You’ve heard all the claims—working out on a rowing machine gets all the major muscle groups of the body engaged, 84% of the total muscle mass to be exact! But have you wondered exactly what muscles does a rowing machine work out? Is the promise of a full-body workout true? Find the answer to your questions below.
What are the phases of a rowing stroke?
You know all about this, or you may have seen how strokes are executed. So just a recap, there are four phases to a stroke which are the following:
- Catch
- Drive
- Finish
- Recovery
All your major muscles participate in completing every single stroke, with 60% of the power coming from the legs, 25% from the core, and 15% from the arms. So if you thought that rowing was primarily an upper-body workout, you couldn’t be more wrong.
So what muscles does a rowing machine work?
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Let’s take each phase of a stroke and see which muscles contribute to complete the motions.
The Catch
Position: Start with your seat in the forward position, abdominals tightened, upper body slightly bent forward, knees bent, thighs forming an acute angle with the shins, and heels close to the seat. Grip the rowing handle with your arms stretched out to the front. Flex your feet towards you while preparing to pivot for the next phase.
Muscles worked: thigh and leg muscles (quadriceps or quads, hamstrings, calves, sartorius, tibialis anterior), abdominals (rectus abdominis or abs), lower back muscles (spinal erectors), and upper body muscles (deltoids, traps, triceps, serratus anterior a.k.a. “big swing muscle” or “boxers’ muscle”)
The Drive
There are three sub-phases to the drive, each focusing on a different muscle group:
Sub-phase 1: Focus on the legs
Position: Slide back your seat to the middle of the beam, keeping your upper body vertical, knees partially extended, and feet pushing on the pedals. Contract your thigh and leg muscles, and pull back elbows slightly.
Muscles Worked: thigh and leg muscles (glutes, quads, hams, calves), upper body (deltoids, traps)
Sub-phase 2: Focus on the body swing
Position: Push back your seat past the middle of the beam, swinging your upper body backward to a slight incline. As you push your legs, transfer that leg power to your torso during the swing. Upper body, abdominals, and lower back muscles contract to keep the body steady.
Muscles Worked: lower back (spinal erectors), abs and obliques, and upper body muscles (deltoids, traps, teres major, serratus anterior), arm muscles (forearm and biceps), and leg muscles (glutes, hams, quads, calves)
Sub-phase 3: Focus on the arms and upper body
Position: With a more pronounced incline, engage your core, contract your arms to prepare for the pull through, and extend your legs.
Muscles Worked: upper body muscles (delts, traps, lats, forearm, biceps, pecs), quads
The Finish
Position: With your shoulders back and down and upper back inclined, push your elbows back tight below your rib cage as you pull the chain to its max length. Continue to engage your core as your feet push away at the pedals. Fully stretch your legs while preparing to contract them for the next phase.
Muscles Worked: arm muscles (forearms, biceps), upper body muscles (delts, traps, lats), abs, glutes, and quads
The Recovery
Position: Extend your arms forward at the chest level, tighten your abs to flex your torso forward slowly bringing your back from the inclined to an upright position, bend your knees, and flex your feet as you slide your seat to the front. Keep your back straight and your core engaged the whole time.
Muscles Worked: upper body muscles (traps, delts), arm muscles (triceps, forearms, wrist extensors), abs, thigh and leg muscles (hamstrings, calves)
How significant are the calories burned rowing?
With all those muscles getting a proper workout, we’re not surprised at all that you get at least 400 calories burned rowing for an hour. This is comparable to intense workouts in and out of the gym. What sets rowing apart from others? Two things make a rowing machine stand out from the rest of indoor fitness equipment:
- It’s one of the most intense full-body routine with the lowest impact to joints. This low-impact quality opens a safe option for people with weak joints or who are recovering from some injuries to get fit.
- Its intensity makes it one of the best cardiovascular routines there is. The rhythm and intensity of rowing routines raise the heart and breathing rates of an athlete. Done regularly, rowing will strengthen your heart, increase your lung capacity, help you lose weight, and improve overall health.
The combination of these two characteristics, the number of calories burned rowing, and the muscles engaged in each stroke make a rowing machine one of the most potent equipment in the gym.
Wrapping up
Catch. Drive. Finish. Recover. Repeat. Doing this routine regularly will not only make you healthy physically, it will also help relieve stress and improve emotional strength. In other words, it’s not only a question of “what muscles does a rowing machine work,” but also about the overall benefits that you get out of rowing.