Rowing Machine Benefits: Workout Exercises for Fitness and Health

Rowing machines are one of the most effective and versatile pieces of exercise equipment you can find. Working out on a rowing machine can help build strength and endurance, improve balance and flexibility, burn calories, boost heart health, and more. Here, we’ll break down the many rowing machine benefits for your fitness and overall health.

Rowing machine: A gym or at-home body workout equipment

A rowing machine is a product one uses indoors to emulate the act of rowing in a boat on the water but in the comfort of your own home or gym. On-water rowing is an incredible workout, but between the costs and the required equipment, it isn’t always accessible – not to mention how challenging it is to learn how to steer, navigate a waterway and keep your boat upright.

An indoor rowing machine allows you to hone your skills to row on the water without all those inherent barriers. The power, endurance, and technique you need to row successfully on the water are exactly what gets worked on when you are rowing indoors as well.

How do you use a rowing machine?

The motion you use when rowing is only sometimes intuitive, but it’s actually pretty simple once you dial it in. When you start from the bottom of a stroke, you should push out to extend your legs, hinge your core by leaning backward, and then use your arms to row the handle toward your chest, simultaneously pulling your elbows back. Then reverse the motion to go back to the starting position:

Extend your arms forward.
Let your core lean forward (while keeping your back flat).
Bend your legs.

It might help to repeat it in your head as a sort of mantra while you’re rowing: legs, core, arms, arms, core, legs.

The biggest misconception about rowing workouts is that rowing is an upper-body-only exercise. The legs and core accomplish the bulk of your rowing stroke. A lot of the power actually comes from the legs, but you need to keep your center tight and engaged while you push back and eventually pull the handles with your hands/arms.

It’s efficient strength and endurance training.

Each portion of the rowing stroke utilizes different muscles, which can help build strength and endurance. Here is how each section works specifically to build strength in other parts of the body:

The Catch: This is the start of the rowing motion, where the seat is slid all the way forward, and you bend your knees close to your chest, so you’re close to the front of the machine. During the catch motion, you’ll strengthen your triceps since they are used to extend your arms forward. You’ll also utilize your hamstrings, glutes, and calf muscles which compress as your shins are positioned vertically. Your back muscles, specifically the latissimus dorsi, are activated during the catch.
The Drive: The next phase of the stroke starts with pushing your feet off the foot stretchers until your legs are fully extended, engaging your core, and using your hip hinge to swing your body into an upright position. Then, engage your shoulders, arms, and back to pull the handlebar back. The drive is one swift, fluid motion that strengthens your legs, shoulders, biceps, abs, and back.
The Finish: This third phase requires core engagement as you stabilize your body while hinging slightly backward. Then use that momentum to fully extend your legs and bring the handle all the way into your sternum. Each muscle in your torso is activated here to stabilize the body, as well as the biceps.
The Recovery: The final motion of the rowing stroke is, essentially, all the first three steps in reverse. You’ll strengthen your triceps as they activate to extend your arms forward and your upper legs and calves as they contract during the recovery motion. Each of the four phases also utilizes the neck, hands, and chest muscles.

It can improve posture, balance, and flexibility.

Rowing machines are great for improving balance and flexibility because they require constant core engagement throughout the entire movement. This keeps your muscles constantly engaged as you move, which helps increase their strength and elasticity over time. Additionally, repetitive motions like those found in rowing strengthen your stabilizer muscles which help you maintain good posture throughout the day.

Since the rowing machine primarily uses your legs, core, and back, it has loads of postural benefits and is also a great tool to engage the body’s posterior chain [backside]. Working your posterior chain is super important for balancing muscle strength, reducing injury risk, and helping correct the common bad posture in this sedentary society.

It’s a workout for everyone.

rowing machine for everyone Whether you’re a beginner, just getting back into the swing of things after taking some time off, or in the best shape of your life, rowing meets you exactly where you are. As your rowing form improves and you become increasingly confident with your stroke, your speed, power, and endurance will increase with every workout. Still, your movements in every session remain largely the same.

Whatever workout you’re aiming for, the rowing machine can deliver.

It could be said that the rowing machine ‘meets you where you are and takes you as far as you want to go.’ It puts you in the driver’s seat of your workout. It responds to how hard you push and pull, so you can work as hard or as little as you want for as much or as little time as you have.

