Rowing Machines Are In, Again, Maybe

Geezer remembers a time when it was possible to go to a yard sale and not see a rowing machine for $15, but that was long ago and far away. Now, however, Roy M. Wallack, writing in the L.A. Times, reports that rowing machines may be cruising back to their former status as workout gear du jour. Rowing, he says, could be the new spinning. Anyone who doubts that need only listen to Josh Crosby, a former Brown University rower and the man who introduced the concept of "Indo-rowing" to (where else?) West L.A.. Crosby’s enthusiasm is almost sufficient to persuade Geezer that Wallack is right.
Wallack argues the problem with rowing machines was never the machines; it was the ignorance of the people who didn’t know how to use them. A properly-trained rower, he says, can work all the major muscle groups — legs, butt, back, arms, — and can burn 500 to 800 calories in a 50-minute class. Read more in the L.A. Times. Read more about Indo Rowing.