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I swear by indoor rowing. I've dropped 80lbs (from obese to my target weight) in the past 8 years, and most of that was from rowing I was running, but living

I swear by indoor rowing. I've dropped 80lbs (from obese to my target weight) in the past 8 years, and most of that was from rowing I was running, but living in an area with seasons, there were just too many excuses (its too hot, its too cold, its too rainy, its still dark outside, its snowing, my BT headphones aren't charged, etc....) and I found myself skipping runs too often. I bought myself the rower as a no-excuses aerobic workout. No matter what the weather, its always there. I now row 15km at a 15km/hr pace 3-4 days a week (alternate with other exercise) and I have totally stopped running. Some knee and hip issues that were aggravated by running have ceased to bother me. I have a water rower. I highly recommend it, as draining it makes moving it quiet easy (its pretty light when drained). I never setup a tablet; I just listen to podcasts when I row, the same as I used to when I ran.

DelightOne 5y ago
Did you have issues with the water being too weak a resistance on the back-pull? I'm reluctant to go over 40-50% to still be able to stow it away vertically.
- drewg123 5y ago
  I just filled it and forgot it. Whatever I have it set to matches some medium-ish setting that I've selected because it "feels right" on concept-2 rowers when I travel.
xur17 5y ago
> I have a water rower. I highly recommend it, as draining it makes moving it quiet easy (its pretty light when drained). I never setup a tablet; I just listen to podcasts when I row, the same as I used to when I ran. Which one did you buy?
- drewg123 5y ago
  Here is the amazon link: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000A6QIMS/ref=ppx_od_dt_b_asin_title_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000A6QIMS/ref=ppx_od_dt_b... I think that corresponds to the "natural" on Waterrower's own site.
Sohcahtoa82 5y ago
Pre-COVID, I would use the gym at work at the end of my day, and they had two water rowers. I must have been using them wrong, because I was pretty out of shape (5'8", 240 lbs), and I found that even with the rower set to the highest resistance, I could easily go 20+ minutes and my heart rate never got very high. Meanwhile, I'd struggle to jog a 13-minute mile. With each stroke, I began with my knees bent, arms straight in front of me, with the row handle almost fully retracted, and ended with knees straight, leaning back, handle pulled completely to my chest. My resting heart rate is about 90 bpm, and on the rower, it was only getting to ~130 bpm. I felt like I wasn't accomplishing much and used the stair machine for my cardio instead. There, my heartrate would be 160-180 bpm, and I'd usually climb for ~10 minutes, doing 20-30 floors, though I did hit 100 floors twice. Sadly, since COVID made me go remote, I haven't been to a gym. I miss that feeling of pride and accomplishment I'd get from setting the 100-floor goal on the stairs and hitting it. I plan on going back once Oregon lifts the mask mandates. Exercising with a mask is absolutely awful.
- marvin 5y ago
  That's weird. What happened when you went flat-out on these machines? Did you just end up doing 200 strokes per minute with each of them having the resistance of a greased water slide? Doesn't sound like they did their job. I have a Concept2 rowing machine at home, and even at the middle resistance setting, blacking out from going too hard is just a matter of willpower, so to speak. The resistance increases with speed.
  - Sohcahtoa82 5y ago
    Yeah, if I went flat-out, I'd end up moving fast with no resistance, and I would spend more effort pulling myself back towards the machine to begin my next row than actually rowing. Based on a sibling comment, there probably wasn't enough water in it, but I seem to remember a fill line being on it, and it was up to that line, but it's also been two years, so shrug.
- drewg123 5y ago
  How much water was in it? That's the only way to change resistance on the one that I have. How did you change the resistance for the one in the gym? FWIW, my resting heart rate is now in the 50s, and I get my heart rate up to between 150bpm and 170bpm, depending on how hard I push. EDIT: My ex wife had a hard time getting her heart rate up on a rower. She'd be miserable and out of breath, but her HR never got up above 120 or so.. I never figured out what the problem was. I always thought it was too much resistance, but changing the resistance is a pain, so she just moved on to other exercises..
CrazyStat 5y ago
> I now row 15km at a 15km/hr pace 3-4 days a week (alternate with other exercise) and I have totally stopped running. Some knee and hip issues that were aggravated by running have ceased to bother me. I started rowing about 6 months ago, and some chronic problems with my right knee completely disappeared within 3-4 weeks of daily rowing. It was kind of incredible. That knee had been bothering me for 15 years. I can only assume it was something about the precise repetitive movement. I do about 5km/day but this post is motivating me to increase that.
- cannaceo 5y ago
  This is tangential but I’d highly recommend checking out the “knees over toes guy” program if you suffer from knee pain. It’s helped me quite a bit. Specifically, the tibialis raises and split squat.

