The ergometer, commonly called a rowing machine, provides a comprehensive, full-body workout often mistakenly viewed only as cardio equipment. While it excels at building cardiovascular fitness, the rowing action engages a substantial percentage of the body’s musculature, making it an effective tool for building muscle, a process known as hypertrophy. Achieving this goal requires a specific approach to training intensity and duration, moving away from steady-state endurance rowing. This article explains how to structure your time on the rowing machine to maximize muscle growth.
Muscles Targeted by Rowing
The rowing stroke is a fluid, four-phase movement that sequentially engages nearly all major muscle groups. The largest muscle groups, and thus the primary drivers for hypertrophy, are found in the lower body and back. The initial phase, the Drive, begins with an explosive leg push, heavily recruiting the quadriceps, hamstrings, and gluteal muscles to extend the hips and knees.
Following the leg drive, the muscles of the upper back and core become the focus. The latissimus dorsi (lats), rhomboids, and trapezius pull the handle toward the torso, while the core muscles stabilize the spine to efficiently transfer force from the legs. Finally, the biceps and forearm muscles finish the pull before the Recovery phase allows the triceps to extend the arms for the next stroke. Approximately 60% of the power comes from the legs and 40% from the core and upper body.
High-Intensity Training Protocols for Muscle Growth
Building muscle requires mechanical tension and metabolic stress, which a slow, conversational pace cannot provide. To stimulate hypertrophy, rowing sessions must mimic the effort of lifting heavy weights, demanding a transition from continuous cardio to High-Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) or High-Intensity Resistance Training (HIRT). The damper setting, which controls the resistance feel, should be set higher than for an endurance row, creating more drag and forcing greater power output with each stroke.
The focus shifts from a high stroke rate (strokes per minute) to maximizing power, represented by a lower 500-meter split time. During the short work intervals, intensity must be near maximal, aiming for a perceived effort of 8 or 9 out of 10. This intense effort generates the necessary muscle fiber damage and metabolic accumulation that signals the body to adapt by building larger muscle tissue. Rest periods are short, designed to allow only partial recovery before the next high-effort bout, maintaining metabolic stress throughout the session.
Recommended Weekly Frequency and Session Lengths
The actual muscle-building time is relatively short, occurring only during the high-effort intervals. For hypertrophy, the ideal weekly frequency is two to four strength-focused sessions, ensuring adequate recovery time for muscle repair. Since muscles grow during rest, scheduling at least 48 hours between intense, full-body rowing sessions is important to prevent overtraining and maximize adaptation.
The total length of a strength-focused rowing session, including a warm-up and cool-down, typically falls between 20 and 40 minutes. The hard work phase usually lasts 15 to 25 minutes, structured as short, intense bursts of effort. An effective protocol could involve five sets of 250-meter sprints performed at an all-out pace, followed by a 90-second period of rest or very light rowing. Another option is a Tabata protocol, which uses 20 seconds of maximal rowing followed by 10 seconds of rest, repeated eight times, yielding only four minutes of total work time but with high intensity.
Integrating Rowing into a Strength Training Program
For maximal muscle hypertrophy, the rowing machine should function as a supplement to, rather than a replacement for, traditional weightlifting. Traditional resistance training allows for greater, more targeted progressive overload, which is the most potent stimulus for muscle growth. Rowing can be used on dedicated non-lifting days to stimulate full-body muscle groups or as a metabolic finisher at the end of a weight session.
When using the rowing machine as a primary strength tool, the principle of progressive overload must still be applied to stimulate continued growth. This consistent challenge drives long-term adaptation. Progressive overload can be achieved by:
- Systematically increasing the distance of the work interval.
- Decreasing the rest period between intervals.
- Consistently improving the power output (lowering the split time) at the same resistance setting.