Burn More Calories with the Rowing Machine

When it comes to burning off Calories with the cardio equipment at your local gym, you have options. The rowing machine (in the rowing community, we call it "the erg") is, by far, the most efficient way to burn Calories when compared to running on a treadmill or taking a spin class.

Can you guess what makes it such an efficient Calorie burner? It has to do with the fact that employs all of the major upper body, lower body and core muscles, which means more energy (such as fat and glycogen) that is stored in the body must be burned to perform the exercise.

In contrast, spin cycle classes burn the least because only leg muscles are being employed, and the core and upper body muscles are used minimally, simply to keep you from falling off the bike (riding a real bike uses more core strength because it’s not held up by a stand). Running is also a leg dominant exercise, but it does require more core stability than the bike.

However, since rowing has so many moving parts, every newbie must go through a learning process to get the technique down. This step cannot be overlooked because poor technique, especially with longer, high intensity workouts, makes the user very vulnerable to a low back injury. The Pick Drill is an excellent way to learn the stroke technique by breaking it up into smaller pieces.