should I buy a rowing machine?
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maddiewilliams231
Posts: 1 Member
I’m looking at a concept 2 model d (seems to be the only long-lasting quality one on the market) and debating if I should buy one. I made a little over $1000 at my part time job last summer and the rower will cost all of that. Here are my pros and cons, tell me what you think:
PROS
1. need to lose weight (fat)
2. need to gain full body strength
3. need better cardiovascular health (breathing + heart)
4. don’t currently do cardio consistently
5. low impact exercise (bad knees)
6. indoors and convenient - no excuses (full workout in <hour)
CONS
1. never rowed before, don’t know if i’ll like it (I kayak a lot though and like that, not sure if it’s similar though)
2. cost = $1,000 (one summer’s wages)
3. time - make excuses about not having enough time
thank you!!
PROS
1. need to lose weight (fat)
2. need to gain full body strength
3. need better cardiovascular health (breathing + heart)
4. don’t currently do cardio consistently
5. low impact exercise (bad knees)
6. indoors and convenient - no excuses (full workout in <hour)
CONS
1. never rowed before, don’t know if i’ll like it (I kayak a lot though and like that, not sure if it’s similar though)
2. cost = $1,000 (one summer’s wages)
3. time - make excuses about not having enough time
thank you!!
0
Replies
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i wouldnt. Especially since you dont know if you like it. You can work out free and not use all your money- Gyms make a ton off people who are like YES GYM and then never use the membership, Spending 1000$ and then never using it sounds painful. Go for a walk lol.
edit1: I wouldnt consider a rower low impact on knees
edit2; not sure about your willpower but iv lost 110 pounds i walk 10-15 miles a day i have consistently been very good with my diet and im uo at 6am for the gym daily...i have alot of willpower and dedication ...BUT theres no way in actual hell id ever do an hour on a rower..... That sounds hellish and so so boring
edit 3: to sum it up....no dont buy a 1000$ mchine youve never even tried with all the money you have. no no no. Did i say no?8 -
1. Fix your diet - don't rely on exercise. It doesn't work.
2. Resistance program of some sort. Lift weights or do body weight workouts.
3. Losing weight will help. Walking is great for health and mind.
4. A potentially boring machine won't help
5. Do you swim? Ride bike? Does walking hurt? How bad are the knees? Is it just a weight issue? Can they be strengthened/fixed?
6. There's always an excuse. I have pretty much a full gym in my basement, have a gym in my office building, and belong to a couple commercial gyms. Yet I don't lift like I know I have to if I ever want to fully realize my potential.
That's a lot of money to spend on something you've never tried......4 -
Instead of dropping $1000 on a rower, why not spend like $100 on a cheap one to at least determine if you'll like it and if you'll use it? You can invest in cheaper machines for a minimal investment and if it turns out to be something you won't use, you haven't made a huge dent in your wallet. I have both an elliptical and a rowing machine purchased off of amazon for under $100 each. They aren't going to last forever, but I already feel that I have my money's worth out of them. Also, for what it's worth, an elliptical is going to be easier on your joints than rowing will be.
ETA: for strength purposes you'll be much better off with some sort of progressive overload lifting program. But I'm all for cardio for, well, cardiovascular health.3 -
CaffeinatedConfectionist wrote: »Instead of dropping $1000 on a rower, why not spend like $100 on a cheap one to at least determine if you'll like it and if you'll use it? You can invest in cheaper machines for a minimal investment and if it turns out to be something you won't use, you haven't made a huge dent in your wallet. I have both an elliptical and a rowing machine purchased off of amazon for under $100 each. They aren't going to last forever, but I already feel that I have my money's worth out of them. Also, for what it's worth, an elliptical is going to be easier on your joints than rowing will be.
or buy day passes to a gym to try all the mchines, See if you like a gym thatd be ideal, if not find something you enjoy using while there. Or go take a class. Or a walk. Or whatever.
for 1000$ i could but 35-40 months of gym membership where i have access to everything3 -
You don't mention space.
I do NOT like in-place cardio machines at all. Tried them at the gym and the only one I even slightly liked was the AMT, and they're ten thousand bucks. If I had that money lying around I'd buy one.
Maybe go to a gym and try the rowing machine for a while first. If you have a YMCA close by they may have drop-in fees.
