Rowing is amazing. I cannot overstate how great an activity this is for cardio and building core strength. The amount of impact to your body, assuming somewhat decent form, is virtually negligible compared to alternatives such as running. The other thing about rowing that is so compelling to me is the continual variability of intensity that is possible. With running, you usually have a discrete jump in exertion when going from a fast walk to a proper run. With rowing, you have a much finer gradient of exertion to work with. If you feel like rowing precisely at 815 kcal/hr, you can hold that target the entire time without feeling like your body wasn't designed for that exact pace. Warming up into an intense session is also substantially easier because of this. Many times I will tell myself "let's just row lightly for a bit and watch this podcast", and inevitably I will end up in an intense rowing session after about 10 minutes of screwing around. This is how continuous it is... you almost trick yourself into exertion after a while without realizing it. One final upside is that because of the low impact, after a few weeks of conditioning, you can pretty much row every single day without worrying about wearing yourself out in any serious way.
The only downside to all of this is that rowing is an activity that is very direct in its payout model. You have to intentionally push yourself harder because of how the resistance mechanism operates. Just sitting on a machine or boat and going through the motions for X amount of time does not entitle anyone to weight loss or any other health benefits. If it doesn't suck at least a little bit while you are doing it, I can pretty much guarantee you won't experience any upside afterwards. You will have to become the architect of your own individual hell when using a rowing machine. The worse it is during, the better the results will be after (but don't discourage yourself!).
In my personal experience, I literally cannot gain weight when doing at least 5 sessions of 5km (<25 minutes each) per week. Now, this ~25 minutes is pretty brutal, but it's all it takes to keep me at a healthy weight without even trying. I could drink a 6 pack of light beer every single day (obviously not recommended) and still not put on any appreciable weight. Being able to consume anything you want whenever you want is very liberating. Contrary to the parent post, I never bother to log my calories or weight. I just enforce the rowing output on a regular basis and keep it simple. Having the performance monitor module on the rower helps a ton with maintaining consistent output.
I purchased a Concept2 Model D about 4 years ago now, and it has already seen over 7000 km with not so much as a hint of breakdown. Just a little bit of 3-in-1 oil on the chain once in a while and it runs like a dream every time. 9/10 times if I can't get myself motivated to get in the car to go to the gym, I can at least talk myself into a 20-30 minute rowing session since it's just in the other room. This was probably the best purchase I've ever made if we are considering personal health as a high priority.
The impact of running is actually really good for bone strength. People who run have much stronger bones at 70 compared to people that just do low impact.
The only downside to all of this is that rowing is an activity that is very direct in its payout model. You have to intentionally push yourself harder because of how the resistance mechanism operates. Just sitting on a machine or boat and going through the motions for X amount of time does not entitle anyone to weight loss or any other health benefits. If it doesn't suck at least a little bit while you are doing it, I can pretty much guarantee you won't experience any upside afterwards. You will have to become the architect of your own individual hell when using a rowing machine. The worse it is during, the better the results will be after (but don't discourage yourself!).
In my personal experience, I literally cannot gain weight when doing at least 5 sessions of 5km (<25 minutes each) per week. Now, this ~25 minutes is pretty brutal, but it's all it takes to keep me at a healthy weight without even trying. I could drink a 6 pack of light beer every single day (obviously not recommended) and still not put on any appreciable weight. Being able to consume anything you want whenever you want is very liberating. Contrary to the parent post, I never bother to log my calories or weight. I just enforce the rowing output on a regular basis and keep it simple. Having the performance monitor module on the rower helps a ton with maintaining consistent output.
I purchased a Concept2 Model D about 4 years ago now, and it has already seen over 7000 km with not so much as a hint of breakdown. Just a little bit of 3-in-1 oil on the chain once in a while and it runs like a dream every time. 9/10 times if I can't get myself motivated to get in the car to go to the gym, I can at least talk myself into a 20-30 minute rowing session since it's just in the other room. This was probably the best purchase I've ever made if we are considering personal health as a high priority.