How Long Do You Have to Row to Burn 500 Calories?

If you want to lose weight, then using a rowing machine is perhaps one of the best ways to do that. Rowing is a full-body workout that will help you reach your fitness goals and lose weight like crazy.

Aside from the intensity of your rowing workout, you’ll need to factor in your current weight to determine how long you need to row to burn 500 calories. It will not be the same for everyone, but generally, it will take you at least an hour of moderate-intensity rowing to burn that much.

Losing weight will do more than make you look good on the beach or in that tight dress, it will also give you more energy, extend your life expectancy, and make you feel as good as you look.

Many people plan on cutting back on calories a bit and then adding some exercise to lose weight, but is this the best and fastest plan?

In today’s article, I’m going to tell you how to burn 500 calories on a rowing machine and more, so you can look good, feel good, and be as healthy as you can possibly be.

How Long Should I Row to Lose Weight?

This may sound like an easy question, but the answer isn’t as simple.

Weight loss only happens when there is calorie deficit, meaning you burn more calories than you take in. Also, someone who is very overweight will burn more calories than someone who only has a few pounds to lose.

You see, a lot of things come into play when talking about the number of calories you burn rowing, and it can be difficult to get an exact number. Let me tell you what things affect how fast you burn calories.

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Factors that Affect Calories Burned

Most people will find that rowing 20-30 minutes most days of the week (meaning at least 5, but 6 would be better) and working out with at least a moderate intensity will result in weight loss.

The actual number of calories burned per minute will vary depending on the following factors:

• Your current weight
• Your sex
• Your age
• Your base metabolic rate
• Your current fitness level
• Your rowing intensity
• The room temperature

To state the obvious, it doesn’t matter if you spend an hour each day on the rowing machine, if you’re moving forward only to grab a bite of a donut, you aren’t going to lose any weight at all.

So How Long Does It Take to Burn 500 Calories on a Rowing Machine?

Like the question above, several factors determine how long you need to row to burn 500 calories.

For example, a 220-pound female can burn about 336 calories in 30 minutes of moderate rowing ( check out our rowing machine calculator for calories ). This means you would need to row for almost an hour at moderate intensity to burn 500 calories.

That really is a long time for most people to row, especially beginners, but it is totally possible.

You might want to consider doing a HIIT program. High-Intensity Interval Training means that you do short bursts of very intense exercise ( rowing as fast as possible for say 1 minute) followed by a short period of rest or slower activity levels for a period of time (rowing very slowly for the next 2 minutes, for example).

HIIT workouts burn 25 to 30 percent more calories than regular workouts where you maintain the same speed.  Side Note: If you are looking for interactive machines that off HIIT workout be sure to read my article on the Aviron Tough Series Rower

That means that if you were a 220-pound female, you could burn an extra 100 calories during a 30-minute session.

So, rather than row for nearly an hour to burn 500 calories, you could burn 436 calories in 30 minutes!

You will also burn more calories for hours after you have stopped exercising, so I think it would be safe to say that if you did a HIIT rowing workout for 30 minutes, you would burn those 500 calories by the time you cooled down.

Of course, your results will vary if you don’t weigh this much. Check out this calculator to help find both your basal metabolic rate and this calculator to find your calorie burn for your weight and age.

The best way to burn 500 calories in half an hour is to find a HIIT rowing workout and stick to it!

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How Many Calories Are Burned Per KM of Rowing?

You can figure this out fairly easily.

There are 1,000 meters in one kilometer. Most people can row 1,000 meters in about 5 minutes.

If you weigh 200 pounds, and you’re working at a moderate intensity, you would burn 55 calories in 5 minutes.

Of course, if you weigh less, the amount of calories you burn will be less, and if you work out harder, you can burn more calories.

For example, the same 200-pound person rowing vigorously will burn about 106 calories in 5 minutes.

You might also want to mix up your routine and do a HIIT rowing program one day, then do a different exercise routine another day, such as weightlifting or circuit training, swimming or walking.

Rowing is the perfect exercise, but you don’t want your body to become accustomed to it.

You can use this calculator to help you determine how many calories rowing will burn for you.

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Use Diet and Exercise to Lose Weight

It may be old-fashioned advice, but it still makes sense. To lose weight, you should cut back on calories a bit and get in some exercise.

Exercise to Burn Calories

Regular aerobic exercise will increase your base metabolic rate. This means that you will naturally burn more calories even when you’re occasionally binge-watching Netflix.

Also, exercise will give you more muscle mass. Muscle burns more calories than fat. Thus, rowing will help you add more muscle, which will also help you burn more calories.  

Cut Back on Calories with Proper Diet

To lose weight, you not only need exercise, but you should also eat fewer calories.

This doesn’t mean that you need to eat like a rabbit or swear off certain foods forever, but you should try to eat a healthy, plant-based diet at least 80 percent of the time.

Try eating a salad before you eat dinner. Drink a full glass of water with your salad, and I bet you’ll hardly touch your dinner.

You can do low-carb if you prefer, but personally, I found that going super low-carb (less than 40 grams of carbs per day) does help you lose weight quickly, but you end up binging because there are so many foods you can’t eat.

It is far better to simply eat fewer carbs. If you love pasta and eat it 3 times per week, cut back to twice a week and try to cut back on your portion size.

It’s nearly impossible to spend years NOT eating foods that you love, and most diets fail for this reason. I have had success by using some of the calorie counting apps. Once I discovered my base metabolic rate, I ate as I normally would for one week, tracking everything. Then I cut back just 200 calories a day.

You would be surprised how easy it is to cut out 200 calories. You won’t believe the amount of calories you can cut back just by doing the following:

• Using less sauce (whatever sauce you like- gravy, spaghetti sauce, you name it)
• Using artificial sweeteners for coffee or tea
• Adding more vegetables to everything
• Ditching sodas unless they are sugar-free
• Cutting out beer and only drinking sparingly
• Not using creamy dressings for salads (like Ranch or Blu Cheese); instead, experiment with honey mustard dressing, Italian, or oil, and balsamic vinegar dressings

There’s a piece about weight-loss-friendly foods that you can read here.

You can still have a cookie on Saturday night, just don’t eat the entire box!

The Bottom Line

Everyone would love a quick fix when it comes to losing weight.

While dieting (such as low-carb) can have you drop substantial amounts of weight, you won’t get the muscle tone you want nor will you grow new muscles simply by dieting.

This is why exercise is an important part when it comes to losing body fat.

The old-fashioned advice that you probably heard all your life is still true- cut back a bit on your diet and get in some exercise (I recommend rowing workouts), and you will create a calorie deficit that will have you drop weight quicker than you thought possible.