( This blog post will compare the advantages and disadvantages of rowing verses running. I want to make it clear that for the purposes of this blog post, "rowing" means using a rowing machine, and "running" means running on a treadmill. I've never rowed a competition-style rowing scull on the water and I prefer running on a treadmill to running outside ( While I occasionally run outside if a treadmill is not available, I prefer using a treadmill because it provides consistent metrics I can use to compare my level of performance over time. I've been running on the same treadmill at home for about 16 years now, and each time I run I'm running under the exact the same conditions. Thus, if I set a personal best, I know I was better that day than any day in the past ( Or if my performance is far from my personal best ( which I am now due to some recent injuries ), I know exactly how much I need to improve. ). While running outside certainly has a lot of benefits that lots of people love, one thing it does not provide is consistent running conditions. Things like the temperature, precipitation, wind, and the grade and condition of the road could certainly make your results vary from day to day. I'm not anal about a lot of things, but I am anal about having consistent metrics when I run, so I'm an indoor kid when it comes to running. )
I've been running on a treadmill regularly for 18 and a half years. I'd rarely go more than a few days without a run, but in mid-October of 2018, due to a series of events that I won't explain here ( except to say that a clogged pipe on the outside of my house led to back injury which led to a hip injury ), I injured my hip left hip badly enough that I couldn't do any running without making the hip pain much worse. After repeated attempts at self-rehab failed to work, I started to get antsy that I wasn't get any cardio exercise and I wound up googling "Best cardio exercised with an injured hip". This led me to buy the Concept2 rowing machine you can see in the photo above, and by December 5, 2018, I was giving it a try for the first time.
Anyway, long story short, after months of doing rehab for my hip ( I actually got professional rehab at real rehab place, rather than trying to do it myself ) I was able to get back to running regularly, and now I'm both running and rowing regularly. I've still only been rowing for about 6 months, so I'm by no means an expert on it, but I think I know enough about rowing now to write about the experience of rowing verses the experience of running. I'm not writing this to make any judgement about which is better, but I'd thought it be fun to describe some of the key differences I've noticed. I'm going to compare and contrast running and rowing in terms of the following 6 categories:
Simplicity
Injury Risk
Muscle Building
Calorie Burning
Cardio
Effect on Quality of Life
Simplicity
The biggest advantage that running has over rowing is that running is simplicity. Anybody who is reasonable healthy ( and is fortunate enough to have healthy legs and nervous system that can operate those legs ) can run. On the other hand, rowing with the proper technique can be really difficult. I've been rowing for over 6 months now, and I still have a long way to go before I'll be rowing with textbook technique. When you first start rowing, bad technique can keep you from getting a good cardiovascular workout. When I first started rowing, my muscle endurance would give out long before my cardiovascular endurance. I'd come off the rowing machine with only half the sweat I'd get from a run, and muscles all over my body ( some of which I barely knew I had ) would be sore for days. You will need to put in a lot of time on the rowing machine before your technique improves enough to allow you to get a good cardiovascular workout.
BTW, if decide to take up rowing ( or have just started rowing ), the following two YouTube channels are great resources ...
Training Tall
Dark Horse Rowing
I've learned everything I know about rowing from watching these two channels, and I made gigantic improvements in my rowing times after just watching about 5 of these videos.
