A former Olympian oarsman guides you through the utility of the lifesaving waterborne workout of rowing.
My doctor calls it an athlete’s heart, and it’s common among experienced rowers. My left ventricular chamber is so much larger, and its walls so many millimeters thicker than an average heart, that an inexperienced cardiologist could easily mistake it for an abnormality. Cyclists, as would be expected, have strong hearts too, but experts say that rowers’ hearts are stronger, although it’s not completely understood why.
What I love about rowing is that it provides more all-around fitness than most any other exercise, and it has much less impact on your joints and connective tissues than, say, tennis or running (a bonus for older guys like myself). My brother, Pete, and I started making indoor rowing machines in 1981, and we’ve received a lot of letters from ex-runners who have taken up rowing and say it has given them a newfound life. Yet rowing requires more than just aerobic fitness; you must apply a substantial amount of force in order to move a boat. Learning the motion of paddling is simple: You just push with your legs and pull with your arms, back, and core. You can learn to row in a couple of days, but it takes a lifetime to perfect it. I started rowing my freshman year at Brown University and I’m still honing my stroke.
I wake up at six o’clock in the morning in the summertime and row on a lake near my house for an hour. In the winter, I move indoors and use a rowing machine, which we call an “erg.” Warming up is crucial. I row at a very easy pace for five minutes, and then I do another five minutes rowing alternately between hard and easy 30-second intervals. I build strength by working high-intensity bursts into the mix or, if I’m on an erg, I’ll crank the damper to the highest setting to add resistance. People have a tendency to do long distances in the same slow, steady pace, but that doesn’t give your heart as good a workout.
When I was younger, I tried to get faster every year. I finally made it to the 1972 Olympics in Munich. The terrorist attack happened the second week, and I was lucky to have finished all of my competitions in the first week. The next Olympics, Pete and I tried out together at the trials in Princeton, New Jersey. We didn’t make the cut, but we still compete in several races a year. Every October for 28 years, we’ve rowed with the same eight guys at the Head of the Charles, a major regatta in Cambridge, Massachusetts. It’s a thoroughbred group of former national and Olympic team members from the ’70s. The event provides motivation for us to train, and when we reach the competition season, we have a full-body conditioning routine to prepare ourselves. Ultimately, this sport is a very personal thing, and my main goal is simple: Stay in the best shape I can, for the rest of my life.
Dick Dreissigacker, 60, has rowed for 42 years. He and his brother, Pete, own Concept2, a rowing company in Morrisville, Vermont.
