Xmas row and thoughts

We had a very nice Xmas. My children got what they wished for and my wife and I are thankful for having a happy and healthy family. 
I have to confess that I did a few detours in my diet in the last few days. Quite often chocolate and other rich foods were offered to me and I did not have the discipline to politely decline... On top of this, my wife and I were busy organizing for the holidays and I did not get to put in my usual miles on my WaterRower. After opening the presents I took the opportunity to roll out my WaterRower to the living room. Reid just finished eating and was happy jumping in his bouncer. Erin, Reid, and I were watching a great show of aerial views of coastlines around the world in high definition. My WaterRower was set one foot away from the TV screen and I felt I was on a hang-glider rowing :-) The setting was perfect for a paddle. As I started rowing I felt a little stiff from sitting around and having interrupted sleep since the birth of Reid in July. In honor of Erin, I should just put up and shut up, because her sleep started being bad six months into “our” pregnancy.
25 minutes into my row I started loosening up and felt the air in my stomach magically disappear. This is when the breathing technique of exhaling into the catch made me think again about most people who row past their most competitive years. If you have a little extra cargo above your hip joint, you will find it far more pleasant to breathe and relax during your row the way I described above. As for the highly trim group, don’t think that my breathing is dictated only by my massiveness. In the contrary, when I was ultra fit, I exhaled rolling into the last half of the recovery and found the best possible effortless hang of the leg drive.
My other thought during my hour long row, which ended in a right-arm-only-pull for the last five minutes while my son Reid was riding in my right arm, was that I am addicted to exercise, but I am not a glutton for punishment. My motto in live is to workout long and steady, like a diesel engine pulling freight through the Mohave Desert. Even when I was training for the Olympics, most of my workouts were long and steady, which I loved. I did not care much about “ramming” into intolerable pain in order to win races.
My advice to the majority of rowers is to go long and steady for 90% of the time, after all you only have one body. Of course, it is OK to row super hard here and there... but you won’t catch me in a rat race for personal bests now that I consider myself a DIESEL ENGINE that is going for the long haul: “ROWING ROWING ROWING...ROWING ROWING ROWING...ROWHIDE!!!”
Over and out.
Xeno.
www.ironoarsman.com

Xeno Muller, Olympic gold and silver medalist, indoor rowing, rowing technique.

Wonderful and heart breaking at the same time. Alzheimer's

Xeno Muller, Olympic gold and silver medalist, indoor rowing, rowing technique.

Stressed? Find time to row, difficult? Here is how I look at it:

Hello Everyone & happy holidays,
This morning I watched our baby Reid. He is so cute, our family loves him to pieces. I happened to be awake first and was planning to row my WaterRower in front of Good Morning America, when my wife opened the bedroom door and asked if I could come get Reid, since he woke up. No problem, I responded. I carried him in his electrical swing to the living room right next to the WaterRower. He gave me a whole half hour of happiness. I did not push the envelope and row until he would get bored. I stopped at a point at which I felt would be good for Reid and me to have a change of scenery. I changed him and dressed him with fresh clothes. He was totally happy. We walked back to the living room and I set him in his bouncer. I looked up on our DVR one of the stored baby shows and turned on Classical Baby and proceeded to row another 10 minutes. Had he stayed asleep I would have rowed 90 minutes at a leisurely pace. As I was rowing I started thinking of all the people who may not have rowing ingrained in their brain. People, to whom it must not be so easy to chose to exercise when things are not all perfectly in order with their schedules and lives. 
We hear in the news of all the financial and holiday stresses that exist and need to be coped with. How can anyone find time to move their body for their health and mental break. Here is how I see it. When you make the decision to exercise, start out easy. Be gentle to yourself and pick a low level of intensity. Let your body temperature rise slowly, no need to shock the system, at this point of the year, it already is with all that is going on in our world. Consider the exercise as therapy and not a ball busting workout from hell. With this attitude you will be more likely to repeat your exercise routine for a lifetime.
Fighting stress is done by finding peace and that is why I LOVE THE WATERROWER. I like to row the WaterRower leisurely. The resistance is evenly spread out through the stroke and the swishing sound of the water, totally therapeutic. While I was rowing, no one was woken up. The belt mechanism is sound free and the wheels of the seat whisper quiet, only the sound of water, just like rowing in a single scull. 
Believe me, I have found rowing nirvana with WaterRower. I break a sweat and feel rejuvenated. If you are on the fence about acquiring a fitness machine, give the WaterRower a good luck and a test row. Take my word for it, I am an addicted rower, and I need to break a sweat without losing love for working out. Me too, I need to find peace and quiet in my life! Cheers everyone!
Xeno