DelightOne 5y ago

Did you have issues with the water being too weak a resistance on the back-pull? I'm reluctant to go over 40-50% to still be able to stow it away vertically.

drewg123 5y ago
I just filled it and forgot it. Whatever I have it set to matches some medium-ish setting that I've selected because it "feels right" on concept-2 rowers when I travel.

xur17 5y ago

> I have a water rower. I highly recommend it, as draining it makes moving it quiet easy (its pretty light when drained). I never setup a tablet; I just listen to podcasts when I row, the same as I used to when I ran. Which one did you buy?

drewg123 5y ago
Here is the amazon link: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000A6QIMS/ref=ppx_od_dt_b_asin_title_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000A6QIMS/ref=ppx_od_dt_b... I think that corresponds to the "natural" on Waterrower's own site.

Sohcahtoa82 5y ago

Pre-COVID, I would use the gym at work at the end of my day, and they had two water rowers. I must have been using them wrong, because I was pretty out of shape (5'8", 240 lbs), and I found that even with the rower set to the highest resistance, I could easily go 20+ minutes and my heart rate never got very high. Meanwhile, I'd struggle to jog a 13-minute mile. With each stroke, I began with my knees bent, arms straight in front of me, with the row handle almost fully retracted, and ended with knees straight, leaning back, handle pulled completely to my chest. My resting heart rate is about 90 bpm, and on the rower, it was only getting to ~130 bpm. I felt like I wasn't accomplishing much and used the stair machine for my cardio instead. There, my heartrate would be 160-180 bpm, and I'd usually climb for ~10 minutes, doing 20-30 floors, though I did hit 100 floors twice. Sadly, since COVID made me go remote, I haven't been to a gym. I miss that feeling of pride and accomplishment I'd get from setting the 100-floor goal on the stairs and hitting it. I plan on going back once Oregon lifts the mask mandates. Exercising with a mask is absolutely awful.

marvin 5y ago
That's weird. What happened when you went flat-out on these machines? Did you just end up doing 200 strokes per minute with each of them having the resistance of a greased water slide? Doesn't sound like they did their job. I have a Concept2 rowing machine at home, and even at the middle resistance setting, blacking out from going too hard is just a matter of willpower, so to speak. The resistance increases with speed.
- Sohcahtoa82 5y ago
  Yeah, if I went flat-out, I'd end up moving fast with no resistance, and I would spend more effort pulling myself back towards the machine to begin my next row than actually rowing. Based on a sibling comment, there probably wasn't enough water in it, but I seem to remember a fill line being on it, and it was up to that line, but it's also been two years, so shrug.
drewg123 5y ago
How much water was in it? That's the only way to change resistance on the one that I have. How did you change the resistance for the one in the gym? FWIW, my resting heart rate is now in the 50s, and I get my heart rate up to between 150bpm and 170bpm, depending on how hard I push. EDIT: My ex wife had a hard time getting her heart rate up on a rower. She'd be miserable and out of breath, but her HR never got up above 120 or so.. I never figured out what the problem was. I always thought it was too much resistance, but changing the resistance is a pain, so she just moved on to other exercises..

CrazyStat 5y ago

> I now row 15km at a 15km/hr pace 3-4 days a week (alternate with other exercise) and I have totally stopped running. Some knee and hip issues that were aggravated by running have ceased to bother me. I started rowing about 6 months ago, and some chronic problems with my right knee completely disappeared within 3-4 weeks of daily rowing. It was kind of incredible. That knee had been bothering me for 15 years. I can only assume it was something about the precise repetitive movement. I do about 5km/day but this post is motivating me to increase that.

cannaceo 5y ago
This is tangential but I’d highly recommend checking out the “knees over toes guy” program if you suffer from knee pain. It’s helped me quite a bit. Specifically, the tibialis raises and split squat.