3 Rowing Machine Workouts to Get You Back on Track

Updated March 2, 2021

We’ve all been there…

You’re going along fine with your rowing machine workouts.  Showing up for them according to your plan, feeling like you could conquer the world when you’re done.  Nothing’s going to stop you now!

And then life gets in the way.

You get sick, you go on vacation, you get an injury that requires you to lay off for a while. One day you wake up and you realize, “I’ve gotten way off track.”  Days or weeks have gone by without a real workout happening.

Now what?

First off, stop and take a deep breath.  Getting off track with your workouts is totally normal.  It doesn’t make you bad, wrong, or any kind of a failure.  It makes you human.

HOW TO GET BACK ON TRACK  

As soon as you realize you’ve fallen off your plan, don’t stew over it, and certainly don’t beat yourself up.  It happens to everyone at some point, and it’s completely fine.

The worst thing you can do is decide, “I’ll never be able to stay consistent with my rowing machine workouts no matter what I do.”  Then give yourself permission to skip the gym and turn your home rowing machine into a clothes hanger.

Instead, give yourself a clean slate and make a plan for how you’re going to get back on track.  Like TODAY.

How to get back into working out

Ease Into It:

If it’s been a while, make sure you ease into it. Just because you USED to work out for 60 minutes a day, 6 days a week doesn’t mean you can or should after a long layoff (or at all). Set yourself up to be successful: Aim to move 2-3 days a week for a few weeks, then build from there.

Do it until it’s so easy it’s automatic. Then move on.

Add the element of accountability:

Then, once you have your plan in place, tell someone about it.  A real, live person you know is spectacular, but failing that Facebook or another social media platform is an excellent alternative.

Just be sure you declare it “out loud,” and ask people to check in with you from time to time. Accountability is key, and it’s harder to hide when you announce your intentions to the world!

Take a live class

One of the best ways to keep yourself accountable to your workout is to sign up for a live class. Be it in person or online, putting yourself on the hook to Show. Up. where someone is waiting for you is an excellent motivator.

No free classes, either. You’ll be much more likely to actually do the class if some money is changing hands, even if just a little.  As the saying goes, “The transformation is in the transaction.”

Want to try a live rowing class, with fun, community and coaching from world-class experts? Try our live online classes!

Be patient! 

You didn’t get out of shape or put on 10 lbs. in a week, you’re not going to reverse those quickly, either. All the more reason to make changes slowly and sustainably so that the effort doesn’t suck the life out of you.

The older we get, the longer it takes to see progress in fitness and nutrition. You might as well make it a ride you can enjoy.

3 rowing Machine workouts to jump-start your restart

One of the great things about the rowing machine is it meets you where you are, regardless of your current fitness level.

Since the rowing machine is an ergometer, you are always in control of how hard it is to row.  The harder you push-pull, the harder it will be to do so, and vice versa.

A little variety doesn’t hurt to keep you consistent either.

So to start you back on the right track, here are three rowing workouts, all different styles.  They showcase the three formats we typically use in our UCanRow2 Bodyshop classes: Erg (aka rowing machine, SkiErg or BikeErg) only, erg with bodyweight, and erg with equipment.

They’re all great and will give you a fantastic sweat.  You decide which one works best for you!

NOTE: Warm up well before each workout, keeping in mind the axiom: “The shorter the workout, the longer the warmup.”

ERG-ONLY ROWING INTERVALS

Row intervals of 1-2-3-3-2-1 mins. (total 6 rounds), with the same amount of rest on each round.  Total time for the workout (without warmup or cooldown) is 24 minutes.

Start each round with a few short strokes to get going and build to your rating.  Each piece (interval) should be done at 80 percent of your max, where you’re rowing at a pace at which you can talk but you’d rather not.

Aim for a stroke rating between 24 and 28 strokes per minute.  Use how you feel to determine what stroke rating to hold.

Your goal is to maintain the same split within about 5 seconds on each round.  If you find you can’t talk, you’re going too hard!

Make it easier: Back off on the intensity, or lower your stroke rating
Make it harder: Work to take 5-10 seconds off your split on each round

ERG + BODYWEIGHT

AMRAP (As Many Rounds As Possible) 20 mins of:

Row 500m
10 lunges
10 push-ups
10 burpees / step-ups
8 thrusters / squats
25 jumping jacks
3 broad jumps

Make it easier: Lower intensity on the row / reduce the number of off-erg moves or do the scaled options – the second choice when there are two listed
Make it harder: Increase intensity on the erg, up the workout time by 5-10 mins.

ERG + EQUIPMENT

4 rounds, descending pyramid:

Row 1 minute
In between do 12-9-7-5 repetitions of:
Push-ups
TRX or weighted squats / air squats
Push press
Sit-ups
KB swings

Make it easier: Eliminate the exercises on the last round, instead ending with the 4th row as a sprint
Make it harder: Add a round of 15 repetitions at the beginning

Give them a try, and we would truly be thrilled and honored if you would comment below and let us know how you liked them, and if anything especially worked or didn’t work.

If you want more rowing machine workouts like this be sure to join our email list; We send out new workouts every week, along with other great content you won’t see anywhere else.

One quick caution, because Safety First and Do No Harm are our guiding principles: The workouts we post here are intended for people with at least some rowing experience.

If you’re new to the rowing machine

If you’re new to the rowing machine, we recommend you find a certified indoor rowing instructor to help with the basics and sign up for our RowReady course for beginners.

Also subscribe to our YouTube channel where we have loads of workouts and rowing technique instruction and check out our blog post on rowing technique for videos and articles that will help you refresh and review.

Ready for more? Take one of our live online classes!

Share your plan in the comments and seal the deal!