A question from Norway:

Hello and happy new year.

This morning, I got an email from a Norwegian rower asking me for advice as to how I tackled 2K races on the ergometer. Luckily, I have it all written out for people to read. The URL for my race pace description is this:

http://indoor-rowing.blogspot.com/2007/01/pacing-for-2000-meter-racing.html

I do not believe that I am a glutton for punishment, therefore I always looked for the path of least resistance when it came to having to go all out in race situations. As I read my last sentence, it is a total paradox, but hey it worked for me. Trevor, a university friend, once told me that there were two types of athletes: Race horses and work horses. He clearly filed me under work horse. My vision for racing was to build as much armor as possible so I would not feel the pain, when it came to out-row others to the finish line. Spending hours building aerobic fitness, at a high torque per stroke ratio, and keeping the intensity below 2mmol of lactic acid, that was my calling.... WORK HORSE. I remember Trevor filing Jamie, another university friend and world champion single sculler, as a RACE HORSE. So the question I had for me: When would I become more of a race horse... At the 2000 Olympics I graduated as race horse, although I only walked away with silver. That race was a titanic battle with myself. I personally narrated it, follow this link:

http://indoor-rowing.blogspot.com/2008/08/personal-narration-of-2000-olympic.html

At different ages, rowing represents different solutions and challenges, keep it in perspective.

All the best to you,

Xeno

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

BBC Health Check on Rowing and why it is good for you:

Follow the link HERE
The photo is of me and Reid doing kitchen chores and finding information the internet about the benefits of rowing

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

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.