If I could not row I would learn to dance like this guy, he is awesome!

I hope you will have a good laugh.
XENO

PS: a couple of days ago I came up with: Row Old, or Die Young. It is a little extreme.

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

This is great footage. Mark is a great friend of mine.

We are taking orders now for the early birds.
By the way, Mark Campbell on this video is the owner of Rowperfect. He came to visit me last August with two of his five children. I hit it off with him in a heart beat. Truely one of those great Aussies! I am very lucky to have the opportunity to work with him in the future for a LONG LONG TIME. I am so excited to hit the road with the Rowperfect. We will be at regattas, tradeshows, and will teach fitness entrepreneurs to start their own indoor rowing studio where they will be able to sell the machine as well. Stay tuned.
XENO

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

USASA Nationals 2007 NORTHSTAR-AT-TAHOE

USASA returning to Northstar
sierra sun post

The nation’s top amateur snowboarders and skiers will begin trickling in to the North Shore this weekend for the 18th Annual United States of America Snowboard Association (USASA) National Championships.

For the second consecutive year, Northstar-at-Tahoe is hosting what organizers tout as the world’s largest snowboard event, which kicks off Sunday with an opening ceremonies parade at Ice Rink Plaza. Much like in the Olympic Games, the opening ceremony will consist of a parade featuring all of the athletes from the country’s 35 participating regions displaying their local pride.

Competition begins on Monday and continues through Friday. As of Tuesday, 1,421 athletes were set to compete, said Karen Mertl, administrative executive for USASA. Mertl said there may be as many as 1,600 skiers and snowboarders by the time competition gets under way.

Of those 1,421 athletes, 114 will be representing the North Tahoe Snowboard Series, with roughly the same number representing the South Tahoe Snowboard Series, Mertl said.

Snowboarders will compete in one or more of the following five events: Superpipe, Slopestyle, Boardercross, Giant Slalom and Slalom. Events for skiers include Slopestyle, Superpipe and Skiercross.


How they get there

Since the beginning of the 2006-2007 season, the competitors have been qualifying at their local USASA Regional Series for an invitation to the grand finale.

USASA hosts more than 500 events annually at approximately 200 resorts throughout the U.S., with each of the USASA series holding eight to 20 events each year. The North Tahoe Snowboard Series held 15 events this past winter at Boreal, Northstar and Donner Ski Ranch, according to the USASA Web site, www.usasa.org.

Beginner, intermediate and expert riders ages 4 to 74 compete in 32 separate divisions in their regional series to earn a chance to participate in the National Championship, where they will vie for 840 medals. In addition, more than $15,000 in scholarships funds are awarded by the USASA to National Championship participants each year at Nationals.


Check it out

The USASA National Championship news coverage and daily results will be featured on the USASA Web site at www.usasa.org. Visit the USASA Web site for the latest information.

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

XENO INTERVAL WORKOUT, CHECK IT OUT, WE LOVE IT at the IRON OARSMAN

Hello everyone. I did some thinking. At the IRON OARSMAN, we usually use the 500 meter split time to fire our rowers up to push harder and faster. In the last week, I changed this a bit. We started using the Watts setting and I found this to be really cool, because people were clearly seeing how much more powerful they are as they increase there velocity and stroke rate. In the last seconds of the XENO INTERVAL, I mustered up a couple strokes above 1100 Watts. This surprised a few, because I was able to push several hundred Watts more than them. I explained that their ability will quickly increase as we train the XENO INTERVAL. Here is how the XENO INTERVAL works: Interval setting on the rowing machine is 20 seconds ON and 40 seconds OFF. The power expressed in Watts of the first step is equal to the rower’s body weight. Each subsequent interval intensity is increased by 10%. Since I weigh 260lb., my starting interval is 260W. For simplicity I use 25W increase each time. Second interval is 285W. The third interval 310W and so on and so forth. The XENO INTERVAL is complete once the power can not be increased. At that point remember your Watts amount and shoot for higher next time. This is an awesome workout.
Also check out the newly redesigned www.ironoarsman.com. All the best,
XENO

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

This morning at the Iron Oarsman, full house!

We had a great workout!
Go IRON OARSMAN

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

Steff rows with us at the Iron Oarsman, here is what she has to say!

I am 37 years old and love fitness, working out, and challenging myself. I am very interested in health, nutrition and conscious living. I am an adapted physical education teacher (PE teacher for kids with disabilities). I played college basketball and have accumulated many injuries over the years. I have had 5 knee surgeries, plantar fascia release surgery, and IT band problems from running and other weight bearing workouts/sports.

I was looking for something that would be "easier" on my body in terms of pounding and weight bearing and i found indoor rowing. I find rowing to be the best overall fitness and conditioning workout i have done. The recovery is fairly quick and i have developed more muscle tone and flexibility as well. I absolutely love it. I had been very into spin cycling for many years.....now i spin maybe once a week....and that is only because my spin friends keep calling me a traitor. I have met the coolest people at my row gym (Iron Oarsman) and i am so grateful to have this amazing place to row, have fun, and feel amazing. I plan on rowing till the very end.

Thank you Steff

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

I have no idea what language they are talking, but who cares, one rower pulled a 100 meter sprint unbelievably fast!

Check this out. If true, this is the most ridiculous amount of power I have ever seen. Note that the split time is SUB 1 minute per 500 meters. Holy COW!

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

This type of boat skill is so special, that it has to be shown again.

Watch and learn from this French lightweight.

Xeno
Olympic Gold and Silver medalist, men's single scull

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

pre-production pictures of the future ROWPERFECT

I will be at the Crew Classic this weekend. As much as I would have liked talking about the ROWPERFECT and show pictures, I won't be able to, because Concept2 put in a VETO with the organizers since they have an exclusivity on indoor rowing equipment at the event.
I cannot emphasis enough that the foot print of the ROWPERFECT is half the size of the Concept2 on slides. The ROWPERFECT will be able to be carried in a bike box for easy transport on cars, trains, and planes. About an hour ago, I spoke to Mark Campbell, the mastermind behind the redesign of the ROWPERFECT. He is going to put a video on either Youtube or Google. I am anxious in seeing the great footage.
All the best,
XENO
Olympic gold and silver, men's single scull.

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

This is a cool video footage of the "old" Rowperfect.

Check this out:

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

The race in 2000

I am glad that I rowed away with a medal in the end.

Enjoy,

All the best,

XENO

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

My brother in law is song writer and guitarist for the Band New Years Day, they need your vote!

Hello all.

You wonder what the link is between a rock band rowing, right?

Keith is my brother in law. He rowed for Orange Coast College and is the song writer/guitarist on his band called New Years Day!

You can still vote for them on www.fuse.tv click to "oven fresh".

You can also find their myspace site at www.myspace.com/newyearsday

XENO

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

Chance Gath, Iron Oarsman Rower is a winning man at the Long Beach Spring Regatta

Congratulations Chance for winning your competition at the 1000 meter Sprint Regatta in Long Beach. Hard work pays off.
Chance is a Junior in high school and getting faster in the single scull.
You make us proud. Now all we need is a XENO hair cut. Of course, I am just kidding. Chance, don't forget to give your mom and grandpa a huge hug for supporting you.
All the best,
XENO

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

FROM AUSTRALIA: IT'S a well-kept secret, but rowing is one of the ultimate fat-burning workouts, reveals Damien Kelly.

The million dollar health and fitness question has always been: what's the best way to lose fat?

Is it pounding the pavement on your morning run; freestyling it up and down the pool or perhaps riding home on your bike?

The truth is that any of these will work just fine - if you work hard enough and sweat for long enough. But that still doesn't answer the question.

