Do Rowing Machines Burn Fat?

Launching your boat into the lake and rowing through the early-morning mist for an invigorating workout might be appealing, but unless you're visiting a cottage or live on a body of water, this activity isn't always practical. A rowing machine, however, provides a suitable alternative. Rowing machines, which are a fixture at many gyms, burn calories rapidly and can play a role in your fat-loss workout.

  1. Lose Fat Through Exercise and Diet

    • Fat loss doesn't take place just because you've exercised for a short duration. Fat loss is a process that requires healthy exercise and diet choices. The simplest approach to take is to cut down on your intake of unhealthy calories and increase the amount of time you spend exercising. By making these lifestyle changes, you'll increase your chance of putting your body in a calorie deficit, which leads to fat loss. Using a rowing machine as part of your regular workout is suitable.

    Row, Row, Row Your Calories Away

    • A single workout on the rowing machine won't cause the pounds to melt off your body, but it can act as a foundation for fat loss. ExRx.net's calorie calculator notes that a 175-pound person burns about 286 calories in 30 minutes of using the rowing machine at a moderate pace. Upon increasing the pace to an intense level, the same length of workout results in 430 calories burned for a 175-pound person.

    Keep It Regular

    • The key to using a rowing machine in your quest to burn fat and lose weight is to perform regular workouts. In the neighborhood of 150 minutes of moderate-paced aerobic exercise every week can contribute to improved health, but increasing the amount that you exercise toward the 300-minute mark is often necessary if you're serious about losing weight. If you can't visit the gym frequently enough to approach 300 minutes of rowing, consider purchasing a rowing machine for your home.

    A Sample Workout

    • Combining aerobic exercises such as rowing with strength-training exercises is an effective way to burn calories and boost your metabolism -- often in a short period of time. If you only have 30 minutes for exercise, "Shape" magazine suggests a calorie-burning rowing machine and strength-training workout: Get warmed up by slowly rowing for 5 minutes. Row steadily for a minute, and then spend 1:30 performing lunges. Hop back on the machine and row for another minute, and then perform 1:30 of plank exercises. Row for another minute, and then perform barbell push-press exercises for a minute. Rest for 30 seconds, repeat the interval training portion again and spend the final 2:30 cooling down.