Rowing machine help?

[MakingTheGrade]

Hi guys,

I need a little help. I would like to buy a rowing machine to have at home, but I'm a little overwhelmed with all the choices out there! I took a look on things that scored highly on Amazon, but it's still leaving me a little confused.

I went to Dicks and some other sporting stores, but nobody carried any rowing machines (just many treadmills, bikes, and ellipticals).

Does anyone have any recommendations for a good rowing machine? My husband and I are about average in terms of athleticism (we don't run marathons, but we can still run a mile without dying) and we wanted a cardio machine to have at home. After doing some reading, a rowing machine sounded like our best bet since it is less stress on your knees, provides a great cardio workout, and also gets your upper body involved. Problem is they aren't very popular, so not many stores carry them, and i haven't come across many good reviews in fitness magazines (I have a subscription to Shape).


Any help or recommendations would be greatly appreciated!

 

[scrumie09]

Hi,

Coming out of lurkdom because this is one thing I can help with!

Concept2. Full stop.

They really are the best; these are used for the UK Indoor Rowing Championships. I haven't had as good experience on any other rower. Others are more jerky and my feet fall out of the straps (I have tiny feet).

The one thing I suggest is that you look up how to use the machine properly or else you don't get as complete a workout (as well as you can throw your back).

Back to lurkdom, hope this helps!

 

[lulu]

Ditto Concept 2. My husband is in love with it. They have a website.

 

[soocool]

Concept 2 is one of the best, but I think it is more for competitive rowers (very pricey also).

Rowing is popular in Europe and not much in the US anymore. I remember when there were lots of rowers on the market. NordicTrack and Precor used to make rowers.

The ones I would recommend that are well made and under a $1000.00 are the Body Craft (uses wind resistance and mimics real life rowing, so the faster you row the more resistance) and Kettler Coach(Kettler is German made- uses magnetic resistance and you control the machine's resistance by adjusting the settings to your level of difficulty).

Before you purchase one try to find some place that carries these so that you can actually try them out. You want to be able to reach the controls easily when you need to and make sure both of you will have a good fit on the machine.

I would also highly recommend that you purchase a heart rate monitor (Polar is a good brand) to use while on the on the rowing machine(chest strap with wrist monitor is the best). You want to make sure that while you are starting out you don't push yourself too hard or you will stop training very soon. You have to build up your aerobic levels if you are just starting out. The hand grips on many machines like bikes and treadmills are not accurate at all - I know .

 

[MakingTheGrade]

Thanks everyone!

I would love to try one out in real life, but I cant seem to find a store that carries any!
I read that the Concept 2 was excellent, I just wasn't sure it was the best fit since neither of us are competitive rowers. I didn't know if that would be like buying 2000$ gold clubs to play mini golf with, lol.

 

[soocool]

Thanks everyone!

I would love to try one out in real life, but I cant seem to find a store that carries any!
I read that the Concept 2 was excellent, I just wasn't sure it was the best fit since neither of us are competitive rowers. I didn't know if that would be like buying 2000$ gold clubs to play mini golf with, lol.

What you can try:

Call the manufacturer and find out where you can see and try their equipment first hand. If you are lucky they will tell you which fitness centers have their equipment. This includes physical therapists, hospital fitness centers, etc. I think these are the places which would have the rowers as opposed to bally fitness, la fitness centers, though you can call and ask if they have rowers and then check out the club, but in particular the rowing machines.

Also, don't know where you are located but google Rowing Clubs or Rowing Teams. Many of these places will have rowing machines for training and actually there are such things as indoor rowing clubs where you could check out the equipment.