Joining my high school crew team was THE greatest thing I’ve ever done for myself! I lost weight, gained muscle, gained endurance, learned about how far I REALLY can push my body, and I made great friends in the process. I would recommend ANYONE to go out and join a local crew team. Crew is a great sport; its low impact on the joints and you get a better cardio-vascular workout from it than running. I know that at my boathouse practically every weekend they put on a program for groups of people to give rowing a try. It is a great way to get back in shape if you just quit your running routine, or haven’t stayed in shape since you got out of the service, aor something like that. The feeling of accomplishment isn’t too bad either: my boat took home two second place and two third place ribbons and we made it into semi-finals at the Stotesbury Regatta in Philly, PA, which was a great achievement considering we were a rookie-8 and we were the first boat in the history of my school’s two seasons with a crew team to do so. I could go on forever about how great crew is, but let me just stop here and tell you instead to go out and try crew out for yourself!