by Rol Admin Cut & Jacked
Rowing is a great way to get fit, lose weight, and maintain healthy muscles and joints throughout your body. It’s also easy on your joints and suitable for everyone, irrespective of your current level of fitness.
In this article we’re going to look at why using a rowing machine is one of the best ways to burn fat effectively and exactly how you can use it to achieve your goals.
Why The Erg is King
The rowing machine is the king of cardio machines. With all the new workout trends and gadgets out there you’d be forgiven for being swayed by a shiny new object. But the truth is, if fat burning is your goal, nothing beats grinding out a workout on a rower.
The rowing machine is a supreme fat burner. Using a rowing machine to perform fast-paced, interval-style workouts stimulate fat burning by supplying the muscles with oxygen and improving the functionality of your lungs. Greater lung capacity leads to more efficient use of oxygen and thus more fat burning.
During your workout, you will be working on all the major muscle groups in the body with the exception of the pectorals and triceps. This can actually be remedied somewhat if you row with a reversed grip on the handles.
When resistance training, one of the key components for strength gains and muscle growth is recovery. Rowing machines are low impact and very easy on the joints. This makes the rowing machine an excellent form of cross-training to your primary resistance based workouts as it reduces the chances of overtraining and possible injury.
The Rowing Technique
Getting to grips with rowing and using the correct technique can take some getting used to compared with say running on a treadmill or pedaling on a stationary bike but it shouldn’t be too difficult for you to conquer relatively quickly.
However, it is crucial that you learn how to perform the sequence properly as poor rowing technique will reduce the effectiveness of your workouts. You don’t want to be wasting any energy on overcompensating on your pull or losing out on power by not pushing off with your legs. And of course, continuous poor technique can lead to unnecessary aches and pains as well as injury. So it’s well worth taking the time to get right.
The best way to achieve proper technique is to break up the movement patterns into stages. This helps you remember the patterns required to synchronize the arms and legs and maintain coordination throughout the duration of your row.
The pattern is simple. Just remember legs, core, arms, arms, core legs.
Once positioned on your rower, you want to push out using your legs, keeping your arms straight.
Once your hands pass over your knees, engage the core and swing back whilst pulling the rower’s handles to your abdomen.
The second half of the movement is just the reverse. So you extend your elbows, lean forward using your core, and bend your knees to return to your starting position.
You then just repeat this sequence to create a flowing rowing motion. You can control the intensity of your rowing motion by generating more power in your legs when you push off from the rower’s footplates and by pulling the handle harder, moving with more speed.
For a more in-depth guide on rowing machine technique check out this guide from Start Rowing.
Workouts
Rowing machines are great for a wide variety of workouts. It truly is a versatile piece of kit. But if your goal is to burn fat and get ripped then you will want to perform short sessions at a high intensity. There are several very effective ways to do this.
Interval Training
For beginners, I suggest starting out with interval training. The idea here is to alternate between periods of high effort levels and low effort levels. So for example you may begin by rowing at an easy-paced or moderate speed, followed by 30 seconds of rowing as hard and fast as you can.
This is a highly effective way to train especially if you are just starting out and don’t quite have the aerobic capacity to work at higher intensities for longer periods of time.
HIIT Training
For those looking for more of a challenge, I suggest completing some kind of HIIT (high-intensity interval training) session. This is a variation of interval training that involves similar short bursts of high-level intensity work but without the active recovery. You rest for a short period of time and then get back into a workout.
For example, you could try 30 seconds of flat out rowing, followed by 1-minute rest, and repeat for sets of 10.
You may think the changes from interval training are only subtle but give both a try and you’ll see a big difference in intensity.
If your happy grinding out these type of workouts a couple of times a week then you’ll start to see great results. Any rower will do but you’re better of using a solid machine like a Concept2. If you’re the kind of person who hates cardio, knows they need extra motivation, and the workouts above sound tedious at best then you may want to use one of the more advanced rowing machines with more interactive workout capabilities such as the Hydrow or Ergatta rower.
Final Thoughts
Now you have all the information you need to start completing effective fat-burning workouts on a rowing machine. Of course, you are not limited to the ideas discussed in this article, and in fact, I encourage you to get as creative as you like with your training. You can even try mixing up your intervals by combining rowing with bodyweight training or a form of resistance. The possibilities are endless.
Source: http://www.cutandjacked.com/want-to-lose-fat-and-get-ripped-the-erg-is-still-the-king-of-cardio-machines#!/
