Best rowing machines for learning to row on at home

Begin your rowing journey with these recommended indoor rowers

After we got our new Concept 2 RowErg set up my wife looked at me and said Now what? My reply — I have no idea! This scenario is so very real, we often get similar e-mail and chat requests, which got us to wonder — What are the better rowing machines today to begin learning to row on at home? The appeal of indoor rowing as a low-impact, full-body, intense cardio workout to achieve fitness and weight-loss goals is becoming increasingly popular. But in reality, few have had experience rowing or even learned how.

The review team at MYN spent some time rowing on a range of selected indoor rowing machines. Our main objective was to find the best rower(s), with workout training content included, that provided effective rowing workouts to get started with to increase fitness levels and help support weight loss goals.

Our Mission [which we chose to accept] was to try out and Rank every Indoor Rower to find the top ones to recommend for people beginning their rowing fitness adventure.

We tried water rowers, air resistance rowers (basically a fan that acts as a damper to restrict airflow with a range of adjustable levels), electromagnetic resistance rowers, and some rowers that used a combination of air + electromagnetic resistance mechanisms. 

Most selected members of the try-out team either had never rowed before or had limited proficiency in mastering the rowing stroke.

Our Goal (Restated)

Again, find the better rowing machine(s) with training content (rowing sessions/training) to develop our rowing stroke skills and provide a clear road direction to follow to achieve wellness goals for fitness and/or weight loss through rowing. (Without too much hassle)

Trust Our Reviews of Fitness Equipment

When testing and evaluating indoor rowers, we tested comparable indoor rowing models like the Peloton Row, Concept2 RowErg, Nordictrack RW900, Proform R10, Ergatta, CityRow’s GO Max Rower, Aviron and others.

maybeyesno has tested and published exercise equipment reviews for over ten years. Our review team understands what makes good fitness equipment, — including indoor bikes, rowers, strength equipment, and treadmills. If it’s good, it’s good — if it’s bad — then it’s bad, we will tell you.

We get hands-on with gear and discuss overall design, tech, and function, including the feel, price, drilling down on components such as the handle, flywheel, the screen display (if applicable), resistance mechanism, subscription content, seat, adjustment features, ease of use, noise levels, and durability.

Based on extensive use and testing, we discuss, summarize, and compare equipment to help you determine which rowing machine is the one for you.

1. Best Beginner Rower-NordicTrack RW900 Rower – First Place

So here it is without much fanfare, the best rowing machine option for an individual new to indoor rowing, who wants to lose weight and improve their overall fitness, is the NordicTrack RW rowing series powered by iFit. It was by far the easiest solution to get going with and provided the best and most effective instructive guidance for those new to rowing to learn how to row and keep them rowing. An Indoor rowing machine is a great exercise tool, but only useful if you actually use it.

There are two Nordictrack models to choose from, the RW900 with a 22-inch and the 2025 model with its 24-inch touchscreen, and the RW700 model with a 10-inch touchscreen all operates virtually silently without a fan in sight. What we appreciated about these rowing machines was the quality of trainers and training sessions, the ease of scheduling sessions, of which many are part of a progressive series type and one of the key advantages, the close integration of the rower's resistance mechanism, with the workout and trainer cues. Follow this link to learn more Read the full RW900 Reviews.

Progressive workouts Series keep you moving forward. They help to eliminate plateauing and keeps you improving with time. The iFIT Pro monthly membership fee is around $39 per month for a family of 5 but drops to $33 per month if paid annually.

Nordictrack rowing workout content is excellent, well produced and the rowing instructors are world-class. From the moment you sit down on a NordicTrack rower, you can have your daily rowing exercise done in 20 minutes. No thinking about what to do next, endlessly searching YouTube, or printing out PDFs with random sequences of stroke rates. You pick a series of workouts, and the next one is presented to you — Easy! Just hit start.

iFIT, rowing sessions on Nordictrack were created to specifically keep you progressing whether you are a beginner or not. Many sessions are part of a progressive workout series or challenge series designed to move you along your rowing fitness journey, adding a little more challenge to each series session at a new location.