Believe it or not the winner may not be amongst these three favourites.

Some argue, the best all-round fatburner is cross-country skiing - when put to the test those Scandinavian skiers come out the fittest.

Unfortunately it's a little difficult for us Aussies to take up cross-country skiing in our climate. Luckily, second place in the fatburning stakes is an exercise much closer to home: rowing.

So why is rowing such a fab fatburner? The reason is simple: for the best fat burning you need a cardio exercise that uses multiple muscles. Running uses predominantly legs, as does cycling, and swimming uses predominantly arms. Rowing uses the whole body.

This usage principle also applies to toning: if you use a muscle against resistance often enough, the muscle will adapt and look better. Rowing creates resistance for the legs, arms and torso, creating a taut, beautiful body faster.

So it's true - that dusty indoor rower you've always avoided in the gym is in fact one of the most useful pieces of equipment there. And with a rowing machine in the gym there's no danger of getting wet - other than working up a good sweat.

Perfect technique

Peter Dreissigacker, 55, the founder of the world's most popular indoor rower, Concept2, says the rowing motion can be divided into three parts.

"It begins with 'the catch'. In a boat, this would be the moment when the oar catches the water. Your legs are compressed so that your shins are vertical. Your arms are extended and you have a comfortable grip on the handle. Your upper body is leaning slightly forward from the hips. The work is done on 'the drive', which starts with the powerful muscles of the quads. The back joins in the effort next, swinging through the vertical position. Finally, the arms engage to pull the handle into your abdomen. Legs, back and arms should all be smoothly connected into one powerful drive.

'The recovery' prepares you for the next stroke. Start by pushing your hands away from your body, then let your back swing forward past your hip and finally let your knees bend to bring you back to 'the catch' position," explains Dreissigacker.

Dr Andrew Randell, 44, the NSW Institute of Sport rowing technical coordinator, says the key to rowing correctly is flowing through this simple sequence of movements.

"The drive or moving backward phase of rowing needs to start with the legs. Once the legs have straightened the torso can swing into action, followed lastly by the pull of the arms," says Randell.

So, push with the legs, swing with the torso and then draw the arms - sounds easy enough, right?

Randell says the catch phase or recovery phase is where most technical hitches occur.

"With the recovery phase it is important to first reach forward with the hands, then to swing the body and finally to raise the knees," says Randell.

A common mistake made by novice rowers in the catch phase is to raise the knees before reaching forward with the hands. Get this right and you'll be prepared for the next drive phase and well on your way to rowing perfection.

Getting to the core

Phil Bourguignon, 34, head coach at Sydney University Boat Club and one of Australia's national rowing coaches, says that the importance of good core stability can't be underestimated in rowing.

"You tend to find with all athletes, if they have a strong core area, their spine and back are a non-issue," says Bourguignon.

Core stability is just as important for the rest of us.

Bourguignon says that "good core stability can be developed by maintaining a good posture at all times when rowing. Posture comes from controlling the movement through your bellybutton."

A basic abdominal strengthening routine twice a week in addition would complement rowing perfectly.

Rhythm and flow

To get the rowing movement smooth and thus fast, you need to learn to accelerate the movement without jerking on the cable.

"It's like starting a lawnmower," says Randell. "You first need to take the load and then you can accelerate through the movement, which allows you to work as hard as you want."

Mind body connection

Rebecca Joyce, 36, former world champion and Olympic bronze medallist believes that rowing is a an empowering and wonderful experience.

"Being out on the water is so peaceful and empowering. The rhythmic movements remind me of a religious chant. There's a silence you just don't get from other sports," explains Joyce. The effect on your body isn't half bad either.

"Rowers have the most wonderful physiques," says Joyce, "and the best part is there's no impact, so no aggravation to your joints."

Rowing drill

1 Row with arms only (10 reps)

2 Body still, legs still

3 Then add body (10 reps)

Still no legs

4 Finally add the legs (10 reps)

This teaches you the correct pattern and improves your sequence of movement.

Getting started on the rower

Your very first row

Resist the temptation to row for 30 minutes the first time on the machine. Instead start with no more than 3 to 5 minutes at a time. Then take a break to stretch and walk around. If you feel good, do up to four of these short intervals of rowing.

Your second row

Begin experimenting with stroke rate and power. Stroke rate is your rhythm in strokes per minute (spm). Power is how hard you are pulling. It is displayed in a choice of units in the central display area: watts, calories, or pace. Try some 3-minute intervals of rowing, varying stroke rate and pace, as described below.

Workout

3 min at 20 spm, comfortable effort; 1 min rest

3 min at 22 spm, harder effort; 1 min rest

3 min at 24 spm comfortable; 1 min rest

3 min at 24 spm, harder, 3 min rest

End with 10 minutes of steady state rowing at whatever spm and power are comfortable.

Be sure to note the power and spm you settle on - you will use it next workout.

The third row

Introduce longer rowing with stroke rate variation.

Workout

Do four 5-minute pieces, varying the stroke rate as follows

20 spm for first 2 minutes

22 spm for next 2 minutes

24 spm for last minute. Then rest by rowing very easily for 2 minutes, before starting the next 5 minute piece.

Your work pace should be faster than your 10-minute pace from last workout.


The fourth row

Longer steady rowing.


Workout

Two 10-minute pieces with 3 minutes rest in-between.

Try to go a little faster than you did for the 10-minute piece in the second workout. Stroke rate: 20 to 24 spm.


The fifth row

Short intervals for variety and for a chance to see how fast a pace you can achieve.

Workout

Row 1 minute hard, 1 minute easy for a total of 20 minutes.

Watch the central display for your pace. Stroke rate 20 to 24.

Benchmark piece

30 minutes, non-stop.

Record your total metres rowed for this piece. You should repeat this workout periodically, every few weeks, to see how you are progressing.

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

The article below tells the story of a man who has a $0 power bill. I need to have him connect a rowing machine to the grid.

EAST AMWELL, N.J. - Mike Strizki lives in the nation's first solar-hydrogen house. The technology this civil engineer has been able to string together – solar panels, a hydrogen fuel cell, storage tanks, and a piece of equipment called an electrolyzer – provides electricity to his home year-round, even on the cloudiest of winter days.

Mr. Strizki's monthly utility bill is zero – he's off the power grid – and his system creates no carbon-dioxide emissions. Neither does the fuel-cell car parked in his garage, which runs off the hydrogen his system creates.

It sounds promising, even utopian: homemade, storable energy that doesn't contribute to global warming. But does Strizki's method – converting electricity generated from renewable sources into hydrogen – make sense for widespread adoption?

According to some renewable-energy experts, the answer is "no," at least not anytime soon. The system is too expensive, they say, and the process of creating hydrogen from clean sources is itself laced with inefficiency – the numbers just don't add up.

Strizki's response: "Nothing is as wildly expensive as destroying the whole planet."

Life free from the power grid
Strizki lives with his wife in a rural section of Central New Jersey. His 12-acre property is surrounded by trees and his gravel driveway leads to a winding country road. His 3,500-square-foot house has all the amenities, including a hot tub and a big-screen TV.

It was here, four years ago, that Strizki set out to do something that's never been done in this country – power his home completely through a combination of solar and hydrogen. "My motivation was, I saw what fossil fuels were doing to the environment," he says.

Strizki works for a company that installs solar panels. In previous jobs, he's helped integrate hydrogen fuel cells into cars, a boat, a fire truck, and an airplane. His latest project, the one involving his house, is an extension of that expertise.

