For Your Primetime Rowing Pleasure

Becoming a Concept2 certified instructor is a three prong process. For me that started in July, with a full day course taught by the wonderful Master Instructors from UCanRow2. I'd been rowing for almost 2 years at that point yet I had plenty to learn. The mystery of erg mechanics and the antidote to bad form were all revealed. More than anything I was impressed by the passion for rowing on display, and the emphasis on it as a great workout for people of all abilities and ages. But let's be honest, attending the course in itself is easy, so long as you have the interest, can afford the fee, and can pay attention for 8 hours.

It's after the class you have to buckle down and do what it takes to become an instructor. You have to put in the hours on an erg to perfect your own form (always an ongoing process). You have to understand what your athletes are supposed to take away from the prescribed workout. You have to take a written test and, most dramatically, you have to submit A VIDEO.

I swear this must be where the road to indoor rowing instructor is littered with the technically-unsavvy, the procrastinators, and the camera shy.

After a few months of foot dragging, B and I buckled down and rocked our production out this Saturday during open gym. And it was the little production. We had storyboards. Mini tripods. 2 iPhone cameras and a laptop. We were SET.

And we had this ace in the hole — rather than fake instructing, we asked our (awesome) friends to be our mock class for the shoot. Even though the video was our raison d'être, over the course of the hour their form was already improving. They did so great I joined them after the shoot in a 10x100m of sprints.

All three requirements now complete, the waiting game begins.