Rowing: An Effective Cardiovascular Workout

Rowing, a sport that has been around for decades has long been considered to be something left for older, upper-class athletes. Fortunately, rowing has been making its way into gyms and fitness clubs for the past half decade or so. This is good for the average gym goer as rowing is one of the best cardiovascular workouts that you can get. Rowing machines, pieces of cardiovascular equipment designed to simulate the rowing motion, have the unique ability to work almost every muscle in the human body at one time. At the same time, the amount of resistance can be tailored to your specific needs and level of athleticism, providing a fantastic cardiovascular workout while simultaneously building muscle. By following a training program designed partially around rowing, the average athlete can effectively train the cardiovascular system in much less time than either running or biking.

In order to build your cardiovascular system for rowing, it is best to focus on longer distance pieces rather than shorter sprints type workouts as you would if you were training on the treadmill or on a bike. On the most popular and effective long-distance workouts on the rowing machine is the 10K. A 10K, or 10,000 meters, is a distance piece that takes between 35 and 50 minutes depending on your age, gender, and athletic ability. The reason that this piece is so efficient is that by completing it you will burn roughly 1000 calories and substantially increase your cardiovascular fitness. By doing a 10K 3-4 times a week you will drastically increase of your rowing fitness as well as your overall fitness in under a month. For those who are trying to get a workout done in under half an hour, a 6K is another popular long-distance rowing workout. The popularity of this workout is primarily due to the fact that many rowing races in the fall season are around this distance and a 6K is a popular rowing test piece. Often, a measure of a rower's cardiovascular fitness is determined by how fast they can complete this piece, with many athletic male rowers being able to finish in under 20 minutes. However long it takes you, a 6K will burn approximately 600 calories and should take under half an hour again depending on your athletic ability.

Regardless of what you choose, completing either of these two workouts 3-4 times a week will result in a substantial gain in your cardiovascular fitness and depending on your nutrition plan and body fat level could also cause substantial weight loss.