Can a Rowing Machine Tone Your Arms?

One thing we have to admit is that using good fitness equipment is the key to help us achieve our fitness goals successfully. Nowadays, in order to better meet people's exercise needs, a variety of excellent fitness equipment has emerged, and rowing workout machine is one of the outstanding representatives. As we all know, the rowing exercise machine is a way to break the monotony of treadmills and stationary bikes and to get a cardio workout that will involve your upper body. It has become increasingly popular in recent years, as many people find it a great way to get in shape. During the rowing process, although the legs supply a lot of the momentum and power, the arms are an integral part of rowing. So are the arms simply a secondary part of rowing? Can the rowing workout machine effectively tone and strengthen your arms? If you want to know the answer, please continue reading the following article. Let's explore further together.

Can a rowing workout machine tone your arms?
The answer is undoubtedly yes. In fact, the rowing machine can mainly exercise many muscles, and arm muscles are only a part of them. The rowing workout machine will tone your arms because each stroke efficiently activates and trains your triceps, biceps, shoulders, and forearms. In addition, the rowing workout machine allows you to build endurance and strength and switch from cardio to a muscle-building workout. Therefore, whether you want to tone flabby arms or bulk up your arm muscles, the rowing workout machine can help.

Which phase of the rowing stroke works arms?
Rowing is a full-body workout that trains up to 86% of your skeletal muscle. A study examining the rowing motion found that the legs contribute 50% of the power, the trunk 49%, and the limbs 19% of the power during a rowing stroke. Let’s see which phases of the rowing stroke activate the arm muscles.

1. Catch
The catch is the first phase of the rowing stroke. Your body is near the front of the fitness rowing machine with your knee close to your chest. Your triceps are engaged here because you are extending them while holding the handlebar. The back muscles are also activated, especially the lats. They help maintain a straight posture and assist your arms while the traps control the shoulder blades.

2. Drive
The drive is the second phase of the rowing stroke. As you extend your legs, your hips and core swing the body in the upright position. Your triceps, which were engaged during the catch, transfer the power to your biceps and shoulders during this phase. Your shoulders, biceps, and lats use the produced power to pull the handle toward your chest. Here we have a strong engagement of the biceps, which pull the handlebar toward your ribcage.

3. Finish
During the finish, the body hinges slightly backward, the legs are fully extended, and the handle is brought to your ribcage by internally rotating your shoulders. Besides the core muscles that help the hips hinge and keep the body stabilized, the bicep power is also very necessary here. Biceps help the shoulders rotate internally, but they also assist the back muscles in maintaining a straight posture.

4. Recovery
The recovery is all about safely and steadily going back to the starting phase, the catch. During the previous phase, the handlebar was brought close to the ribcage. Now, you move the arms away from the body by extending them while the hips and torso swing backward. Extending your arms slowly will fire up your muscles, especially the triceps, biceps, and shoulders. Make sure to keep your elbows and arms parallel to the ground and fully extended them. As you approach the front of the rowing exercise machine, hinge forward and use your hamstrings to bend your knees. Throughout the rowing stroke, you’ve efficiently trained all the major muscle groups and kept your arm muscles, triceps, biceps, and shoulders engaged at all times.

How long should you work out on a rowing workout machine to get bigger arms?
A 20-minute high-intensity rowing workout 4 times per week can help you gain decent arm muscle mass. Taking care of your diet and getting enough rest are equally important for your gains as well. Beginners should gradually increase their exercise time to avoid overtraining or injury. The rowing machine can effectively tone your triceps, biceps and shoulders, and it is normal for you to feel the sores in these muscles in the following days. It can be said that as long as you keep exercising on the rowing workout machine every day, you can get bigger arms as soon as possible.

In a word, I believe that you will know a rowing machine can tone your arms well after reading this article. In addition to arms, it can also effectively tone most muscle groups in your body. So add it to your home gym quickly!