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
I’m a former rower, though not the one you were DMing previously. Long story short, you don’t want to row at a high resistance, especially when you’re getting started. Very easy to throw your back out already, and the higher resistance only makes that more likely.
I favor the air based machines over the water ones as they’re much easier to move around, stand upright out of the way, and literally can’t leak.
More important than anything though, please please please watch a rowing technique video (or ten). It’s mostly leg and core that move the boat, not arms.
I’ll shoot you a DM, should you have other questions too :)
Former rower also, co-sign all of this. Form/technique is key, and contrary to most people’s assumptions, the machine is, like you said about a stable core and leg power with arms doing not much till the end of stroke. Definitely worth watching stuff to get the form down, most people use the machines incorrectly.
Nice thing is the difficulty is mostly self driven—and comes down to split times. I’ve had erg sessions where I barely broke a sweat. But we also had some erg races… where we all ended up puking haha. Do not miss that.
Shouldn’t be tough on knees unless they have significant mobility issues with bending the joint.
I would search around a bit on craigslist or Facebook marketplace or whatever and see if you can find a second hand concept II air machine. There should be a fair few of those in circulation.
Every time I’ve bought sub 200 dollar home excersize machines off amazon I’ve been disappointed (3 times).
Also this just could be my hours spent on the machine back in the day, but… it can be pretty boring. Unlike a stationary bike, your hands are also engaged all the time which is good for workout, not means you’re not playing with tablets or books etc.
It’s always set at 10 at the gym when I get on it 😭 and some people don’t even notice the resistance settings!
Yeah seems like a lot of people do. Rowing technique actually takes quite a while to hone, and it is difficult to transmit a lot of power without good technique so people often crank it to max to feel like they are working hard. In reality rowing is more of an endurance sport and rowers will often sit at low intensity for 30-60mins on the machine at a steady pace to build conditioning, endurance, and cardio.
Good to know, thank you