how good is rowing to get fit ? I never see it discussed here

I like rowing. I bought myself a rower a few months ago. it uses a lot more legs than you think it does.

The rowers I've seen have all had some pretty impressive guns. Can't be a bad thing.

>>35488845
Rowing is great, it is the activity with which you can supply the most energyif you where to connect a generator, and while most cardio most you weak and skeleton, rowing makes you strong and manly, only downside is that it trains unbalanced, train your abs pecs and triceps to make it for it

>>35488845
BTW only good rowing machine is the concept 2, all others are shit, there might be some good alternatives, but don't take the risk buying some rowing machine given 5 stars on eBay by some faggot who has no idea what he's doing. Once you get good at rowing most machines won't be able to handle your speed and force, cable slacks, resistance doesn't increase etc.

You don't see posts because they are not as common in most gyms.
They are expensive as fuck (the proper ones). You can find cheaper ones but they are complete shit from what I have heard.

I'd love to be able to row for cardio. Maybe some day I'll be able to afford one.

>>35488845
Rowing is fucking hard. Don't do it. You will lose breath.

does rowing give you any sort of gains or strictly cardio?

>>35489269
Fuck yeah, my gym has like 5 of those.
I use them for most of my cardio, but rarely see anyone else on them.
I got into rowing for cardio as a teen. Bought a pneumatic resistant rower at 16, with a 15stone weight limit that wouldn't even hold me now.

one of the NYRs grew brave enough to get off the treadmill and go up to one today, seemed a little confused by it, then got back on the treadmill for a bit.

>>35489381
Good for adding definition to shoulders and quads.

Rowing machines blow the rest of the cardio machines + running out of the water.

Do 15 minutes at a moderate pace on a rower and you will be exhausted.

thankfully my University gym has a bunch for the rowing teams. Yeah I gotta row some more this new year -- it's like doing cardio with back and biceps

it's very good for quads and lower back + general back definition. you can get fuct in 5 minutes if you want to on it. I like doing longer pieces these days, usually around 40min

>>35489701

for a 40-60 min. piece, what would you say your effort level is? what do you have the row machine's resistance set to on 1-10?

>>35489666
It doesn't train your shoulders that much, especially if you're exercising heavy, you'll train mostly the same muscles as deadlift plus quads, lats and biceps

Also in general it's worth learning how to row, people rowing wrong makes me cringe, and makes you get less gains and more injury

>>35489728
Always keep resistance on 5 and just row slower

>>35489701
That's my favourite thing about it.
high intensity rowing feels a lot better than high intensity running or cycling, probably because it's upper and lower body.
Yet if you go slower, you can go for ages, but still feel like a good workout.

>>35488845
The only problem really is you cannot do tabata style training very effectively on it.

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>>35489744
>>35489761

thanks m80s

>>35489812
Yes, you can.

>>35489845
Hhnnnggggggg

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Honestly they are great for winter exercise especially when it is too cold to go outside

>>35489845
Good lord

Division 1 rower here. Ask me anything.

Rowing is a great source of cardio and good for burning calories. A hour long piece on a erg will burn upwards of 900 calories. It's not that good for gains, but will work your lower back and legs decently well.

>>35490119
You'll notice that p much all well programmed hiit stuff out there allows a decent amount of time for each stage. This is because it takes time to get the flywheel up to speed and for it to slow down again, . You could do 20 seconds on and 10 off but it wouldn't work as well as on a bike or running or whatever else you want to do. However doing a warm up on the erg and switching over for tabata would work very well.

>>35490278
>It's not that good for gains
As far as endurance sports go it's about the best.

>>35490313
You just suck.

Source: I'm on the national team and have worked with local gyms that model their businesses on tabata.

>>35490324

I'll word it better. It's very hard to get bigger while rowing on a consistent basis. I'll burn 1000 calories in a good workout. My bulking cycle is during the summer when I don't have mandatory erg workouts.

