Rowing Against the Tide

You may have seen the story that recently made the New York Times, the International Herald Tribune and several newspapers. It had an eye-catching title: “Staying a Step Ahead of Aging.” Wouldn’t we all like to do that? The premise of the article is simple: while it’s true that we do “slow down” as we age, studies are finding that because the human body is so adaptable, we can start exercising later in life and still reap remarkable health benefits. Here are some recommendations for how you can use rowing to keep some of the effects of aging at bay.

Row Harder

New findings show that you can maintain much of your muscle strength and endurance as long as you train hard enough. Long slow workouts are good for burning calories, but they don’t do as much for staving off the declines of aging. What this means is that some of your weekly workouts should include interval training—alternating bursts of more intense exercise with easy restful exercise. The indoor rower is perfect for doing intervals since it gives you complete control of your intensity at all times, and the Performance Monitor (PM) can easily be programmed to manage your interval workouts. For those with time constraints, interval workouts tend to be more time-efficient so, no excuses here! Interval workouts tend to tire you out more, so don’t plan to do them more than 2-3 times per week and alternate them with longer, steadier rowing. If you’re hooked on volume training, or have weight loss goals that require the longer workouts, you can lengthen the warm-up or cool-down on either end of the intervals to extend the workout.

Exercise Your Mind

Other recent articles have discussed the fact that the brain, like the heart, lungs and muscles, needs to be exercised in order to stay young. Use it or lose it. Indoor rowing can satisfy this need as well. Watch the Performance Monitor. Switch between the different units offered. Keep a logbook. Do the math to keep track of your daily and weekly averages. If you don’t yet have an online logbook, set one up. Learn how to use the internet. You’ll find that keeping track of your workout data will also make the training more fun and fulfilling. Try learning a new language while you row by listening to books on tape. Participate in our challenges or create your own. We’ve heard from numerous customers who have chosen a route of interest and tracked their progress on a map as they rowed their way to their goal, whether around the world, down the local river, or to the moon!

Become Competitive at an Older Age

Older athletes are capable of performing very well, even if they are just beginning their competitive careers. In other words, it’s never too late to start competing, and you may be pleasantly surprised at how well you do. Indeed, we have seen this to be the case with many masters rowers at indoor races around the world. They are setting records! For many, it is the first time in their lives that they have excelled at, or even tried competition. So, if you haven’t tried it maybe it’s time to start training for next winter’s races! If you’re curious to see how fast fellow masters athletes are rowing 2000 meters (or any of the other ranked distances), visit our Online Ranking.

Stay Connected

Social connections are also seen as key to a long healthy life. Even if you don’t consider yourself overly gregarious, you may find that the online rowing community offers a nice level of camaraderie and support. You can join a virtual team, or follow a conversation on the forum from the comfort of your home. If you find group exercise more motivating, look for a fitness center that offers rowing classes or participate in Concept2’s team-based rowing challenges. You can “Find an Indoor Rower” on our website to locate nearby venues with Concept2 Indoor Rowers.

Cope with Vision Loss or Impairment

Large print display

For anyone dealing with vision loss or impairment, rowing is a terrific option. It doesn’t require you to venture out onto the roads or sidewalks, yet it exercises your whole body. The PM3 and PM4 offer “large print” display modes. There is even a free software package called ErgChatter which gives a voice to the Performance Monitor, enabling it to announce your pace, time, distance and other workout data. Here’s an intriguing comment we received from a customer a few years ago: he felt sure that his vision had improved since rowing on the indoor rower. He surmised that perhaps the eye exercise of trying to stay focused on the PM display while moving back and forth was somehow strengthening his eye muscles. If anyone else has experienced this, we’d love to hear about it. Please email judyg@concept2.com if you have similar observations.

Keep Your Balance

One of the greatest dangers to an older person is tripping and falling leading to broken bones and extended periods of limited activity when strength and independence are lost. Rowing can play several different roles in preventing this by:

1. Strengthening your core muscles, which improve balance, since they tie upper and lower body together.
2. Exercising your upper body as well as your legs, which means you’ll be better able to brace yourself, catch yourself, and generally hang on when you need to.
3. Putting your muscles and joints through a wide range of motion—wider than many other forms of exercise. The resulting flexibility should help you handle minor mishaps with less soreness and injury.
4. Being a relatively safe form of exercise since you’re seated.
5. Increasing bone density.

Stay Healthy

Keeping weight off, lowering blood pressure, improving cholesterol readings, managing diabetes, dealing with chronic disease, relieving stress, exercising despite arthritis, recovering from hip replacement, relieving headaches, easing back pain… we have heard from customers who use rowing to do all these things. More power to you! May you all row strongly against the tide of aging!