Concept2 Indoor Rowers
The Concept2 Indoor Rower is the best selling rowing machine in the world and is built to last. It is designed to cope with years of extreme, high volume punishment and every machine meets the same rigorous quality control standard. It can be found in almost every gym, rowing club and Olympic training venue in the UK, is fundamental to every rower’s training and testing programme. It is also used for cross training within almost every other sport including Formula 1, athletics, sailing, triathlon, rugby, football and basketball.
Rowing on the Indoor Rower is impact-free. You can row as hard or as easily as you want and as a result, thousands of customers every month find rowing on the Concept2 Indoor Rower to be the best full-body workout available. It is suitable for people of all ages and levels of fitness and there are various adaptations that can be added to the machine to make it accessible for people with a large range of disabilities, making indoor rowing a truly inclusive activity.
Full Body Workout
Indoor Rowing is a full body workout and can provide a robust base fitness for almost anyone, whether to complement their training or simply to live a healthier life. This is how it works the body:
- The Legs: Each stroke involves full compression and extension of the legs, working the muscles of the calves, thighs, buttocks and hips in a low impact way that is much kinder on the knees than most activities that build leg strength
- The Core: Indoor rowing is one of the few activities that will work your ‘core’ abdominal and back muscles. Fitness experts believe a strong core yields numerous benefits, from a stronger back to better posture
- The Upper Body: Indoor rowing will strengthen and tone your shoulders, back and arms
- The Heart & Lungs: Because it engages so many muscle groups simultaneously, indoor rowing is great for improving cardiovascular health and fitness
What we think of using the Indoor Rower
I first started using the Indoor Rower in the mid 1980s when I was rowing competitively. Perhaps like a lot of rowers I didn't particularly enjoy the sessions as it highlighted my weaknesses and I wasn't much good at it. I didn't at that time appreciate how valuable a training tool it was. By some strange twist of fortune my rowing career stopped and my coaching career started and within the space of 5-6 years I was the Head Coach for both the Oxford and then the Cambridge University Boat Race crews. It was a fantastic and successful experience and the Indoor Rower became central to time-efficient and effective training and testing within both programmes.
Bizarrely, having not rowed for 6-7 years I then started again in my early 30's with a completely different approach. I trained less and did most of my training on the Indoor Rower. I became fitter, leaner and faster and was far more successful than I had ever been before, winning twice at Henley Royal Regatta. Now my priorities have changed. I have a family and work is full on. I try to exercise most days including 3-4 times a week on the Indoor Rower. Rapidly approaching my half century it is amazing how regular exercise on the Indoor Rower helps me maintain my fitness and weight. I can still row a respectable sub 7 minute 2000m and weigh the same as I did when I was 18. I feel great and it is in no small part a result of the Concept2 Indoor Rower.
John Wilson - Indoor Sport Services