Is Rowing Good for Weight Loss?
It’s an easy warm-up to get your gym session started, but is rowing good for weight loss? Here’s my advice as a registered dietitian and certified personal trainer – let's break down the benefits of rowing and if you should add it to your weight loss routine.
Full-body workouts are a great way to get an effective calorie burn for weight loss. Many full-body workouts, however, require heavy lifting and intense cardio, which can be challenging for beginners, especially. The rowing machine is an excellent exercise modality for this reason. You can use one in the gym or at home, and it's easy to learn how to use even if you're not an experienced exerciser.
Rowing machines have been traditionally used by competitive rowers to train their muscles and bodies as they mimic the water resistance they'd experience when rowing a boat, since training in a boat every time isn’t always practical. Recently, rowing machines have become a popular way for non-athletes to get a workout in. However, are they good for weight loss?
4 Top Benefits of Rowing
First, let’s talk about the benefits of a rowing machine. Why should you consider adding it to your workout routine in the first place? Whether you’re a seasoned weightlifter, an avid treadmill user, or are just starting out in the gym, a rowing machine offers enough benefits to make it worth considering.
1. Cardio-Respiratory Health & Endurance
Due to the primary feeling of the burning in your arm muscles after finishing a rowing machine workout, it would be understandable for one to ask, “is the rowing machine cardio?” The answer is: absolutely. In fact, the rowing machine is primarily considered to be a cardio exercise, which can help improve your heart health.
It also increases your cardiorespiratory endurance, which means that the more you do it, the longer your heart and lungs can endure even better workouts. This type of conditioning can also translate to other areas of life, such as making sure you don’t get winded walking up that flight of stairs in the office or when playing with your children.
Finally, cardio exercise is an effective way to burn fat, especially if you can accomplish high-intensity interval training into the row machine, which is the type of cardio that’s been shown to be more efficient at burning fat.
2. Relieves Stress
Most forms of exercise help to reduce cortisol, the stress hormone, and release endorphins. This can help relieve mental stress. The rowing machine is no different.
Some fitness professionals even posit that rowing has a more profound, nearly meditative effect compared to other forms of exercise due to the repetitive, gliding sensation you get from the movements of the machine.
This is significant on a weight loss journey as the hormonal changes that come with being chronically stressed has been shown to cause weight gain along with making it more difficult to lose weight. So rowing as an exercise can help you lose weight in two ways: more of a calorie burn and by helping to reduce stress levels.
3. Low-Impact for Joints
Unlike running or plyometric exercises such as jumping, rowing is gentler on your joints since it is performed seated. This makes it a low-impact form of exercise and safe for:
the older population who may have more fragile bones and joints
pregnant women or those who have suffered from injuries in their joints.
Low-impact exercise also conditions the joints and muscles without putting too much strain on them, as long as the proper form is used. This is important because there are people out there who could benefit from more exercise to manage their weight but can’t do high-impact workouts that have a low skill level such as running or jogging.
Ironically, many individuals who have obesity have trouble doing high-impact exercises, making the rowing machine a perfect modality for them to safely stay active and ease into more intense exercise.
4. Works Both the Upper and Lower Body
Is rowing a full body workout? You bet it is. This is why those who participate in rowing as a sport, also called crew, are considered athletes. A rowing machine is designed to mimic the motion and effort of propelling a boat through water using the strength of your upper and lower body.
Pushing off with your legs and pulling with your arms are two components of the exercise. Proper rowing form begins with the push motion, which enables your quads, glutes, and hamstrings to work effectively. This increases your lower body strength over time. In addition to your core, you are also activating your delts, biceps, triceps, and triceps muscles as you pull.
A New Zealand study showed the full-body workouts are more effective at building muscle and losing fat than workouts that focus on just one or two muscle groups at a time, also known as a “split” workout routine. Intuitively, this makes sense as using multiple muscles at one time is likely to burn way more calories than just using a few.
Does Rowing Build Muscle?
A study in the Sport Journal concluded that rowing machines recruit 85% of the muscles in the human body. This isn’t a surprise as we’ve already established that it’s a full-body workout that also provides cardio benefits. However, muscle activation and muscle building are two separate mechanisms. Just because muscles are being used doesn’t mean new muscle is being built during an exercise.
The Science on Rowing and Muscle Building
So if rowing uses muscles, does that mean it’s a muscle-building exercise? The answer isn’t cut-and-dry. Let’s look at some findings that can help us answer this question. Firstly, when compared to other forms of exercise, it appears that weightlifting is the most superior way to build muscle.
Furthermore, studies have shown that rowing primarily uses type 1 muscle fibers, while type 2 muscle fibers are most responsible for stimulating muscle growth. However, another review showed that the muscle gained from cardio was almost the same as the muscle gained from resistance training in adults who were previously untrained and sedentary.
So, Is Weightlifting Better?
In short, it appears that rowing can help you to build muscle, but only if you’re not a regular exerciser. It is likely more efficient to lift weights in order to gain significant amounts of muscle mass. Either way, gaining lean muscle mass can help to boost your metabolism, which can indirectly assist with weight loss goals.
Rowing for Weight Loss
So, we talked about the benefits of rowing and its effect on muscle mass, but is a rowing machine good for weight loss? Due to the ease of the exercise and how quickly it can get your heart rate up, it can promote a serious calorie burn that can help with weight loss.
A study published in The Journal of Strength & Conditioning Research also found that rowing burns more fat when compared to cycling. All in all, though, it’s important to remember that one should still have a focus on controlling calories through nutrition, rather than placing an emphasis on the number of calories burned through exercise for weight loss.
Calories Burned with a Rowing Machine
The American Council on Exercise (ACE) has a calculator that allows you to see a rough estimate of the calories burned on the rowing machine. According to ACE, a 150-pound person rowing at moderate intensity for 30 minutes burns nearly 250 calories. However, it’s important to know that this is simply an estimate and the amount of calories each person burns will vary.
How to Use a Rowing Machine
While the machine seems self-explanatory, like with every other exercise in the gym, having proper form goes a long way in preventing injury and getting the most out of your workout. In this 1-minute video, certified personal trainer Danny from PureGym shows you the very basics of the rowing machine for those getting started.
Rowing Machine Workouts
Garage Gym Reviews has put together a list of 4 rowing machine workouts to try: a 15-minute workout for beginners, a 26-minute workout for advanced rowers, a quick 4-minute workout, and a recovery workout.
If you’re looking for something more like a structured and long-term program to build your rowing skills and endurance, try Anytime Fitness’s Ultimate 21-Day Rowing Machine Workout Plan.
The Bottom Line On Is Rowing Good for Weight Loss
A rowing machine can be a hidden gem in the gym if you know how to use it. Once you get the form down, it can become a full-body workout that offers both resistance and cardio training. It’s also a great option for those who have physical needs for low-impact exercise.
If weight loss is your goal, it’s a good idea to have a resource that can help guide you through both an intentional fitness routine and a personalized diet plan. Being both a certified personal trainer and registered dietitian, I’m well-equipped to assist in both areas. Contact me today to get started.