When I do sports in Shanghai I normally only run on my treadmill or occasionally do a spinning work-out. I felt something was missing in my exercise regime and so I decided to invest some money in a good rowing machine. After a bit of research I found that the best rowing machine on the market is probably the Concept 2, so I decided to order their latest model.

I have the machine for about 2 weeks now and I am very happy with it. It makes a lot less noise than the Concept 2 rowing machines that I used while in university (I did a bit of rowing there, but to be honest I spent more time in the bar of the rowing association than in a boat). Furthermore, on the Model E that I bought you sit much higher than on a conventional rower, so it feels much better. The computer display that is part of the machine is quite sophisticated, it does a lot more than measuring your time, speed and distance. There are some games on it for example and you can save your work-outs to a computer. Pretty cool stuff.

Scott also likes the machine. When I use it he laughs really loud, like I am a clown (I probably am in his eyes, sliding up and down on a seat while pulling a chain). But after 2 minutes he gets bored and tells me in Dutch that I should stop. If I don’t do that he tries to stop me by grabbing the rowing chain, which is quite dangerous. So from now on I only row with the door to the gym closed and him on the other side of the door. When I am not rowing he likes to slide the seat from the back to the front, for him the machine is just a big toy – like most things around him!

If you live in Shanghai and want to buy a Concept 2 machine as well you can buy it from http://www.concept2china.com/en/how-buy. Mine was delivered within a day and for a small fee (RMB 200) they also installed the machine for me.