5 tips to get the most from your indoor rowing workouts

5 tips to get the most from your indoor rowing workouts

Get the most from your indoor rower

Whether you have just purchased a new indoor rowing machine or are interested in giving rowing a go, there are many benefits to indoor rowing. Indoor rowing workouts offer all over body conditioning, with both cardiovascular and strength training benefits. Perfect for any body shape or fitness level, the design of FDF’s variable fluid resistance rowing machines allow for easy movement and flow, that is easy on the joints while still working key muscle groups including the the lower and middle back, hamstrings, calves, gluteal muscles and biceps.

Below, we outline five tips to ensure that you get the most out of your indoor rowing workouts. By focusing on your technique you can achieve a smoother, faster stroke allowing greater control and a higher calorie burn.

Don’t rush – it’s called the recovery for a reason!

All your energy should be used for the drive phase of the stroke, while the other half should be about recovery. Focus on the drive through the push of the legs and pull of the arms to maximise the stroke, then allowing the other half of the stroke to be for recovery, where you are “floating” up to the catch with no momentum.

Posture is key

It is essential that the back is kept upright, this will allow for the abdominal muscles to activate whilst maximising each stroke. In weight lifting terms, the rowing stroke is like a dead lift/high pull in the horizontal plane rather than the vertical plane; the mechanics are the same.

Focus on getting the right technique

To make the most out of your indoor rowing workouts it is essential that you are moving through the correct motions. Make sure your arms are out front and hands level with lower ribs, back is straight and the hands go over the knees first. These simple things will allow the muscles to activate correctly, resulting in a full body and high calorie burning workout.  When training the progression of the recovery, take it from the Italians, “braccia, corpo, gambe.”  Arms, body, legs, in that order. Read more about the six phases of rowing.

Aim for different targets

Try to work on a 20-30 minute session, and mix it up between maintaining a constant speed, interval training or reaching a set distance.

Race someone

Try to push yourself that little bit further by finding a friend to race with or subscribing to an online application supporting indoor rowing competitions. This will ensure you don’t feel isolated in your rowing training or become complacent with your performance.

FDF ergometers are compatible with several third-party applications that simulate web-racing as well as enable you to participate in web-based logging and ranking systems. Learn more.