Updated May 8, 2018
What does mom want on Mother’s Day? Why, a Mother’s Day workout, of course! Marketers would have you think it’s flowers, candy, jewelry or breakfast in bed (Ok we agree on that one.). Our favorite way to celebrate mom is with an awesome indoor rowing workout. The rowing machine will give you a great workout, regardless of your age, fitness level, or ability. We’ve put three rowing workouts together for you here, but if you need more just head over to our workouts page. As a bonus we’ve added some SkiErg options, but if you don’t have access to one (Tragedy!) you can just row, no problem.
Indoor rowing meets you where you are
Indoor rowing classes are one of the best ways to work out – with your mom or anyone else! Unlike many other fitness activities (we’re talking to you, running…), rowing lets people of all fitness levels get their sweat on together, with nobody feeling left behind. Two people can be rowing right together at exactly the same strokes per minute. One of you may be covering more distance in that time but nobody needs to know. Ahhh, synchronicity. It’s a beautiful thing.
Scaling helps make one mother’s day workout fit all
As we said, the cool thing about rowing is that pretty much anybody can do the same workout. That doesn’t mean, though, that everyone in rowing class can do the same workout the same way. Enter scaling. It’s what allows athletes of differing fitness levels to work out together, with everyone making progress and avoiding injury.
We always stress in our rowing trainings that Rule Number 1 of being a fitness professional is Do No Harm. You want to set people up to succeed and feel good about what they’ve done – especially on Mother’s Day! So if your mom (or you) can’t do a regular pushup, no problem! Do them on your knees, or standing, against a wall. Is a full squat too much? Just go down as far as you can, or use a TRX strap or a chair for support. The main thing is to break a sweat, have fun, and then enjoy those recovery pancakes, waffles or a piece of chocolate!
row for time not distance
We’ve given you a bunch of options here. One thing to keep in mind though: If there’s a great variation in fitness in your indoor rowing class it’s better to do workouts for time vs. distance. Remember that mile run in school? Nobody wanted to come in last on that, and nobody wants to come in last on the rowing workout, either.
One way to keep things running more or less evenly is by having people row for time instead of distance. We’ve had some fun with the date on this one and suggested 510-meter distances on a couple of the workouts (May 10th – 5-10. Get it? Haha.). You can just as easily make that a 2-minute row, though. People will get about the same number of meters.
Try the Mother’s day workout!
On all of these workouts, you should warm up well with at least 15 minutes of cardio. That could be rowing, running, walking, cycling, etc. Whatever you do, you want to have a good sweat going before you get into the heavier effort of the workout. For each of them you should use the undefined rest feature in your monitor if you have it.
Mother’s Day Madness 1
5 Rounds
Row 513 meters (or 2 minutes)
5 medball squat cleans
13 hollow rocks (or the sit-up of your choice)
Mother’s Day Madness 2
3-5 Rounds
Row 513 meters (or 2 minutes)
5 push-ups
13 sit-ups of your choice
5 squats
13 jumping jacks
Balls to the Walls (and Floors)
5 Rounds
2-minute Row/Ski/Run/Walk
13 KB swings
13 cleans (either with a bar or KB. Do 6 on a side if you use a kettlebell)
13 ball slams
13 wall balls
Row a Minute!
Warm up well, with 10-20 minutes of easy rowing or other cardio.
Set your monitor for 1 minute of work and 1 minute of rest.
Row rounds of 1 minute on, rotating with 1 minute of these exercises in any order you like: jump rope, push ups, power jacks, burpees, mountain climbers, sit ups, lunges, 20′ shuttle run, box jumps.
No rest, just keep moving!
Try them and tell us which one you did and how you liked it in the comments. Happy Mother’s Day!