Rowing · Endurance
How to row further
How to row with your legs instead of your arms, the ladder from five hundred metres to ten kilometres, and how to build distance on the machine.
The movement
How to do one properly.
Every rep the same shape, so the numbers mean the same thing on day thirty as on day one.
- 1
Sit tall at the catch: shins vertical, arms straight, shoulders in front of your hips.
- 2
Drive with the legs first, then swing the body back, then pull the arms in. Legs, body, arms.
- 3
Finish with the handle at the bottom of your ribs, leaning back a little, legs flat.
- 4
Return in the reverse order: arms away, body forward, then bend the knees.
- 5
Twenty to twenty-six strokes a minute for distance. Speed comes from the drive, not the stroke rate.
The way up
How to row further
Rung 1
500 metres
Two minutes or so at a stroke you could keep. Learn the order of the drive.
Rung 2
2 km
The classic test distance. Row it steadily before you ever race it.
Rung 3
5 km
Twenty-odd minutes. Now it is an endurance session.
Rung 4
10 km
Forty minutes and more. Pace by the split time, not by feel.
Row by intervals first: five times a thousand metres with two minutes rest, then make the pieces longer until they join up into one row. Three sessions a week is plenty.
Most beginners row with their arms and back and wonder why they tire. If your arms bend before your legs are straight, slow the stroke down until the order is right, then build the distance.
How it is counted
On the board, however it got there.
Your watch or phone sends it. Wahoo, Suunto, Apple Health, and Health Connect all report rowing on their own, so it lands scored without anyone typing. No watch? Say it out loud in the app instead.
Worth 25 points per kilometre in the app, so a challenge can weigh it against anything else you count.
Questions
Asked about rowing
How is rowing counted?
In kilometres, from the machine's distance or your watch. The split time is yours to chase; the board scores the distance.
Does the machine send it to the app?
Not directly. A watch that records the row as rowing does: Wahoo, Suunto, Apple Health and Health Connect all send it. Otherwise say the distance out loud in the app.
Does it count from my watch?
Your watch or phone sends it. Wahoo, Suunto, Apple Health, and Health Connect all report rowing on their own, so it lands scored without anyone typing. No watch? Say it out loud in the app instead.
Is it free?
Yes. The athlete app is free: logging, challenges and every guide on this site. Coaches pay for their workspace; the people they coach do not.
Other exercises
Everything else we count.
Push up
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Pull up
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Squat
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Plank
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Sit up
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Dip
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Burpees
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Lunges
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Jumping jacks
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Skipping
How to skip rope longer
Extensions
How to do more back extensions
Battle ropes
How to last longer on battle ropes
Running
How to run further
Cycling
How to ride further
Swimming
How to swim further
Steps
How to walk more steps every day
Hiking
How to hike further
Football
How to get fitter for football
Basketball
How to get fitter for basketball
Tennis
How to get fitter for tennis
Dancing
How to build stamina for dancing
Yoga
How to make yoga a daily habit
Do more rowing.
Let someone see it.
Get the app, log what you did or let your watch send it, and hand your friends the code.