He's Rowing
For All He's Worth

JACK WIWAMS
SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS

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s a physical eduction ma-
jor at the University of
Oregon, Art Spahr figured
that anyone who would
rise at the crack of dawn to row
through the gnawing cold of a
Eugene morning must be out of
his scull.
"Masochists," Mr. Spahr called
them. Had to be a few oars short
of a crewman.
Mr. Spahr would duck into the
gym to lift weights and tend to
his duties as assistant strength
coach for varsity sports.
So why, two decades later, is
he spending up to an hour a day
rowing until his stomach, his
arms and his legs erupt in parox-
ysms of protest?
Mr. Spahr, 41, for all his ini-
tial aversion to any kind of row-
ing, is among the best in the
world at his specialty. He has
ranked as high as fifth interna-
tionBlly, third in the country and
first in California in his age and
weight division.
For Mr. Spahr, the idea of row-
ing in individual sculls or team
shells still doesn't get his heart
going.
But put him in a rowing ap-
paratus with a world title in sight
and he becomes the machine.
His background as a high
school and community college
quarterback, weight trainer and
competitive road cyclist provides
the combination of strength and
endurance ideally suited to the
sport.
Mr. Spahr first hopped on a
rowing machine four years ago to
give his aching lower back a
break from high-mileage cycling.
Road competitions and as much
as 300 miles a week had him on
the verge of burnout.
A new challenge beckoned —
one that might be easier on his
back while enhancing his dimin-
ished flexibility.
The first time I used a rowing
machine, I was on it a minute,
maybe," he recalled. "My arms fa-
tigued and I said, 'Forget this. It's
stupid.' But I got used to it. Af-
ter a couple months, it became ad-
dictive.'
Rowing is hard to equal for its
capacity to simultaneously de-
velop strength and cardiovascu-
lar endurance. A computerized
rowing machine will do many
times over what the heavily mar-
keted aerobic riders only purport
to do, say exercise experts.
To be world-class, Mr. Spahr
supplements six days of rowing
with four days of upper- and low-
er-body weight training. "I try to
take one day a week to just
stretch," he said. ❑

Jack Williams writes for Copley

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