EYES ON THE PRIZE
Blame it on “stand-up paddleboard yoga”. Or the time someone tried to get me into “Piloxing” (a high-energy mix of Pilates, boxing and dance, apparently). But over the years I’ve grown increasingly cynical about new fitness hybrids that promise startling results with all the furrowed-brow sincerity of a Thighmaster infomercial.
Hence my initial reaction to Strong Rowformer, a new 50-minute workout that purports to fuse the strength benefits of resistance work, the cardio perks of rowing and the holistic functionality of Pilates. It reeked of slickly packaged baloney.
Yet I couldn’t dismiss it completely. The founder, Michael Ramsey, is a respected fitness entrepreneur with a track record for being ahead of the curve. Plus, I had unfinished business with rowing machines. A couple of years back, I clocked an Instagram post from Hugh Jackman in which he raved about cracking the gym milestone of rowing 2000m in seven minutes. “When you don’t have time, throw this one in,” Jackman wrote. “Strips fat. Uses every single muscle.”
This really grabbed me. A total-body workout that burned fat while providing cardio fitness and muscular endurance? It
