The Breezy Romance of Rowing
I have been swimming, paddling and kayaking for a while and I was itching to try more water based sports. Being familiar with ergometer in the local gym, I tended to like the rhythm and the feel of ‘rowing’ occasionally. I enjoyed how just few minutes of using the erg, stretched and fatigued all the essential core, legs and arms muscles. I tended to get on the ‘erg’ to stretch my muscles before jumping in the swimming pool for getting few laps. I enjoyed this ritual for a while until earlier this summer when Los Gatos Rowing club caught my attention with their beginners rowing program and I jumped right at it, enrolling myself for the adventure ahead.
Rowing is supposed to be an excellent full body exercise that provides both aerobic as well as strength conditioning. It is said that rowing is about 60% legs, 30% core and 10% arms, unlike some misconception that rowing well is mostly about the arms. So learning the proper technique for enjoying this sport is imperative.
Moreover, I found rowing to be an excellent team sport as well that provides almost Zen-like experience when the oars of all the rowers in the Shell fall in perfect harmony. Just ask any rower and he/she will talk about the peace of gliding along the water, in perfect harmony to each other (with those on the boat/shell) as the day breaks on the distant horizon.
In Rowing, momentum is transferred to the water by pulling on the oar and pushing with the legs, sliding the seat back and forth every with every stroke. The coxswain (in the Four and Eight shells) always faces the direction the shell is going while the rowers face the rear. The below diagram provides a quick perspective on some of the basic terminologies used widely in this sport.
The ‘catch and the ‘finish’ of the oar should be in perfect sync with the rower immediately in front of you, thus creating a chain of rowers pulling the shell together in a perfect harmony. If you get out of sync, you need to reset and realign fast to get that well synchronized stroke.
The Cox, steering the shell through thick and thin with his directions now and then, is akin to a Conductor in the orchestra, creating a symphony together with his well-harmonized team. A good cox is simply so critical for the shell.
Rowing is a sport like no other. You repeat one basic motion again and again, yet the variability is immense in every stroke depending on the motion, the water condition and the rower’s alignment in the shell.
If you can lay your hand on the book, “The Boys in the Boat” by Daniel James Brown, grab it for a leisurely reading. It’s a riveting story of the 1936 Olympic gold medal winning crew and how the disparate members came together as a team with the help of their coach. It’s a journey through their trials and tribulations and the quest for the coveted gold and highlights the powerful, life-changing aspects of rowing. My blistered hands just after a couple days of rowing, in comparison seem so uneventful. But taking a leaf from the book, I can now understand how the blistered hands can teach you perseverance, or how the shared pain as a team can teach you accountability to pull through any trying circumstances or how getting your oar in sync with team-mate at all time can teach you real team-work.