Kayaking is awesome. Rowing machines, not so much in my experience.0 -
I know you didnt ask OP but your post makes me think your in the semi desperate want to lose weight mode so-
To lose weight all you need is calorie deficit. Set up your MFP with your stats and goals, And eat what it tells you. Buy a food scale to keep yourself accurate and honest. Weight loss is entirely CICO- CICO is calories in calories out. If you eat less then you burn you lose weight. Your body burns calories just being alive, Exercise isnt needed but it can be helpful. The way MFP is set up your calorie goal is your minimum- As in aim for that amount BUT if you burn more exercising you should eat back 50-100% confidently ( of course its hard to calculate just how many calories you actually burned exercising, So many of us eat back half). You need to fuel your body.
Think long term, Make small changes gradually that lead to a more painless transition that will be long term. Think like, Diet pop vs full calorie pop. For most people a relatively painelss change. Or a slightly smaller serving, Or dont go back for a second plate, Or take a small walk daily, Do some stretches, Pat yourself on the back for the extra serving of veggies you eat. Small changes. Baby steps. If you go all out and then burn out you wont be getting anywhere, Baby steps are a good thing. Small healthy changes breed quickly, Youll naturally turn to healthier choices with time. Dont force it to much to fast.
Exercise doesnt need to be painful, I lost most of my 110 pounds just walking, The gym came later. If you want to lose weight stick to it and maintain that loss later, Put time into finding foods and activities you enjoy and can keep up forever. Buying a 1000$ mchine you dont even know if you like and forcing yourself to use it for an hour a day is not likely something youd keep up forever, So its not worth doing.
As for full body strength, Yes a gym and lifting heavy things is helpful for that. But you can do body weight things for free, And you can get weights cheaply if you look around.
Theres NO need to spend all your money, I promise you that you will regret that later on.3 -
CaffeinatedConfectionist wrote: »Instead of dropping $1000 on a rower, why not spend like $100 on a cheap one to at least determine if you'll like it and if you'll use it? You can invest in cheaper machines for a minimal investment and if it turns out to be something you won't use, you haven't made a huge dent in your wallet. I have both an elliptical and a rowing machine purchased off of amazon for under $100 each. They aren't going to last forever, but I already feel that I have my money's worth out of them. Also, for what it's worth, an elliptical is going to be easier on your joints than rowing will be.
ETA: for strength purposes you'll be much better off with some sort of progressive overload lifting program. But I'm all for cardio for, well, cardiovascular health.
Don't buy a $100 POS tower. It will not come cost to feeling like a Concept 2. As someone else mentioned find a gym that has one and use it for 2-4 weeks1 -
CaffeinatedConfectionist wrote: »Instead of dropping $1000 on a rower, why not spend like $100 on a cheap one to at least determine if you'll like it and if you'll use it? You can invest in cheaper machines for a minimal investment and if it turns out to be something you won't use, you haven't made a huge dent in your wallet. I have both an elliptical and a rowing machine purchased off of amazon for under $100 each. They aren't going to last forever, but I already feel that I have my money's worth out of them. Also, for what it's worth, an elliptical is going to be easier on your joints than rowing will be.
ETA: for strength purposes you'll be much better off with some sort of progressive overload lifting program. But I'm all for cardio for, well, cardiovascular health.
There is no rower anywhere for $100 that would simulate the feeling of a C2. You could literally set the $100 on fire and learn as much about rowing as trying a cheap machine.
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I wouldn't buy a Concept II unless I knew for certain that I would not only use it, but that it would be my primary exercise modality.
I bought a Stamina air rower a few months back and I'm pretty happy with it at a $300 price tag. It get good reviews for the price. I use it once per week to supplement my cycling, so I didn't want to get anything crazy expensive.
https://bestreviews.com/best-rowing-machines
As other's suggested, you might just want to join a gym that has one and try it out there...a gym will also make available to you all kinds of other equipment and a weight room. Conversely, there are a lot of things you can do from home that are free. There's absolutely no need to spend a lot of money on your fitness, especially when you don't really have it.0 -
CaffeinatedConfectionist wrote: »Instead of dropping $1000 on a rower, why not spend like $100 on a cheap one to at least determine if you'll like it and if you'll use it? You can invest in cheaper machines for a minimal investment and if it turns out to be something you won't use, you haven't made a huge dent in your wallet. I have both an elliptical and a rowing machine purchased off of amazon for under $100 each. They aren't going to last forever, but I already feel that I have my money's worth out of them. Also, for what it's worth, an elliptical is going to be easier on your joints than rowing will be.