The solar-hydrogen house took longer to complete than Strizki expected – a strict local zoning officer and the state permitting process caused delays, he says – but in October 2006, the system finally went online. The total cost, $500,000, was paid for in part with a $250,000 grant from the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities.

This is how it works
On sunny days, solar panels on the roof of Strizki's detached garage generate more than enough electricity to power his home. The excess electricity powers a device inside the garage called an electrolyzer, which transforms a tank of water into its base elements – oxygen and hydrogen.

The oxygen is released into the atmosphere, while the hydrogen is stored in 10 1,000-gallon propane tanks on Strizki's property. In the winter, when the solar panels collect less energy than the home needs, that hydrogen is piped to an air-conditioner-size fuel cell, located just outside the garage, which generates electricity.

The final piece of the equation is "The New Jersey Genesis," a hydrogen fuel-cell car Strizki helped design and now maintains for the New Jersey Department of Transportation. He can fill up the Genesis with hydrogen from his electrolyzer and drive it pollution free.

Strizki understands that few people can afford to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars for clean energy. Now that he's demonstrated his idea works, his goal is to make the system better and less expensive. (For example, the 10 propane tanks could be replaced by one high-pressure hydrogen tank buried underground.) With mass production, he believes he could get the price of the system, not including the solar panels, down to about $50,000. (A new solar panel system can cost as much as $80,000, Strizki says, but some states, including New Jersey, have offered rebates that cover up to 70 percent of the cost.) Strizki is seeking government grants and private donors for funding, and he's started a company, Renewable Energy International, which he hopes will one day market his product. He says he's already heard from potential customers: "We've been called by some A-list Hollywood types interested in powering their islands."

Hydrogen hurdles
Strizki's project proves that carbon-free living is possible right now, but renewable-energy experts are skeptical that hydrogen houses with hydrogen-run cars in the driveway will catch on anytime soon.

"There's no way your average person is going to want to buy five expensive pieces of hardware," says Joseph Romm, a former Department of Energy official who analyzed clean-energy technologies during the Clinton administration.

In addition to the high cost of the equipment, there's another huge hurdle that must be overcome if hydrogen is to become a viable clean energy: Although hydrogen is the most abundant element in the universe, it doesn't exist alone in nature; you can't just bottle it up.

To get at hydrogen, it must be processed from another source, such as natural gas, oil, coal, or water. According to the National Hydrogen Association, 95 percent of the hydrogen produced in the United States is made through steam reforming natural gas – a process that releases greenhouse gases into the air.

Strizki's method for making hydrogen is totally clean, but suffers from a different problem: Electrolyzers are only 50 percent efficient. By the time the electricity from his solar panels is converted into hydrogen, and the hydrogen converted back into electricity in the fuel cell, half of the clean energy he started with is used up.

Mr. Romm thinks it's a waste. That electricity would do more good toward reducing pollution if it was sent into the main power grid to displace other energy, he says. "[Strizki's system] doesn't get you that much environmentally," he says.

Romm is an advocate for clean-energy use – in recent books and articles he advocates a sharp cut in greenhouse-gas emissions within 10 years – but he's characterized hydrogen as an overhyped distraction that isn't ready yet to help toward that goal. He supports continued hydrogen research, but other technologies that are more developed could help the Earth much more and much sooner, he says.

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

Military Personnel get their workout sponsored by Iron Oarsman

Hello All!

Please assist me to help former and current military personnel.

I read an article in Newsweek about war veterans. I felt saddened and I absolutely need to do something about it. I want to make their situation BETTER!

My idea is to open the IRON OARSMAN every Friday from 4pm-7pm for people who serve and have served in the armed forces. The workouts are sponsored by me as long as I have an indoor rowing studio.

As you know rowing is good for all ages with or without disabilities.

I need your help to get this information out.

Call me please.

XENO
949-400-7630

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

News Update from the Iron Oarsman

Hello All

Here is some information on what is happening at the Iron Oarsman.

First, we have a great new monthly rate for unlimited rowing: $130 for the individuals and $170 for 2 family members.

Second, you might want to use a dry erase board at home. Since January we are using a dry erase board which has a three columns. First column is the name of the rower. Second column is current daily total. Third clolumn is the monthly goal. Pretty much everyone who has their name on the board at the Iron Oarsman has found additional motivation to row farther than they set out to do at the beginning of the month. The board is up thank to Val's great idea.

Third, famous moto cross star Travis Pastrana is an avid rower! Let's challenge him!

For now, the latest news: WE WILL REPRESENT IRON OARSMAN at the Crew Classic at the end of the month. This is the first time that Iron Oarsman is going to have a booth at a regatta. We will feature the Rowperfect rowing machine and a bunch of really cool shirts from the Iron Oarsman shop at www.cafepress.com/gorow

Over and out,
XENO
Olympic Gold and Silver medalist

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

IRON SNOWMAN By IRON OARSMAN

THE WINTER SEASON IS ON AT FULL BLAST HERE IN BIG BEAR LAKE, CA

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

I am very fortunate to have a group of fun and interesting people rowing with me on a daily basis at the Iron Oarsman.
Below is a letter from a fellow rower and friend,. His name is Dr. Gary Mackie.


Dear Xeno

I am writing to you to suggest an additional application for your indoor rowing exercise program. As you know I find your workouts great for conditioning and very aerobic. I went through cardiac rehabilitation after having a 2-vessel C.A.B.G. procedure. The standard rehab consists of treadmill exercise and upper body weights. After five to six weeks, I found the program quite boring and didn’t stay with it for very long. I really feel that indoor rowing on your low impact rowing machines would provide a better form of cardiac rehabilitation. My reasons for saying this are that using low resistance on the machines would allow earlier upper body conditioning and the more horizontal body position would allow better venous pumping, a better venous pumping return is a better form of aerobic rehabilitation. In addition, rowing being low impact would also make the exercise easier for people in rehabilitation with associated joint injuries. I think you should approach the cardio rehab centers and introduce the exercise concept to them.

Sincerely,

G. Gary Mackie M.D.


Thank you Gary for this great letter of support. Your idea is proof that indoor rowing has many applications and I will follow suit.

Sincerely,

XENO

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

Are you single and tall?

Today, as I was rowing next to a tall (single) rower at the Iron Oarsman and I suddenly had an epiphony! Actually, I can not take credit for the epiphony. Erin, my wife, told me about a great place for single women to find smart athletic men, REGATTAS! At the end of March there is a great opportunity for single people to scope out rowers, male or female. The place is the San Diego Crew Classic at Mission Bay. You will find a bunch of people in tight body suits... Because the sport is collegiate driven, chances are that many of those rowers have a brain between their ears too. If you want further information on the regatta just go to www.crewclassic.org
So good luck to you down in San Diego.
I forgot to mention, that we, IRON OARSMAN, will HAVE A BOOTH during the regatta!!!!!!!
All the best,
XENO

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

I found the treasure!!!

From left to right, Rob Waddell with a bandaid on his head, Thomas Lange, and the short guy to the right is me. Marnie is not on this picture because she came a day late. Thomas won the gold in 88 and 92. He would have won gold in 84 had it not been for the boycot. Rob won gold in 2000, I won gold in 1996. We all rowed those medals in the men's single scull.
From my latest entry you know that I am planning to condense all the workouts onto one DVD thanks to new technology. WELL, I remember that I had a cameraman film my 2004 training camp with Rob Waddell, Marnie Mc Bean, and Thomas Lange. The footage shows how they and I talk about our Olympic Gold Medal races. The following day the recording has a seminar on how we trained to get to the top. In addition among the tapes I found some training footage of myself rowing on the Tweed River in Australia a week before the Olympics. In all I believe it is an unedited five hours!!! I am still think about the name.
So I wish to most of you a good Sunday and others further East a good Monday morning.
Sincerely,
XENO
Olympic Gold and Silver Medalist,
Barcelona, Atlanta, Sydney.

