6 October 2026

By Alex Peyer

The article writer is researching the history of an unusual rowing training device that his father, Karl Peyer, installed in the 1950s at some rowing clubs in Switzerland.

There were three of these machines: two in the indoor rowing basin at Hubelmatt in Lucerne, and one at Ruderclub Reuss. I trained on the machine myself as a young rower.

The construction was very simple. A roughly one-meter-long piece of railway rail served as the weight and moved vertically inside a wooden guide fixed to the wall. A single steel cable, running over an upper and a lower pulley, connected the weight to a wooden handle held by the rower.

The athlete trained standing rather than sitting on a sliding seat. From a crouched position he first extended the legs and then completed the movement with the upper body and arms, pulling the handle towards the chin. In this way the machine reproduced an important part of the rowing stroke while providing considerable resistance.

The reconstruction below is based on my own memory of using the machine.

So far, I have not found another rowing club that used an identical device. My father may have designed it himself, but I do not want to make that claim unless I can establish whether similar machines already existed.

My question is therefore very simple:

Have you ever seen a rowing training machine like this — particularly during the 1940s, 1950s or 1960s?

If so, I would be very grateful for any recollection, photograph, drawing, club record, manufacturer’s name, or indication of where and when you saw it.

Even a vague memory could provide an important lead.

Please send an email to Alex Peyer at:

alex – dot – peyer – at – icloud – dot – com

Thank you!