I’m on the fence of buying a rowing machine once I get my own apartment. I see a few on amazon going for under $200 with over 4 star reviews and think it would be a good intro to cardio/basic whole body muscle building but don’t want to waste money on cheap crap. The main downsides from the reviews aren’t the build quality but the top level of resistance.

I’m the most out of shape I’ve ever been, haven’t done any sports or real consistant exercise in years and am wondering if a lower end rowing machine would be a good way to start. When I was super active my main sports were first baseball then skateboarding and snowboarding so I’ve never had a lot of arm or upper body strength, mostly leg and core. I’m 5’10’’ and weigh like 180 now, not trying to get swol ASAP just be healthier and build confidence and establish a routine to eventually get more fit.

also how hard is it on your knees? I’d like my gf to be able to use it too but she has some bad knee issues that flair up which make me think a stationary bike might be a better choice but I like the idea of more of a whole body work out than just cardio

don’t tell me to run I HATE running. my gf wants to buy real bikes but the weather where I am sucks 8 months out of the year so while bikes would be more fun they would take up more space in a small apartment than a machine we could share. plus I know we wouldn’t be riding bikes together in a way that would be better exercise than say 30 min on a machine with consistent resistance.

there was somone here who was all about rowing machines and I looked them up to DM them but they’re banned now lol

  • Assian_Candor [comrade/them]@hexbear.netEnglish
    2·
    8 days ago

    Depending on how high your ceilings are I would consider a speed rope instead. This plus some calisthenics and maybe a pullup bar is all you need.

    8ft is probably enough, 10 is for sure. Rowing is great but it takes up a lot of space, is expensive and takes a lot of time. You can do a whole rope workout in 20 minutes and nothing builds work capacity like the rope imo. It’s also pretty low impact. You feel like a jackass at first, tripping over the rope every three hops, but it only takes a couple of sessions to get used to the cadence.

    Rowing is not bad on the knees, tends to be harder on the back in my experience but I also don’t have knee issues. Top resistance on the machine isn’t that big a deal imo people tend to set their resistance way too high on average. Every time I go to the gym the resistance on the rowers is maxed when 5-6 is the sweet spot. If it’s not enough people should be pulling harder instead of jamming the lever to 10.

    If you do go the rower route I would look for one that has a chain instead of a cable.