Who doesn’t love to be in a good shape? But staying in shape requires patience and hard work, that’s why some people don’t really bother. If you’re reading this, you might not be among those people. You want to be in a good shape or more specifically you want to be physically fit. For that, you need to get some workout. Working out is crucial to maintaining optimum physical fitness: whether it be weight management or building muscles. You need to work out to improve your overall health, decrease surgical risks, bolster physiological well-being, and empower the immune system.
Physical exercises can be divided into three categories on the basis of their overall effect on your body. Aerobic exercises like running and walking are focused on improving cardiovascular endurance. Anaerobic exercises like functional training, weight training, or sprinting improve muscle strength in the short-term. And flexibility exercises like stretching enhance the range of motion of joints and muscles.
Several home equipment can help you with these exercises, such as treadmills, elliptical trainers, AB machines and the like. Among them, I believe, the rowing machine is the most misunderstood and underrated one.
When Should You NOT Lose Weight?
Most of the people are influenced by celebrity stories and news and want to mimic their lifestyles. However, extreme weight loss isn’t something that anyone should attempt. It exerts undue stress on the person’s liver and can cause a lot of related health problems. You should not try to lose weight without consulting your physician after:
- You had given birth: Weight gain after pregnancy is natural and happens for a reason. Forcing too much upon yourself and losing weight afterwards can be detrimental for both you and your child if you are breastfeeding.
- You had a major surgery: Typically, the surgeon will let you know how fit you are to do what kind of exercises after a surgery. Don’t try to act tough, listen to him.
- You have an average build: If you have an average build, you should be in no hurry to lose weight fast. Because losing too much weight in too little time is very harmful. You shouldn’t try to lose more than 4 pounds within 5 months (Unless you are suffering from obesity and the doctor is supervising your diet and exercise).
When trying to lose weight, take it easy and pace yourself because the goal of weight loss is to attain fitness. There’s no point in damaging your organs or starving yourself off important nutrients in order to do so.
Which Body Parts Does a Rowing Machine Work on?
Rowing machines work on the muscles of your back, shoulders, and arms, but most of the machines having sliding seats that help you improve your lower-body muscles too. They can provide an effective yet low-impact aerobic exercise. This is why women usually prefer a rowing machine. Lose weight while you work out on a rowing machine, but remember to talk to your doctor before starting, especially if you are suffering from lower-back or joint problems.
You can burn calories and lose weight rowing in a great way to tone up the major muscles of your body and develop cardiovascular fitness. Working out on rowing machines is ideal for people with knee problems that can give them some pain from the activities like walking or running. You should use good technique and take expert opinion if you are not sure of the way to row on a rowing machine.
Rowing motions are effective for your upper body muscles. Especially, if you pull the handles towards your torso, it will engage your lats, rhomboids and your arms’ biceps. Rowing machines ensure a full-body workout by involving all of your body parts. Such as the sliding seat let you push off with your legs, developing your muscles of lower body parts.
Workout with a Rowing Machine
Create a workout schedule and set realistic goals – The first and the most important step towards rowing machine lose weight is to create a workout schedule. Create one that isn’t too strenuous for you and set some realistic goals. Make sure that you have enough recovery time after an exercise when creating the schedule. Stick to the schedule. Consult an expert if possible, for setting the goals and the schedule.
Keep an eye on your calories – At an average rowing session, you can burn a maximum of 622 KCals per hour. Always monitor your heart-rate and keep track of the calories you burned.
Consider your diet – Your diet is what makes or breaks you. Remember, that 622 KCals that you lost after 1 hour on the rowing machine will be undone after having two pieces of butter and toast. You can lose weight rowing but you can’t get carried away with those munchies.
Have adequate proteins and rest – You want to lose your weight by losing body fat, not by losing muscle mass. And without allowing yourself some recovery time, you will be losing your muscle mass as well. Now, some of you ladies might be thinking “why would I want to bulk up my muscles?” Well, it’s not about bulking up, it’s about retaining what you have. Muscle mass is really important, regardless of your gender.
Given that the diet is being well maintained, each hour of workout will help you burn approximately 0.15 lbs of body fat. This is a decent number because you don’t need to rush yourself when it comes to weight loss.
Dos While Working Out:
- Keep your back straight and don’t arch it, while rowing – It will help you avoid and manage lower back injuries. When you’re arching forward, you won’t be focusing on all the necessary muscle groups in your body.
- Push your legs firmly against the rest while rowing to get an even lower body workout – Many people use the strength of their upper body only when using a rowing machine, but that is not the correct way to do it. Using the strength of both your arms and legs, you can get an even workout for even the lower body muscles.
- Breathe out during exertion and breathe in when riling up – It will ensure the rhythmic pumping of your heart, allow you to work out for longer without going out of breath and avoid putting undue pressure on your lungs and diaphragm.
- Monitor your heart rate to get an idea of how hard you are pushing yourself – Generally, your heart rate will keep on decreasing for the same intensity of workout if you get used to it. In such cases, you’re going to have to increase the intensity of your training to match your heart rate.
- Your heart rate is the key indicator of a steady exercise routine – Your heart rate during rest and exercise, discloses your aerobic capacity and the risk for heart attack.
- For weight loss, focusing on increasing the speed of your rowing rather than increasing the resistance levels can give you better results. Resistance training is good for toning and strengthening muscles but will fatigue you sooner and you won’t end up burning as much calories as you wanted to.
Rowing can provide an effective cardiovascular workout apart from improving your muscles. You can set a pace causing a little sweat after 10 minutes while working at a moderate level. If you row while maintaining this pace for approximately 150 minutes per week, you will have benefits such as fewer illnesses, increased energy and a stronger heart. According to Harvard Medical School, when you work out on a rowing machine, you lose around an ounce of weight and increase your metabolism in just half an hour. A person weighing about 155 pounds working at a moderate pace will be able to lose up to 270 Kcal in that time.
Almost all people have misconceptions about how weight loss works. Some genuinely believe that sweating translates to losing body fat. Others would just lose some water mass and that weight loss would encourage them to go on a feeding spree. But most of them are oblivious to the fact that exercise is 25% of the regime and diet is the other 75%. If you’re trying to compensate for heavy eating, you’d most likely never reach your health goals. So, follow the ways mentioned here and maintain a diet chart suggested by your dietician to lose weight and be physically fit. Buy a rowing machine today, lose weight, and live healthy!
