5 Indoor Rowing Workouts and Tips


Before you start indoor rowing workouts for your exercise routine you need to make sure of a few things.

First, make sure your feet are properly in the foot straps. The proper place is across the ball of your foot. Your feet and legs need to be in the proper position to complete a full stroke.

Then, make sure the resistance is at the right setting for you. For beginners, you should start with a low resistance and work up from there, as you get more comfortable.

Make sure you understand the fitness monitor. The most important things to look at are the stroke rate and watts. The Stroke rate measures your strokes per minute and the watts measures the intensity of the workout. Your goal should be to keep your stroke rate between 26-32. Your watts should be your weight in pounds.

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Warm-up

Always start with a warm-up during your rowing workouts. A 10 min warm-up will get your body ready for the full workout. Here is a warm-up exercise that starts with partial movements and ends with the full rowing motion.

  • Start with your legs and body straight, elbows bent so the handle is pulled fully into your chest. Keeping your back and legs straight, extend your arms out from your body, reaching towards your feet, then bring them back to the starting position. Keep your shoulders relaxed. Repeat for two minutes.
  • Next, engage your back. After you extend your arms forward, slightly bend forward at the hips. Then, keeping your spine neutral, reverse the motion by leaning back from the hips once your body is fully upright, as you pull your arms and the handle into your chest. Repeat for two minutes.
  • Warm up your legs. After you extend your arms and lean forward from the hips, bend your knees slightly so your seat rolls halfway towards the front, and your arms extend forward past your feet, grasping the handle. Reverse the motion by pushing first with your legs, then leaning back and finally pulling your arms into your chest. Repeat for two minutes.
  • Now you can take a complete stroke! Bend your knees fully so your shins are perpendicular to the floor and your heels lift up slightly. Repeat for four minutes.

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Rowing workouts to the beat of a song

The most entertaining way to work out on your rowing machine is by pairing it with music. By doing this you can use motivational music to make your workout fun. Also, the beats in the music will be your guide.

The songs you choose should be 30 min of high tempo motivational music. To make sure your songs  are 150 to 180 beats per minute, go to songbpm.com.

Use the first song as your warm up. During the second song, begin your workout. During the chorus, row hard. Your sprints should be 30 strokes per minute (spm). Maintain intensity throughout the chorus. Use the verses to recover and then row hard again for the next chorus. You can use the last song for a cool down.

Pyramid Workout

Here is an intermediate rowing workout to try that is the pyramid workout. This challenge helps to improve endurance and consistency. During each part of the exercise, try to keep the same pace. You can check your pace by the watts or by changing the units to “time per 500 meters” on the display. Just because you row and rest the same amount of time doesn’t make it simple!

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Warm-up

10 min easy row

Workout pyramid rowing

1 min row

1 min rest

2 min row

2 min rest

3 min row

3 min rest

4 min row

4 min rest

3 min row

3 min rest

2 min row

2 min rest

1 min row

1 min rest

Stroke rate should be 26-32 (75% max effort)

Leapfrog Workout

Another great rowing workout is the Leapfrog. In this workout, you can compete against yourself. Try to beat your meters rowed for each sprint. This is an anaerobic workout like lifting weights. This will help you increase your endurance because you’ll be forced to use the strength of your legs. Pay close attention to your stroke rate, try to keep or increase your meters rowed during each sprint. This exercise is 40 minutes.

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Warm-up

10 min easy row Interval 1

1min sprint (Stroke rate 26)

1min rest

1min sprint (SR 28)

1min rest

1min sprint (SR 26)

1min rest

1min sprint (SR 28)

1min rest

1min sprint (SR 26)

1min rest

Recovery

2min rest

Repeat for 3 intervals

 

1,000-Meter Workout

This rowing workout helps you maintain your rhythm and form to keep up your stamina on long rows. It also is challenging to keep the same strokes per minute during a long row. This workout stays with the same distance and allows you to increase and decrease your stroke rate. It teaches you how to focus on cadence so you have the technique to make it through longer workouts.

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Warm-up

5-10 min easy row

First set

1,000 meter (SR 28)

4 min easy rowing

1,000 meter (SR 24)

4 min easy rowing

1,000 meter (SR 26)

4 min easy rowing

3 sets of 1,000-meter


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