Indoor rowing on a Concept2 rower has been my solution to keeping in shape. I usually row for 30-40 minutes 3 times a week at a low load. It’s a compound exercise, working the legs, core and upper body muscles (87% of all muscles supposedly) while sparing the joints. Also very convenient, no need to get dressed like for the gym or running.
It took months to get up to speed with a lot of initial back pain, but the strength gained has done away with back issues I used to have.
Some tips:
- use a good BT heart rate monitor the like Polar H10 (can also be used to measure Heart Rate Variability/HRV as a measure of fitness) to avoid overexertion and record sessions with the Concept2 ErgData app to see progress
- follow the stretching advice from Concept2, at beginning and end of session
- ease into the workouts over weeks and learn the right technique, e.g. from YT channels like Dark Horse rowing to avoid back injury and slowly build muscle
- the newest Concept2 has a phone/pad holder. I got a second holder for my phone to be able to follow and record the session with ErgData while watching stuff on an iPad. In the lastest iteration I’ve added an old monitor with an Apple TV. But now trying to Dopamine diet and ‘do nothing’ while rowing.
I too have benefited recently (since 3 months) from rowing, and started by simply emulating Dark Horse rowing on a laptop set to the front/side of the machine. I really like Rowalong channel now, because he gives effort instructions in terms of your best 2k pace. For example, he'll say "2k+18" for the next interval so if your best 2k time had average 2:00/500m pace, then row currently at 2:18 pace. Compare to Dark Horse who might say "Go at 75% effort" which suffers from subjective self reporting.
If you haven't seen it, https://rowinglevel.com has tables for various distances and ages. It intimidated me at first (these times are fast!) but reaching beginner and novice when they once felt completely impossible is a good feeling.
> It took months to get up to speed with a lot of initial back pain, but the strength gained has done away with back issues I used to have.
You might be interested in this, great fun and it'll get you rowing using FTP which is a better way of doing things than pace (standard in the cycling world, surprised it's taking so long to filter into rowing): https://exrgame.com.
There's also this for rowing form but I haven't personally tried it out:
Want to underline that it's important to learn proper technique if you decide to start rowing. The sequencing of legs, back, arms is not intuitive, and most people who use indoor rowers at the gym have poor technique and set the resistance way too high. It's definitely possible to mess up your back rowing, though injury rather than muscle soreness usually only happens after a few years
I use an exercise bike, and ride about 40 minutes a day, but only because that's what was there. I've always thought about replacing it with a rower, since that works so much more of the body.
It took months to get up to speed with a lot of initial back pain, but the strength gained has done away with back issues I used to have.
Some tips:
- use a good BT heart rate monitor the like Polar H10 (can also be used to measure Heart Rate Variability/HRV as a measure of fitness) to avoid overexertion and record sessions with the Concept2 ErgData app to see progress
- follow the stretching advice from Concept2, at beginning and end of session
- ease into the workouts over weeks and learn the right technique, e.g. from YT channels like Dark Horse rowing to avoid back injury and slowly build muscle
- the newest Concept2 has a phone/pad holder. I got a second holder for my phone to be able to follow and record the session with ErgData while watching stuff on an iPad. In the lastest iteration I’ve added an old monitor with an Apple TV. But now trying to Dopamine diet and ‘do nothing’ while rowing.