it, a few guys probably puked, and I had so much watching their faces when I posted in on the workout board. I did the 10 2′ piece workout in the boat when I rowed for Vogel, and it is one of the most heinous workouts known to man, especially with Vogel yelling at you. He adds that special something. Anyway for the erg workout. 14 by 2 and 1/2 minutes, with 1′ rest in-between the first 10, and 2′ rest in-between the last 4. Of course the goal is to get all the pieces within 10 or 15 meters of each other. Totally sucks.
x’ on, y’ off

from JEMERZ355@aol.com
That would have to be a tie between:
4 minutes on, 1 minute off, times 8
and
2:30 on, :30 off, times 10

Though I’ve never experienced this, I hear that Yale heavies do 20 times 500m. Yikes.

Dane demo derby (sure that ‘ vs. ” is correct?)
from Jeppe K. Jensen,, DAN HPL2- ´97-´98
How about this one?
We have been practising this in the Danish Rowing Center, preparing for our indoor nat´ls. Its a 2x (10×90’/30´)/5″ @ 32-34
Psycho, or No?
from JEMERZ355@aol.com
This is best I can give you, although I don’t think it’s exactly Psycho. I do a 1 hour erg peace every day trying to keep the splits at a 1:50 at about a 26 or 27. Then just to spice things up a bit I throw in a good number of tens in between getting it down to about 1:35. The last 3 min I spend at a 1:30 with the last 45 seconds for a sprint were I get it down to about a 1:24.

30 minute workout for Indoor Rowing beginners

BW rowing OMpower

New to indoor rowing?

Congratulations!

Rowing indoors on the Concept 2 rower is ideal for a ton of reasons. Aerobic conditioning, strength, upper and lower body conditioning, low impact, and the list goes on.

To begin, it is good to understand there is an order to rowing and it needs to be practiced. Below is a 30 minute session that will help practice the technical fundamentals while getting in a nice 30 minute row.

First 5 min:
Begin arms only: Legs straight, body perpendicular (straight up at 12 O’clock). pulls arm only, drawing elbows straight behind you and feeling as though you are placing them on a invisible shelf behind you. Keep long with gradual acceleration.

Add Back. Swing back from 11 O’clock to 1 O’clock while pulling the arms in at finish. Use back and arms together for maximum blend.

Add 1/2 slide. Gradually bring legs into stroke

Add Full slide.

Should be around 22 strokes per minute for 2 min at 65% effort. Change stroke rate to 24 for 1 minute, then 26 for 1 minute.

Next 10 minutes:

10 strokes at 85% effort, the 10 Strokes paddle. Start at 22 and progress up 2 strokes to 30 and then back down.

Last 10 minutes

4 min at 20, 3 min at 22, 2 min at 24, 1 min at 26 (65%)

It will be over befor you know it. Happy rowing.

Circuit Training for Rowers

We like circuit training for many reasons. There is also a great many ways to execute circuit training.

Be sure you get at least 12 different stations, alternating upper body and lower body and then full body. begin with 1:30 min of activity then :30-:45 off x 12. The you can get more intense with :45 sec ON, :15 sec off x 8 x 2.
BE sure to keep good form always.

E.g.
Jumpies (lower body)
Push Ups (upper body)
Burpees (full body)

Or

Sit Ups (Upper body)
Flutter Squat (lower body)
Rower (full body)

Sometimes, you just gotta row. Ted Cruz be damned.

Screen Shot 2016-02-01 at 9.48.04 PM
Screen Shot 2016-02-01 at 9.48.04 PM.png
Sometimes, you just gotta row. Ted Cruz be damned.

The Iowa Caucus happened last night! Well kinda! While Ted Cruz landed a decisive victory against an eerily humble Donald Trump, Hillary and Bernie basically tied, which has a real “we did all this to not get a winner” vibe to it. But at least one guy in Iowa didn’t let the election fever get to him. No, he had way more important things to do. He had his delts and his biceps and his quads and his pecs and his abs, and they took precedence over the ridiculous horse race. This is Rowing Dude.

He’s not going to stop to listen to Ted Cruz. Not when he’s trying to get swole on what is arguably the coolest of all the machines in the gym. (Rowing machines, used correctly, always look badass and intense.) And you know what? I think he made the right choice. If he had skipped his rowing regimen to listen to Cruz, literally nothing would be different today except this dude would feel bad about skipping his workout. So I say, good job, Rowing Dude. Your dedication is an inspiration to the rest of us.

