Background, I’m in pretty good shape and in my early 30’s. However, as of late my exercise routine has been in a steady decline. I work 10 hour days, have three kids, and have truthfully lost interest in the routine I had been going with for the past couple years (a mixture of pushups, pullups, ab routine, and running). I was big into the running, however I have a knee injury from some time back that seems to flare up lately whenever I go for a run. I’m not looking to build more muscle, just trying to stay in good shape.
So I’ve been trying to come up with a way to keep myself in shape without having to do a major routine. A co-worker mentioned looking into getting a rower and using that every night as a way to maintain basically.
I know absolutely nothing about them, so I’m throwing myself to wolves so to say to see what the consensuses is on here. If a rower is a viable option, what brands should I be looking into?
Rowers are awesome, but any of the decent ones I’ve seen are hundreds of dollars. How much are you willing to spend? Concept2 are heavily favored from what I have seen.
Consider this: I bought a (don’t recall the exact name of the darn thing) whereby if I wanted to train while the weather outside was not cooperating, I could remove my bicycle’s front tire and attach the back tire to this gizmo, hop on and cycle like a mad demon in one spot in my house.
I found I hated it.
First, it was noisy as hell. Expensive too. It kinda sounded sounded like a jet engine once you get it going at full tilt.
Also, cycling, sweating in one spot just wasn’t for me. Plus, it was boring in the extreme.
I tried watching t.v with head phones to cancel the noise, didn’t work, while pedalling in one spot, then I tried reading, another impossibility and many other approaches to make this endeavor doable.
Finally, I gave up on it and gave it away to a cycling club.
Rowing may prove to have similarities.
Perhaps, you could rent one or borrow one before actually buying and see if it’s really for you.
When it comes to rowing machines theres concept 2 rowers and then everything else. There is no reason to consider any other brand. I havent been on a single other one that was worth a shit.
There is a substantial online community for various workout plans/routines/monthly challenges to keep you motivated. Additionally, there are quite a few videos on rowing technique which should help you to not further aggravate your previous knee injury. I have found rowing to be a great supplement to my running on days where the weather is discouraging me from running outside or I want a break from the impact of running. I use a Concept 2 rower almost daily as either a warm up, cool down, or both.
Get a TRX suspension trainer, a few sand bags, and a few KBs, giving you almost endless variations working the entire body effectively, save $$$, and take up little space. Sit there and row in one spot, no thanx.