Rowing your way to a trim body

Schroeder is competing in Duisburg at the 2012 World Rowing Masters Regatta for the first time in the men’s single sculls, the double sculls and the quadruple sculls and has never been happier to be on the water.

“I was 145kg at the beginning of this year, and then I started to do sport and row again. I have lost 57kg, from January until today,” says Schroeder. “It was combination of watching what I was eating and training full time. I trained 12 times a week and did long training sessions. I changed my eating totally. Before I was eating lots of sweets, lots of meat and changed this to salad, fish and other healthy food.”

Schroeder has already raced his first event at the World Rowing Masters Regatta and finished 5th in the men’s ‘C’ (age 43 +) single scull.

“I was quite pleased with the race,” says Schroeder. “Overall, I am in the top half of the times of the competitors too. I gave it 100 per cent and could not have done any more.”

Schroder rowed competitively from the age of 10 to the age of 23, winning the German Ratzeburg Regatta and finishing fourth in the German National Championships in the lightweight men’s single sculls. After the age of 23, Schroeder would not row until this year, when he turned 44.

So what motivated Schroeder to start rowing again, to put his body through the hardships of a rigorous training and nutrition regime?

“On January 1st I had no idea I would do this. On January 2nd I woke up and I was bored, so I went to the sports club. After one week of going to the sports club every day I thought, I can continue this way. In the middle of March I thought about rowing again for the first time. I started in tub boats and rowed maybe 10 times in this and after this decided to order a racing boat,” describes Schroeder.

“By the end of April I raced my first regatta. I was 55 seconds behind the leader, today I am only 15 seconds behind. I have made some progress this year.”

How hard was it to get back to fitness?

“Because I started training with low impact but very long sessions it was not too hard,” says Schroeder. “To get the technique of rowing back was very difficult. With too much weight on you, you row with a different technique. You have to. It was very difficult to change the technique whilst losing weight. This is a problem. You have to think about new technique every day. Every day the boat runs differently. The lift of the boat, how much the boat goes in to the water is different. This is hard to think about every day.”

For Schroeder, his entire life has been transformed by his return to the water. “Rowing has improved my life. When you train so much you have to change the ways you work because the time for training has to be there. There was not time for training in my life before, so I had to make time somehow. I trained very early in the morning or late in the evening, sometimes staying in the gym until 10:30pm and training with juniors from our club at 5am.”

“My work life has to be different,” adds Schroeder. “My work has become more efficient to ensure time for training.”

Put simply, Schroder states: “Rowing is my life.”

For anyone reading this, who wants to get back in to rowing, lose weight, and become healthier, Schroeder hopes his story is an inspiration.

“I’ve heard a lot of people say, ‘Oh we struggle to lose 3-4 kilos, and you lost 57kg!’. When you are losing weight you have to think about not eating too little. You have to eat enough, and eat three meals a day. But you have to change what you are eating – eat fruits and salad before the main course and make sure you are full. I never felt hunger. During these nine months, I have only eaten things I shouldn’t eat three times.”