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

Workout Compilation on one DVD!!!

Workout Compilation on one DVD!!!

Thanks to new technology we are going to be able to move six hours of workouts onto one DVD, which will bring the price down to a great $125.

In addition we are planning more workouts to be filmed in the next six month. I am extremely excited about this, because we will be able to provide more material on individual DVDs!

All the best and happy rowing.

Xeno
Olympic Gold and Silver Medalist, men's single scull.

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

Improving your ergo score, 2K, or even your 6K

Hello to all of you who are interested in improving your times on the rowing ergometer.

Here in a nutshell is what you have to do:

Gradually increase your training distance. When rowing at the aerobic intensity, most of the aerobic improvement comes after the first hour of rowing. Don't bother rowing regularly more than two hours.

Keep your harder intensity rows to two sessions per week with plenty of aerobic intensity rows in between. When you row 500m sprints don't do more than 4 a session. Take plenty of time to warm up and even more time to cool down. Make sure that you give enough time to recover between short distance pieces.

There is no point in "trying" to go all out for more than 1 X 2000 meters per workout.

Increase your torque (power per stroke) by rowing at low stroke rates for 2 or 3 minutes at a time with at least five minutes active recovery in between. Low stroke rates range between 18 and 22. This exercise is best when using a dynamic rowing machine set up, such as the ROWPERFECT or other sliding components that let your rowing machine move back and forth as your row.

Take time to break up the longer rows with technical drills. Make sure you support your lower back through out the stroke cycle. The body angle comes from hinging at the hip joint. Shorten and lengthen the stroke making sure that the arms are fully extended during the leg drive and before rolling to the catch.

That is it for now from sunny Truckee, California.
PS: Good luck at the Indoor Rowing World Championship for those who are going.

XENO
Olympic Gold and Silver Medalist
Iron Oarsman Master Instructor

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

Be the first to have the NEW ROWPERFECT

Mark Campbell owner of ROWPERFECT is very close to putting the pedal to the metal for full production of the newly redesigned ROWPERFECT.
ROWPERFECT is built in lovely Australia with top quality components. The performance monitor will feature 500 meter split times, weight adjusted power output, and all the other useful programs to indoor rowing.
ROWPERFECT with its unique design has a smaller footprint than the Concept2 with or without C2slides. It stows away easily and will fit in a bike box for easy transport anywhere you go in the world.
ROWPERFECT’s patented design makes rowing off the water feel as light and graceful as rowing a slick single scull on the water.
ROWPERFECT requires minimal assembly, you will be rowing in minutes.
EVERY ROWPERFECT from us (IRON OARSMAN) will come with our FULL SET OF INDOOR ROWING WORKOUT DVDs a $150 value.
I WILL TRAVEL TO COACH YOU and your group if your order is 10 ROWPERFECTS or more.
If your goal is to be the first in the USA to have the best alternative to on the water rowing, your timing is perfect; I am opening a holding account for down payments.
The E.T.A. is ca. 2-3 months to be on the safe side. Your down payment is not binding, until we put in the official order to ROWPERFECT Australia.
Within days, I expect a production model ROWPERFECT at the Iron Oarsman. As soon as this happens we are holding an inaugural party at our rowing studio. Anyone interested is welcome to join us, no matter where you live in the world. I will be taking video and photos to show off the greatest rowing machine ever built. We expect demand to be much greater than supply, so the early bird will get the ROWPERFECT first.
The retail price will fall within 10% of US$2100, this is an educated estimate.
Send IRON OARSMAN a check for US$1250 payable to IRON OARSMAN, with your contact phone number on the bottom left, I will call you once I receive your check and a second time when I receive word from Australia.
You can call me anytime at 949-400-7630 for further information. Our address is
IRON OARSMAN, 440 East 17th Street #5, Costa Mesa, CA 92627
I am extremely excited about this opportunity.
Sincerely,
XENO
Olympic Gold & Silver medalist, men’s single scull.
Barcelona 1992, Atlanta 1996, Sydney 2000
My mailing address is: 250 East 19th Street, Costa
Mesa, CA 92627
All the best,
XENO

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

Some rowing technique.

As I was leading a workout today, I remembered to write an entry on this site. A technical help when rowing is to imagine the graceful movements of ballet dancers. They often look tall, suspended by invisible strings. When rowing you want to stay seated tall as if a string attached to the top of your head keeps it moving back and forth as level as possible, no sagging at the finish or diving at the catch.
Sincerely,
XENO

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

The mobile office of IRON OARSMAN

Above, Xeno at the helm of the mobile office. Second picture, outside view of the mobile office. We already have several names for our bus. I gave it "the Beast". My wife calls the Bus, Breezy, because of its name Sea Breeze. I will be using the bus to travel to rowing clubs and regattas this spring in order to show off the newly redesigned ROWPERFECT which I am importing to the USA. For Every Rowperfect sold I will give a complimentary DVD set of all my indoor rowing workouts.
Sincerely,
Xeno
Olympic Gold and Silver
Barcelona, Atlanta, Sydney

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

On our way home from our Arizona indoor and outdoor rowing clinic, we stopped to see Dinosaurs somewhere in Palms Springs, California

You can go inside the Dinos, but only on the weekend, we happened to have been driving home from Arizona on Monday.

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

Team picture with Tempe Junior Crew!

Here is a good picture of the rowers I had the opportunity to coach. Dan Duxbury, the TJC head coach, has done an excellent job since he started the rowing program from scratch. His juniors have been winning lots of medals and many are recruited for university crew programs.

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

Pictures from Luke AFB

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

Iron Oarsman visits Luke Airforce Base to further develop indoor rowing among military staff.

From left to right, Xeno, and Dan Duxbury. Dan is the Tempe Junior Crew Coach. He has had excellent results with his team over the past six years. What makes his accomplishment even more amazing is that there was absolutely NO rowing what-so-ever in Phoenix when he moved there. In 2000, the Rio Salado was filled up with water thanks to inflatable dams.
We had a great time at Luke Airforce Base outside of Phoenix, Arizona. Before introducing the fitness staff to indoor rowing as we (Iron Oarsman) see it we were treated to a tour!

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

Article from the Orange County Register on the ROW BOWL

Monday, February 5, 2007
Gym fund-raiser brings in $1,000
A group's Super Bowl challenge was to row through the game, start to finish.
By SUSHMA SUBRAMANIAN
The Orange County Register
COSTA MESA – Jill Austin hoped on Sunday for a short, low-scoring Super Bowl game with frequent commercial breaks.
The Costa Mesa resident knew that if either team made a touch-down or field goal, she would have to bring her pace on her rowing machine up to a sprint until a commercial came on.
Those were the rules on Sunday, when a group of 13 rowing professionals and novices got together for their Super Bowl challenge at the Costa Mesa rowing practice gym, the Iron Oarsman. They were required to row through the entire game, from kick-off until the end.
Participants helped raise money, some by their own donations, others by raising per-hour fees, for the Challenged Athletes Foundation, a Southern California nonprofit group that provides grants to athletes with disabilities for training, equipment or travel expenses to major competitions.
"I don't want anyone to score," said Austin, 21. "I've tried this before, and I was only able to get through half the game."
The rowers lined up at adjacent exercise machines, facing a long mirror and three TV screens on Sunday.
They scattered Gatorade bottles, energy bars, chips, cookies and trail mix across the floor. Snack breaks were not allowed.
Most participants weren't avid football fans. Many didn't realize the game had started until they saw the group's organizers begin rowing.
Their pace quickened when the Bears scored their first touchdown a few seconds into the game. Muscles burning, they screamed out, begging for a commercial break.
"Five minutes down," said Evan Wilson, 23, when that break finally came. "Three hours and 55 minutes to go!"
The challenge made Costa Mesa resident Nick Dantoni a fickle Bears fan.
"You come in thinking you want a certain team to win," Dantoni said. "Halfway through, you want no one to score. You just want it to end."
This is the eighth year Dantoni has rowed through the Super Bowl. He first heard about the challenge on a blog and invited his friends to attempt it with him for fun and for a workout. Only two or three people tried each year.
When his friend Val Stepanchuk heard about the challenge, he decided to open it up to a larger group and to row for charity at the Iron Oarsman, where he is an instructor.
He had heard about the Challenged Athletes Fund from previous races.
"We wanted to do something positive and the Challenged Athletes Fund seemed appropriate," Stepanchuk said. "Eventually, you forget that you're rowing, and you're pretty much just watching TV."
In all, the 13 rowers went 410,000 meters and raised nearly $1,000.

