The music ramps up and the room dims to dark as latecomers strap into the pedals of indoor rowing machines at Row House in South College Station. Leading the class is Michelle Lovingshimer seated front-and-center on a rowing machine — or erg — under the spotlights on the slightly elevated stage. The toned athlete-cum-coach is a petite but mighty force in her 40s with a blond pixie haircut and a smile as winning as her enthusiasm for the fitness she teaches.
“We start in the ‘catch’ position,” she instructs. “Your body is nice and tall, core is nice and tight, tension in the hamstrings.” The seated rowers lean forward with hips hinged at the 11 o’clock position. Their knees are bent as they lean forward, straightening their backs with arms outstretched, hands grasping the width of the handlebars in preparation for their first drive. “Are you ready?” she asks. “Here we go!”
Flywheels whirl as the synchronized rowers rev up the ergs. For 45 minutes, Michelle pumps up the class — called the crew — through a headset-microphone. “Legs, body, arms. Arms, body, legs!” she directs, repeating the basic sequence order that rowers learn from the beginning. “Meet me at the catch, meet me at finish … 3, 2, 1 …” she
says, using same terminology used by watercraft rowers. The crew moves in tandem just like on the water, albeit swinging side-by-side on individual ergs rather than altogether in one boat. They face forward, focused on perfecting their form and eyeing their effort level and distance via LED screens, whose quickly changing numbers calculate speed and distance in real time. The carefully curated playlist of popular artists, such as Pink, Sara Bareilles, Katy Perry, and Adele, drive the pace and motivate rowers and guides them into a meditative rhythm. Between rowing segments, Michelle makes time for the crew to stretch, hold a few planks and yoga poses, and take water breaks. The class ends with more stretches, which Michelle follows with a shout-out to newcomers and crew members who have achieved goals.
“We want you to be confident when you leave, and we want you to know that we appreciate the effort that you put in,” Michelle says. “We know that you're going to improve our time because we're going to help you to improve over time.”
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Michelle left her research career at Texas A&M University in the department of biochemistry and biophysics to become a fitness coach, training out of her garage and fitness bootcamps. “I just found that I loved helping people and helping people do things that they didn't think they could do,” Michelle says. “I've helped people run their fastest mile, do sit-ups when they could never do sit ups, and run half-marathons and marathons. And that is where I found passion and happiness.”
After the Row House opened in College Station in February 2019, Michelle was approached by owner Lindsey LeBlanc to coach. Last November, Michelle became the general manager with the codicil that she could continue her role as an instructor. “Coaching is what I love,” she says, although she also enjoys being Row House’s most visible advocate. “It’s easy to talk to people about rowing because I believe in the benefits, and I believe anybody can do it.”
There are different class styles, and each one has a different intentional. Signature is the most popular class,” It has the nice balance of floorwork and rowing for people who might be intimidated by rowing for the first time.” Restore is for geared rowers who want to tune into the mind/body connection. The Restore class is for “It’s designed to be lower intensity, and it’ll give you a chance to find the swing at lower stroke rates.” Michelle says. Power is higher intensity
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with more floor work de HIIT style (High Intensity Interval Training) and Full Row is about building endurance. The one with the most rowing. Beginners need not be discouraged if they don’t “get it” right away. “It takes a few classes to put all the pieces together,” Michelle says.
College Station resident Judy Kennedy, 71, joined Row House about a month ago and has already logged approximately 80,000 meters on Row House ergs. At first, she says she was self-conscious about her age but quickly realized that that there was no need. “I’m not competing against anyone. I’m competing against myself and doing this for me,” she says. “I get a lot of gratification from looking at my meter’s row and my split time at the end of my row. It’s about me.” She has discovered that among the benefits of rowing have been more energy and mental clarity. “They [the coaches] taught me the right rhythm and form when you’re rowing, which has made a difference,” she says.
Land rowing, as indoor machine rowing is also called, has many benefits, according to the Row House website. The workout is
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efficient, gaining results in less time. When done correctly, each high-energy, low-impact workout engages the body’s muscles — specifically the arms, back, core, and legs — by more than 86% and offers aerobic as well as strength training. Additional benefits include potential weight loss through interval training, increased endurance that helps strengthen the heart, and better posture and mobility.
The indoor rowing classes also build camaraderie. On the third Friday of the month, rowers can set benchmarks so they can compare their individual progress over time. In class, however, the numbers that are visible to everyone are the average of the entire crew.
“We're all in the same boat,” Michelle says. “We're all working together. And I think that's huge.”
For more information, visit therowhouse.com.
