Source: http://philadelphia.cbslocal.com/2012/02/24/row-your-way-through-a-workout-at-the-ymca/

Source: Click through to watch the clip from San Antonio’s KENS5 Health News segment.

426 Fitness takes advantage of size to offer many workouts

(above: Jill Lancaster teaches indoor rowing classes at 426 Fitness, a gym inside a renovated mill complex in Warren.)

Preparing to do an upcoming “What’s Your Workout” feature for Thrive on indoor rowing, last week I visited the giant gym known as 426 Fitness in Warren.

I got to meet owner Mark Lombardi, and trainers Paul Sousa and Jill Lancaster at the sprawling 250,000-square-foot facility located in the old Parker Mills building.

Like most gyms, there’s lots of workout equipment and classes, but not only that, 426 Fitness offers a huge indoor driving range for golfers and a free Thursday night Zumba class to benefit the Warren Animal Shelter.

The facility’s also open to members of the Bristol-Warren High School wrestling team, and for its members, childcare is provided. It’s the kind of facility that I wish was in every community to promote health and wellness to all.

Article source: http://blogs.providencejournal.com/arts-entertainment/lifestyles/fitness/2011/12/big-gym-in-warren.html

Jay Rubens, a real-estate agent, shares his thoughts on the Indo-Row rowing machine and its effect on his road to recovery after a sudden heart attack.

“On a friend’s suggestion, Mr. Rubens, now 60 and a commercial real estate attorney in private practice, signed up for a class at Revolution Fitness, a gym less than a mile from his Santa Monica home. There, Mr. Rubens discovered the Indo-Row workout, a rowing class set to music with an instructor guiding students.

Mr. Rubens quickly started losing weight—a total of 25 pounds—and he has kept it off for four years.

The Indo-Row machines—which have water-filled flywheels intended to replicate an on-water experience—are mounted with monitors that measure each rower’s miles per hour and calories burned, which helps motivate Mr. Rubens. And despite an aversion to organized fitness, he says the group dynamic works well for him. “I get an intensity in a group setting that I never could achieve exercising on my own.”

For more:online.wsj.com

Read the full article:
online.wsj.com

“This often overlooked form of exercise can boost your stamina, whittle your waistline and improve your health. Plus, you don’t have to take to the water to reap the rewards!”

“Rowing not only gives you a great cardio workout, but it works more of your muscles than any other piece of gym equipment.”

Click image below to read entire article:

Read article at the source link:

http://www.self.com/fitness/blogs/freshfitnesstips/2011/08/row-row-row-your-way-to-a-scul.html

6 Reasons To Row, Row, Row Your Way To Fit (Burn Up To 800 Calories!)
Monday, August 15, 2011 at 12:28 PM
| posted by Nora Zelevansky

Once upon a time, rowing was considered a man’s sport, beloved by preppy Ivy League boys and lake fishermen. Times have changed.

Here’s what happened: We ladies found out it was fun. You know what else is fun? Being toned. And, contrary to popular belief, rowing accomplishes that for more than just your upper body.

Just ask ultra endurance athlete and World Rowing Champion, Josh Crosby, who created the now internationally practiced Indo-Row workout with partner and fitness developer Jay Blahnik. (They even collaborated with WaterRower on a special Indo-Row Machine that uses actual water.)

Screen shot 2011-07-26 at 5.35.20 PM.pngJosh Crosby (In Blue) Leading an Indo-Row Class
Photo By Andrew Stiles

Though the first classes began in 2005, Indo-Row went national/global in the last three years and is now offered at over 50 clubs from Equinox and Sports Club LA to The Mayo Clinic’s Wellness Center.

And, as with any growing trend and especially ones that start in California, Hollywood has caught on. Though the Indo-Row team is hush-hush about A-list clientele, a few names have leaked out like Nicole Kidman, Estella Warren, Kevin Bacon and Jason Patrick.

