What is a rowing machine, exactly?

A rowing machines mimics what it feels like to row a boat, so you get the same resistance of water on a machine, increasing your heart rate and building strength. What also makes rowing more appealing to those who dislike running and other high-impact exercises like HIIT, is that it’s a low-impact workout that goes easy on your joints.

While rowing might appear to be mostly an upper-body workout, your legs and glutesare actually the main muscles driving your stroke.

“Rowing is 80% legs and 20% upper body,” Karwoski says. “But it also forces you to engage your core and back, so you feel completely connected from your feet to your shoulders. We live in an ever-stressed world, where we’re constantly sitting and rounding our backs, but rowing helps correct this by engaging those lats and sitting upright.”

How to use a rowing machine

Before you hop on a rowing machine, keep these form tips in mind. In rowing, there are four positions you need to know about the stroke: the catch, drive, finish, and recovery. The stroke begins at the catch. When you sit on the rower, you want to get your butt as close to the edge of the seat closest to the handle bar, bending your knees. This forces you to sit up tall and elongate your spine. It also helps you recruit your core.

When you’re strapping your feet into the foot stretchers, you want the straps to be around the widest part of your foot. This allows you to put weight on your feet and press hard on your toes during the drive. The drive is when you move the handlebar quickly into your chest, engaging your back and core muscles. “Press and generate momentum from the legs, hinging at the hips,” Karwoski says. 

As you finish, move your hands slowly back to the catch position, but be sure to keep your legs and knees straight until the handlebar goes over your knees. This step is crucial, Karwoski says. At the recovery, your body follows the handle bar and the seat slides forward until your knees are bent again at the catch.