If you are looking for a new workout regime to shed extra kilos, then considering a rowing machine could be the best choice for your daily workout. Incorporating this equipment for your daily workout offers an incredible total-body workout. Exercising over rowing machines works majorly on muscle grips of the legs, glutes, abs, arms, shoulders and back, activating about 85% of all muscles. Besides all, rowing is an effective exercise for both cardio and strength training. And unlike other high-impact exercises that put stress on your joints such as running, jumping or sprinting, rowing is kinder on your body and it burns just as many, if not more, calories in the same amount of time. With the help of this article, we will enlist the top 10 rowing machine workouts that you should incorporate into your daily workout regime.
The Need for a Rowing Machine
Apart from other cardio exercising equipment, the rowing machine has an added advantage as far as your workout is concerned. Exercising with these machines mimics the same, just like rowing a boat. The resistance of the water increases your heart rate and builds strength. And unlike running and other high-impact exercises like HIIT workouts, it’s a low-impact workout that goes easy on your joints, making rowers ideal for just about anyone, especially those recovering from an injury or who are newer to exercise. Although rowing might appear to be mostly an upper-body workout, your legs and glutes are actually the main muscles driving your stroke. Rowing is 80% legs and 20% upper body. But it also forces you to engage your core and back, so you feel completely connected from your feet to your shoulders.
Benefits of Rowing Machine
Rowing machines are one of the best alternatives to conventional forms of cardiovascular training like running or cycling. The movement of a rowing machine workout can improve both aspects of your strength training and cardio training. With more and more people moving away from conventional forms of cardio, into niches of the industry, it’s easy to see why rowing machines are increasing in popularity, as it offers an ample number of benefits as far as your fitness and strengthening are concerned.
- Offers Full Body Workout – As previously mentioned, rowing machines provide a full-body workout. This is because the simple act of rowing works for nearly every muscle group in your body. This is in contrast to most other cardio equipment which focuses on working either the lower or upper body. Rowing machines are therefore one of the most efficient ways to work out and have the ability to target multiple muscle groups simultaneously, thus saving you time in the long run.
- Increases Strength and Muscle Toning – In addition to providing a great cardio workout, rowing machines can also help you build strength and muscle tone. This is because as you row, you are constantly resistance training meaning your muscles are working hard against the resistance of the machine. This can be furthered with most rowing machines as you can increase the amount of resistance that you are working against testing your muscles to the limits. A result is several transferable benefits that can help significantly improve other elements of your fitness plan and your overall day-to-day activities.
- Boosts Endurance – Through continuous rowing machine training, you can see a significant increase in your endurance levels. Endurance is key when it comes to many sports and activities, rowing is no exception. As your endurance levels increase, so too will your ability to perform the same task for longer and at a higher intensity.
- Effective Cardiovascular Exercise – Rowing is an excellent form of cardio and one that can be done for long periods of time without putting excessive stress on your body. This ultimately means that you are able to exercise comfortably for longer, while still maintaining a high heart rate perfect for people who are looking to improve their cardiovascular health and burn a high number of calories for weight loss.
- An Effective Way to Burn Fat – Rowing machine workouts are crusaders for stubborn fats stored in the body. Studies confirmed that if you do ten minutes of rowing on the machine, it can burn 100-200 calories depending on your intensity, resistance and body weight.
Top 10 Rowing Machine Workouts for Your Daily Exercise Regime
1.) HIIT Sprints – HIIT Sprints are considered one of the best rowing machine workouts. If you are short on time, these high-intensity interval exercises will give you a quick sweat fix. Improve your strength and explosive power in just 20 minutes. You will burn roughly 300 calories in total. Keep your stroke rate between 26 and 32 and always be in control of how fast your legs are moving.
2.) Pyramid Power – Pyramid Power is considered one of the best rowing machine workouts. Try this workout to improve endurance and consistency with your rowing. For each interval, aim to keep the same workout intensity or pace. You can check this by looking at watts or by changing your units to time per 500 meters on the display. Performing this exercise will burn roughly 450 calories.
3.) Lean Leapfrog – Lean Leapfrog is considered one of the best rowing machine workouts. Compete against yourself during these aggressive bursts. While most rowing workouts are aerobic, this one is anaerobic. Similar to a weight lifting session, performing this exercise will exert your muscles enough to produce lactate, which leaves you with that burns-so-good feeling. Ultimately, an anaerobic rowing machine session will help you increase your power output and endurance because it forces you to tap into the strength of your legs. While paying strict attention to your stroke rate, try to maintain or increase your meters rowed during each minute. This challenging row is 40 minutes and will burn roughly 700 calories.
4.) Strokes – Strokes are considered one of the best rowing machine workouts. Start the drive by pushing your feet down to straighten your legs, keeping your arms and back straight and your shoulders in front of your hips, the equivalent of about one o’clock on a clock face. When your legs are almost fully straight, swing your body back to 11 o’clock, then drive your elbows back to bring the handle powerfully towards your chest your hands should reach your sternum around the height of a heart rate monitor or bra strap.
5.) Fat Burner – Fat Burner is considered one of the best rowing machine workouts. This session will have you breathing deep and sweating buckets, and will help towards shedding those extra pounds. Try to cover roughly the same distance in every single 30-second effort.
6.) Row Repeats – Row Repeats are considered one of the best rowing machine workouts. Row repeats are a brilliant way to develop your explosive power as well as your mental strength. This workout is powerful if you really push yourself in the sprints because there is a full minute to recover, you can go all out and not worry about pacing yourself.
7.) Engine Builder – The engine builder is considered one of the best rowing machine workouts. If you are looking to build a serious aerobic engine, you need to get comfortable with the longer stuff. Spend 40 to 60 minutes rowing at a tough intensity that you can maintain for the whole period. This is a great way to work on your pacing, and it also requires a great deal of mental strength to stay consistent and focused.
8.) Time Trial – Time trial is considered one of the best rowing machine workouts. It is the simplest type of rowing workout to do, and yet they can be very useful to monitor your progress and help to motivate you to train more. To perform this workout, choose a day to do one of the workouts as part of your training schedule. It’s important to do each of these trials on the same day of the week every week, as this will show you how effective your other sessions are at producing results.
9.) Cardio Workout – Cardio is considered one of the best rowing machine workouts. Performing this exercise nevertheless builds your aerobic endurance base.
10.) Burpee Workout – This workout by rowing machine is an amazing way to torch fat and make your workout more interesting. This workout is a serious test of how far you can push your body and mind. Performing this exercise will allow you to start burning 21 calories on the rowing machine as quickly as possible. You then jump to the floor and do 21 chest-to-floor burpees. As soon as you finished those burpees, jump back on the rower and do 15 calories, followed by 15 burpees. To finish off, complete nine calories on the rower followed by nine burpees. Committing this exercise gets hard quickly, so challenge yourself to dig deep and make it to that final repetition.
Disclaimer:
The information contained in this article is for educational and informational purposes only and is not intended as a health advice. We would ask you to consult a qualified professional or medical expert to gain additional knowledge before you choose to consume any product or perform any exercise.
