Kate Carter on the benefits of rowing

‘The first couple of times you get in a rowing boat, you’ll wonder how in the world this is ever going to work,” says Matthew Pinsent mischievously. “But it’ll soon click into place.” That’s easy for a four-time Olympic gold medallist to say, but my only prior experience of boating – aged five – involved a pedalo, dizzying circles, and my mum getting seasick. I’ve had a few tentative flirtations with the rowing machine at the gym, but found it a monotonous slog.

This, however, is the real thing: on the bank of the Thames, about to clamber into a boat that looks worryingly insubstantial. There are seven extremely tall men packed inside, so there seems to be a lot more person than boat. For a moment I worry that, in an ungainly attempt to get myself in, I might just tip everyone else out.

That obstacle negotiated, we get to work. Pinsent has shown me the basics: how and when to push and pull and how to handle the oar – which is a lot longer and more unwieldy than I expected. The basic move seems deceptively simple, but turning the blade so that it skims along the water on the “recovery” stroke is much harder than it looks on TV.

The second challenge is finding the right timing. For a beginner, the main danger is “catching a crab” – ie, not getting the blade out of the water in time, which can act as a emergency brake, and even eject you from your seat. Twice my fellow amateur in the seat in front gets it wrong, leaving my stomach two oar strokes behind. We cling on, however, and slowly find some kind of syncopated rhythm.

It’s worth putting yourself through these initial teething problems because few sports are better for getting you fit. Rowing jump-starts your cardiovascular system and burns calories like a furnace – roughly 600 an hour – and, as it is non-weight-bearing, there is a low injury risk. It’s also great for improving leg, back and arm strength. And there’s a reason why arms are last on that list: contrary to what you might think, rowing is far more about legs than arms – you only pull once your legs have done all the pushing. “Push not pull,” says Pinsent. “That’s the classic coaching mantra. If your arms hurt on the rowing machine then you’re doing it wrong.”

I confide my on-off gym-rowing relationship to Pinsent, who nods. “Rowing is the sport that everyone hates to do in the gym – there’s no hiding on a rowing machine. You can get away with going for a bit of a plod on a treadmill, whereas on a rowing machine …” he trails off, perhaps remembering some particularly brutal pre-Olympic sessions.

However, while the machine is a good place to start, it isn’t a patch on the real thing. “Rowing is fun because it’s actually very little like the rowing machine,” says Pinsent. “The machine concentrates your mind on how hard the work is and how much it hurts. Real rowing is all about the feeling of the boat underneath you. And the scenery, of course!”

Yes, the scenery. After half an hour on the water, the novices are told to rest easy so the pros can stop babysitting and show us a racing start. Clinging on to my oar, trying not to get in the way of the chap behind me, I start to see the appeal. It seems, as Pinsent says, to gel together perfectly. Eight rowers (well, six and two passengers) immediately fall into perfect synchronicity, and fly without any apparent effort over the surface.

Back on dry land, I ask Pinsent what a beginner’s first step should be. “Come to one of these clubs,” he gestures down the Putney embankment. “They’re mostly downriver of Putney. There’s one at the Isle of Dogs, but in central London all the clubs have gone now. From here out, there’s loads at Hammersmith, Chiswick, Hampton. Outside London, wherever you’ve got a river you’ll have a rowing club – from Inverness to Eastbourne.

“The best thing is to join one and row with people who are better than you – that’s how you’ll learn quickest,” he adds. “If you jump in a boat with eight people who have never rowed before then, well, it’ll take a while.”

Of course, most people’s image of rowing is of a sport for posh people – up there with three-day eventing and polo. “Steve Redgrave always used to say that when he told people he rowed for a living, they would say, ‘Oh, Oxford or Cambridge?'” recalls Pinsent. Nine gold medals between them have helped broaden the sport’s appeal, but it’s slow progress.

“I think rowing has been gradually and steadily changing over the last 20 or 30 years,” he continues. So does it need a radical makeover? “Well, rowing is never going to shake off the public-school image, and I don’t think it should try. It’s a traditional sport, but by the same measure, it has traditional values. The Boat Race is genuinely an amateur event, and there just aren’t any amateur events left.” More to the point, it is accessible to the average punter – club fees average around £150-£200 a year, which is cheaper than most gyms.

What of rowing’s other cliches? Don’t you have to be about 7ft tall to be any good? “Competitively, yes that helps,” admits Pinsent. “Long levers, you see – long legs and arms means long strokes, which are more efficient. If you’re rowing alongside another boat and you’re doing fewer strokes but going at the same speed, then you’re going to win. But if you’re an amateur, it doesn’t matter at all.”

What about the early starts? “Let’s scotch that one!” says Pinsent. “You don’t get up at 4am. It was my job, I was a full-time athlete, so I started at 8am and trained as long as it took and then went home.” You would need to start early if you really wanted to fit in some rowing before work, but as beginner you would probably only row once or twice a week, which is hardly time-consuming.

As the rowers effortlessly swing the boat over their heads to take it inside, I ask Pinsent if he still does any rowing. “None whatsoever,” he says in a tone that sounds remarkably like “not bloody likely.” In fact, he is only here today because Xchanging – sponsor of The Boat Race – hired him to teach the likes of me. Is it good for getting rid of a beer gut? “Oh, yes,” he replies, then looks down ruefully. “Perhaps I should take it up again.”

· The Amateur Rowing Association has a “find a club” tool on its website (www.ara-rowing.org) or call the association on 0870 060 7100

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