Row, Row, Row Your Bod: Get On the Water and Get In Shape

Credit: John Terence Turner/TAXI

If your idea of the perfect summer vacation is nothing more strenuous than lying on a beach for a week or two, letting the surf do all the work, read no further. If, however, you like the idea of learning a cool new skill in a beautiful New England setting and emerging with the beginnings of a noticeably better physique, read on.

Vermont's Craftsbury Outdoor Center [1], 60 miles east of Burlington, is one of the premier places in the United States for beginners to learn sculling (that's rowing, for the uninitiated), or for recreational and competitive rowers to improve their abilities. A week, or a long weekend, spent on the center's 320-acre facility may even have you dreaming of Olympic gold. Days start early on 2-mile-long Lake Hosmer with expert instruction by a distinguished staff of top rowers, including center associate director Marlene Royle, a former U.S. champion in lightweight fours. Two more sessions follow, one midmorning and another later in the afternoon, with videotaping and one-on-one coaching to move beginners quickly beyond the basics of balance, oar placement, and leg drive. (Rowing shells, equipped with sliding seats, derive their propulsion from a smooth transfer of power from the legs up to the shoulders. Unlike running, rowing is a cardiovascular workout that doesn't overstrain the joints.)

Craftsbury also offers yoga classes, taught by Jim Lauderdale, a twenty-five-year rowing veteran and the rowing coach at St. Paul's School, in Concord, New Hampshire. A former yoga instructor at the center, Diana Whitney, points out that the two disciplines complement each other nicely. "Scullers tend to push hard in a Type-A way," she says, "but yoga isn't competitive, so people get benefits without needing to have an edge." A combined yoga and rowing week is on the Craftsbury schedule.

The Goods

Craftsbury Outdoor Center
Cost for one week (peak season, $940; off season, $835) includes meals, lodging, rowing equipment, and the use of all facilities. Four-day weekends ($609) are also available.

Owen Edwards is a contributing editor for Edutopia and Smithsonian magazines.