Indoor Rowing: The
Indoor Rowing: The Opportunity The CrossFit boom and thriving boutique fitness market has shone a spot light on indoor rowing. Gymgoers are waking-up to the significant exercise benefits of the rowing machine and choosing it as an alternative to the treadmill or stationary bike. Given the obvious exercise benefits, versatile nature and relative low cost of rowing machines, fitness industry experts forecast indoor rowing participation to grow substantially through 2018 and beyond. The increased popularity of indoor rowing was highlighted in a recent research project commission by British Rowing. The report estimates that there are currently 1.3 million indoor rowing participants in England alone. Beyond this, British Rowing has discovered significant scope to grow the indoor rowing category, with a staggering 15.8 million people reporting that they would consider participating in the sport. For gym and fitness studio operators indoor rowing represents a vast opportunity to tap into the latent demand that exists for the sport. Global fitness brands such as Orange Theory Fitness and City Row have already enjoyed success leveraging the substantial exercise benefits of rowing to meet the increasingly high demands of well-informed gymgoers. Recommendation to activate engagement with indoor rowing: Group training • Rowing lends itself perfectly to group exercise classes • A great place to introduce the benefits of rowing Education • Empower gym staff to help members learn basic rowing form • Correct rowing form can be learnt in less than 5 minutes Gymgoers are waking-up to the significant benefits of the rowing machine and choosing it as an alternative to the treadmill. Equipment • Introduce rowing to a new audience by offering an alternative to ubiquitous air resistance rowers
