rowing machine advice

Soldato
Joined
1 Jun 2005
Posts
5,152
Location
Kent
I would like some advice on how i should use a rowing machine at home. I currently plan on doing muscle building 3 times a weeks, and would like to add a rowing machine routine into that if possible to help build muscle, but i would also like to do some gentle rowing every dail to help build up my general fitness (not necessarily muscle mass).

Im not sure what sort of distances/times i should be aiming for. for the building of muscle mass should i keep trying to do 0.5km as fast as possible or should i aim for a longer distance and pace myself slightly. And for the daily use, what sort of distance should i aim for to start with (bearing in mind im not very fit at the moment).
 
FIRST, read GordyRs Sticky Posts (why hasn't Gordy been made a man of honour yet?!!) RE-read it, again and again until you understand every paragraph. I'm mean it. do it. Then re-read it again

A rowing machine will not help you build muscle mass (it might at the very beginning, but not much), however it is truly excellent for cardio fitness. Look into doing some high intensity interval training (Google HIIT) as you get fitter. Distances don't matter, at the moment, you will improve almost daily since you state you are not fit, so go for a certain amount of time.

Start off doing about 30 mins at a comfortable pace, gradually you will find that you can increase resistances and your pace will improve. Then when you feel you are at a comfortable level for those 30 mins, start HIIT. This will keep things interesting and will push you to your limits.

Try to keep a log of your distances, time, Resistance setting etc. after each session. You will be surprised at how much you will want to beat the last session time or distance. And you will see how you improve over the months, there is no greater motivation than that.

Oh ....and if you are using it at home, buy the Box sets of all the sopranoes, only allow yourself to watch one, while training. Helps with motivation, and staves off boredom :)

Have a look at www.johnstonefitness.com and see how that guy started out. Have fun, keep at it and i promise you, you will love being fit.

Nate

Edit:- GordyR's thread in case you forgot to read it ;)
http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=17401146
 
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