The idea of rowing might bring back memories of boat racing, warm summer rows or even the series A Discovery of Witches. To many people, rowing is an enjoyable activity and indoor rowing has become even more increasingly popular as people start to look for a good low impact activity that also has the ability to provide a full body workout.
Why You Should Try Out A Rowing Machine?
Originally, indoor rowing machines were created for rowers to train off season. Since then it has grown drastically popular due to the many benefits it offers to your body. Although there is a common misconception that rowing only works out your arms. Rowing actually is able to work out around 86% of your whole body. Performing a row takes about 65% to 75% of your legs and 25% to 35% of your upper body.
It activates multiple muscles groups in upper body, core and lower body all together at once. This ultimately helps you build strength while also burning calories. It primarily activates the 3 major muscle groups: calves, gluten and quadriceps. In addition to that, it can also strengthen your upper body muscles: arms, abdominal muscles, obliques and pecs.
One of the biggest benefits is that rowing is a good low impact exercise activity that can also help burn a decent amount of calories. You are allowed to control your own pace and movement while also not putting additional stress to your joints. Since the exercise is done in a seated position, it does not stress out your back and joints.
Rowing can be a very flexible activity. It combines both strength training and cardio to help build a more powerful you. You can do a long workout or even incorporate it into a HIIT (high intensity interval training). The rowing machine puts you into like a driver seat, you control how hard you go. The machine responds to how fast or hard you pull and push, therefore you can work as little or as hard as you want.
A Selection of the Best Rowing Machines
Concept2 Model D Indoor Rowing Machine
Concept2 is still currently one of the best known and best selling brands for rowing machines. This Model D is one of the most popular rowing machines available. It is a good solid rowing machine that will be able to last for a long time.
Concept2 works as an air resistance rower and it does perform a smooth row, almost similar to rowing on water. Because this model is very compact and sturdy, it should be able to last quite a long time. Not matter how you pull it, this rower will be able to match your strength.
The seat is pretty comfortable, I can easily sit on it for an hour. It is dynamic and I think this model is perfect for those of you who are looking to adopt rowing as regular physical activity.
It includes a performance monitor that helps tracks your progress with live data. This allows you to receive measurable data to help improve your fitness.
This model only has 8 screws, even I was able to easily follow their instructions to install the rower. The installation was very simple and something that most people are able to do it on your own. In my opinion, it would only take around 20 to 30 minutes to install the rower. Just make sure to follow the walkthrough as it makes it much simpler to install.
Stamina BodyTrac Glider 1050
I would recommend this for those of you who are looking for something that can be packed together to be stored without taking up a lot of space. The arms and frames of this rower is foldable and therefore would allow for it to be easily stored in a closet.
This body glider also allows for a full body workout. It uses a hydraulic cylinder that can be adjusted to increase or decrease your rowing intensity. There is a basic LCD monitor that provides you information such as workout time, calories burned and how many strokes you did.
It’s a good price for someone who is looking to start out in rowing. Especially for those who are living in an apartment or condo, this is definitely an easy workout equipment that can be used and stored up.
Sunny Health & Fitness Obsidian Surge 500 Water Rowing Machine
This rowing machine’s selling point is that it is a water rowing machine. The use of water resistance helps create slightly smoother and steady rowing quality. The 16 blades it has in the machine helps provide a nice resistance while interacting with the water to give a nice feel while you row.
This machine is definitely more of a niche machine for those of you who have more space at home and would enjoy the feeling of rowing water.
Honorable Mentions
Budget friendly rowing machine: Sunny Health & Fitness Magnetic Rowing Machine Rower
Rowing machine with bluetooth: Fitness Reality Magnetic Rowing Machine
High tech rower: NordicTrack Smart Rower
Rower with live classes: Echelon Smart Rowing Machine
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