Rowing is one of the best exercises for promoting both aerobic and overall physical fitness. Properly performed, rowing involves muscles of the legs, hips, back, torso and arms.
Recently, a family that I know asked me about indoor exercise equipment for enhancing cardiovascular endurance and aerobic fitness.
Although cycles and treadmills are the most popular home exercise machines, knowing how seriously this family considered their cardiovascular conditioning, I recommended they try an air-resistance rowing machine.
Rowing is one of the best exercises for promoting both aerobic and overall physical fitness. Properly performed, rowing involves muscles of the legs, hips, back, torso and arms. More specifically, the driving movement incorporates the ankle extensors (calves), knee extensors (quadriceps), hip extensors (hamstrings, gluteals), trunk extensors (erector spinae) shoulder extensors (latissimus dorsi, teres major, posterior deltoids), shoulder retractors (trapezius, rhomboids) and elbow flexors (biceps, brachioradialis).
While not nearly as demanding, the return movement uses the ankle flexors (anterior tibials), hip flexors (quadriceps), knee flexors (hamstrings) and trunk flexors (rectus abdominis) to a reasonable degree.
In addition to addressing a variety of major muscle groups, rowing at an appropriate intensity and sufficient duration provides excellent conditioning stimulus. Elite rowers and cross-country skiers typically top the list of endurance athletes in terms of maximum aerobic capacity.
It must be understood, however, that these rowers are working against the isokinetic resistance of water, rather than on a land-based rowing simulator. Although not exactly the same, rowing machines that use air resistance approximate the feel and performance effort of water rowing.
Unlike some other indoor endurance equipment, your body is moving forward and backward with every strike, providing air movement that is supplemented by the fan effect of the rapidly turning (protected) blades. This provides a much-welcomed cooling effect throughout the highly effective exercise session.
Although people sometimes think of rowing as an upper-body activity, it uses the legs and lower back as well as the upper back and arms. The first movement in the rowing stroke is simultaneous extension of the knees and hips, a leg-pushing action that uses the quadriceps, hamstrings, and gluteal muscles.
This is followed by trunk extension produced by the erector spinae muscles in the lower back. The final action in the rowing stroke is the arm pull, accomplished primarily by the latissimus dorsi, rhomboids and trapezius muscles of the upper back and the biceps. All of the rowing movements should be performed smoothly and sequentially, with a firm but relaxed handgrip, an upright head and a moderate range of trunk extension.
The rowing action will vary according to your stroke, which is dependent on the length of your arms and legs as well as your training technique. Whatever your rowing cadence, the key to cardiovascular conditioning is your heart rate response to the exercise effort. Try to work within your training heart rate range, which means you should be able to talk in short sentences during your rowing workout.
Follow these steps when using a rowing machine:
- Sit on the moving seat and secure your feet to the footpads.
- Grip the handle comfortably, with your knees, hips and trunk flexed.
- Push your body backward by extending your knees, hips and trunk, and pull the handle to your mid-section.
- Return to the starting position as smoothly as possible.
- Begin with easy strokes until you are warmed up, then progressively increase your effort.
- Pulling harder or faster increases the exercise resistance and training intensity.
- Finish your rowing workout with a few minutes of lower-effort strokes to cool down gradually.
Beginning rowers should strive for 2 to 10 minutes of continuous exercise; intermediate rowers should train for 10 to 20 minutes; and advanced rowers may complete 20 to 30 minutes.
Wayne L. Westcott, Ph.D., teaches exercise science at Quincy College in Massachusetts and consults for the South Shore YMCA. He has written 24 books on fitness.