All Mom Wants for Mother’s Day is to Row

My older daughter, now three years old, has already raced in her first regatta, albeit in utero. Rowing offers pregnant women a low impact option for exercise (always check with your doctor first) that can accommodate a changing body.

In the last weeks of my pregnancy, my stroke on the indoor rower was shorter because of my basketball-sized bump. My knees splayed a bit wider, and I was careful about my flexibility. (A hormone called Relaxin relaxes ligaments, so I was careful about stretching beyond my normal flexibility.) Beyond the physical changes pregnancy brought, however, rowing felt familiar. It was only during these workouts that I could distract myself from my body’s physical changes and get lost in the mental comforts of ticking back meters on the Performance Monitor.

A year after my daughter’s birth, I celebrated Mother’s Day by going for a row in my single. The row was a new challenge to see what my postnatal body could now achieve. And stroke by stroke, the familiar feelings returned again. Now with a second daughter, I look forward to this weekend as a time to sneak away to my single again.

For Mother’s Day, all I want to do is row (husband, take note!). It gives me rare time to reflect and focus. Rowing outdoors, I enjoy the quiet of gliding over water. If I’m on the indoor rower, I try to push myself with some big strokes while also relishing the time alone. Or not. Sometimes my indoor workouts have included a small coxswain, who every so often falls asleep to the whir of the flywheel and the entrancing display of her mom’s rhythmic strokes.

Whether it’s your first Mother’s Day or you’re a veteran, we celebrate mothers and hope you (and your mom) enjoy a good workout.

PS: Need help finding her an indoor rower to use? You can use our indoor rower finder to locate one!