Stamina Body Track Glider Rowing Machine

Winter is almost over. Did you also gain some extra weight over the winter time? And you are thinking of how to lose weight? Do you have a half an hour a day? Great, so there is no reason that you could not lose some weight.

The right answer is rowing machine. The rowing machine is fitness equipment ideal for losing weight. With exercising on rowing machines you burn your calories more effective, because you exercise almost all muscle groups of both the upper and lower body regions.

Why?  With proper rowing machines techniques in four steps,  you doing exercises for your arms, shoulders, stomach, back, ass and legs. You can read more about proper rowing machine techniques on one of my previous posts.

Rowing exercise machines are great for both aerobic (heart and lungs) and anaerobic (muscle strengthening) benefits. All you have to do is just rowing an half an hour, not every day, but every second day. Most important is that you exercise in a fat burning heart rate zone.

Rowing machine exercise make whole your body to work, so you don’t need to workout for a long time. A half an hour rowing machine exercise should look something like this:

1. First 5 minutes – warm-up (a light resistance setting, rowing slowly, concentrate on your rowing technique and rhythm)
2. Next 20 minutes – exercising in fat burning heart rate zone
3. Last 5 minutes – cool down (Gradually slow your rowing speed and reduce the resistance to a minimum.)

If you still not convinced that rowing machine is a fitness equipment for you, there are still more benefits of rowing machines.

How to choose the right rowing machines?

There are a lot of different rowing machines, cheaper and more expensive. Which to choose?

• Air rowing machines - in this group is one of the most popular rowing machine Concept 2 rowing machine, which is used in many fitness houses, professional rowers using this machine to prepare themselves during winter time. They require quite a lot of space and cost from 500 USD to …
• Water rowing machines – One of the most expensive, but great fitness equipment. Require more space, but they are a great simulator of a real thing, rowing on the water.
• Pistons rowing machines – the cheapest ones, but if you are planning just too lose weight and on budget, that’s the rowing machine for you

What ever rowing machine you choose, most important is still your decision to workout and losing weight.

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The answer lies in the aerobic rowing exercise. It is not only good for burning fat (which also indirectly benefits the heart), but also strengthens your heart, and maintains it healthy.

The first step of any aerobic exercise is calculating the approximate target heart rate. Armed with this number you will take full advantage of each practice, without overloading your heart (Caution! People with heart or other problems should consult their personal doctor, specialist or personal trainer).

Calculation of the target heart rate zone

Any aerobic exercise is based on the calculation of the target area heart rate.

First you must calculate your maximum heart rate.

The easiest and best known method to calculate your maximum heart rate (MHR) is to use the formula

FOR MEN (you can find heart rate chart here)

MHR = 220 – your age

FOR WOMEN (heart rate chart)

MHR = 226 – your age

For example I am 31 year old, so my maximum heart rate is:

MHR = 220-31 = 189

There are more formulas for calculating maximum heart rate.

Now that you know your maximum heart rate, you must determine your rowing exercise heart rate zone.

Heart rate zones

We know four different heart rate zones:

Recovery zone/fat burn zone -60 % to 70 % MHR

Aerobic zone -70 % to 80 % MHR

Anaerobic zone – 80 % to 90 % MHR

VO2 max/red line zone – 90 % to 100 % MHR

How to calculate heart rate zone?

My MHR is 189. Let’s say that I want to excercise on my rowing machine in the aerobic area, that is between 70% and 80 % of my maximum heart rate (MHR). So the calculation goes:

0,7 x 189 = 132

0,8 x 189 = 151

So my aerobic rowing zone is betwen 132 and 151 heartbeat per minute.

You can use this calculation and exercise zones for all your exercises, not only for exercises on rowing machines.

But you still need some monitor equipment for exercising within this heart rate zone. There are numerous rowing machines that includes heart rate monitor. For example:

But for those that doesn’t have heart rate monitor, you need to buy some. The best and most practical for all excercises are heart rate monitor watch, like:

• Timex T5G971 Unisex Sports Personal Heart Rate Monitor Watch
• Polar F6 Men’s Heart Rate Monitor Watch (Black Coal, New Design)
• Reebok Fitwatch 10S Strapless Heart Rate Monitor Watch (Blue)

But there are many more and you can get it it many different colors, with different functions and in different shapes. But most important, you should use one for better results.