Military Muscle: Get motivated — fitness tips for 2016

Rowing is growing and even the military is seeing its value as it trains our best! Along with circuit training, the indoor rower is the ultimate cardio blaster, but best when rowed correctly and with intensity to match the type of workout. Military Muscle columnist Bob Thomas delivers workout advice all year long. Some of his top tips from the past year to carry you into 2016:

military rower

Women and pullups

All of the active-duty women with whom I have worked were able to perform unassisted pullups within 30 to 60 days of starting their programs. I insist they do pullups every single day. A few started out being able to complete a nonassisted pullup. The rest used a gravitron — a specially designed machine that uses weights to assist — or bands.

Better technique — bigger gains

To make sure you’re working smarter, get the advice of the experienced trainers at your fitness center — and not the person at the next rack, no matter how easily he or she seems to be working the weight stacks.

Bench press: Those with long arms and small rib cages face the most risk when attempting to execute a full, touch-the-chest bench press. Solution: Use a narrower grip on the bar than you normally do. Feel free to experiment, but a good place to start is to put your hands at or just inside shoulder width.
Bicep curls with bar: When you hang your arms at your sides (palms forward, thumbs lateral), the more your forearms hang away from the sides of your body, the more wrist break is required. That can be painful. Solution: Use an E-Z curl bar, the type that looks like it has pronounced waves in it compared to traditional straight bars.
Dumbbell bent-over rows: Pull the shoulder back before lifting the dumbbell. Stabilizing the shoulder before the lift puts the joint in a stronger position and also will maximize the muscle contraction at the end.
Front planks: It’s critical that you go into the plank from being flat on the ground. You will always stop in the almost perfect position. Have a partner make sure you attain and keep a straight line.
Step-ups: It’s important to stand fully erect with both feet on top of the box, then step down off the box.
Squats: Rotate at your hips as you descend — slowly — and let your back come forward naturally. Try to get your knees as close to 90 degrees as possible.
Dips: Don’t use a bench with your heels on the floor for this; it rotates your shoulder joint and can cause injury. Use the dip machine or handles that are probably on your pullup assist machine.
Walking lunges: Don’t push back off your forward heel when recovering from the lunge. You want the pressure on the quad and glute of the forward leg, which means rising straight up vertically out of the lunge.
Pushups: Keep your hands at shoulder width and lower your body until your upper arms are parallel with the floor. Keeping your trunk straight is critical here. Your eyes should look slightly forward.
Calf raises: Using a board or a step gives a bit more stretch to the Achilles, so be careful, especially when using a step.
Max your fitness scores

If you’re trying to improve your PT test score in any event, you won’t get there without a strategic approach executed over time.

Faster run time: I find that emphasis on increasing speed rather than mileage works well at typical PT test distances.
Improve pushups: The key is to strengthen your triceps and work to keep a straight line from your hips to shoulders. You can alternate planks and full-body pushups each workout.
Medicine ball for explosive power

A medicine ball is one of the few pieces of equipment that can deliver results through either controlled or explosive repetition. It also brings a large percentage of your “total body” into play when performing the exercise.

The “slam” ball is seven to nine inches in diameter, can weigh four to 50 pounds and is designed to be thrown with force without bouncing. The 14-inch “Dynamax” ball, which I prefer, can’t stand up to being thrown against abrasive surfaces like the standard balls can, but it can be thrown hard at a partner without fear of injury. The bigger diameter places the hands close to shoulder width, which works the upper back and shoulder muscles in a more natural way.

Best cardio in the gym

One of the absolute best pieces of equipment in your fitness center is the Concept2 indoor rower. The rower is tops at incorporating cardio and strength. Most college teams, world champions and CrossFit “boxes” use Concept2. Workout programs on the rower are as varied as your imagination. If you’ve just started using the rower, build your base by working up to at least a 20-minute, steady-state row.

Stretching do’s & don’ts

Do: Stretch before and after any event.

Don’t: Stretch before to an event without five to 10 minutes of light warmup before the stretching.

Do: A dynamic stretch (looks like constant movement because the hold is very short) rather than a passive stretch (holding for 15 seconds or longer) prior to an event.

Don’t: Take “dynamic” to mean bounce-stretching; these movements should be fluid, not rapid and jerky.

