How to Row

The Rowing Stroke

The rowing stroke consists of four phases: the catch, the drive, the finish, and the recovery. Your body position in each phase is outlined below.

The Catch

  • Extend arms straight toward the flywheel.
  • Keep wrists flat.
  • Lean your upper body slightly forward with back straight but not stiff.
  • Slide forward on the seat until your shins are vertical (or as close to this as your flexibility will allow).

The Drive

  • Begin the drive by pressing down your legs.
  • Keep your arms straight and hold your back firm to transfer your leg power up to the handle.
  • Gradually bend your arms and swing back with your upper body, prying against the legs until you reach a slight backward lean at the finish.

The Finish

  • Pull handle all the way into your abdomen.
  • Straighten your legs.
  • Lean your upper body back slightly.

The Recovery

  • Extend your arms toward the flywheel.
  • Lean your upper body forward at the hips to follow the arms.
  • Gradually bend legs to slide forward on the seat.

The Catch

  • Draw your body forward until the shins are vertical.
  • Upper body should be leaning forward at the hips.
  • Arms should be fully extended.
  • You are ready to take the next stroke.

To read about the biomechanics of rowing, please visit the
Muscles Used page.

General Notes

  1. To get the best workout, use a damper setting of between 3 and 5. This may feel too easy at first, but once you get used to the rowing motion and become able to get the wheel spinning faster, you will feel more resistance. The faster you get the wheel spinning, the more resistance is generated.
  2. Stretch before and after your workouts.
  3. Warm up for 5 minutes by rowing easily, with a few 10-15 stroke spurts of harder rowing.
  4. Resist the temptation to row for 30 minutes the first time on the machine. We recommend starting with no more than 3-5 minutes at a time. Then take a break to stretch and walk around. If you feel good, do up to 4 of these short intervals of rowing.
  5. On subsequent workouts, begin experimenting with stroke rate and power. Stroke rate is your cadence in strokes-per-minute. It is displayed in the upper right corner of the Performance Monitor. Power is how hard you are pulling. It is displayed in a choice of units in the central display area: watts, calories, or pace. Try some 3 minute intervals of rowing, varying stroke rate and pace, as described below.

Additional Resources

Rowing is a very natural motion—most people pick it up quickly. For more technique information: