The Best Rowing Workout Plan For Beginners

If you’ve recently made the plunge of buying a new indoor rowing machine, but you’re not sure how to start integrating it into your workouts, you’re in the right place.

I have listed the most important aspects that a beginner rowing program should include.

We’ll go over these below.

The Most Important Features of a Rowing Plan

I have identified that a beginner rowing program needs to have 4 core things. 

1. Simplicity

The easier a workout program is to understand, the better! This is also in-line with the old saying that “the best exercise program is the one that you stick with”.

A simple rowing program with good underlying structure is the way to go. No need to keep track of heart rate, rate of perceived exertion, exact pace splits, etc… You can get fancy down the road. For now, you need something simple that you can execute on daily.

2. Variety

In addition to simplicity, I think a good rowing exercise program should have a good amount of variety with the workouts. Doing the same workout over and over can be soul crushing…. Especially on a rower.

Having a good mix of workout styles breaks things up and makes it more fun. Some days should be long and slow, other days should be short and intense. This way you’ll find out which style of workout you like (and DON’T like). Plus, it’ll make it easier to stick to the program.

Variety will also ensure that you are hitting on a variety of different aspects of your fitness. Long and slow workouts are good for endurance, short and fast are good for burning fat and building muscle. A good program will contain a good mix of both.

3. Scalability

A beginner rower program should also have the ability to scale with you as you train. The program should start out slow, teach you the basics, and then accelerate you as you move through the program.

For instance, the program could start you with 3 workouts per week, then add a 4th as you progress through the program.

As you become a better rower, you’ll be able to handle more volume, so the workouts towards the end of the program should be tougher…. Don’t worry, you’ll be much stronger towards the end of the program!

4. Scored Elements

A starter indoor rower program should also have a “scored” section to it, i.e. you should have tested elements that show improvement as you go along. For instance, the 2K row is one of the key indoor rowing benchmarks i the rowing/erg-ing word.

Similar to bro’s in a gym asking you “how much ya bench?”, a serious rower will often ask another rower “how fast is your 2K?”. So, if you want to earn the respect of other rowers, you want to be able to brag on you times.

That said, having a scored element that you are constantly re-testing throughout the program is a great way to show progression. I personally love it when a beginner rowing program uses a 2K row time as one of the test/retest elements.

Just be warned, rowing a 2K can be pretty terrible…. It’s just short enough that you can push the pace hard, but long enough that it’s going to really hurt.

Now that we’ve outlined what a rowing program for beginners should have, let’s dig into some of the best available options

The Best Beginner Workout Program

Not to be braggadocios, but we are putting together a rowing program for new rowers. It’s going to be awesome.

I am building the 4 features into the program; simplicity, variety, scalability, and a scored element.

This program will be perfect for people that are new to rowing. I will teach you the basics of rowing technique, then I’ll help you ramp up to full on rowing workouts.

All of the workouts will take less than 45 minutes, with some workouts being much shorter than that (think 20 minutes). Perfect for building your fitness, while at the same time helping you to lose bodyfat and gain strength. And, since it’s on a rower, your chance for injury is extremely low since it’s low impact.

Stay tuned for the program launch, we are targeting January 1st. Shoot me an email if you want to get on the list.

Row on!

-Coach D