Do: A more passive style of stretching after your event is completed.

Don’t: Continue a passive stretch past a point where you feel any pain.

Today’s Workout on the Concept 2 Erg

4 x 6′ with 3′ rest

take this time to row low rate with 80% – 85% pressure (around 5K pace when at 26 rate). Nice low rate with good quality velocity.

#1.
3′ @ 20, 2′ @ 22, 1′ @ 24

#2.
3′ @ 22, 2′ @ 24, 1′ @ 26 (5K pace)

#3.
3′ @ 22, 2′ @ 24, 1′ @ 26 (5K pace)

#4
3′ @ 24, 2′ @ 26, 1′ @ 28 (Sub 5K pace)

4 x 10 strokes at 100% at 28 stroke rate with 20 paddle strokes in between hard strokes. Good technique and slow recovery.

paddle down and stretch

An Olympian’s Insane Rowing Workout

samw

If you’re looking for athletic inspiration while staring down the barrel of failed New Year’s resolutions, you could do a lot worse than Seth Weil, an Olympic rowing hopeful training — like all hell — to earn a spot on the U.S. Men’s 4 boat in Rio this summer.
“Rowing is a power-endurance sport, so you need sustained, high-power output,” Weil says, explaining why it’s not for the faint of heart. “It’s not quite a full-on sprint, but it’s certainly not a marathon. You have to be able to sprint as long as you can.”

That Weil would become an Olympic rower was pretty unlikely a decade ago, when he was a pudgy freshman at UC Davis who had played zero organized sports in high school. “I was just like, ‘I’m fat, let’s party,’ ” Weil admits. Instead, someone noticed he was 6-foot-7, 280 pounds, and invited him to walk-on to the club rowing team. He had some early success, and that was enough to get him hooked. “I was lucky because I was good at it when I started,” he says.
Before long he had shed nearly 70 pounds and was a linchpin on one of the nation’s best rowing teams. In the years since his college eligibility ran out, Weil has teamed up with rowing royalty Henrik Rummel and earned a coveted promotion to the men’s 4 boat, on which he helped win gold at the 2013 U.S. Rowing National Championships.
But that hardly means he’s a lock to represent the U.S. in Rio. Olympic selection is Darwinism at its finest. Injuries and untimely dips in performance can dash the most carefully crafted plans. Which is why training is both science and religion to Weil — and why you can learn so much from him. You can pick and choose from Weil’s menu, and if you’re brave enough, you can go all in. You might want to clear some time on your calendar, though, and you’ll definitely want to spring for an erg machine. Ready?

Start a Journal
Developing a workout regimen is useless if you don’t track it. “The most fundamental part of this is a journal. You have to keep track of your workouts, always,” Weil says. That’s because your memory is flawed. It may tell you you did better than you actually did, or it may sew seeds of doubt, suggesting you did worse than you thought. Either way, a journal will keep you honest and on track, and, should you suffer an injury or have to take time away for any other reason, it will offer you a roadmap back to where you were when you left off. “Recollection is just notoriously wrong.”
Build a Power Pyramid
The key to sustainable power is to go from endurance, to power-building, to an explosive combination. “It’s like a pyramid,” Weil says. “You’re going from this massive aerobic base, to sustaining something for six minutes. You want to produce as much power as you can in six minutes. And the thing is, they don’t work together. You’re doing cardio, then you’re doing weights. They work against each other. So you’re trying to mold the two worlds together even though you’re taking losses on both sides.”

Start with an aerobic base. You will do this by rowing. A lot. The first phase of training sees Weil and his teammates rowing between 150 and 240 km each week. In the weight room, exercises are higher rep, lower weight — about 60 to 80 percent of max.
As training progresses, reps will taper down into power-producing lifts and, as racing season gets closer, the weight goes back down a little bit and the focus is on explosion, or what Weil likes to call “high-intensity interval type of stuff so you still have the power to sustain.” Specific exercises in the gym are determined by how that power will be put to use.
“Rowing connects your legs to your hands,” says Weil. “It’s as important for us to be able to enervate muscle neurologically as it is to be able to build more muscle. If I can’t recruit that muscle in a coordinated fashion, it doesn’t help me at all. It’s just added weight.”