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

SUNDAY SUPER BOWL CHALLENGE

FINALLY THE DAY IS HERE!

We will start rowing at 3pm

Registration is free

Donations to Challenged Athletes Foundations

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

Here is a great summary of efficient sweep rowing and sculling technique. Harry was my first national team coach. He showed me how to row fast!

Harry Mahon
Rowing coach. Died of cancer in 2001. Harry Mahon was reknowned for his ability to get a crew to row technical well. He was a great influence on (amongst others) Cambridge University Boat Club, the Great Britain rowing team and the New Zealand Rowing team.
[edit]
Rowing Technique

The following are taken from the New Zealand Rowing Federation's Keystrokes newsletter and are some articles regarding Harry Mahon's thoughts on rowing.
Many of us have witnessed Harry Mahon at work at close quarters. I have asked Harry to put a few thoughts on paper regarding:
What he felt were the main requirements of good technique in order to produce top boat speed.
What were the prevalent faults he had seen in NZ that were hindering boat movement.
Harry Stressed:
The rowing stroke is a push and not a pull.
We must aim to move the boat past the oar, and not the oar past the boat. Hence a large white frothy puddle suggests a waste of energy in that the oarsman is pulling rather concentrating on a good lock up of the blade in the water.
The importance of the inside arm in finishing off the stroke – the inside arm coming past the body with a relaxed shoulder allowing the oar to come easily out of the water at the end of the stroke.
The sequence of legs, body, shoulders, arms and hands during the drive, and in reverse on the recovery.
Placing the blade in the water with the outside arm from a strong body position (sit tall!), and the outside arm again performing a vital task at the end of the stroke in extracting the blade out of the water with a downward pressure.
The avoidance of shoulder lift and arm snatch at the catch – the arms merely connecting the oar to the energy source.
Relaxation – easily said, less easily achieved.
Encouraging your rowers to sit and feel the boat running. Hence the importance of picking the boat up at the catch with no hesitation on the front stop.
Sculling being no different to rowing, and providing the ideal vehicle for interpreting the run of the boat – watch the stern movement.
Balance – Harry said he does not stress balance as such but works on those things that in themselves produce good balance. He is wary of balancing exercises that lead to a tensing of the body when relaxation is of prime importance.
Harry noticed:
A lot of pullers
Catches being taken with the arms, and in some instances with shoulders
Tightness of the body at the finish resulting in poor finishes and awkward body movements.
Rushed recoveries with knees coming up too soon
Resulting in arriving at the front stop unprepared in body and mind for the catch and causing unwanted body movements and pauses at the very place that they are not wanted.
Harry stressed his debt to the influence of Thor Nilsen as demonstrated at the 1981 Seminar which helped to crystallize his thinking on both technique and training methods. It is interesting to note that in his eight seasons with Waikato their 15 premier titles have been achieved with a variety of techniques as Harry slowly developed his approach to what moved the boats best. The following are some comments written by a club oarsman after a session with him. For those crews who have had the opportunity to work out with Harry, a useful exercise could be to get the rowers, like this one, to put their interpretation of what they heard and did on paper as regards the Mahon Way. In reading the following remember it is one oarsman’s thoughts on what he heard and understood.
The catch is a placing of, or anchoring of, the blade in the water so you can push against it with the legs.
The stroke involves pushing with the legs, keeping the shoulders and arms relaxed, and at the same time opening hip angle and shoulders to keep the distance between body and oar handle.
The finish of the stroke should be strong with the inside arm, and elbow pushed straight back.
In the recovery phase hands should flow out at the speed they came in, and pack up before moving forward. Emphasis here was on rhythm and flow.
Sit tall with a strong back, and can therefore have the hands higher at the catch which is stronger.
A lot of white water represents pulling and not pushing = loss of power.
[edit]
Some thoughts on technique by Harry Mahon:
After having travelled to many parts of New Zealand over the past 15 months, it may be of interest to coaches and rowers for me to comment on aspects of the rowing stroke that require attention on order that the many people rowing can improve their efficiency and boat moving effectiveness.
Some key faults:
Pulling the oar with the arms rather than anchoring the oar in the water and pushing the boat past the oar (or sculls). The only pushing ‘mechanism’ available to us is our legs. Some indicators of this fault are: a washy blade (large puddle), and legs not going down quickly.
One arm rowing – this involves taking the catch with the inside arm, in many cases with only one hand on the oar. It generally involves a snatch of the catch with that hand and sometimes means that the person rows short. It is fairly obvious to see, but often a difficult fault to correct. This results in a weak finish. Energy expended on the catch is therefore not available for the end of the stroke.
Tightness (stiffness), particularly of the inside shoulder at the catch. If this shoulder is higher than the outside the entry level is lessened; as well, the tightness does not allow the power from the legs to be transferred to the blade.
Feathering and squaring the blade needs more attention. Oars (and sculls) are being gripped too tightly and the structure of the gate is not being utilised. In general, many people are not ready to enter the water when they reach the front of the slide. The blade must be squared before reaching the front so that entry can be immediate. Only the inside wrist should be used in this operation with concentration on placing the oar in the water with the outside hand. As well, people with an inadequate finish turn the blade (by varying degrees) to help with the extraction.
Lack of finish to the stroke. The power is not finished off with the inside arm. As a consequence the amount of boat run per stroke is lessened.
These are probably the most noticed individual faults and the first three mentioned are very closely interrelated. There are some other less commonly seen individual faults:
Leaning away from the oar at the finish of the stroke and consequently not keeping the body weight behind the blade.
Leaning back to far at the finish and pulling up on the shoes. The person is unbalanced and has left the shoulder segment of the stroke too late.
Travelling around the blade on the way to the catch, leaning away from the oar. This creates balance problems as weight is shifted from one side to the seat to the other.
Pushing away with the legs before the blade has been locked in the water. Thus the full leg drive is not utilised and no effective contribution is made to crew power generation.
Finally some crew problems:
Slide control – either too much or too little. In the first case it means that by the time the crew is entering the water the boat has slowed considerably from the previous stroke. Consequently more effort is required to ‘pick up’ the boat again. If the slide has travelled too quickly the run generated from the previous stroke is cut considerably as the boat is not allowed to run. This generally results in a high rating crew which does not have a strong finish to each stroke. It is important that a perpetual motion situation is developed which allows for maximum efficiency.
Crew stiffness in crew movements, especially on the recovery. Additional energy is thus used which should be utilised in moving the boat. As well, balance problems occur.
Note well: The important thing is that all of these things cannot be worked on at once and coaches must isolate the problem that they feel is the most significant and work steadily through each person’s needs. I tried to correct the whole lot at once because in most instances the time allocation came to just a few minutes per person. So take your time, and many of the smaller problems will take care of themselves.

