Rowing machines have an impressive ability to train the entire body. The catch is that without maintaining proper form, you won’t be getting as much as you could from your rowing workout. The key to a good rowing workout is making sure the upper and lower body are working together. To get you up to speed, here’s a breakdown of everything you need to get going.

Sit down on the rowing seat, secure your feet on the foot rests with straps provided. If your machine has adjustable resistance levels, make sure to set it appropriately, towards the lower end if you’re starting out. To start, straighten your legs out in front of you and pull the handle in close to your chest. Place your hands on the outside of the oar, with pinkie fingers hanging off and thumbs resting on top. Push your shoulders back and down to open up your chest, keeping your back straight. On the drive forward, first extend your arms as far as they’ll go. Only bend your knees once your arms are fully straight. As you bend, keep your knees aligned with your chest, not dropping them off to the side, and maintain straight arms throughout. Push back by straightening your legs, only bending your arms back once your legs are fully straight. Again, bring the handle in close to your chest as you pull back.

To begin with, you may want to practice by isolating the arm and leg movements before you pull it all together.

For an optimal rowing machine workout, keep your strokes per minute to around 30 or less, and aim for a split time (the amount of time it takes to row 500 metres) to 2 minutes or less.

Remember rowing machines work best when focusing on power, not speed, so keep your focus on maintaining a strong and stable form to make sure you’re getting the best workout possible.

Rowing machines are probably the closest a single device can come to providing a full body workout, allowing access to most major muscle groups, and allowing the user to simultaneously improve cardiovascular health while maintaining muscle mass. The compound effect of working both the upper and lower body when utilising proper rowing technique means you expand a greater amount of overall energy in your workout. This makes them extremely effective at increasing intensity, and ensuring you’re always maximising the exertion of each exercise.

This is great news for those looking to lose some weight, as weight loss is all about increasing the energy you exert.

While there are many fantastic tools out there to help with weight loss, such as treadmills or spin bikes, rowing machines will maximise your calorie-burning potential. The great thing about rowing is that you don’t necessarily need to increase speed to see maximum benefits. Rowing is more about the power and force that you can apply. It will be more focused on how hard your muscles are working to keep you moving and in a stable position.

It does all this while simultaneously maintaining muscle mass and developing the functional strength of the major muscle groups. All these benefits combined make rowing machines one of the most efficient tools for toning and sculpting body mass and muscle in one convenient exercise.

As rowing machines tend to utilise a similar motion to pull ups, especially in the arms, some might wonder whether they can swap out one for the other and still reap the benefits.

First, what muscles does a pull up actually work? There are a range of muscles at play in this exercise, but are useful for building a stronger back, as well as developing muscles in the shoulders, arms and core. They are a type of vertical pull exercise, while a rowing machine is a type of horizontal pull exercise.

While both can be used to great effect, there are many reasons to prefer the latter. This includes extra protection for the shoulders, and greater core activation for added stability. This is compounded by the reduced tension on the joints, as the hands will be in a more joint-friendly position.

Rowing machines are a good alternative to pulls ups as they will target the full range of back muscles that pull ups are good for, while being easier on the joints and better for your posture and form. The horizontal motion of a rowing machine exercise is gentler on the wrists, shoulders and back, providing less irritation as you accelerate your exercise.

This means you can take on a greater amount of resistance and intensity in your workout without having to worry too much about excess muscle tension, allowing for a more comfortable progression than might be possible with pull ups.

What makes rowing machines such impressive tools are their ability to incorporate both the upper and lower body into a single workout, and target multiple major muscle groups at once. On top of this, rowing exercises are shown to simultaneously improve functional strength while giving you a comprehensive cardio workout.

The full range of motion of a rowing machine workout allows the user access to a range of muscle groups, working mostly the lower body and spine on the drive forward, and then the upper body and arms on the pull backwards.

The hamstrings, glutes, calves and spinal erectors are the focus on the drive forward, as the legs and spine are engaged to stabilise the body throughout the movement. On the pull back, the quads, biceps, forearms and lats are activated as you drive against the resistance from the machine. Throughout this, your core is working hard to maintain form, power and stability.

While this appears to cover most major muscle groups, the strongest focus will probably be in the legs. The leg muscles are comparatively larger, and as such can take on a greater amount of resistance, and will play a larger role in the movement of the exercise. It’s usually said that rowing exercises are 60% legs, 30% core and 10% arms, but don’t expect a rowing machine to go easy on the upper body. Once you perfect your technique, you’ll be burning just about every muscle in the body, and seeing impressive benefits in no time.

Rowing machines really are an all-in-one package, offering one of the most efficient uses of your time, ensuring you’re getting the most out of every second of exercise.

Many rowing machine users want the closest experience they can get to actually being out on the water. This is one of the reasons why dynamic resistance machines, such as the water rowing machine, are increasingly popular. This type of machine will respond to the amount of force exerted by the user, and increases resistance accordingly, either by a fan or plastic blades in a water tank. The water tank rower provides not only that dynamic resistance, but also the sensory experience of rowing in water. The added noise created by the blades in the water simulates the experience of real rowing.

However, if you’re working with an adjustable resistance machine, such as a magnetic rowing machine, you might wonder what setting will provide the most accurate on-water experience. This won’t be a straight forward answer, as the amount of resistance you’re working against out in the water will depend on a range of factors, including the force you exert, your speed, the water conditions and your own personal ability. Ultimately, finding the most accurate resistance level will be finding the level that provides you with enough resistance to challenge your whole body, without feeling like you’re peddling through mud.

A resistance level of around 4-6 will provide probably the most equivalent drag factor of water. However, this will also depend on the machine and the number of resistance levels that are available, so make sure to check what you’re working with and adjust accordingly.