If it’s a short, sharp anaerobic blast you’re after, try HIIT (high-intensity interval training), interspersing short spurts at maximum effort with rests. For a UT2 (steady-state, aerobic) session, take the strokes per minute down to 18-20 and stay on for longer.

You can even get a strength-training-style workout by pushing hard like you’re lifting a heavy barbell. For true strength, you’ll want to add some weight training off the machine, but you can make very good progress initially with just rowing.

It can burn calories quickly.

One of the best things about using a rowing machine is that it helps you burn calories quickly because it’s such a great full-body workout that engages muscles throughout your body all at once instead of just one or two muscle groups at a time, as some other exercises do.

Harvard Health reports that in a 30-minute vigorous rowing workout, an individual weighing 125 pounds can incinerate 255 calories. On the other hand, if their weight is 155 or 185 pounds, they will be burning 369 and 440 calories, respectively. Similarly, with an elliptical trainer, you would observe similar calorie burn rates of 270 (125 lbs), 324 (155 lbs), and 378 (185 lbs). Therefore it appears to be a reliable way to shed those extra pounds!

Combining daily rowing with a healthy, balanced diet is a great way to stay active or in shape. That’s why rowing machines are among the most popular pieces of exercise equipment available today—they are easy to use but offer tremendous benefits if used correctly and consistently.

It’s great for your heart and lungs.

As a cardio exercise, rowing strengthens your cardiovascular system, which includes your heart, blood vessels, and blood. This system is responsible for transporting important materials, such as nutrients and oxygen, throughout your body.

Since rowing is such an intense workout, your heart has to work hard to transport more blood to your body. This can improve heart strength.

This may benefit those who have or could be at risk for heart problems.

Rowing is incredibly versatile.

Rather than treadmills and stationary bikes, rowing machines can be extremely versatile. Rowers are superior to other cardio equipment because they provide a total-body workout that other machines can’t compete with, making it a great choice to add to any home gym. You can also vary your rowing workouts from high-intensity short intervals to longer and sometimes more strenuous rowing distances.

Whether you’re just looking to mix up your workout routine or are seriously training for a race or competition, experts say that rowing can be an excellent exercise to add to your cross-training regimen. Some of the cross-training benefits include improved strength without the load on joints, increased endurance efficiently, a better hip-hinge movement that supports better hip function, and improved mobility.

It’s a low-impact exercise.

rowing machine low impact

Rowing burns serious calories without putting added stress on your joints. It allows you to control the movement and pace and is a great exercise for active recovery. It’s sometimes recommended as an exercise option for people with early stages of osteoarthritis.

A study of 24 people over eight weeks found that joint torques, or rotations, in the elbow, shoulder, lumbar, and knee improved by 30%. The same can’t be said for high-impact exercises such as running and plyometrics.

Rowing Technique Tips

As with any exercise, it’s important to prioritize learning how to properly use the machine and master the correct form. Good form will also lead to a more powerful rowing stroke, fewer injuries, and improved cross-training. If you’re rowing at a gym, consider asking a trainer for assistance to show you the proper form and technique. Here are a few key tips to keep in mind:

Keep your knees parallel with each stroke and don’t let them bow out to the side.
Avoid hunching your shoulders. Sit up straight with your shoulders relaxed and away from your ears.
Keep a secure grip on the handle so it doesn’t slip out of your hands. But don’t over-grip as this can lead to unnecessary forearm burnout.
Proper rowing technique demands core engagement, so be sure to engage this critical muscle group with each stroke.

Rowing machines can initially seem intimidating, but the rowing stroke is really easy to learn. She recommends breaking the stroke down into three simple steps:

Drive with your legs.
Swing at the hips.
Pull your arms in, all while engaging your core.

Then you simply reverse the sequence, so it goes legs, swing, arms; arms, swing, legs.

Conclusion

Rowing machines provide a unique opportunity for us to gain maximum fitness benefits with minimal wear-and-tear on our bodies which makes it perfect for people with physical limitations or injuries who want to stay fit without putting too much strain on their joints or muscles while still getting effective workout session in less time than traditional gym sessions offer would be able to provide. In short, rowing machines offer virtually countless benefits so if you’re looking for an effective way to get fit, consider investing in one today!