Nowadays it is hard to know what to choose when it comes to home exercise equipment – treadmills are the old standard as are stationery bicycles, while stair climbers, steppers and orbital machines seemed to have become more popular of late. One piece of exercise equipment that never seems to rate a mention is the fitness rower, and given the many benefits that they provide it is hard to comprehend just why they aren’t more popular.

Rowing uses all the major muscle groups: legs, arms, back, abdominal, and buttocks, much the same way that swimming does. The legs provide most of the power in the rowing stroke, while the upper body provides the remainder. It has been shown that rowing is one of the few aerobic activities that can actually help strengthen your back muscles. Rowing will help tone up your thighs and buttocks, and firm up your arms plus all your back muscles.

Rowing also puts your muscles through a much wider range of motion than most other exercises, thereby improving and maintaining the flexibility around some of your major joints. This also tends to make the exercise more enjoyable and satisfying as you feel a distinct sense of motion.

Rowing is also a great calorie burner, in fact, recent research has shown that rowing burns calories faster than biking, at the same perceived level of exertion. In other words, it feels a lot easier to burn the same amount of calories while rowing than while biking.

This makes rowing very time efficient, as it doesn’t take as long to get a great workout that offers just about everything.

As rowing is a very smooth, rhythmic motion, it helps your body easily “switch” into the fat burning zone, it is impact free and non-weight bearing, which means that it is much easier on your joints than jogging, running and jumping rope.

Rowing is also an exercise that can be enjoyed by people of all ages, from kids right through to grandparents.

With so many different fitness rowers or rowing machines available on the market today, it can be very challenging to find the best rower to suit your individual requirements and budget. Here are some of the features you should consider:

Most fitness rowers available use air or magnets as a means of resistance, with magnetic resistance being quieter, smoother and better (a combination of both is ideal). Belt Drive Systems also tend to be smoother and maintenance free.

Fitness rowers should also have a variety of resistance levels with the more the better. The auto or preset programs vary the magnetic resistance as you train, increasing your endurance, motivation and decreasing your boredom.

A control panel or digital display that shows heart rate, estimation of calories burned and the distance travelled is a must have, as this feedback when exercising allows you to get the most out of your workout. Unfortunately, the best fitness rowers with the best displays are also the most expensive.

As stationary bikes and a lot of other equipment can’t be stowed away easily, rowing machines that can be folded can be very handy. Many of the smaller rowers can be folded and tucked away, but as you add more features to a rowing machine, the more you add to the price and the larger they become, which also means the less chance there is of them being foldable.

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