The Firsthand Athlete
Sarah D's Firsthand Experience with the Air Squat
A firsthand athlete has the competence and confidence to rely on personal experiences to prepare for, execute, and learn from a performance both as an individual and as part of a team. Rowing is a unique sport in that there is no coach calling plays, talking you through the pre-race warm-up, or cueing you on that one technical or tactical fix during a race. The same goes for fitness, when an athlete is away on vacation there is no coach to walk them through a workout. When a rower shoves off the dock on race day or goes home for vacation it’s up to them to know what to do, what to think about, what to fix, and what to focus on. The firsthand athlete actively communicates with their body, teammates, and coaches to continually learn and work towards their goals.
Daily Challenge 5/1:
Perform a Cook’s Squat for 5 minutes.
Infants do cook's squats all the time!
This challenge is to give you a chance to experience what parts of your body might be tight, limited in range of motion, and need some extra focus in the coming weeks. To perform a cook’s squat imagine you are out in the woods camping. There is nothing to sit on but wet, muddy ground. To rest your body while cooking over a small fire the easiest thing to do is drop into a deep squat and try to relax all the muscles in your legs and back. Notice where you start to feel a stretch, an impingement, or pain. That might be an area to work on. If you can’t hold the Cook’s Squat for 5 minutes just hold it as long as you can and then come out of it.
Share your Firsthand Experience and let us know how it went!
Renegade Rowing 
I’m sitting after a long day, but will definitely try this tomorrow!
Awesome! I just did the challenge myself, felt great to stand up afterward and let the blood circulate. I felt it in my shins and hamstrings a little. Fun to eat a post workout snack in the cook’s squat!
Did this while checking email this morning. Felt pretty good except for the left ankle, and definitely glad I got a stretch in before sitting in meetings all day!
pretty awesome!!Once i stood up it took a little time to get the blood flowing. But it also reminded me of when i climbed mt Washington that same feeling was when i was getting up after those long snack breaks.
It was hard to keep still for 5 minutes but afterwards it felt a little refreshing.