In my continuing effort to try new things, especially in the exercise world, I went ahead and booked my first-ever rowing class at BikeOrBar this past weekend.

Did I mention it was at 9 am? On a Saturday morning?

To be fair, I’m pretty much the kind of person who can never sleep in, regardless of it being a day off from work, so naturally, I was awake before 8 am anyways. But I can’t really say I’ve ever done such a workout so early in the morning. (And yes, I know there are people out there who do spin or rowing or other exercise classes at 6 am. I can’t.)

But alas here I was, 8 am and chowing down on a bowl of Special K cereal to fuel my upcoming workout, then headed out to BikeOrBar. It was my first non-spin class there, and it honestly was a little different from what I was expecting – but not in a bad way.

What I was expecting: 45-minutes to an hour of just straight time, sitting on a machine, doing an indoor rowing workout and probably getting some killer upper body work in. I’d seen a rowing machine once before and did very limited work on it at my college gym. Also, my high school had a rowing team and I always wondered how those folks managed to stay in such good shape.

But what I got was a 45-minute workout that worked so many muscles, not just in the upper body, but even moreso in my legs. As my instructor said, you may think rowing is an upper-body workout, but it’s really a lower-body workout. BikeOrBar’s website says that their indoor rowing class works NINE major muscle groups and 84% of your muscle mass. And that class doesn’t include just time on the rowing machines, but “waves” where you spend some time on the machine and some time doing other exercises, like push-ups, crunches, penguins,  planks, wall sits, etc.

When I first learned that we’d be doing this sort of wave cycle, I was like “Wait…. I have to do push-ups? Am I in high school gym class? Ughhhh.” And let’s be honest, I totally dreaded it. I have no strength for crunches. I can’t hold myself up in a plank. My core & upper body strength leaves something to be desired. But everyone’s got to start somewhere, and mixing these pieces in with the Indo-Row machine helps make it a total-body challenge.

Here’s the best part: I felt like I got a workout, but at the same time – I wasn’t sore for days. I didn’t feel any pain in my lower back like I did with POUND Fit, my legs were a little testy for a day but overall, I felt good afterwards. I think I’d do it again.

I’m also really trying harder to use my FitBit Charge now. I tend to wear it lovingly for a few days and then it needs to be recharged and I lose the charger and it’s like oh, oops. But I’m trying harder to remember it each day and really strive for those 10,000 steps. Some days it’s a struggle. Saturday, I hit about 9500 and gave up – mostly because I had also done the rowing class that day and I was d-o-n-e. If nothing else, it helps me keep track of where I’m at and helps me set goals for the future.

Speaking of goals – I finally bought a scale last week for my apartment. Obviously my overarching goal is just to be healthier in general and to feel better, but I do want to lose some weight as well. I was less-than-thrilled with the number on the scale when I went to the doctor on April 1, and that’s really when I decided to turn things around. I’ve been trying to eat better, walk more, signed up for these workout classes, and have apparently lost five pounds since 4/1, according to my scale on 4/23.

But more on that later. 🙂