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

Good job Anne, congratulations also to Bob who pulled a 6:53 and Lynn Bender 7:42 for 2K

Hey Xeno....
I am the woman from Ohio who was with you two weeks ago. I sent the thank you note below and said it would be miraculous for me to pull a sub 8...but that I knew your teaching would have an impact.....

Well, In yesterday’s satellite race I managed 7:57.8. Thank YOU so much. Plus it is more fun to erg with the right technique...I just keep reminding myself to sit upright and be “Elegant”!!!

Tell Val thank you too.
Anne

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

Here is the old version of the Rowperfect in action

Great machine.
It does not require the cumbersome slides.
Over and out.
Xeno
Olympic Gold and Silver
Barcelona, Atlanta, Sydney

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

HERE IT IS, this is the ROWPERFECT

This is the best rowing machine on the face of the earth.
In a few days I will have one in my posession and we will film workouts on it. I am as excited as a little kid one week before his brithday.
Xeno Muller
Olympic Gold and Silver Medalist
Barcelona, Atlanta, Sydney

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

Luanne Mills pulls an incredible 8:10.5 for 2000 meters and qualifies for CRASH-B, she logs her miles for Iron Oarsman on the World Ranking

She looks ROCK SOLID!
Indoor Rowing

World indoor record holder Luanne Mills of Seattle qualified for the CRASH-B World Indoor Rowing Championships at the Ergomania Northwest Indoor Rowing Championships in Seattle.

The 25th annual event featured nearly 200 competitors, ages 13-80, including five current or former U.S. national team members.

Mills, 68, won the women's lightweight veteran B division (ages 60-69) with a time of 8:10.5 over 2,000 meters. Mills, of Seattle's Pocock Rowing Center, will be making her fifth trip to the world indoor rowing championships.

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

After this morning's indoor rowing workout at the Iron Oarsman I sat on the sofa...

...next to my dog YETI. He was washed yesterday and he is perfect to fall asleep with. This pictures shows how mellow he looks and acts. All YETI wants is to hang with you. He is perfect relaxation therapy for tired rowers.

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

I was asked by a U.K. forum board member to talk about my plans:

Dear Michael

You will hear a lot more from me than you bargained for. :-)

I am slowly figuring out my "schedule" and my purpose next to being the best father and husband I can be to my family... The figuring out started in July 2002... A slow process it has been without question.

I am really happy that I found a passion for indoor rowing after competing. It is awesome for me to watch people discover rowing and become fitter through our workouts on DVD and at the Iron Oarsman. At the same time I get to workout on a daily basis.

It is amazing how ACTIVE the indoor rowing circuit is in the UK and how stimulating the UK Concept2 website is. It is exciting to follow the highschool indoor rowing program in Birmingham where indoor rowing is being incorporated into the PE curriculum, to make students fit and healthy. I like observing the U.K., because I want to help the United States discover indoor rowing the same way.

Concept2 USA has not found interest in what I am doing here on the West Coast, even though I am the ONLY full time indoor rowing studio in the USA. Over the last three years I figured out that "Vermont" does not involve itself directly into small operations like mine.

To their CREDIT, C2USA does a very good job in customer service and product support, which I enjoyed over the years.

However, I have been immensly frustrated because (arguably) NO BODY knows indoor rowing in the US! This is slowly changing because a couple of people (I am one of them) are making some ripples. My marketing skills are improving, yet it would have been amazing to get marketing help and dollars from Vermont.

It is too late now, because I am going to sell Rowperfect on the western half of the United States. I am as pumped to succeed in bringing indoor rowing to the less active US citizens, as I was when I trained for the Olympics. The market is huge and the possibility of improving people's lifes is in less fortunate areas is enormous. When I look towards the future, I see many neighborhood and city indoor rowing COOPs.

Within a couple of weeks I will be filming the first Indoor Rowing Workout on the newly redesigned Rowperfect. For peole rowing at home, it won't matter whether they use ROWPERFECT or the Concetp2 on slides, the result will be the same, a great workout! (Although, in my opinion, the feel is smoother and more responsive on the Rowperfect).

Both machines have the ability to measure distance the same way. What is not widely known is that the C2 is calibrated similarly to a men's 4- in which the rowers weigh 220 pounds. This is the information one has to dial into the Rowperfect in order to compare rowing results.

Alright that is it for now. Row on, I believe that I will be hitting in the middle 3 million for this season.

All the best and thank you for giving me the opportunity to stand on my little internet soap box!

XENO

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

Val Stepanchuk at Iron Oarsmen

Hello team!

This is my first blog post ever! Not counting the ones I posted on myspace. First of all I would like to thank Xeno for kind introduction and this opportunity to share my thoughts and adventures with all of you on here.

My name is Val Stepanchuk, 25. I was born in Kam'yanets'-Podil'skiy, Khmel'nitskiy Region UKRAINE. My family moved to California in 1995 when I was 13. I have four younger sisters and three younger brothers.

I have always been interested in all kinds of different competitions. In High School I was on Track & Field and Cross Country teams. I started rowing in fall of 2003 at Orange Coast College. It was beginning of the fall semester and I was planning on joining a sailing team at Coast. I was looking for a sailing coach and ran into a rowing coach Pat Gleason, who invited me to come try out rowing. I didn't think much of it at first, but decided to give it a try. I was majorly hooked, even though I had to get up at the crack of dawn everyday. Rowing has changed my life around a bit.

I have been rowing for four years now and not planning on stopping anytime soon.

I started rowing at Iron Oarsmen in July of 2006 and it has been one of the greatest experiences of my life. I have met many incredible people that keep me going everyday I'm there. I am thankful for this opportunity. Iron Oarsmen rocks!

Apart from rowing I have been involved in many other sports like; Snowboarding, cycling, swimming, adventure racing, triathlons, marathons etc..

This year I am competing on USASA (United States of America Snowboard Association) in Southern California Conference. There are 3 disciplines that we compete in through the season. FREESTYLE - Slopestyle and Halfpipe

SNOWBOARD CROSS or Boardercross

ALPINE - Slalom and Giant Slalom.

You can find schedule and results of competitions by clicking on this link: http://www.usasa.org/series/series.lasso?-token=browse&SeriesCode=socal&-maxRecords=1&-database=regions.fp3&-layout=region_info&-search

That's all for now!

KEEP ROWING!

Val

"Rowing is a sport for dreamers. As long as you put in the work, you can own the dream. When the work stops, the dream disappears."-Jim Dietz, Rowing Coach, USCGA

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

This is from my post to the U.K. Training Forum

Hello all.
Thank you for your hellos!

You can find the prices of the DVDs on my website and on EBAY. On Ebay the auctions start at $58 for the set of all 7 workouts. I greatly enjoy filming them and can't wait to do DVD 8.

"Negative splitting" to my knowledge is to row a 2K or any given distance or time in an increasing speed. For example: first 500 at 1:40, second 1:39, third 1:38, fourth 1:37...

My form of racing is more like the "bath tub"... If you plot speed on the Y axis and distance on the X axis, you would draw a graph that looks like a tub or a valley. Fast first five hundred, because of the twenty start strokes, then holding the average pace, and finally pushing hard in the last 350 meters.

One of the rowers at the Iron Oarsman told me that a beginner in the Bay Area (California), thought it would be exagerated to ask me to coach him. To this I say that I GREATLY enjoy introducing people to the rowing stroke that was taught to me by the late Harry Mahon (NZ) and Marty Aitken (AUS).

