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So I lost 20 pounds…

 

I haven’t really talked about this openly except one time briefly on Instagram stories. I did a poll and everyone was asking to hear more so I’ve decided to share my journey. I’ve been struggling with my weight for awhile now.  My insides have been pretty messed up for over a year and it’s been hard to cope with gaining 60 pounds and not knowing why.

I hired a personal trainer on two separate occasions and nothing was working. One of my trainers asked if I was binge eating because even though we were working out 3x a week and she had me on a meal plan I looked puffy. She suggested I go to the doctor and get some tests done. I went to at least 4 doctors to find answers, get blood work, and search for solutions. After a year passed, I had spent thousands of dollars, been taking tons of pills, doing a ton of tests, I had lost hope and almost gave up. With some motivation from one of my best friends who begged me to see one more specialist I went to see one more doctor.

Turns out my thyroid had stopped working and my hormones were out of whack. I think it was due to stress and stopping my birth control cold turkey but I’m not a doctor. It’s been a long road but I finally got my thyroid on the right track and my hormones are stabilized.Whoop! Lesson being, if you know something isn’t right in your body, you can feel it, so don’t stop fighting until you get the answers you need. Even if means finding new doctors.

Finally with the bad news in the rear view mirror I wanted to get my health and my body on track again! I was on a mission to lose this extra weight my thyroid helped me put on so I started a new work out routine. Honestly, I still felt like nothing was going to work but I was determined to try. My body proved me wrong because I literally lost 2o pounds in a little over a month. 20 POUNDS! It was crazy! I was only working out 3x a week and eating moderately healthy with cheat days on the weekend. Nothing severe or too strict because I knew it was something I wanted to be able to stick to.

 

Want to know what I did….?

I got on a water rower! And you guys… it was life changing. I lifted pretty light weights mixed in with water rowing 3x a week for 30 minutes only and the weight just fell off. I lost 10 pounds in one week! To give you a little background, I have AVN, avascular necrosis, a major hip injury, so I can only do low impact exercises. I’m not allowed to run or jump or do anything high impact so indoor water rowing was perfect for me. I love that it’s up to me so I could row slowly or as intense as I needed or wanted. I’m not a fan of yoga or pilates, I like to get my heart rate up. I’ve been on a lot of rowers but the water rower doesn’t compare. I love water rowing so much I got my own!

Don’t believe me? Google it. Even Google says that a rowing machine is better for overall weight loss. Rowing provides a combination of cardiovascular workout with muscle development as well as fat burning through a resistance workout. All these muscles burn energy while being used, in the form of fat. So as you lose weight, you also work your heart.

water rower

Why water rowing?

  • The WaterRower’s unique WaterFlywheel has been designed to reproduce the precise physical dynamics of a moving boat; the surest way to replicate the physiological benefits and aesthetic pleasure of rowing.
  • There is no jerkiness or jarring which is often associated with conventional mechanical rowing machines making the exercise unpleasant; only smooth even load, kind to the body, and relaxing to the mind.
  • A uniform stroke is essential to spreading the work more evenly over the muscle groups, working the muscle groups in proportion to their strength, optimizing exercise benefit while reducing risk of injury.
  • The rowing stroke uses 84% of the Muscle Mass. From the tips of the fingers holding the handle/oars, to the balls of the feet connected to the footboard/boat, all the muscles between these two points contribute to the rowing stroke. Other common aerobic exercise equipment such as treadmills, cycles, ellipticals, even other rowing machines, use far less muscle mass, burn fewer calories, and generate less exercise benefit.
  • Joint Friendly – Rowing is the best exercise for arthritis. Rowing moves the joints through a full range of motion and does so with minimal impact and no body weight on the joints. Making it one of the best exercises for joint pain sufferers. Rowing is a seated exercise removing the weight of the body from the injury-prone joints of the ankle, hip and knees. The load placed on the joints is controlled by the users effort when rowing, not their body weight. Rowing is suitable for all, young or old, male or female, big or small, fit or unfit .
  • Low Impact- Rowing moves the joints through a full range of motion, from legs totally extended to totally contracted and arms totally contracted to totally extended. Moving the joints through a full range of motion aids joint lubrication, joint mobility and overall Joint Health. Rowing is a smooth, flowing action involving little to no impact on the joints.