Injury Risk
As you might expect, rowing has a big advantage in this category. I've gotten all sort of injuries from running over the years. I've injured both knees, both hips, and parts of my feet ranging from the heal, to the mid-foot, to the toes. I've never been able to run more than 2 or 3 time a week without either getting "sponge-y" knees or sore hip joints. The nature of running pretty much assures that your joints are going to take a gravity-assisted pounding, but the smooth horizontal rowing motion is easy on the joints. I was able to do some intense rows with zero hip pain at a time when just walking for 20 minutes would make my hip sore. If you've got any kind of joint issues, rowing is a far better exercise to do than running. That said, you can certainly hurt yourself while rowing, especially when you first start and your technique is really bad. I'd wind up with really sore biceps after some of my early rows ( didn't really injure them, but in retrospect I was probably lucky not to strain/tear a biceps while rowing with crappy technique ), and a pain so bad in the back of the leg behind the knee that I had to ice it for a hour ( The pain was in some tendon or ligament that feels like a cord running down the back of my leg behind the knee ( the outside part of the knee ). I have no idea what that body part is called, but it hurt like all heck when I tried to do intense rows ( trying to break some of my early personal bests ) using poor technique, and used mostly my legs and foot straps to pull myself back towards the catch ( the part of the rowing machine stroke near the wheel ) rather than using my core ( One tip from Training Tall that fixed that problem: Try rowing for a while without the foot straps to learn how to use your core rather than your legs to pull yourself back to the catch ) ). Still, while there is some injury risk from rowing with bad technique, those risk decrease dramatically even with small improvements in technique. With the exception of the first few weeks of rowing with piss-poor technique, I've never been sore after rowing.
Muscle Building
You might think the rowing has a big advantage here, because proponents of rowing always promote it as being a "full body workout". While it is true that rowing works a wider variety of muscles than running, I don't necessarily believe that it provides more muscle work than running. I figure that a run or a row that burns the same amount of calories must require roughly the same amount of energy, and thus must work the muscles about the same amount. Of course, with running, almost all of the muscle building/toning will be in the legs, while rowing is going to spread the benefits to your muscles across many part of you body. So, if you mostly care about having strong toned legs, running is the way to go, but if what you really want out of a workout is to get the long lean V-shaped upper body that all the serious rowing dudes have, then I guess rowing is the way to go.
Calorie Burning
Most studies show that running burns a more calories that running - not a huge amount more, but certainly more. See here, here, and here for some numbers. The last of these 3 links is an article that says rowing gives you "more bang for you buck" than running, but even that article says ... "the subject on the treadmill burnt 350 calories, while the person on the rowing machine expended 300". I've also noticed in my own workouts that I can burn calories faster on a treadmill than I can on a rowing machine ( based on the treadmill and rowing machine metrics ). So, if you are deciding whether to get a treadmill or a rowing machine, and all you care about is burning calories, a treadmill is the best bet.
Cardio
However, even though it it clear to me that running burns more calories than rowing, I've come to believe that rowing gives you a better cardio workout. I'l admit this is only anecdotal evidence, but there is no doubt in my mind that my heart pumps faster after an intense row than after an intense run. I think this is because I can "empty my tank" on rowing machine in a way that I can't do safely on a treadmill. When I get to the end of a row and I'm pushing for a personal best, I find myself closing my eyes, gritting my teach and putting every ounce of energy I have into the last 30 strokes of so. I can't do that on a treadmill. Not only would it be inconvenient to to manual increase the speed of the treadmill while I try to do a closing "kick", but if I'm expending all my energy on the treadmill, there is a good chance I could lose control and fall off.
Effect on Quality of Life
Before giving a verdict a this one, I'd like to make it clear that I love both running and rowing, particular because by alternating between running and running, I can get cardio exercise almost every day without worrying about my knees wearing out.
That said, I believe that for most people, running is a better exercise than rowing to improve the quality of your life. Running is going to make your legs stronger, and give you the ability to move with your legs over longer distances. Rowing will certainly give you a better full body workout, but it does not work the legs as much as rowing, and I would say that being more proficient in the rowing motion and having a stronger upper body from rowing is not as practical as being able to get from point A to point B on your feet faster. Whether you are walking to work, walking to the store, hiking, walking around an amusement park, sightseeing by foot on vacation, or exploring a national park by foot, being able to walk long distances quickly is a big advantage. Being able to row across a lake at high speed or looking good in a tight T-shirt is nice, but I don't think is is practical as being able to move around quickly by foot.
Once again, I love rowing and I intend to do into old age, long after my knees wear out, but I think running might help people with everyday life a bit move. Of course, I might have a different answer after my knees actually do wear out. All and I, I just feel blessed to be healthy to do both exercises these days.
Rich
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