They say that rowing, either on a machine or on a boat on the water, uses 86% of your muscles.
On a recent Saturday, Deb Small told a group of women that when they were done they might wonder which 14% they didn’t use.
But these 30 women could take it. They’re tough. Each of them has survived breast cancer.
The women gathered at the St. Louis Rowing Club’s boathouse on Creve Coeur Lake. Small is a competitive rower — this weekend, she is in Boston participating in the world’s largest rowing competition, Head of the Charles — and is a member of the rowing club.
She is also a breast cancer survivor. Now 63, she was diagnosed in December 2020. As she was recovering, she told her doctor that she felt miserable. Part of the reason, she said, was that she wasn’t rowing.
“He asked me why I wasn’t rowing, and I hadn’t really thought that I could,” she says.
He said she could do anything she felt comfortable doing. Though she could not row as fast as she did before, she could still row.
“That brought me a sense of normalcy. Being out on the water is calming. I tell people rowing is sort of hypnotic. You kind of lose yourself in what you’re doing, and all of your worries go out of your mind,” she says.
It’s also good for the recovery process. According to Small, studies show that cancer survivors who exercise at least 150 minutes a week can reduce the risk or recurrence by up to 50%.
And rowing is particularly beneficial to breast cancer survivors, she says. Along with cardiovascular benefits, it’s efficient. Rowers get most of their power from their legs. Then comes the core and the back, and finally the arms are used least of all. That makes rowing an ideal exercise for people whose arms and chest have been weakened by cancer treatments.
The arms move in a simple in-and-out motion, which most breast cancer survivors can accomplish. And the motion reduces the chances of lymphedema, a swelling that can occur after lymph nodes have been removed.
Small had seen rowing crews made up of breast-cancer survivors in other cities, and decided to start Arch OARS, which stands for Overcoming Adversity through Rowing — St. Louis.
The first workshop was earlier this month. The women first used rowing machines to learn the basic movements — you first push back with your legs, then move your body from leaning slightly forward to slightly back, and finally pull the oars the rest of the way with your arms. The idea is to do it all in one smooth motion.
Once they had the basic stroke down, they headed out onto the lake to practice. As their eight-person shells were held to the dock, they pushed, leaned and pulled the oars in and out of the water. It was too windy on this particular day to go on the lake away from the dock, but they were given a rain check so they could try the full experience themselves.
Among the participants were Kathi Washington and Denise Kirby, who have been friends since elementary school at the now-closed Ascension Catholic School in Northwoods. Both are also survivors of breast cancer.
Washington, 65, of Normandy, saw a flier for the event at her oncologist’s office. She showed it to Kirby, 62, of Florissant. They decided to go.
Why not? they said.
“And ‘free’ was good,” Kirby says.
“‘Free’ always helps,'” Washington says.
They were happy with the experience (“Rowing is fun. I had no idea,” Washington says), and Kirby had no problem with the workout even though she recently had rotator-cuff surgery. Still, they say, rowing is hard on the muscles.
“I’m glad this is Saturday, because tomorrow I’m probably not going to feel too good,” Washington says.
Cheng Yu, of Chesterfield, was diagnosed in October 2024, and is still in maintenance mode after her surgery.
“Someone told me that rowing would help post-surgery to relax your muscles and prevent your scars from being too stiff,” she says.
Like most of the others at the workshop, she had never rowed before. She goes to the gym for light weight work, walking and stretching, and she sees a physical therapist. The therapist told her she could row, so she came out to try.
“I enjoyed it,” she says, though the rowing machine part went better than the part on the lake. Her surgery, which was still recent, made her feel uncoordinated with the oars in the water.
“I would probably try it again before I dismiss this water thing, but I will definitely try the machine again,” she says.
Mary Gorman, 59, of Manchester, was one of the few who had rowed before; she was on a club team at Kansas State University 40 years ago.
“This is really cool to visit those younger days in an older body,” she says.
Gorman was diagnosed in December 2023, just after she moved to St. Louis from Manhattan, Kansas.
Rowing is a full-body workout that isn’t hard on your joints, she says, and “it’s good to keep your body where it needs to be.”
“Once you’ve healed, it allows you to stretch those places that need help.”
Small and the St. Louis Rowing Club will have another free workshop on Oct. 25 (register at stlouisrowingclub.com), and male survivors of breast cancer are also invited. After that, the future is unknown.
Ideally, Small would like to set up a survivors rowing team like she sees in other cities around the country. But it will take some coordination and support, probably from the St. Louis Rowing Club. The club shares space in the boathouse with the Washington University rowing team.
They would have to secure time to use the equipment and the boathouse, and would have to find coaches who would have the time to help.
It’s a daunting task to put it all together, but Small thinks the benefits are well worth it.
“It’s a team sport, right? You’re out there with this team,” she says.
“The team’s there to support you and support one another. If you have a survivor crew who has walked in the same shoes that you have, that level of support, understanding and compassion, I think, is just that much higher.”
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Daniel Neman | Post-Dispatch
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