ETA: for strength purposes you'll be much better off with some sort of progressive overload lifting program. But I'm all for cardio for, well, cardiovascular health.
There is no rower anywhere for $100 that would simulate the feeling of a C2. You could literally set the $100 on fire and learn as much about rowing as trying a cheap machine.
I bought a “cheap” rower to try it out to see if I liked it. My “cheap” one was $300. Using that was a little like sliding on a 3-wheeled skateboard that was bungee corded to a door that didn’t really close and using a smart phone propped up on the door handle for a monitor. It was dreadful.
I bought a concept 2 because I do like rowing and I do use it quite a bit and can justify the cost.
But “rowing” on the cheap rower lacks any parallel to rowing on the concept 2 except that they both are rowing machines. The setting the cheap one on fire to learn about rowing is 100% accurate.
That said-I wouldn’t drop $1000 on anything if I didn’t know I liked it and would use it. And I’m pretty impulsive. I would definitely second the idea of day passes at a local gym to try it out first.
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That is a lot of money for something that you are not sure if you will enjoy/use. I bought one many years ago, barely used it, had a lot of regret and ended up selling it.
I think spending the money on a gym membership might be good b/c you can try different machines and weights as well.
If your weight loss and fitness journey is new, it may be very useful to read the sticky posts in the "getting started" and "success stories" sections etc. There is a lot of knowledge and experience available, just watch out for the bad woo *kitten*.
Good luck, you can do it1 -
I have a C2. I use it in Winter, when I can't row a real boat (rivers get crunchy here). The C2 is great.
Some things you haven't thought of:
1. Rowing is technical. You won't get a good workout unless you learn to use it correctly. Most people in most gyms are not getting a good workout. There are good instructional videos on the C2 site, and you could video yourself to check your form, but competent instruction/feedback is more helpful if you can find it. Most trainers at most gyms don't do it especially well, either. So, there's a time investment in learning.
2. Rowing is full body, but unbalanced. You push with your lower body, and pull with your upper, in one plane of motion. For fun calorie burning exercise, this may not be a big deal, but for all-round fitness, it is. A lot of muscle groups miss out on the fun, with rowing, even though it uses more of them than other machines. At very high volume over a long period of time, imbalance also becomes a potential injury risk.
3. The C2 online community, with its challenges and forums, can be very motivating, if you enjoy that sort of thing. There are also races in the real world you can enter for fun or bragging rights.
4 It's not at all like kayaking, but both kayaking and rowing are fun. The waterway has a certain role in the fun factor, though. Last I knew, you could buy an aftermarket paddling add on for the C2. (It's expensive, too.)
Me, I'll never stop rowing until my aging body totally breaks down (which will happen much later on account of the rowing
), but I'd vote with those who say you ought to try to find a way to try it before spending a whole summer's worth of hard-earned $$$. It will readily meet all your workout goals, but only if you actually use it, and that's tightly linked to whether you enjoy it.
Best wishes!
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Afterthought: If you do buy a C2, but under-use it and decide to sell it, you should get much of your investment back as long as you've taken good care if it. They hold value really well, unlike most exercise machines.0
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I have a C2 rower and currently row 10k meters/day for an hr/day and burn 550 cal/day on it.
I have used all kinds of cardio equipment and it is the best piece of cardio equipment I have ever used. You cannot go wrong buying it in terms of the quality of construction and the quality of the workout.
HOWEVER, I agree that you should NOT buy one unless you are sure you are going to use it.
I bought a LeMond RevMasterPro Spin bike, which cost as much as the C2, b4 I bought the C2 but seldom used it and stopped using it almost entirely after I bought the C2. The spin bike just sits there now but I don't need to sell it because I've got more money than sense.
I also only used the C2 sporadically when I 1st bought it 2 yrs ago putting only 400k meters on it in a year and had put only a few 100k meters on it this year until I began to use it seriously 5 months ago and have put 1.2 million meters on it since then. My goal is to reach 2 million lifetime meters by the end of the rowing reason on April 30th, which I am certain to achieve.
The reason for the major change in useage was a change in my need/aporoach to training and eating. I eat more and do cardio to burn cals to keep my net cals and weight at maintenance.
Given your limited finances and unfamilarity w/rowing, I'd suggest you find a gym w/a rower (any type will do) and go there regularly to use it to see if you enjoy rowing more than other types of cardio.
If you do, then buy one provided you have the space (at least 3x9') to put it where it won't get in the way and the commitnent to use it.