I would like to extend an invitation to those who would like to come visit us here in Costa Mesa. If you are interested you should organize a trip to come row here and do some sightseeing. Today we had a lovely day with mild temperatures. Our city is right next to Newport Beach, Laguna Beach, and Huntington Beach. LA is 45 minutes by car (no traffic), San Diego 70 minutes. And as I can see at the top of this page there is an AD for flights to LA. Universal Studios is a few minutes away and you can jump on the Backstage Tour and drive up Wisteria Lane from Desperate Housewifes. Yes, I watch that show. We also watch Dirty Jobs on the Discovery Channel with Mike Rowe, etc.

Over and out for now.

XENO

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

I want to meet Matt McKenna, congratulations!

THIS IS STRAIGHT FROM CNN. Pretty Incredible Story but possible!!!

Most Popular
From 500 pounds to a new and rewarding life
POSTED: 5:43 p.m. EST, January 25, 2007

By Matt McKenna
Special to CNN
Adjust font size:


Editor's note: Matt McKenna lives and works in Orange County, California. His story came to CNN through I-Report. This is his account of his dramatic weight loss.

On October 2, 2005, I weighed 500 pounds.

I was 34 and had always struggled with my weight, but for 15 years, I had allowed it to get out of control. I ate as if it were my hobby. I was unable to do the simplest physical activity. I made excuses to avoid having to go out in public, for fear of being ridiculed. I tried to hide myself, as if someone so large could actually hide.

I couldn't walk to my car from my apartment or office without being out of breath, and my knees ached from even that small journey. Lying in bed, I could feel my heart pounding. I awoke several times each night struggling to breathe. Still, I was in denial. I knew I was obese, but I never considered what I was doing to myself. Loved ones offered concern and suggestions, but I saw them as just "getting on my case." (Gallery: Watch as Matt loses the weight)

In late July 2005, my mother and father decided it was time to step in. My dad called me and said they were concerned about how difficult my life was. They feared they would soon face every parent's nightmare: the death of their son. They told me that they could no longer watch me destroy myself, and they wanted to help me back to a normal life. But it couldn't be a halfhearted effort on my part. It would take serious commitment from me.

Gratitude and fear

I was grateful for the love and support of my family and their willingness to help. But I was also apprehensive at the prospect of giving up a measure of freedom and independence. And I was angry at myself for allowing my eating and weight to get so out of control. But I knew they were right: I had to do something before the damage to my health became irreversible. My life at this point wasn't much of a life at all.

We decided that I would move into my parents' home, where I could be supervised and supported. There would be no excuses for failure, and the entire family would know everything -- no more hiding from anyone! It was important to involve them because I needed their encouragement. We devised a "pledge drive" tied into my weight loss with the proceeds going to Habitat for Humanity to benefit Katrina victims. (The storm had just occurred while we were making our plans for my weight-loss "project.") My goal, based on my frame and height, was 240 pounds.

On October 3, 2005, I began my journey back to health. I stepped onto two bathroom scales (one wasn't enough) and took full measure. While 500 pounds was shocking, seeing that number made me feel even more determined.

I saw my doctor, and with the exception of my weight and blood pressure, my health was not bad. He prescribed medication for my blood pressure, and I agreed to see him every four to six weeks so he could monitor my progress. I was cleared to get started.

For two weeks, I followed the South Beach Diet Phase 1. No breads or grains, no fruit, no alcohol, no sugar of any kind -- just eggs, cheese, lean meats and vegetables. I also began to exercise, walking for five minutes on a treadmill at first. Then I started walking around the neighborhood, and then walking around Dana Point Harbor, near our home in Southern California. For the first few weeks, just walking those short distances really wore me out. But I could go a little farther with each try, and I felt my stamina increasing.

Sunday mornings were weigh-ins. The first week, I had lost 25 pounds! We were all stunned. I had achieved liftoff! In the next weeks, I continued to lose weight, but more modestly. I "graduated" to South Beach Phase 2, which meant I could have fruit, low-fat yogurt, whole grains and a glass of red wine with dinner. I exercised more. I sought counseling to get at the mental and emotional reasons for my eating.

Christmas: 90 pounds gone

By Christmas I had lost 90 pounds! By this time everyone saw that I was losing weight. Comments from people at work encouraged me. I had more energy, less pain, and I felt better about myself. I could do things that I couldn't six months earlier, like play with my nieces and nephew for more than a few minutes before needing to rest. (Diet pro says Matt did it right. )

In February 2006 I joined a gym. I had lost 130 pounds and had to buy new clothes to fit my shrinking body. I realized that I didn't need to hide myself.

At some periods, my loss would slow down to 1 or 2 pounds a week, but I never lost sight of just how far I had come. I told myself that as long as I was making progress, no matter how small, I was still successful. In the spring I helped coach my niece's softball team.

By the second week of July 2006 -- just nine months -- I had lost 200 pounds! I was now hiking the hills and canyons, as well as playing ice hockey. I was able to discontinue my blood pressure medication. Throughout, I never felt that I was depriving myself. I viewed it as a chance to rediscover the real me.

By mid-September I was ready to live on my own. I had lost more than 230 pounds, and I felt confident that I had enough knowledge, discipline and drive to reach my goal.

I went to Europe, something I had always wanted to do but couldn't because of my obesity. It was my victory lap, a celebration of what I had accomplished. I don't call it my reward, because my reward is the life I have today.

Just a couple of weeks before Christmas 2006, I reached my goal of 240 pounds. Since then, I have maintained my weight between 236 and 240. The feeling of accomplishment is unlike anything I have ever felt. The reactions I get from friends, family, and co-workers when I recount my journey are indescribable. I can hardly believe it myself.

I am especially proud that my success has inspired some of those very people to begin their own weight-loss adventures, even if they don't have nearly as much to lose as I had. I hope others can learn from my experience. I know that dreams are achievable, and I hope their loved ones don't give up on them, but offer help and support. I couldn't have done it without my family, but in the end it was up to me. In that lies the biggest lesson of all.... That I can do it.

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

Hello Team, I would like to introduce V A L to you all.

Val is the rider on the right

As you can see, I invited my friend Val to write to this blog. He and I run the bulck of the workouts at the Iron Oarsman. Val is also a great snowboarder. He teaches people to snowboard an hour and a half away from us at Big Bear. Besides having a great time leading workouts at the Iron Oarsman, he works at Sport Chalet, South Coast Plaza.

Thanks to Val we now have a dry erase board on which we write down our monthly rowing goal in meters and our daily totals. Thanks to Val's innovation, I have been rowing more while having an even greater time.

Val also hikes mountains and competes in marathon bike rides and hikes.

I see Val and I working together for a long time. He is the perfect link between the Iron Oarsman and other social spheres that I would not easily find time to mix in with due to a truck load of other responsibilities.

Val speaks Ukrainian too.

All the very best to all of you.

XENO
Olympic Gold and Silver Medalist.
Barcelona/Atlanta/Sydney

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

The day after. I feel perfectly GREAT!

As you can see on one picture, I am perfectly fine again posing with our dog on the couch. The other picture shows a temporary battle scar, a light burn mark, from the sticky flap through which the current zapped me three times with 100 Joules, 150 Joules, and another final 150 Joules. I will compare those numbers with the other events I had between 1996 and 2000.
I wish you all a great Monday!!!
Sincerely Xeno
Olympic Gold and Silver Medalist.