water Rower

BURN UP TO 1000 CALORIES PER HOUR

  • Maximize Gain, Minimize Time – rowing does so with a far lower perceived level of exertion than other aerobic exercises. Many exercise machines claim to be King when it comes to calorie consumption rates.
  • The truth about calorie consumption, however, is that it relates to YOUR ability to produce the work, not the machines to burn 800 calories per hour, for example, on a treadmill, bike, elliptical, etc requires a very high (almost unsustainable) intensity of exercise
  • By spreading work over a wide range of muscles, rowing consumes calories in more muscles, allowing a high calorie consumption within the user’s limits of fatigue. Other exercises, recruiting fewer muscles, require far higher intensities or exercise to achieve the same calorie consumptions as rowing.

 

The Results + Some Big News

Losing 20 pounds and getting my body regulated again was exactly what I needed because I got pregnant! I can honestly say that I don’t think that would have been possible without the water rower. It’s thanks to that machine that I was able to lose the weight, get healthy, and get pregnant! Of course, I still have weight to lose but I’m taking it easy since becoming pregnant. I’m so thankful I was introduced to water rowing. My husband joined me in our weight loss challenge and also lost 20 pounds in 5 and a half weeks. After our success we knew we needed to have one so I turned to Water Rower, the brand behind the machine and got one for our house so we would never be without. I got the The WaterRower A1 Studio Rowing Machine because it’s what I’ve been using for weeks. It features a simplified monitor and differs from the dual-rail machines with its unique aluminum mono-rail. It’s specifically designed to be lightweight, portable, space saving and vertically stackable. It takes up virtually no space which I love! The unique geometry of the A1 Studio rowing machine makes it easy to row with good technique, even for a beginner rower, and the quality construction provides a natural, fluid connection with every stroke.

My Workouts

So once you get a Water Rower, now what? What do you do? Well I’m going to share a few examples of my exact workouts with you so you know where to get started and you can see how easy it is. You literally just have to get on and row. Start at 5-10 minutes then bump it up at your own pace until you can row for 15-30 minutes or do interval training. Here are a few examples of my workouts below and you can find more rowing workouts on the Water Rower Instagram page to keep you going!

 

Workout 1

2 rounds of 1 m on/30 s off for each

Upright row

Biceps curls

Jump squats

Pushups Dips/tricep extensions

Wall sits

 

Workout 2

2 rounds of 1 m on/30 s off for each

90 second sprint row

Glute plank one leg raise

Dumbbell curl extensions

Squat to clean

Side dumbbell raises

200 meters row

200 meters curl with water rower handles

Frog jumps to push up

Tricep extension

Dumbbell curls

2 minutes max burpees

 

Workout 3

2 rounds of 1 m on/30 s off for each

1 arm cleans

Bosu plank

Triceps extension

Row high row

Sprint row

Single leg dead lift

Chest press 

Bicep curls

Rows to high paddle then sprint

Power rowing

 

Workout 4

16 squats

8 side squats

Down dog up dog

First row – Reverse ladder 10,10. 9,9. 8,8.

Plank – 1 minute

40 on/20 off. Leg raises

Second row – 5 minutes steady strong. 7 out of 10 for intensity

Second plank – 1 minute

40 on/20 off alternate knee to elbow

Third row- 5 minutes sprints 40 on/20 off

Wall sit – 1 minute

Split squats both sides 30 seconds

Squat jumps 30 seconds

 

I hope you love your water rower as much as I love mine and let it transform you! It definitely got me out of my rut. Ever used one? Let me know below!

 

*Huge thanks to Water Rower for sponsoring this post after I came to you with my success. I’m so thrilled to share my story.