TacticalBarbell.com

I recently purchased a Concept 2 rower. I wanted to get my general conditioning up a bit since it’s been on the back burner lately. Unfortunately I’ve recently had a meniscus injury that has taken running and most calisthenics off the table for me until I heal.

I have an old airdyne bike that doesn’t bother my knee, but I really only like it for sprints, and wanted something more versatile. I have a pretty extensive garage gym, including a GHD, reverse hyper, belt squat, every type of strongman equipment you could think of, a bunch of specialty bars, etc. I love all of it. But I tell you what, none of those things have I been as happy with as the rower.

I love the versatility of it: from high intensity to low. It’s extremely easy to use (with a little firm work). You just hop on and go. It gets your heart rate up in seconds and it just feels GOOD. I stuck it right in the middle of my living room so I didn’t have any excuses.

I’d like to say I have a pretty decent knowledge base and experience with home gym equipment. If I could recommend anything for general fitness after a rack and a barbell it would definitely be a rower.

Since I don’t see it get mentioned around here too often, and just a little in the books, I thought I’d come make the recommendation in case anyone was looking for an alternative to running.

My favorite E is "doubles" - Rowing/Airdyne combo. 10min each x3-4.
And my favorite Fobbit version is rowing/burpees combo.

Love my C2 rower as well!
It’s great for doing fobbits (seriously, it makes fobbits 10x better than a treadmill!), and especially for resets

I can’t bring myself to do LSS work on it though

I enjoy the C2 rower - 5k LSS rows, or 2k timetrials, or the 500m intervals. All hit the aerobic system slightly differently. That said, I prefer running if weather is good, etc so the last I spent serious time on the rower was when I had a case of plantar fascilitis a while back.

In a nutshell though, a good modality to keep in your quiver of arrows.

I am moving soon to a new place and will be able to expand my gym again after downsizing. A C2 Rower is the first thing on my list.

I prefer to run, but I like the option of being able to train at home with a little one on the way.

Good topic.

I agree the Concept 2 rower is a great addition to any home gym.

Like the other guy has posted, great to have when you have kids around and can’t get out and run.

I haven’t tried Fobbit on there, will look at it. I have been doing a Gym Jones workout called “Tailpipe” on it:

5 rounds
250m sprint
10 burpees

I also do the indoor power intervals, 2 mins all out full recovery.

Both different but great workouts.

I do a fair bit of LSS on it too during BB phase, Podcast on and zone out for 60 mins is a great test of will as it is easy to step off the rower as opposed to running, when you run somewhere, you HAVE to run back, when you’re half way on the rower, you’re still at home....

I do the Tailpipe after a Strength session, 3-5 rounds depending how I feel.

ryan28michael wrote:I do the Tailpipe after a Strength session, 3-5 rounds depending how I feel.

I always thought something like that, doing burpee-over-rower, would be killer. When my knee heals it’s definitely on my list.