Get on your nearest rowing machine and take on this fitness challenge.
Last updated: October 24, 2024
As November approaches, many of us are moving our exercise indoors thanks to cooler temperatures and snowy weather.
Some people are trying to increase their activity levels to cut down on the extra calories from leftover Halloween candy, Thanksgiving meals, and the upcoming holiday season.
If any of these scenarios apply to you, ‘Rowvember’ may be the solution for you.
Rowvember is an annual fitness challenge held by Dark Horse Rowing to promote indoor rowing for health and fitness.
With varying lengths and formats, each day will be a challenge.
Credit: Shane Farmer
(Related: Best Rowing Machines)
origin
Dark Horse Rowing was founded by former college rower Shane Farmer. He is no stranger to the world of CrossFit.
He competed in the CrossFit Games with Team CrossFit Invictus and was also part of the CrossFit seminar staff as an instructor for the CrossFit Rowing course.
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Now in its sixth year, Rowvember is Dark Horse Rowing’s way of giving back to the indoor rowing community by offering free programs to those interested.
Mr Farmer hopes to attract new people to the world of indoor rowing with free induction into the training regiment.
Is Lowember right for me?
If your only experience as a rower is CrossFit classes, you will miss out on many of the benefits of the machine.
In a typical CrossFit class, rowers are used to keep the heart rate high mid-workout and are often seen as a bridge between movements. This is not an exercise that CrossFitters spend a lot of time practicing or thinking about.
If you’ve ever spent a lot of time in a CrossFit gym, you’ve probably heard things like, “I want to hit a 185 to achieve this complex,” or “I’m going to work from toe to toe without breaking down.” You’ve probably experienced it before. bar. ”
How often have you heard the phrase, “I’m going to row 1,600 meters each round”?
Even if you’ve been doing CrossFit for years, you probably haven’t rowed more than 2000 meters at a time.
Pro Tip: Dark Horse Rowing offers lots of free technique and training advice on YouTube and Instagram.
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Farmer wants CrossFitters to sign up for Rowvember and experience how versatile a rowing machine is as a training tool. You can use them to learn how to expend effort over long periods of time, use them as a pacing tool, and even as a machine for rest and recovery days.
What to expect
Rowvember’s goal is to give athletes exposure to rowing by combining a variety of rowing training sessions over the course of a month.
Because the majority of participants are unfamiliar with rower-specific workouts, Farmer’s approach is to develop workouts that are somewhere between very hard and no workouts at all.
One of Farmer’s recommendations for people completing Rowvember is to do it with a friend. I admit that sitting on a rower is sometimes boring.
Gathering a crew to row while the gym is open is a great way to kill time, get some laughs, and help keep you accountable and motivated on days when you’re not feeling like it.
The Dark Horse Rowing app also includes a built-in community tab to help Rowvember participants along the way.
If you don’t have access to a Concept2 rower, you can still participate in Rowvember. The workouts are designed to be rower-agnostic, so anyone with a rower can participate.
If you only have access to a SkiErg or BikeErg, you can also easily convert your programming to those machines.
Note: Meters convert 1:1 from Lower to SkiErg and 2:1 on BikeErg.
please do your best
Farmer recognizes that going from zero to 100 may not be possible for everyone, and encourages people to take rest days if needed.
To ensure a fun challenge for everyone, prizes are determined based on a random drawing of participants rather than total meters rowed.
Thanks to a recently announced partnership with Concept2, one lucky rower will win an erg of their choice and two others will receive a gift package (US residents only).
Ready for a challenge? Rowvember is an easy way to get introduced to the world of boating. Grab your friends and rowers and see what you can do in November.
What do you have to lose?
The worst case scenario is that you get better at rowing and the next time you get programmed you get a subtle flex the first time you get off the rower.
Crossfit details
Featured image: @DarkHorseRowing / Instagram
