When I was an undergraduate at Marietta College back in Ohio, I was a member of the women’s’ varsity basketball team. I remember vividly the first two weeks of my freshman year feeling like I was mistakenly put on the track team because all we did was run.
One early, frigid, winter morning on the way to the gym I was complaining to my roommate about just how much running we were doing when I saw the rowing team at work. Not only were they running in sub 30-degree temperatures at the crack of dawn, they were running up and down hills. Later on, as I made friends with team members, I discovered that rowing was just about the toughest cardio workout there was and all that hill training was necessary to be ready to compete.
Nowadays, I do a ton of rowing at the CrossFit box and love it. I also am a big fan of flat water stand-up paddle boarding of which Nikki and I plan to do on our July Fourth week trip to Oak Island. Whether you like rowing in a gym, on the river or in the ocean, there are plenty of fitness benefits to be had by rowing your boat. Courtesy of Healthfitnessrevolution.com, let’s look at the top 10:
— Promotes healthy body composition: Rowing can help maintain a healthy balance of fat mass and fat-free mass in your body. If an analysis of your body composition indicates that your body fat is high, rowing can be a good way to burn off fat, as it is predominantly an aerobic sport. You can easily burn up to 600 calories per hour.
— Offers low impact exercise with high results: Both competitive and recreational rowing are unique in comparison to most sports because they exercise all of your major muscle groups. Everything from your legs, back and arms are engaged while rowing. In addition, rowing is a low-impact sport.
— Promotes weight loss: Competitive rowers expend almost twice the number of calories on a 2,000-meter course as a runner in a 3,000-meter steeplechase. However, since rowing is low impact, you will not experience the same wear and tear on your body and joints as you would if you were a runner.
— Helps the heart: Cardiovascular training involves any activity that requires the use of the large muscle groups of the body in a regular and uninterrupted manner. Rowing is one of the few non-weight bearing sports that exercises all the major muscle groups.
— Builds muscle strength: The primary muscles that rowers work are the quadriceps, the large muscles in front of your thighs. These muscles are necessary for extending the knee, and they also serve as hip flexors, which allow you to make powerful leg movements.
— Reduces stress: The consistent and rhythmic activity associated with rowing, combined with being outdoors on the water, has an unparalleled impact on reducing stress.
— Stabilizes the body: Rowing in a boat requires the stabilizer and neutralizer muscles to fire up. Those same muscles might help to avoid a fall or help keep you from hurting your back when lifting a child or a heavy box awkwardly.
— Improves muscle and joint mobility: Rowing conditions many different muscles and joints without straining them, making this exercise ideal for those with arthritis or osteoporosis. The muscles and joints experience a wide range of movement during rowing, which will eventually minimize stiffness and increase flexibility.
— Offers a full-body exercise: A rowing machine works the lower and middle back, hamstrings, calves, gluteal muscles and biceps. Rowing works more body parts than most cardiovascular machines, and it provides a low-impact exercise that people of various fitness levels can complete comfortably.
Grab a canoe, kayak or hit the gym for a rowing machine and give it a try. I guarantee you will like the results.
