Rowing is one of the oldest traditional sports that originated in England. Rowing was originally used as a tool of commerce, life-saving and warfare, and it was ferried on the Thames every day. It is also the most important daily means of transportation for people living near the water, known as the water bus.
What many people don't know is that running a boat on water is actually a very physically exhausting thing. Those who work on the river often make bets on who gets to their destination first, initially just to make their day-to-day work more fun. But from the beginning of such a bet between boatmates, the earliest prototype of rowing has gradually emerged.
In 1829, Oxford University and Cambridge University held the first intercollegiate rowing competition on the Thames River, which is regarded by many as the origin of modern rowing. Since then, rowing has been respected by the British middle and upper classes. As a group sport, rowing requires team members to have tacit cooperation and etiquette, as well as the enthusiastic solidarity and support of family members, so rowing is an excellent social place for the upper class. They insist on making rowing aristocratic and elite, and strive to make rowing an elegant sport that only belongs to them.
Rowing was established as a sport at the first Olympic Games in 1896. Since the second Olympic Games in 1900, rowing has officially become a competition item of the previous Olympic Games.
The physical performance of a top rower is in many ways near human limits. In a forced spirometry test, it was found that their FVC6400ml was almost twice that of ordinary people, and it can almost be said that they have the strongest lung function in humans. Not only that, compared to ordinary people, rowers are almost the strongest in aerobic exercise capacity and endurance capacity in the crowd.
Moreover, studies have shown that this exercise is also very helpful for improving cardiorespiratory function. Cardiopulmonary function is closely related to heart health, and rowing improves the ability of the lungs to supply oxygen to the blood, heart, and other parts of the body. And you don't need to spend a lot of time, that is, improve your oxygen supply capacity in a relatively short period of time. It can be seen that this exercise has great benefits for human health.
At present, rowing has become a national sport in the UK. There are more than 550 rowing clubs in the UK and more than 300 in the community. There are also many British secondary schools that follow the tradition of the aristocracy and regard rowing as one of the important extracurricular activities for students.