The beauty of these specific classes and of rowing in general is that the same workout session can be completed — at different paces — by everyone from male triathletes to 80-year-old women. “I wouldn’t be able to do all the mountain biking, kayaking, trail running etc. that I do during adventure fitness competitions without rowing,” says Crosby. “It’s the ultimate cross-training for everyone from cyclists, who need to build more upper body strength, to people who are dealing with rehab and recovery. It’s pretty amazing because you can have all shapes, sizes, ages and abilities in one class: I’ve been rowing since I was 8-years-old and my grandfather rowed until he was 94.”

In the creator’s own words, “Indo-Row was designed to bring the benefits of rowing to the masses.” Here, Crosby shares his top 6 reasons to row:

1. Total Body
The biggest myth about rowing is that it’s all upper body. It’s actually an amazing full body, low impact, killer strength and cardio workout. You’re working 9 major muscles groups: quads, hamstrings, glutes, lats, core, shoulder, triceps, back, biceps. Posture is a huge benefit from rowing. And then obviously you’re jump starting your cardio system too.

2. Low Impact
The reason why rowing is good for rehab is because, especially for runners, it’s a much lower impact alternative.

3. Team Work
If you’re doing a rowing workout at home alone, it’s not quite the same. But during an Indo-Row class, community spirit is emphasized as it would be in an actual boat race. Every class ends with a race, measured by the monitors (tracking total time, distance, calories, current strokes per minute and pace) on each machine. And those races tend to end with actual cheering.

4. Easy To Learn
The movements themselves are relatively simple, so there’s not much of a learning curve. People generally get the basics down in 10-minutes.

5. You’re In Control
Resistance is created by how hard you push or pull, so you control the level of your own workout. The Indo-Row machines actually use 17-liters of water (that even makes requisite sloshing sounds) as resistance, so the harder you push and pull, the faster that water is going to move. And your “split” time goes down as you row faster.

6. Calorie Burn
In the average Indo-Row class, people burn between 400 and 800 calories in less than an hour.

Indo-Row’s class format includes “a seasons worth of rowing in a 50-minute format” with skills and drills, form lessons, muscle memory work and waves of exercise with endurance and interval pauses. During breaks called “recoveries,” there’s stretching and core strengthening in positions like leaning back into reverse plank and twists as you grab the rail behind you, look over your shoulder and place a hand on the opposite knee.

And though you may not have the fancy machine at home, you can still get some rowing benefits. Try this classic rowing move demonstrated by Crosby that requires just a resistance band:

Screen shot 2011-07-27 at 3.48.38 PM.pngStep 1: Sit up straight on a mat with your legs slightly bent out in front of you. Holding the ends of the resistance band in each hand with the edges tucked inside each fist, hinge forward from the hips — about 40 degrees with arms extended — to stretch it around the balls of your feet. Brace with your legs.

Screen shot 2011-07-27 at 3.49.10 PM.pngStep 2: Swing the back and core open. Lean back and pull your arms back (last!), almost like you’re rowing a boat. It’s as if you’re trying to squeeze a pencil between your shoulder blades, while keeping your shoulders down and your back straight. You may not have the machine’s sliding seat, but you’re bracing your legs with the band. Release slowly and repeat.

*The Indo-Row 3×3 Technique has a specific order: On the “Drive” engage the legs, core, then arms and on the “Recovery” allow the arms to return first, lean forward with the core and, finally, let the legs come up a little.

Do 20-30 reps, 4-6 times.

More about Josh Crosby and Indo-Row.

WaterRower earns mention in London Evening Standard.

THE WATERROWER
USP: Unlike regular rowing machines that use air fans to create resistance, this features a “water flywheel” at the front. Filled with liquid, it’s the movement of two mini oars inside this that generates resistance in a way that’s more similar to open-water rowing – and is more gentle on joints and the lower back. Olympic hopeful Ben Duggan and Atlantic rower Sarah Outen both used the WaterRower in training.
Feel the burn: Use it during a WaterCrew class and you’ll do side rows to tackle your muffin top, underhand rows to target biceps and overhead movements to tackle bingo wings. Expect to burn up to 800 calories during a 45-minute class – and be in pain the next day.
Find it: WaterCrew classes, £20 at The Fitness Café, NW8; thefitnesscafe.co.uk. The WaterRower is available to buy from £749; waterrower.co.uk.