Front Squats
Traditional back squats are done with a squat bar behind the neck, across the shoulders. Front squats are done with the bar across the shoulders, but under the chin. This keeps your core straight and more engaged. “Rowing puts a lot of stress on your lower back,” Weil says. “Front squats are going to force you to keep your posture a little bit better.”
Trap Bar Dead Lifts
In regular dead lifts, you can cheat and can roll the back forward. Not with the diamond-shaped trap bar, Weil says. “The load is in line with my spine and with my body.” This keeps your spine straight, protects your back, and forces you to lift with your core.
Bench Pull
Whether on an inclined or flat bench, the lifter pulls a straight weighted bar or dumbbells toward them, keeping the elbows flexed outward so that the upper arms are at perpendicular angles to the torso. This isolation workout strengthens the middle back, lats, and shoulders.

Bench Press
For Weil, this is about balancing out a strong back, not about building a pumped-up chest. “We spend so much time pulling that we try to remain somewhat balanced,” Weil says. “Having antagonizing muscle groups built up together helps keep us out of physical therapy. As soon as one muscle group starts dominating, it can develop the ability to tweak your body pretty hard.”
Shoulder Plate Rotations
Pick up a plate and rotate it in circles over and around your head. This is supplemental joint work to prevent injury by building stabilizing muscles.
Ab Rollouts
The core work begins. Grab a mat, the two-handled wheel over by the jump ropes, and find some space. Holding the wheel on your knees, stretch your torso to the floor — then bring it back up. This is a great exercise for building the connection between the legs and upper body, “to help transfer the power generated from our legs through our core and into the oar. Any weakness in our core will absorb some of that power, causing inefficiency.”

V-Holds
Sitting on the mat, feet in the air, torso in the air, holding that V-shaped position. Try it with 30 seconds holding that position, 15 seconds off, then increasing the time on.
Russian Twists
Starting from the V-hold position, hold a weight and rotate your torso back and forth. “Since we rotate out of the boat, we have to be able to tie that rotation into our core as well,” Weil says. “Twists work the obliques, which help support the rotation out of the boat.”
Dead Bugs
“Hip flexibility and spine stability ensures the hinge between the legs and body is able to support and translate the power output of the lower body,” Weil says.
Rotating Planks
The trusty, basic core-strength builder is an Olympic-hopeful rower’s standby. Kick it up a notch by doing rotating planks, building up strength so that eventually you are not pausing in between side, straight, side, and just rotating back and forth.
– Aaron Stern

The Importance of Technique on the Indoor Rower: How To Love The Erg!

It is winter and we rowers all know what that means. No more wind coursing through your hair as you row tirelessly down the river chasing the perfection of swing. Nope. It is time to shift gears. It is when we all go inside and begin rowing on the “dreaded erg”, row in the tanks, lift weights, run, cross country ski, etc…hoping to get stronger, and more fit for the Spring.

Many rowers get a little nervous during this phase. Namely because now they will be scrutinized incessantly on the erg about their splits, 2K scores and more. Understandably panic can set in. Well, let’s turn that frown upside down and look at this as an opportunity not only to get in good baseline shape for the race season, but to also correct those errors sharpen your technique and your coach and bullhorn. Let’s face it, good erg scores are important. Rowers who crank out serious wattage generally are given first glance and many cases make the boat move too, but improving technique can make that jump even greater.

A couple tips this season. When doing steady state workouts, don’t get obsessed with your splits. Row a little lighter and use the time to really make positive changes. Use these workouts as opportunities to better your connection and application of power starting with the legs, core, back and arms. Go back to the fundamentals and really look at yourself. Hopefully your coach is also taking this as an opportunity to get his technical messages across besides just trying to get his rowers fit. When rowers begin to row well, the fitness will develop naturally with proper activation.

Use low rates to work on keeping your connection solid from the get-go.

Technique cues to always think about while training this winter:
1. At catch, hold straight arms (think popsicle sticks on either side of your arms).
2. As you push Legs, engage abs and feel “suspension.” One should feel as though they are lifting 10-15lb of their body weight off the seat. A good drill: Have someone hold your handle and seat while you push your legs. Your butt should come off the seat. You should feel a hang from the back and lat muscles while “suspended”. That is the feeling one should always have every stroke.
3. As legs begin to straighten, pendulum swing the back to the finish position while finishing off the arms. Look to feel pressure against fingers and feet against foot boards all the way through the stroke.

So instead of dreading the boredom and panic of the indoor rower, embrace the opportunity and make real change this winter!