Rowinghas always been a great workout.
Exercisers are drawn to the gym staple for a bunch of reasons, but theres one major one.
This makes it a great full-body workoutand more than just a cardio challenge.
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Which begs the question: Does rowing count as cardio or strength training?
While the ask is simple, the answer is a bit more nuanced.
First of all, what exactly is rowing?
Rowing the oar into the water provides the real-world resistance that makes each stroke feel so tough.
But more common for exercise purposes is the indoorrowing machine, or an ergometer.
This drive creates the resistance.
The more momentum you build, the heavier it will feel as you rev it back up.
What kind of workout is rowing?
So, which kind of workout is rowing: strength or cardio?
Simply put, its both.
Rowing is a cardio exercise because it involves continuous, repetitive movement that increases your heart rate.
But it can also challenge your muscles from a strength perspective.
During the drive, youre engaging yourglutes, quads, hamstrings, and core, Crawford says.
One reason for the muscle benefits?
This rest-and-reset allows you to really challenge your muscles with higher load or resistance during your working sets.
For those latter goals, youd need to useprogressive overloadwith strength trainingcontinually challenging your muscles with gradually increasing weight.
How can you use rowing to build strength?
(These numbers generally will be shown on the display of your rower.)
With power workouts, you want to maximize your stroke count within the interval time.
Producing power depends on your ability to create force on the machine, Crawford says.
If youre just getting started with rowing, you may want to try the lower end first.
That means youre really focusing on getting that harder contraction and that explosive drive through your legs.
How can you use your rowing workout to build cardiovascular endurance?
This means you want to keep the stroke rate low and the damper relatively low.
Heres how to try anaerobic-based workout:.
