When it comes to cardio, hardly any form of exercise gets as much attention as running. Running has long been touted as the most effective form of cardio, but it could have a strong contender: rowing. As the rowing vs running debate has been growing online, many are wondering: is rowing better than running? This post looks to answer that question.
3 Reasons a Rowing Machine is a Good Workout for Cardio
Before we dive into the running vs rowing cardio debate, it's essential to answer the question: is a rowing machine a good workout? The short answer is yes. Beyond its excellence in maintaining good heart health, rowing has several other benefits.
Benefits of Rowing Machine:
Rowing Machines Provide a Full Body Exercise
To answer the question is rowing a good workout, we need to look at its effects on various muscle groups. Like most other exercises, rowing is great for keeping healthy and trim but -- unlike other exercises -- rowing engages both upper-body and lower-body muscles. While rowing, you're strengthening your quads, glutes, and hamstrings. You also strengthen your back, abs, and biceps, which ensures you're sculpting your physique.
Rowing Machines are Convenient
Unlike running, rowing doesn't require you to leave the home to get a good workout. Instead, using a rowing machine, you can exercise when it's most convenient to you, in any weather conditions, and at any time. A rowing machine is also less monotonous than a treadmill and less likely to cause injury.
Rowing Machines Burn More Calories
Given rowing exercises upper and lower-body muscles, it also burns more calories. In just 30 minutes of rowing, a 125-pound person will burn 255 calories, a 155-pound person will burn 370 calories, and a 185-pound person will burn 440 calories.
Why Rowing is Better Than Running For Cardio?
Despite these benefits, you may still be wondering: is rowing better than running? To answer that, consider the following.
Rowing is Lower Impact
While running, you're constantly putting pressure on your joints, even when running on a treadmill, but especially when you're running outside. Using a rowing machine, however, you'll benefit from a low impact workout that lowers your risk of injury and provides an unparalleled high-intensity workout.
Rowing is Better for Your Knees
The risk of injury while running is high, but especially the risk of injury to your knees, as every time you take a stride, you're placing as much as seven times your body weight on your knees. When completing a workout on the rowing machine, you place almost no pressure on your knees as you become virtually weightless.
After reading this post, the parallels between rowing and running should be apparent. Essentially it comes down to rowing giving you all the benefits of running but without the drawbacks. Another advantage we may not have discussed while revealing is rowing good cardio is that running only exercises your lower body muscles. So, in that aspect, rowing is miles ahead of running.
