Work up a Little Romance with your Rowing Machine Workout
So you just bought your first rowing machine. Now you intend to use it to tone up those abs, strengthen your upper body and firm up those thighs. You know it can do all that but where do you start? You need a rowing machine workout regime! Because your rowing machine provides such an all around exercise, keep in mind a few simple things. First, if you are going to work on all those problem areas at once you will be needing to move all those muscles at once. “No motion, no exercise.” Just say it out loud and keep repeating it. This is your new motto.
The idea of the rowing motion being good exercise has been around a long time. Rowers in real boats observed from the start that the activity utilized key muscle groups throughout the entire body in one unified, graceful and repetitive movement. If you are up for an attitude adjustment stop looking at your new rowing machine as a machine or a piece of fitness equipment. Rowing machine manufacturers and salespeople often lose sight of the romantic nature of the beast. It is a boat; it is a rowing simulator.
Some Inspiration
I once lived in a place where I sometimes passed by a lazy riverside where competitive rowers often practiced their skills. In the early morning when the water was glassy you might miss the event because the rowers were so eerily silent. Four or five long rowing sculls, each loaded with 4 full-grown men, didn’t make a sound as they glided by. The boats cut through the water like hot knives through butter. They didn’t say a word to each other. There was barely a discernable whisper or splash from their synchronized oars heard above the normal lapping gurgles of the river. It really was a thing of beauty and awe. It was hard to take your eyes off this fleeting ballet until they finally slipped out of sight.
Now that you are in the right frame of mind, get right to it; position yourself in the seat of your rower to begin your rowing machine workout. Close your eyes and vow to stop referring to it as a machine. Since this exercise does involve the coordination of the entire body you might experience some frustration getting your hands, arms, feet, legs and torso to all work together at first. It’s okay, those rowers did quite a bit of oar flailing and splashing around until they perfected it too.
Unlike a lot of exercise equipment your rowing machine does one thing and one thing only. You don’t sit to work your tummy muscles, flip it over and work your thighs, fold it up and work your shoulders, and then lay it flat on the floor to work your calves. The rowing machine does what it does best, gives you a single coordinated bodily motion that works your entire body in unison.
Have some fun!
Your rowing machine workout should be fun and rewarding. When you need relief from the stresses of the day row smoothly and deliberately while you envision the silent rowers on the peaceful river. Most of the better rowing machines now come with electronic monitors that report the time you spend at your workout, the strokes per minute you pull, even your heart rate during the process. Use these features in your workout as part of the routine. When you feel a little frisky challenge yourself. You can race other rowers, or race against your best time. Throw your arms in the air when you sail past the finish buoys, first of the pack.
Remember the rowers. Forever it seems humans have shown great admiration for other humans in sport and dance. The best of the best, that exhibit the most coordinated and controlled bodily movements, have also been richly rewarded in every society. No other piece of exercise equipment can capture the imagination like the rowing machine and that is the best workout of all. So have fun with your rowing machine workout and use your imagination!