If you can't find a gym w/a C2 rower and want to take the risk, AnnPTT77's point above is a good one. If you buy it for $940 (including shipping from C2) and decide w/in a year or less that you really don't like it, you should be able to sell easily it for $750-800 on Craigslist, which would only be a $190 loss (or cost of use) at most.
Good luck!1 -
CaffeinatedConfectionist wrote: »Instead of dropping $1000 on a rower, why not spend like $100 on a cheap one to at least determine if you'll like it and if you'll use it? You can invest in cheaper machines for a minimal investment and if it turns out to be something you won't use, you haven't made a huge dent in your wallet. I have both an elliptical and a rowing machine purchased off of amazon for under $100 each. They aren't going to last forever, but I already feel that I have my money's worth out of them. Also, for what it's worth, an elliptical is going to be easier on your joints than rowing will be.
ETA: for strength purposes you'll be much better off with some sort of progressive overload lifting program. But I'm all for cardio for, well, cardiovascular health.
There is no rower anywhere for $100 that would simulate the feeling of a C2. You could literally set the $100 on fire and learn as much about rowing as trying a cheap machine.
I stand corrected! I'm not going to set my cheap one on fire, but I'll admit to having a lot of curiosity about the C2s now. The only other rowers I've used have been at the gym and were different models.1 -
CaffeinatedConfectionist wrote: »CaffeinatedConfectionist wrote: »Instead of dropping $1000 on a rower, why not spend like $100 on a cheap one to at least determine if you'll like it and if you'll use it? You can invest in cheaper machines for a minimal investment and if it turns out to be something you won't use, you haven't made a huge dent in your wallet. I have both an elliptical and a rowing machine purchased off of amazon for under $100 each. They aren't going to last forever, but I already feel that I have my money's worth out of them. Also, for what it's worth, an elliptical is going to be easier on your joints than rowing will be.
ETA: for strength purposes you'll be much better off with some sort of progressive overload lifting program. But I'm all for cardio for, well, cardiovascular health.
There is no rower anywhere for $100 that would simulate the feeling of a C2. You could literally set the $100 on fire and learn as much about rowing as trying a cheap machine.
I stand corrected! I'm not going to set my cheap one on fire, but I'll admit to having a lot of curiosity about the C2s now. The only other rowers I've used have been at the gym and were different models.
If you are serious about erg rowing, there is nothing better than a Concept2 available for home use. I learned this long b4 I drank the kool-aid and became a rowing fanatic myself.
I believe that you get what you pay for and have no problem paying more for a quality product. However, the C2 Is actually cheaper and more reliable than some other hi-end rowers, which makes it an even better value.
My C2 and Lemond spin bike simply are the best made products in their class. They will last much longer than I will and will be a legacy gift to my heirs if they are smart enough to keep and use them after I'm gone.1 -
I would disagree about the Lemond being the best in its class but that's a bit off topic. That said, if I had the space, the extra money, and wasn't hoping to move to another country in less than a year and a half I would totally buy a C2.My C2 and Lemond spin bike simply are the best made products in their class. They will last much longer than I will and will be a legacy gift to my heirs if they are smart enough to keep and use them after I'm gone.
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Many of the gyms I have been in had either a C2 or a very similar competitive model. (the "fitness room" in my apartment building has a C2, and the gym I lift at has a dozen of them too)
I would VERY strongly suggest that you go to a local gym that has either a free trial or a cheap drop in fee and try out at least a 15 minute session on one (trust me a 15 minute row is a serious workout for a novice!) and see if you think you like it (or at least tolerate it) enough that it doesn't become a very expensive laundry rack.
I would further suggest that there are a lot of dusty rowing machines (and every other piece of exercise equipment) with clothing hanging on them in at least half of the houses in your town. My cousin just bought a C2 that couldn't possibly have had a half hour of use on it for 450 a few months ago. Some judicious use of the internet can probably cut your cost at least in half if you decide you actually want one after trying one out.1 -
I started out using a rowing machine and lost about 20 lbs. I rowed 50-60 minutes/day and loved it so much, I bought one for home. It's now sitting in my living room as I eventually got bored with it and now do 95% lifting and only walk on the treadmill for cardio
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Sometimes the gym is a good investment. Numerous machines and weights and opportunities to vary exercise. Treadmills, elliptical, bikes, rowing machines, weights. All for one monthly price that can be renewed or cancelled. Also the gym maintains the equipment if defective or broke.1
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