The WaterRower (TM)
Monday, September 21, 2009 at 4:39PM It is sometimes amazing how little can happen in a week. This was one of those weeks. I suppose the highlight of the week is the new WaterRower ™. What is a WaterRower ™ ? Well it is a fancy rowing machine. Emma and I have rented one for a three month trial period. Both Emma and I have dabbled with gym memberships and generally found them to be a waste of money. I don’t really like going somewhere ‘to exercise’ and Emma has been out of town so much for work over the last year that gym memberships were a waste of money.
I have been doing a bit of running, a nice time efficient form of exercise as I need to walk Cassie every morning anyway so why not run…exactly, because running sucks. Still it is better than nothing. I have also been flying my powerkite, this is a very good workout but is weather dependent and a bit of a production. I really need a sport to take up but even then I need something I can do everyday (or nearly everyday).
Emma, apart from being continually shipped off to Bristol or Birmingham or Nethertown (yes there is a Nethertown in the UK, and guess what, it is in what can easily be considered the UK’s nether regions…the Orkney Islands, also home to such places as, Windywalls, Twatt and my favourite Grimness) has bad knees, sure they are cute but also prone to dislocating when put under undue stress. She is not much of a skier. This means she is a bit limited in her athletic options. Swimming would be good, but of course England doesn’t seem to have pools, or warm weather so that is out. Cycling is of course a good option but living in downtown London makes it a bit challenging and hard on the lungs. Rowing however is a great option.
Both Emma and I like to use the rowing machines at the gym, in fact it is pretty much the only machine I use other than the treadmill in the winter. A home rowing machine seemed like a good idea. I can hear you now, they do normally take up a lot of space, are ugly and often home ones just aren’t that good. So we thought too until my friend and neighbour Diana started bragging about the rowing machine she had just bought.
She described it as very modern and attractive, something you would happily have tucked in your living room as modern art, almost like a sculpture. O-kay…She also made some bold claims about how realistic it was to use. (I have never rowed anything other than a rowboat and a kayak so really wouldn’t know any different). I did go have a look at her machine and I admit it was very cool. She had a WaterRower ™. It uses water rather than wind or springs or elastic to provide resistance, it is indeed a very attractive piece of kit (made of a variety of woods) and best of all makes really pleasing swishing water noises when you use it, really making you feel like you are on the water rowing! Add to all this they have designed it so that it stores standing up on end so it only has the stored foot print of dining room chair!
I was nearly sold, then she mentioned it was wee bit expensive. I think she paid around 800 pounds for it! Forget that, I have seen enough unused expensive treadmills in my sisters house to know better! Then we found out that you can actually rent them for a reasonable amount to sort of give them a test, you can even do rent to own. We went for it and now are rowing away happily.
The rower ready for storage (and Hugh on TV)
Emma after a good row!
After two weeks I am up to 20 minutes or about 4 to 4.5 kilometres 5 times a week. I am going to bump that up to 30 minutes next week. Emma has been using it whenever she is home, usually Friday, Saturday and Sunday and is doing 15 minutes each time. I am sure 15, 20 or even 30 minutes doesn’t sound like much but it is a great workout and the guide that comes with if stresses a slow build up! Anyway we like it! Check out there website here.
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