Things You'll Need:
- Rowing machine
- water
- stamina
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Step 1
Sit down on the seat and place your feet in the stirrups, tightening the strap over your toes. Grab hold of the handle bars and pull back to turn the monitor on. Set the monitor to count whatever you want to measure; distance, resistance, calories, etc. I usually set it for calories so I can count how many I'm burning.
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Step 2
Hold the handle bars with both hands and pull back toward yourself. The seat will move with you, so you don't need to do much with your legs except keep them in the stirrups. Pull back, lowering your arms as your legs extend. Your elbows should be bent by the sides of your waist, and you should lean backward just a little as you pull.
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Step 3
Let the tension go and slide forward, arcing your hands over your knees as they fold back up. You should feel your abs working to pull you up from leaning back, and your arm muscles relaxing as the machine pulls them forward with the handlebars.
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Step 4
Repeat. This should become one smooth, flowing motion, and feel like you are rowing a boat. You can even shout in your head "Stroke! Stroke!" if it helps. The handlebars work your arms and leaning back on the backwards slide will work your abdominal muscles. If you are unused to this exercise, start off slowly for just a couple of minutes. You will feel your muscles working after about 2 minutes. If you can make it to 5 minutes, great! Keep doing 5 minutes each day until you get better and better and can go for even longer. Your abs and arms will be toned more and more the longer you use it.