Xeno Muller, Olympic gold and silver medalist, indoor rowing, rowing technique.

I can make you faster with skype

Hello Rowers!!!

Today, I SKYPE coached as far north as YELLOWKNIFE, Canada. It was great. Can’t believe that there is no snow only between June and September. Currently the temperature is -40 degrees. As I was told -40 in fahrenheit is the SAME as -40 in degrees Celsius!

The other day, I coached in Sydney on the tenths floor of a building overlooking Circle Quay. I also help coach a group of juniors in Minnesota.

SKYPE proves to be an incredible tool, which enables me to be different places in the world without traveling. I am very effective with the webcam, it is an awesome feeling to be able to help someone improve their rowing technique within minutes.

My rate is $40 for 20 minutes of coaching.

All the best and happy holidays!!!

Xeno

Xeno Muller, Olympic gold and silver medalist, indoor rowing, rowing technique.

After college & the Olympics

Hello Rowers,

This post is about my passion for rowing indoors after college and the Olympics.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I am 36 years old, and at the "beginning" of my life long rowing career. As I look back in time, rowing at the Olympics, is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to life long miles rowed. To people I meet, I tell them that I am rowing because I want to chase down my great grand children and regular rows will make this dream happen. In the same breath, I add that rowing is a sport that can be practiced until up to 300 years of age. Once I am of grandfather age, I see myself commuting in a class A RV with my wife to visit our grandchildren, for this I need to stay fit and row everyday.

"We" the rowers know of the zero impact/full body workout rowing is. In my opinion, it is the only cardiovascular sport to be practiced efficiently until advanced age. It is true, that cross country skiing and swimming are also zero "impact/full body workouts", BUT... Let's face it, for cross country skiing requires snow, ability to ski on slippery stuff, and enjoy cold temperatures. As for swimming, you need a pool, and efficient swimming technique in order to have a workout at all. In addition to the swimming option, you will get a soaked hairdo.

"The others" (pretty much the rest of the world) don't know anything about rowing, let alone, the high quality indoor rowing exercise option. As I see it, my job is to inform and educate the rest of the world to whom rowing is a foreign concept. While I write these lines, I am reminded of how many actual collegiate rowers passionately HATE rowing indoors... to them I say that sitting on a rowing machine is not that bad at all, if you have the right state of mind. From experience, I know, that if you learned to row at a boathouse with a coach, you were likely abused and mistreated :-) while being judged on your rowing ability on the ergometer. Therefore you are entitled to hate rowing indoors but keep your mind open to be rehabilitated to enjoy the sport off the water. Too often, unfortunately, the rowing machine is mainly used to compare raw endurance, which is wrongly equated to on the water boat moving ability. This last statement makes me want to scream.

So next time you climb onto the ergometer, whether it is the WaterRower or the Concept2, be mellow and find your groove. Love the ability to stretch out and smoothly move your body back and forth. Rowing is simultaneously a physical as well as a mental BREAK/workout.

Finally, my last advice is to be gentle to your body, you only have one, so don't freak out if an old friend from college is 50 seconds faster for 2K than you are. Use it as motivation to gradually get fit, OK?

Yours truely,

Xeno
www.ironoarsman.com
www.cafepress.com/gorow

Xeno Muller, Olympic gold and silver medalist, indoor rowing, rowing technique.