Rowvember Is Here

Why To Row:

Rowing offers anyone the ability to get a complete, total body, aerobic workout that hits all the muscle groups and gets your heart rate up quicker.  Rowing forces you to push with your legs, activate and tone your core, and pull in with your arms.  This activates your glutes, quads, hamstrings, lower back, core, lats, shoulders, and arms all in one motion.  As all of these muscles are working at the same time, your heart rate will get up quicker and you’ll get a better workout.

How To Row:

Proper technique is very important with rowing, so ensure proper form to get the most out of the motion and to prevent injury.  Start with your legs all the way back, leaning back in your torso, and the handle pulled into your sternum.  This is called the “finish” of the stroke.  First, extend your arms forward.  Then, pivot forward from your hips to reach forward and keep your back strong and supported.  Then, slide up by using your hamstring to pull yourself towards the fan.  This is called the “catch” because if you were in a boat, you’d put your oar in the water to get ready to take the next stroke.  Then, push from your legs to get the momentum going.  Once your legs are extended, then swing your torso, and finish off the stroke by pulling into your sternum.  To review, from the “finish,” pull yourself forward with arms, back, legs.  From the “catch” to take the next stroke, push back with the legs, back, arms.

When you get on the rowing machine, set the resistance to a 3 out of 10.  This might seem light, but a 3 best mimics the resistance that you’d feel on the water.  Even Olympic-level rowers do all of their training with the resistance on 3!  Adjust the shoe straps so that when you are at the “catch” of the stroke, the strap is over the ball of your foot so you can push off strongly to activate your legs.  Focus on being as long as you can per stroke, really try to reach forward and touch the machine with the rowing handle to get the most length per stroke, “ass to ankles” as the coxswain might say.  Try to keep your strokes per minute fairly low to focus on getting full length, somewhere between 22-30 strokes per minute.

Row Variations:

Rowing offers you the ability to do lots of different kinds of workouts, from long steady state, all the way leg-busting to 100-meter sprints.  

For a good steady-state workout, try doing 3 x 7 minutes, with 4 minutes at 24 strokes per minute, focusing on pushing hard with your legs and getting full length per stroke.  Then two minutes at 26 strokes per minute, and 1 minute at 28 strokes per minute.  Rest for 4 minutes in between.  

For a hard sprint workout, try a “Tabata” workout.  Try 8 sets of 20 seconds on, 10 seconds off at full gas, making sure you stay long and get the most out of each stroke.

Next time you’re at Catalyst, give the row machine a shot! After all, Rowvember only happens once a year but this is a sport you can grow with constantly.

Catalyst Fitness member James Thompson is a 4-time National Championship- winning rower who competed for the Canisius High School, West Side Rowing Club, and Cornell University teams. He currently competes as an elite level cyclist with the Shickluna Bikes/Catalyst Fitness cycling team.

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