Six Mistakes And Their Solutions While Using A Rowing Machine

Rowing is an efficient cardio machine that will impact your full body as it affects almost all the core body parts like the back, hamstrings, abdominals, shoulders, arms, and calves, which promotes calorie burn that fastens weight loss and improves overall health condition. Besides, rowing also helps build muscles and explosive power, and one hour of rowing can burn 800 calories.

However, some mistakes may happen when you will use a rower at an earlier stage of the exercise, and this state is known as the “ergometer.” As there are mistakes, there are solutions and fixing of those problems too.

This article will let you know about six problems and their solution while using a heavy-duty rowing machine.

As rowing is an efficient and effective low-impact exercise for almost all body types and ages, it has become a prevalent exercise for weight loss and maintaining body fitness worldwide. Moreover, rowing machines are convenient for its portability and easy storage system.

Techniques For Proficient Rowing


The world rowing champion Mr. Josh Crosby says that learning of rowing is much complicated and frightening. Therefore, Mr. Patrick Larcom, the head coach of Renegade Rowing and Mr. Crosby, has found some common mistakes while rowing and correcting the errors.

These findings will help the new rowers to row efficiently from an earlier stage and reach their desired target.

Mistake Number 1: Overlooking to Check the Damper’s Setting


Many new rowers forget to check the setting of the damper at their earlier phase of rowing. If the damper or lever has an upper set, you will feel like rowing a heavy rowboat that might exhaust the muscles earlier and feel tired and exhausted. This one will force you to discontinue the workout and lower the workout duration as well.

The solution: Mr. Larcom says that the damper’s setting is like the gears of a bicycle, and you will feel the bodyweight heavier with a higher load. So you should practice and row a lot before setting the damper setting higher.

According to Larcom, if you are a new rowing machine user, you may start keeping the setting between three to five at starting, which will give you the feeling of existence on water.

Mistake number 2: Rowing with Arms Only


Some people find rower is for upper body exercises and pressurize their upper bodies such as the back, arms, and shoulders too much while rowing, which increases the risk of injuries.

The solution: According to Crosby, approximately 60% of rowing power should originate from legs, 20% from the brisk core, and the other 20% from pulling with your arms.

It is necessary to utilize the legs’ power with every stroke by pushing towards the panel to reduce your upper body’s pressure.

Mistake Number 3: Mixing up Operations Sequence


When you do row, you may feel it is right to engage both arms and legs at a time. But with this method, you may unnecessarily pressurize your upper body, which may make you exhausted and may inhibit to exercise for a longer time.

The solution: A proper rowing process consists of three steps. First, push with our legs and then step backward at your hips. After that pulling your arms into the chest is the final step, which is influential for the hands. Reverse these steps to repeat your strokes and continue rowing.

Mistake Number 4: Bending the Back During the Stroke


Some people bend and round their backs while rowing; for this reason, they may suffer pain in the back in the short or long term for sitting in this position.

The solution: According to Larcom, we should sit tall with a slanted posture. He also recommends focusing on engaging the core of the body and turning on abdominal muscles. Moreover, it would help if you relaxed shoulders and always keep your spine neutral.

Mistake number 5: Bashing Butt into the Heels


If you bash your butt into your heels may make your body jerking forward, which becomes uncontrollable sometimes. Some people take strokes very fast to finish their workout as soon as possible. For this reason, the strokes become ineffective and make you tired and exhausted before your desired workout duration.

The solution: To fix this problem, you have to concentrate on your stroke timing. As per Crosby, the ideal ratio for the strokes is 1:2 count. It signifies that you should spend more energy from your body for quick drives when your legs push and arms pull during each stroke.

It would help if you remained more controlled and relaxed during the second half of rowing. A calm and composed recovery might prevent the seat of the rower from smashing towards the rowing machine.

Mistake number 6: Shooting Butt Out and Having Jerk on the Upper-body Back


If you push your legs quickly, that may cause your rear shooting ahead, which may gawkily catch up your upper body. Extra work may cause jerking the upper body, making the strokes less efficient and increasing the risk of injury.

The solution: According to Larcom, you should make sure that you have turned on your abs and connect your hands and feet. He added that if you engage the core of your body, it will help the whole body’s smooth movement, more specifically both lower and upper body.

For rowing efficiently, you have to be in a strong position so that you will be able to discontinue the stroke at any point, which means the whole body is having a controlled and cautious posture with all the activated core muscles.

While rowing at an earlier point, making mistakes is a very natural and usual thing. But you have to identify your errors and find a way to solve those. Otherwise, your rowing will not provide its maximum benefit instead, you may face many muscles and joint-related problems, even severe injuries too.

Last Updated on January 2, 2024