There are workouts for absolute beginners to advanced rowers, so you shouldn't get discouraged and are less likely to quit. Trainers call out the stroke rate and instruct on correct form and breathing, even dynamically adjusting your rowing machines' resistance to match their tempo —so you can focus just on your stroke rate, rhythm, and training.

iFIT offers a terrific variety of selections at varied and sometimes exotic waterway locations across the globe. So, you will not be bored. In addition, there are loads of off-the-rower cross-training sessions offered, from yoga, strength training, boxing, and more, but for this article, the focus is rowing.

You travel with your rower to outside destinations all over the world and get the best workout ever.

2. Hydrow takes Second Place for getting started

A next close choice and well-deserved is Hydrow including the lower-priced, recently released Hydrow Wave model. These two indoor rowers are also excellent choices. Overall, Hydrow is a close choice to Nordictrack and well deserved.

The Hydrow Pro will cost more on the equipment side and for the monthly membership at $44 per month, but similar to Nordictrack presents high-quality rowing workouts with great trainers. From the beginning, everything about the Hydrow is just easy — easy to assemble, easy to set up, and easy to use. The workout content tends to be a little more time-consuming than iFIT. 

Predominately Hydrow rowing workouts are on-the-water sessions with some live workouts streamed each month, mainly from the Miami intercostal and the Charles River in Boston, some in Norway and the UK, and have expanded to destinations in Alaska and New Zealand. Hydrow rowing workouts are full of tips, good advice, and motivation to keep you rowing, all led by expert rowing instructors. Follow these links to Learn more about the Hydrow Pro or Hydrow Wave rowing machines.

Surprisingly, So few good other Beginner Choices

Even though we tried, we found it difficult to confidently recommend a good third choice for beginner rowers that satisfied our straightforward initial goal of — ease and effectiveness.

3. Peloton Row

Sadly, for the beginner rowers, Peloton was a disappointing miss, with an overly complicated stroke-form guide, endless drills, and only studio workouts for the most part, with not the most experienced group of rowing trainers. At the time of writing, Peloton appeared to be in learning mode and should expand its rowing training library to compete with Hydrow and Nordictrack.

The Peloton Row is a great piece of hardware, comfortable, feels well built, is incredibly quiet, and has a super touchscreen but priced high (originally over $3,100) however, as we recently reported, reduced to $2,995, it is still a lot more compared to the cost of most other brands and given the experience it delivers. We say skip it unless you are a dedicated Peloton fan that has the “All-Access” subscription and is comfortable with Peloton's training style and the class format they deliver. Click here to discover more about the Peloton Row.

4. Concept2 RowErg

It’s tempting at a third of the price and it will last forever, but for beginners in our opinion, if you get the Concept2 RowErg you can find yourself in a world of hurt in so many ways unless you are looking towards being more of a competitive indoor rower or are a determined DIY type. 

To clarify, Concept2 is a brilliant rowing machine, it’s the Platinum Standard for rowing clubs and Pros. It’s a bare-bones machine that is significantly cheaper, but still, we do not recommend it as our Go-To indoor rower for the majority of people starting rowing — you really do need consistently high-quality training programs and coaching when embarking on your rowing journey — and a workout plan to guide you otherwise more often than not, it becomes a coat hanger in the corner. As we said earlier, an indoor rowing machine is an immensely effective exercise tool, but only valuable if you actually use it.

This brings us back to where we started, to the typical question someone new to indoor rowing with their shiny new rowing machine ready to go often asks. “Now What?”

With Concept2 aside from the chain being odd with a super loud resistance mechanism, If you have a high tolerance for boredom, you may be the exception that stays rowing with a Concept2 RowErg model.  

