Articles of Interest

Yeah, you've bought fitness equipment before. There's the all-in-one home gym that's in several pieces in the garage, needing a spare part to fix it that you can't get. The mountain bike you swore to your spouse you were going to use, but that's in the garage gathering dust, too. And jogging makes your knees ache. But in spite of earlier bad fitness equipment buys, you long for a bit of fitness training.

I know it may sound like a waste of good money after previous bad purchases, but have you considered investing in a rowing machine? Not like the one you purchased from a mail-order catalog, a pneumatic piston contraption that felt nothing like real rowing. The one that broke within a week, just like the home gym sitting in your garage. I mean high quality equipment. It's like your mountain bike, but you can use it for just a few minutes while watching TV, instead of getting sunburned outside.

Exercising on a quality rowing machine feels like you're actually rowing a boat on water. It is also so quiet that exercising while watching TV is no problem, though you may need to increase the volume a bit, as they are not completely quiet. No need to worry about disturbing your spouse in the next room, either. Another benefit is the low impact to joints.

The nice thing about a rowing machine is that it gives almost all the muscle sets a workout. If you include some push ups, then you are completely done. If you use this routine, you will regularly work out all of the major muscle groups in your chest, arms, legs and back.

A rowing machine can fulfill almost all of your exercise goals. If you are looking to become stronger, you can substitute a workout for lifting. Simply increase the resistance to maximum and perform several quick repetitions. Conversely, if you are looking to build endurance, you can crank down the resistance and stay on the machine longer. Modern rowers even let you compete against the computer, or others as a way of keeping you interested and involved in your routine.

Though money for the top of the line is often money well spent, beware diminishing returns. A $1000 rower from a new company may or may not be a great deal, but a reliable and established company is more likely to keep replacement parts in stock. But when in doubt, buy used. People who love rowing rarely give up their rowing machines, but sometimes they do break and the owner doesn't know it can be an easy fix and let them go for pennies on the dollar.