March 27, 2017

Meet Josh Crosby of Indo-Row in Santa Monica

Local Stories

Today we’d like to introduce you to Josh Crosby.

Josh Crosby is a former professional ultra-endurance athlete, Ironman World Champion competitor, World Champion rower. Currently he is a coach, fitness consultant, product tester and the race director/creator of the Misery Challenge. He brings an elite caliber athletic pedigree to his work as a coach and co-creator of rowing based fitness programs Indo-Row™ and ShockWave both of which can be found in 100’s of clubs world-wide with partners such as industry leaders Equinox and Fitness First. Crosby and his partner Jay Blahnik have worked with WaterRower to design the world’s most authentic rowing machine. Using water as its resistance, it’s an unreal workout experience. Crosby is Orange Theory Fitness’ indoor rowing consultant and has been the face, athletic inspiration and product tester for K-Swiss, Gatorade, Zoot, Nike, New Balance, Asics and Adidas. He has also been interviewed on The Today Show, CNN, Outdoor Life Network, Fox News and Fit TV. Motivation. Encouragement, variety and a little tough love are key components to his formula which has brought results to thousands of shapes, sizes and abilities.

Indo-Row is the workout that I co-created in Santa Monica at Revolution Fitness in 2004. It is a 45 min. indoor rowing workout that boasts major calorie burn and cardio output. More on the program go to www.IndoRow.com

Has it been a smooth road?
It’s never been super smooth, but it’s been extremely rewarding! Indo-Row has had its ups and downs as does any business. Launching a new program into the fitness industry can be cut-throat. However, trying to create a new category “indoor rowing” in the fitness industry required perseverance, drive, the right partners and some luck as well. It literally was one “butt in a seat” at a time. If we could get someone to experience Indo-Row, we were confident they would be hooked.

The biggest challenge was to initially convince clubs to spend the money on our education as well as the WaterRower rowing machines – big pieces of equipment which took up real estate. This was not easy to do in our early years, but soon 4 clubs turned into 40. Now I am proud to say that we have over 600 clubs, studios and health centers helping folks reap the benefits of rowing and having fun while doing so!

So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the Indo-Row story. Tell us more about the business.
I am the co-creator of indoor rowing based fitness programs Indo-Row and ShockWave. I am a former world champion rower and specialize in indoor rowing education and programming. I have spent over a decade bringing my love for and the benefits of indoor rowing to the fitness world with my partners Jay Blahnik, Doris Thews and rowing machine manufacturer WaterRower.

I am most proud of my ability to coach, to help people of all ages and abilities achieve fitness levels and goals they once thought unattainable through Indo-Row. Now to know that we have over 1500 Indo-Row coaches out there doing the same, makes me very happy.

I also love that I have never “sold” Indo-Row a day in my life. All I have to do is educate and motivate, and Indo-Row sells itself.

Indo-Row is rooted in the wonderful sport of rowing. We have worked hard to make each workout not just a class, but an experience where you feel as if you out on the water pulling with your team for the “gold medal”!

On top of that, we have teamed up with the world’s most authentic rowing machine manufacturer in the world to create the WaterRowerGX rower. It uses water as the resistance and the sound and feel of every stroke is unbeatable.

How do you think the industry will change over the next decade?
I see the industry getting more in tune with what is authentic – no tolerance for gimmicks, false promises or claims. People will ask, what is going to make me feel amazing, not just look amazing? What is going to give me the results I want/need and at the same time help me connect to my coach/instructor and “teammates!” I believe technology is going to play a big part in the fitness industry’s future, but I believe that sometimes it can take us too far away from just “Getting the work done.”

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