What Our Gym Practices Are Like

Ok, I know when I first started crew I had no idea what to expect from a gym practice. I thought, crew=rowing=water, makes sense, right? Wrong-o! While rowing does mean we are on the water, it's the gym practices that make the water practices possible!
Rowing is an INTENSE sport. It's physically hard and demanding and awesome all at once. I mean, we LIFT boats over our heads! and WALK with them, these Shells (boats) are about 60 feet long and weight approximately, oh jeeze, I don't even know, 150 pounds.

So, you are asking yourself "How the heck is it possible to hold this whale of a boat over our heads?" Easy answer, Gym practices!!(!!!!)

Let me explain our gym practices: (which are awesome by the way, I know you were wondering)
Gym practices begin at 6:30 in the mornings, and conclude around 8:30. They are normally held at the Rec Center at the Tampa campus of USF. We meet by the rowing machines, also called Ergs. Some people call them the "devil" but I love to erg! Ergs are the best and closest machines to simulate what rowing is actually like (but I'll let you in on a secret, the erg is MUCH hard then actually rowing!). If you'd like to learn more about Erging, here's an awesome link: Clicky Clicky!

We normally take turns erging and erg for about 15 minutes before a MUCH needed break! ha!

If we aren't erging we are lifting weights, running, or doing other endurance building exercises.

But! It's so much fun, don't get me wrong, we are socializing, laughing, and having FUN!

My favorite part of gym practices are when we go to the ROTC field and flip their tires, talk about empowering!

After the gym workouts, my legs feel like Jello, I'm fairly certain that I sweated out every ounce of water in my body, and I just want to curl up into a ball and cry. But, after that feeling of wanting to die passes, I feel AMAZING, and know that the next time we are at the boat house lifting boats, I wont get stuck in one...again