by Janit Stahl
Ever see a crew or a single sculler row smoothly across glassy water on one of the region’s beautiful bodies of water? Think it looks interesting? Here’s some good news about rowing as a fitness endeavor, as well as a few places to get started.
Not a muscle left out. You’d be hard pressed to find a sport that keeps your entire body this fit. There is no impact on the joints, but there is both an endurance and strength building aspect to the stroke and a rowing workout. The common misconception about rowing is that it is pulling with your arms, shoulders and back. In actuality, it is pushing with your legs — think a fast squat — then a follow-through with the upper body. A rowing boat or shell has seats on tracks that allow a rower to increase the amount of leg drive, as well as long riggers that increase the mobility of the oars and thus the length of the stroke.
“It is resistance exercise as well as cardiovascular,” says Steve Knapp, head coach of Albany Rowing Center on the Hudson River. The rowing stroke produces resistance, says Steve, and that adds muscle tone. For masters athletes who may not lift weights as part of their exercise program, this is a bonus. Pete Gallo of Adirondack Rowing in Queensbury concurs, “It is gentle but effective exercise,” he says, “longitudinal studies have found it to have better heart benefits than many other cardiovascular fitness sports like running.”
“Sculling (using two oars) in particular helps create strong balanced muscle groups,” adds Jim Tucci, head coach of Skidmore Community Rowing. Sculling in a single, which involves balance, good technique and sufficient strength, provides an excellent workout, Jim confirms, both for endurance and core strength.
A discussion about vocabulary. The terminology of rowing is a lesson in itself. Here’s a short list of other terms that are important: coxswain (pronounced cox-n, is the person who steers the shell and motivates the crew), shell (boat), sweep rowing (holding one oar), and sculling (two oars). The commands of the coxswain fill books, often handed to novice candidates for the job. If you want to read up on coxswain commands and rowing terminology, visit www.usrowing.org.
Pick a boat, any boat. There are six basic boat configurations. For sweep rowers that hold one long oar in both hands, there are pairs (2s), fours (4s), and eights (8s), and for scullers that hold one oar in each hand, there are singles (1x), doubles (2x), and quads (4x). Sweep rowers may or may not have a coxswain in the bow or stern of their boat.
Rowers have for years learned to row in high school and college program in larger coxed boats, mostly in eights. That is largely true for adult learn to row programs as well. More experienced rowers can “set the boat” which means keeping it from rocking from side to side, and new rowers can learn the stroke with some security. Rowing program coaches will then progress the new rower to smaller boats, even singles, as they gain confidence. This is often a necessary part of a large learn-to-row program that does not have the coaching staff to take each rower out individually prior to getting in a team boat.
“In a perfect world everyone would begin their rowing careers in a single scull,” says Jim of Skidmore Community Rowing, which rows on Fish Creek and Saratoga Lake. “Sculling is an art,” Jim says, and it prepares a rower for almost any rowing situation. Skidmore Community Rowing aims to get all masters team rowers out in singles or doubles to refine skills. Other programs, like Adirondack Rowing, Saratoga Rowing Center, and Berkshire Rowing and Sculling Society (BRASS) do extensive training in small boats.
Shells for everyone. Rowing clubs in the area offer the use of club boats as part of club membership. Boats can be used during club practice times and most clubs have a variety of boats. Membership dues, donations and fund-raising pay for purchase and maintenance of these shells. For those who would like more flexibility with their practice times and locations, purchasing a boat is another route.
Equipment is an important part of rowing as with any sport. Just as you would carefully select a bike or skis to fit your body type and athletic goals, you would find a boat that is for you. There are boats for all goals and abilities, affirms Pete Gallo of Adirondack Rowing in Queensbury and Lew Cuyler of Berkshire Sculling in Pittsfield, Mass. Adirondack Rowing has a lesson program on Schroon Lake that also helps new rowers select a good open-water shell for their own enjoyment. Owner Pete Gallo encourages lesson participants to try several of the brands he has in stock to make an educated decision. This option is great for a lake dweller or regular visitor who enjoys the solitude of a quiet lake row. Experienced single or double rowers tend to purchase their shells directly from the manufacturer, where they are built to specifications.
At Berkshire Sculling, they offer a wide variety of recreational and fitness shells called Aldens, as well as several other brands that you can lease for a season to ‘try on for size’. Lew Cuyer, a racer himself at 72, still experiments with boats as skills, conditions and needs change. The club he is associated with, Berkshire Rowing and Sculling Society, uses Lake Onota for training.
It’s a team sport, right? Other rowers may enjoy the team aspect of rowing. At Skidmore Community Rowing, several rowers joined just because of competitive opportunities in large boats. At Albany Rowing Center, the learn-to-row program is broken into sessions, allowing rowers to decide as they develop skill if they want to be competitive or more of a recreational/fitness rower. Steve Knapp, coach of the team, says that he started an intermediate tier for developing competitive rowers, to meet the needs of many levels. Skidmore Community Rowing has a similar system, creating boats based on goals, skills and fitness. On the Mohawk River, the Aqueduct Rowing Club rows from Niskayuna and the Burnt Hills Rowing Club rows from Alplaus. Both clubs have a similar learn-to-row philosophy. Burnt Hills begins in the spring with a 3-4 week program under the tutelage of coaches and fellow rowers, and by mid-summer have created two teams, one competitive and one fitness-oriented, says Art Katz, team representative for the adult programs.
Saratoga Rowing Association rows on Fish Creek and Saratoga Lake, and has recently hired Bob Tarrant as their adult rowing coach. The long-time instructor will be doing double-duty between his own Saratoga Rowing Center at Fish Creek Marina, and Saratoga Rowing Association, near the NY Route 9P bridge on Saratoga Lake. The Tarrant “team” (wife Jean is an instructor as well) is one of the few in the area who trains younger children (9 and up) to scull. That option is used regularly by rowing families in the Saratoga Springs area. Skidmore Community Rowing, often confused with these other programs, rows out of the Skidmore College boathouse near Stafford’s Bridge Road and is a separate entity from Saratoga Rowing Association.
Water frozen? Go indoors. Rowing as a sport is benefited greatly by the Concept 2 indoor rower, which closely replicates the rowing stroke on dry land. Most gyms will have one, but it helps to have instruction on the proper use of the machine. Unfortunately, most fitness center staff members are not schooled in correct rowing technique. You may want to contact one of the clubs listed in this article to find out when they have winter training, and learn the basics from them. Concept 2 has a Web site where you can keep track of your workouts (“personal logbook”), a great motivator in the off-season.
It’s sublime. For those who admire the crews who seem to row effortlessly together, or are in awe of the single scullers who balance on that long, slim shell, here’s a secret: for them, it is a transcendent experience, and it can be for you.
