Rowing Machine Workout To Burn A Lot Of Calories

A rowing machine workout involves your whole body and is an effective and time efficient way to build muscle and burn fat in one workout – why not give it a go?

Whether rowing on the water, or on a rowing machine in the gym or at home, rowing provides a tremendous workout and has the potential to burn a lot of calories!

Rowing works all your major muscle groups, which is why it’s such a great calorie burner. All those muscles working together use up a lot of energy and enable you to build strength and stamina at the same time.

Because your whole body is working, a rowing machine is very effective for building muscle in your back, legs, hips, shoulders and arms. Building lean tissue is important for raising your basal metabolic rate, the number of calories you burn at rest.

The working muscles also need a lot of oxygen, so rowing is a very effective aerobic workout, improving the fitness of your cardiovascular system.

Rowing Machine Workout

A rowing machine workout will burn around 50-150 calories every 10 minutes, depending on the intensity you’re working at. Over time, the fitter you become, the harder you row and the more calories you burn.

Rowing is a great choice if you suffer from impact injuries as it’s low impact and non-weight bearing. It doesn’t stress your joints the way that running does, but will build bone density as you’re working against the resistance of the rowing machine.

For my money, a rowing machine workout is one of the most effective ways to gain maximum fitness returns in the shortest space of time.

If you are going to give it a try, learn the basic techniques first.

Furthermore, begin gradually and slowly build the resistance over a number of weeks.

Decent gyms usually have a few rowing machines, invariably Concept 2 machines. If you’re investing in a rowing machine to use at home, this is the model to go for – it is pricey but you get what you pay for.

Proper Technique

OK, to get started:

Start by sitting on the seat, arms straight and extended at shoulder level in front of you

Grip the handle with your legs bent, lower legs at right angles to the floor with your body bent forward at the waist

Start the movement by pushing with your legs – don’t pull with your arms at the beginning of the movement

Keep your arms straight with your elbows tucked in and lean back, pulling the handle to your torso once your legs have straightened – don’t lock your knees!

Return to the start position and repeat

Keep the whole movement smooth and steady and don’t compromise your technique for speed

Aim for around 25-35 strokes a minute

Rowing Machine Workouts

Now, you can just row for a set period of time or for a certain distance or get really intense and try interval training, which for me is the best rowing machine workout.

Whilst you’re building your basic fitness levels and getting used to the technique, aim for 3 workouts a week and:

Warm up for a few minutes first, then

Select a fairly comfortable resistance level to start with, 3-5 is ideal

Try 10 minutes at this level in your first few workouts

Gradually increase the resistance and length of the workout each time you train, say by 30 seconds to a minute each workout and a level every week or two

Now, you can keep doing this until you’re rowing for 30 minutes or longer at a pretty high level. But that can get a little boring.

Instead, why not spice up your rowing machine workout with a littleinterval training?

Essentially, this involves:

Warming up and then working at a high intensity for a short period of time, say 30-90 seconds, followed by a similar period at a much lower intensity whilst you recover

You then repeat the periods of high and low intensity training at regular intervals, repeating each cycle six or more times in a 20-30 minute workout

Conclusion

Interval training stresses your body much more effectively than simply sticking at one pace and intensity.

The result is a much more effective fat burning workout and because you’re working against a high level of resistance for short periods of time, it increases the muscle building potential of each workout.

For me, without doubt a rowing machine workout is one of the most effective ways to burn fat and build muscle in a single session. If you workout at home, a rowing machine would be a smart investment