Former competitive body builder pursues passion in indoor rowing after initially failing at completing a challenge from Men's Health magazine
Jeremy Tan pursued his passion for competitive indoor rowing after stumbling upon it as a fitness challenge from Men's Health magazine. PHOTO: SPORTPLUS.SG
If you are someone who frequents the gym often, you may be familiar with the rowing machine. If you have given it a try, but did not find it that challenging however, you may have done it wrong.
That is according to Jeremy Tan, the co-founder of Singapore's only indoor rowing gym studio, who has represented Singapore at multiple editions of the World Indoor Rowing Championships.
A former competitive bodybuilder, Tan first got curious about indoor rowing when he found the sport listed as one of seven fitness tests of the world in an article he was reading in Men's Health magazine.
The challenge that was laid out before him required him to row 2,000 metres under 7 minutes, something he felt would not be difficult for him to achieve given his strong fitness background.
He was sadly mistaken and struggled to complete the challenge. The experience did however begin to fuel his passion for indoor rowing, and the desire to train hard for it.
Jeremy Tan is the co-founder of The Row Space, Singapore's only indoor rowing gym studio. PHOTO: SPORTPLUS.SG
In 2020, Tan found out about the first World Indoor Championships that was to be held in Paris and decided to take a leap of faith to compete in the championships. He finished a very respectable 15th out of 98 competitors from around the world.
Tan did not finish there, and decided to compete again in 2021 during the Covid-19 pandemic in the virtual edition of the world championships.
Indoor rowing is a low impact full body workout compared to other sports like running. PHOTO: SPORTPLUS.SG
With more stringent rules this time, he had to participate in the Asian qualifiers in order to compete at the world championships, where only the winner of each age bracket from the continent would get to participate - a feat which Tan successfully accomplished.
Supported by a strong local fitness community, Tan co-founded The Row Space, Singapore's only indoor rowing gym, an off shoot of Pulse Lab, which was also founded by him.
How good of a workout is indoor rowing?
But just how good of a workout is indoor rowing exactly? According to Tan, rowing for 30 minutes would guarantee that one is already using 86% of the body's muscles.
It is also far from being just an arm workout, with your legs, your core, your back and your arms all being engaged to complete the session.
Fun fact: 30 minutes of rowing gets you working about 86% of your body's muscles. PHOTO: SPORTPLUS.SG
Perhaps what makes it an ideal workout choice for those with joint pain and aches is that it is classified as a low impact sport, unlike running.
To find out more about indoor rowing or The Row Space, you can read our feature on the gym here.
Watch the Indoor Rowing Bermuda Triangle Fitness Challenge Showdown Episode between Team Cheryl and Team John on Studio+ !
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