For many individuals, left to their own devices, the fitness journey with rowing can prove too challenging as you are left to surf the web for App workouts (Paid and Free) and try various instructors and coaches of which many resort to similar types of workouts with repetitive sequences of endless numbers to be added into the Performance monitor. (PM) as in the Workout of the Day below. [WOD]

Concept2 - Workout of the Day for July 18, 2023:

4/3/2/1/2/3/4 minutes with 2 minutes rest

Intervals of 4 minutes, 3 minutes, 2 minutes, 1 minute, 2 minutes, 3 minutes, 4 minutes. 2 minutes rest between each interval.

PM Button Sequences:

PM3/PM4: B-D-E-D-3B-4A-2B-E-D-C-E-D-C-E-D-C-E-D-B-E-D-B-E-D-B-2E
PM5: B-4D-3B-4A-2B-E-D-C-E-D-C-E-D-C-E-D-B-E-D-B-E-D-B-2E

That said, newer features and many Apps have been added by Concept2 and developers that now let you race against others in virtual and other race formats, but as we mentioned, competitive, not a workout focused on you or where to begin. Such as:

ErgData App - connects you to the Concept2 community.
Online Logbook - helps you record/track your workouts.
ErgRace Online - people anywhere can take part in an online race together.
Real Time Loop - a virtual 1000-meter course, row with others 24hrs/day
Peloton and Apple Fitness+
Exrgame.com - a virtual world to row and race in

5. Aviron and Ergatta - Game-On

GAMIFY YOUR WORKOUT

There are also several gaming-focused rowing machines like Ergatta and Aviron that are interesting options, but their lack of focus on form seems all wrong, mostly encouraging you to simply GO! [row] as fast as you can — not the recommended way of building a stroke rhythm to build power, stamina, strength, and endurance. 

The workouts are not well thought-out from a rowing perspective to achieve fitness-oriented goal results, but more to enjoy just having fun, which is fine but not in line with our established goal set at the beginning of being effective for someone new to rowing. As a final note, Ergatta and Aviron also provide access to Netflix movies and YouTube. Infact, Peloton Row began testing this type of content access as well.

CityRow

CityRow is similar to Ergatta in that it is a water-resistant rower that offers both on and off-machine classes. However, unlike traditional rowing options, CityRow's content is focused on individual workouts and lacks cohesion. Users must create their own workout schedule, as there is no progressive series or goal-oriented challenge training plan offered to track progress and improve over time.

A Note on Water Rowers

The idea behind water rowers is that they are intended to replicate the experience of rowing in a boat, aiming to bring the water sound, resistance, and physiological benefits of rowing inside. Besides being fitness equipment, they were, designed originally to be a piece of art or furniture with an aesthetic that would complement your home. But if you are new to rowing, we are unsure how this helps achieve any of your rowing fitness goals.

Except maybe the Basic Principles of Feng Shui which maybe a good thing. There is also the added consideration of having to maintain your water tank to keep it clean.

Final Thoughts

Congratulations on considering indoor rowing as a form of exercise! Rowing is an excellent low-impact way to build strength and improve cardiovascular health.

It's important to push through the initial sessions and maintain consistency, even on days when you don't feel up to it. Short sessions can be beneficial and keep you moving forward. For the best quality rowing workout content and motivation, consider selecting Hydrow, Nordictrack, or Peloton Row, especially if you're already a PeloFam member. These connected-fitness brands have excelled at putting together rowing content, that will keep you motivated and on track toward achieving your fitness goals.

For the person starting out learning how to row, it takes, in our experience, about 100-row sessions before you start to see real progress in your rowing skills. Keep in mind that most home indoor machines have a 30-day return policy.

If you decide to go with Concept2, be aware that it may not be as easy or straightforward, and finding a good trainer and staying motivated can be a challenge. Additionally, many of the Concept2 competitions and challenges may not be best suited for beginners. Be cautious when selecting game-oriented rowing machine options, as they may be less focused on wellness and lead to injuries if proper form is not maintained. That said they do have less weight constraints which may play a role in your decision making.

At the end of the day, it comes down to what keeps you using your rowing machine, so you need to determine the best connected-fitness indoor rower for you. To read another great article follow this link about a newbie’s learning to indoor rowing journey.

Best of luck on your journey to better health —rowing!