TriVeggies

Note before we get started: This is an independent review, not a paid advertisement! I’m just a happy dues-paying Row House member. 🙂

If you’ve stuck around here for any amount of time, you’ve seen me mention Row House nearly every week in my training plan. Depending on the day, I’m embarking on the likes of a Signature class, or Intervals, or Strength, or even a Restore class now and again. I know I often gloss over it, but it really deserves more than that, since it’s helped me improve my strength and stamina by leaps and bounds over the past eight months.

Like many triathletes, I’m lousy at sticking with a strength training program. I don’t actually mind the exercises; I just have a difficult time making the time and committing to doing them several days a week! I don’t know about you, but strength training always – ALWAYS – tends to fall to the bottom of my priority list, even though I am well aware of the benefits, both to my triathlon training AND my overall health. As a woman in her early 40s, I know my time to cultivate more strength gains is ticking down, and soon I’ll be firmly in the “use it or lose it” zone. I intend to USE it!

But first, I needed to find a way to keep myself accountable. And that’s where Row House came in.

As soon as I walked in for my first (free!) session, I knew I was in the right place. Across the nearly full room was a broad swath of rowers from all walks of life, and to a person they were warm and welcoming, helping me get set up and kindly showing me where the weights were AND which side of the rower to put my things on (it’s the left, in our gym at least). The instructor, Elle, was eager to help me get set up and then led a vibrant 45-minute Signature class – and I was hooked.

The great thing about rowing is its full-body workout. Studies have shown that 88% of your muscles are recruited in one rowing session, and my sore hamstrings, quads, glutes, abs, biceps, triceps, deltoids and more can certainly attest to that! Add in the dumbbell and body-weight sets that are interspersed into most class sessions and you’ve got yourself a hearty strength workout on top of the cardio benefits. Within weeks, I was seeing rewards in my triathlon training, especially on the bike; and those rewards have continued from month to month!

It’s been eight months since that first class, and most weeks you can find me in the Row House at least twice, bouncing back and forth between morning and evening classes (with the occasional nooner thrown in for good measure), switching off among Signature, Intervals, Strength, Full Row and Restore classes. Each one has their benefits! And they all help me get stronger. (Pro tip: Don’t sleep on the Restore classes – even though you’re not lifting weights, you definitely get a workout!)

If you’ve got a Row House in your area, I heartily recommend giving it a try. Your first class is free, so what do you have to lose? If you give it a whirl, be sure to come back and tell me how you liked it. (And if you’ve already given it a try, please tell me what you think of it in the comments!)