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John Mayhew
John Mayhew clocked 1,000,000 meters as of August 13, 2008! There I was watching TV, 67th birthday in a few weeks, retro patella arthritis, a five year history of relapses of atrial fibrillation, and the test results from the recent transient ischemic attack coming home to roost. I was over weight, with high blood pressure, high cholesterol, a bad heart and, of course, two wrecked knees. I felt awful most of the time; all was doom and gloom. In short, I was on the way down. The program was ‘Ski Sunday’ and there was a piece about disabled person on a mono sit-ski. I had lived for skiing, I knew I could do that. I could get back into the mountains again. Mayhew, its time for a skiing holiday, maybe the last one. Get off this couch, right now. BUT first we better start training; one tiny baby step at a time. Down in the cellar. Where’s that old rowing machine? Did I ever use it? Rusty dirty and uncomfortable but I was only going to sit on it for a few minutes a day. Surprisingly the few minutes a day became 2x10 minutes a day and the knees? They didn’t seem to mind. This could be the answer. But I need a proper rower. What does a new one cost? Rent one? Hey, what is it worth to you to lose a 20 pounds and get fit enough to ski? Let’s give it a go. The WaterRower arrived, assembled, and placed in the shady corner of the conservatory. It looked very pretty and it didn’t sound like a threshing machine. I like the look of it. Oh yes, you and I; we are going to spend some time together, one tiny baby step at a time… And now? My blood pressure is right down, my cholesterol level is normal (I’m off the statins) and I’m dropping around about a pound of fat every week or so. A few more to go but hey, you can’t recover from sort of the mess I was in over night. And I had a wonderful skiing holiday in Sweden as the disabled ski-school in Are. But now I’m a rower too. The basic facts are these: 1) I’ve lost 14 pounds of fat in three months. Next time you’re at the super market put 14 tubs of margarine into the trolley and just stare at it for a few moments until you begin to feel ill? I used to feel like that when I saw myself in the mirror. 2) I’ve developed from doing 2 minutes and a breather: tiny baby steps to 60 minutes and 10000 plus metres of gnarly growly sessions. I’m getting stronger, and I feel fit and alive. And I’ve joined a rowing club. 3) My knees are working fine. Nothing can fix them, they are worn out forever. But though I can’t run a single step, because the rowing is low impact, I can row for ages. Even better, as my previously under worked leg muscles strengthen, my knees are getting stabilised and walking has become less painful. Jogging ? Maybe not, but I shall start playing golf again! 4) Atrial fibrillation? Bad heart, yeah, that should slow you down. Yeah? Well you listen up. Xeno Muller has had atrial fibrillation for years and he won a gold and a silver at the Olympics (single scull). He’s had cardio version and so have I. And Don Waddle, he’s got the gold that Xeno didn’t get and he is going to the Olympics at Beijing again this summer and he’s got atrial fibrillation too. It’s not good but it’s not that bad. So, buy a heart rate monitor, take the medication and get rowing (maybe check it out with the doctor, but find one who knows a bit about sports). If my doctor had advised me right 5 years ago, I would have had a good retirement hobby 5 years earlier and I wouldn’t have needed to shed the pounds of sagging fat I gained sitting around worrying about whether my heart going out of sinus rhythm. It will go out of rhythm and then it will go back in again. No big deal. Get used to it as they say! The take home message is this. I believe the rowing machine saved my live, but even if it didn’t, I think it definitely qualifies as a life support machine because it’s prolonging it and improving its quality. I am fitter, leaner, stronger but not meaner; just happier than I was before. I’m feeling good. There are rowing books to read and an interesting sporting activity with subtle skills to acquire. I am amazed that what must be one of the hardest and demanding physical sports at one level, can at a completely different level, be such a satisfying and pleasurable activity for a fat old man with a bad heart and wrecked knees. I am going skiing again next year of course, but I’m thinking that maybe next summer I’ll also take a course of lessons at ‘rowing camp’ as they say. I’ll be as fit as a butcher’s dog by then. Oh and why the WaterRower and not the Concept2? Aesthetics mainly. The WaterRower not only sounds nicer, is much quieter, less industrial-hardcore and is a bit neater and smaller. Almost furniture, it fits in nicely in my conservatory. It’s just the thing for a nice row in the evening; looking at the view over our garden, the waterfall and pond, the bird table. Every ‘old folks’ home should have one. I mean it. |