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

Xeno in atrial fibrillation and getting cardioverted, yes it happens to me too! AFIB AMONG ATHLETES

Hello All,

Last night at 10 PM, after a nice dinner and a movie with my dear wife, I sat at the kitchen table to check my emails and my heart went into atrial fibrillation. This is the sixth time over the course of ten years. Initially it feels like a few skip heart beats, the difference is that it does not stop. My rest heart rate is usually around 40 beats per minute. In AFIB it is 70 to 80, which in comparison to other people is a pretty low still.

My first time in AFIB was April of 1996 a week before going to Europe to qualify for the Olympics. That first time I had no idea what was happening and I thought I was going to die for sure. Luckily, I met a great electro cardiologist, specializing in arrhythmia, his same is Dr. Dicran Baron. He told me that I had two choices. One to take a medication for two days and stay at the hospital, and the other to quickly check myself in as an outpatient and get cardio-verted. He assured me that I was going to be perfectly fine right after I wake up. I can still remember this first incident as if it were yesterday.

The origins of my AFIB episodes are unknown. Whether it is training induced or not remains a question mark. In my case one is certain. Each time I went into AFIB, I was NOT exercising. The first time I was standing at the barbecue in Corona Del Mar. The second time I was pouring a glass of OJ. The third time I was picking up excrement of my dog Skiff on the beach. The fourth time I was PACKING MY SUITCASE to go to the 2000 world cup in Vienna, to qualify for the Olympics. This was the most unbelievable one, because I had to reschedule my flight for the day after, because of the cardio version at the hospital and off I went to Europe to win the Vienna Cup.

My point in blogging this is to connect with people who may feel alone with such a cardiac situation. Well they are not. I am one of you and so is my good friend Rob Waddell who won the gold at the Olympics in the men’s single scull a second in front of me.

The pictures above show me laying in my hospital bed. My wife took both pictures because I asked her to. She couldn’t believe me, but I said it was for the blog and that others needed to know. The second picture is of the cardio version device which name was HEART START XL. I guess I was finding humor in my situation.

I am perfectly healthy again and pumping at 100% on my two pistons.

All the best

Sincerely, XENO MULLER, Olympic Gold and Silver medalist.

Key words for search engines, atrial fibrillation among athletes and endurance athletes.

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

Training options to make your workouts at home interesting

I hope you are all having a great weekend. Today I met up with a young junior at the Iron Oarsman. He bought a rowing machine and does most of his training at home. Because of individuals like him who row by themselves I would like to commit more regularly to posting workouts specific to indoor rowing.

Workout 1

10K total
3K warm up, building the stroke from full slide down to arms only and back to full slide. 2K go by in a flash.
4K continuous harder push, each 500 meter rate changes: 18 power, 20 power, 22 power, 1000m @ 24 power, 22 power, 20 power, 18 power
3K cool down


Workout 2

14K
3K warm up
2K @ 20 strokes per minute
2K @ 22 storkes per minute
2K @ 24 strokes per minute
2K @ 22 strokes per minute
2K @ 20 strokes per minute
1K Cool down


Workout 3

Total time 60'
12 minute warm up technical.
6 X 3 minutes at stroke rates 20 pusing as hard as possible without increasing the stroke rate. 3 minutes rest.
12 minutes cool down.

Enjoy and log your miles.

Always feel free to get in touch.

XENO

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

Rower with MS has completed 10 million meters in 4 years.

Linda on crest of a wave after completing rowing marathon
Graham Ford
LINDA Forrest has just become Hawick's first ten million metre lady.
On Monday, Linda, became one of only 60 people in the UK to have successfully rowed ten million metres on an indoor rowing machine. Her challenge began almost four years ago, and Linda, who suffers from MS, has shown an incredible level of determination to complete her solo mission. The distance is the equivalent of 237 marathons, or a quarter of the way round the world.
Linda had originally planned to row one million metres, but after completing that she decided to continue towards the ten million mark. She spent a minimum of four days a week at the Thinkfitness gym in O'Connell Street, ploughing away on the rowing machine, covering a distance of 10,000 metres on each visit.
More recently, this was increased to six days a week and 12,000 metres.
Stuart Oliver, from Thinkfitness, said: "Day after day after day, Linda has shown amazing determination and dedication, and to finally reach this amazing milestone, she must be thrilled. We're all very proud of her at Think Fitness, and it will be strange seeing her using the other machines after spending so long rowing.
"After reaching this tremendous landmark on Monday, she has already started a new programme, and we're all waiting to see what she's going to do next."
Health experts believe it takes seven times more effort for MS sufferers to carry out exercise than people in normal health.
Speaking to the Hawick News, Linda said: "Thank goodness I have finally completed it.
"I am so grateful to the boys at Thinkfitness for all their support over the last few years, despite the fact that I was constantly trying to wear out one of their exercise machines!"
19 January 2007

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

Fellow Iron Oarsman rower, Steve Swift rows a great Marathon in 2:53:24.2

Dry Run to the Farallons


Swift completes marathon row
in 2 hours, 53 minutes, 24.2 seconds

OAKLAND, CA, Jan. 13, 2007 – In the final 45 minutes, his face, wrists and ankles were a pasty white. His chin slumped onto his chest each time he pulled the handle into his torso, but Steve Swift celebrated his 54th birthday here today accomplishing his goal – completing a marathon row, 26 miles 385 yards, on an indoor rowing machine.

The event was hosted by Montclair Fitness, the small gym in the Oakland Hills where Swift has been doing his weight, aerobic and cardio training for the past year. Swift usually rows facing a blank wall, but Dave Bordessa, MF owner and personal trainer, moved the Concept2 Model C indoor rowing machine to the center of the circuit training room for Swift’s marathon attempt.

The time – 2 hours, 53 minutes, 24.2 seconds – was but a mere 16 seconds slower than Swift had aimed to achieve.

For the current rowing season, the finish places Swift among the Top 10 rowers in America in his age and weight category on the Concept2 web site.

Seven family members and friends cheered Swift through the final pulls on the stationary machine as he completed what he had named a Dry Run to the Farallons, referring to small the rocky islands in the Pacific Ocean west of San Francisco by 27 miles, slightly more than the marathon distance. (For the record, Steve trotted across the carpet to a treadmill after the ride and plodded the final figurative meters to the islands.)

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

Rowing technique for beginners

If you are new to rowing you might find the following technical tips useful.

In the last couple of days, I have been observing two new rowers and gave them feedback on applying their bodies more efficiently.

In general, most beginners overuse smaller muscles (trapez, biceps, hip flexors, deltoids, forearms) in order to propel their flywheel. Through coaching the focus shifts from the small musles to the larger muscle groups such as: quads, gluts, hamstrings, lat, lumbar muscles.

When getting used to the rowing stroke, it is important not to feel rushed during the execution of drive and recovery. Leaving the legs straight after finishing the stroke is important so that the arms and handle can travel over and beyond the straight knees, at which point the forward body angle originating from the hip joint travels towards the flywheel. The lowerback stays supported. It is at this point very likely that the hamstrings feel quite stretched. Over time the hamstrings will lengthen out and the hinging from the hip joint will feel more natural than mechanical.

Throughout the rowing stroke feel tall at all times from your waist up as you swing the body at 3/4 of the leg drive to the finish and before the first 1/4 of the leg/knee rise during recovery.

The shoulders shall be kept as far away from the ear lobes as possible. This relaxed shoulder position is only possible by keeping the trapeze musles elongated and relaxed. (Trapeze musles are often tight because of stress and a habit of shallow breathing).

I hope this helps.

Sincerely
XENO
Olympic Gold and Silver Medalist, Men's Single Scull

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

Happy New Year! This is a good video about indoor rowing and where you can take it!

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