>>35489845
>>35489269
Have concept 2s at my gym, there's a thing under 'workouts' on the menu that is good HIIT. Called 500/r I think. It's 500m which is about 1.40-2 mins for me then a 1 min rest.

>>35490349
I do it the other way around since being fatter doesn't really hurt my erg times. Plus it works with everything else.

>>35490382
>It's 500m which is about 1.40-2 mins for me then a 1 min rest.
Really really step up sempai

The stupid games like the fish one are great tho

I was thinking of getting a machine. But the good ones are hella expensive. I ended up just getting an exercise bike,

>>35490413

The fishing game is shit. Interval training is where it's at.

>>35490436
If you get one just go for model d and new. Used tend to be the same price plus you get a 5 year warranty

>>35490446
The games are all about controlling pace and stroke rate. They work p well as part of a decent warm up too.

http://www.instructables.com/id/DIY-rowing-machine/
gonna build me one like this in a month or two. Will use a flat torsion spring instead of bungee straps though.

>>35490413
Is that really that terrible? I've only started rowing in the last week, 1.40 was pb, get under 1.50 unless the 4+ time. I'm an above average runner but rowing leaves me dead after 500m.

>>35490489
With an air resistance flywheel and clutch of course. Gonna be bacon.

I warm up on them after I stretch whenever I go to the gym.
10 minutes rowing before a workout is the best honestly

>>35490489
You'd be better off going for a converted bike type design like the concept 2 model A

http://www.concept2.co.uk/service/indoor-rowers/model-a

>>35490499
You should hopefully see the times come down quickly then if you've just started. It's also my pace range on distance pieces like a 10k.

2:00/500m is like a beginner pace for 2k too.

>>35490534
That's the plan, I just haven't been able to find any good diagrams for building one. I'm going to use the frame from the instructables guy, probably use a lawnmower recoil starter for my rewind, then attach a ratcheting clutch to a bicycle wheel with flaps to create air resistance.

Adjustable tension is still a problem though... i guess i could swap out flywheels with bigger or smaller blades... I still haven't figured out how the damper setting on a concept 2 works....

>>35489732
I thought for the longest time that the strokes/minute counter showed your speed... Needless to say I did a whole bunch of quick weak strokes. Feels much better when I started looking at the real speed.

>>35490573
The damper is very very simple, it just closes a set of slits that can allow more or less air into the cage the flywheel is in. At lower settings the less outside air gets in/inside air gets out which then means the air inside the cage takes longer to slow down and in turn slow down the fly wheel.

>>35490573
I guess nobody on /fit/ is /technical/

I'm hoping to make a little extra cash selling homemade rowers on the side. Could probably sell a functional C2 knockoff for around $200, as long as you don't get sued by patent lawyers.

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>>35490617
I'm not sure how i would replicate that for cheap? unless i built a cage around my flywheel, and if i'm gonna do that i might as well rip off these assholes

>>35490278
Have you read Boys in the Boat?
:^)
I seriously hate the rowing world's obsession with that book. Ever since I joined my university's team it's all anyone talks about.

>>35490499
To give you an example, my split when I rowed (and I was only ever slightly above average) when I pulled 250m pieces was around 1:18. Now, I couldn't have sustained that for a full 500m, but my 500m PR was 1:33. And I was never really THAT good.

>>35490713

Ridiculous to use your PR as a standard in a 6x500 or whatever his workout is. No way in hell you could sustain a 6x1:33. A 6x1:50 is plenty impressive and a good workout in itself.

>>35488845
Rowing is the GOAT full-body cardio with resistance. Just learn the proper form or you'll fuck your shit up.

>>35489269
This, too

>Sauce: rowed crew in college

when you are counting time and comparing time etc, at what resistance level are you counting?

I just did 5k rowing today at 7/10, I wouldn't have been able to complete it at more

0 serious rowers ever make that face

>>35491535
Smiling lowers the cortisol output which in turn reduces the fast twitch muscle loss from steady state cardio.

Educate yourself.