Loving my rowing machine - what's it doing to my hips?

October 3, 2017 12:51 PM

I bought a Waterrower. I really like it. I'd like to keep my hips and thighs from getting much bigger, and ideally reduce them a bit. But will rowing do that? Or might it actually increase my hip size? I'm currently rowing around 10 minutes a day, and wondering if I should increase resistance, or just time, or try something different. I'm 40 and female.

I rather assumed rowing might tone up my thigh and butt muscles and thus reduce my hips (as it's mostly leg-work, and I've been pretty unfit previously). Indeed, my thigh muscles feel pleasingly harder when I poke them, and possibly my overall shape is shifting, but my hip circumference is unchanged. That made me realise I don't know what rowing might actually do.

Is it more likely to tone up my muscles and make me more compact? Or is there a chance it's building muscle mass?

More detail: At the moment, I'm rowing within the low end of my target heart rate, with the water tank not completely full. I don't build muscle easily - I've never got my arms to bulk up when weightlifting - but I've not used the same kind of exercise so consistently before. I'm not overweight.
In terms of goals, it would be nice to look more muscular, but more pragmatically and plausibly I'd like to keep wearing men's trousers.
I know my hip size is probably mostly determined by my bodyfat and my genes. I also know I can't spot-reduce fat. But I also know that particular exercises in the past have toned/shaped me in different ways. Any more information would be gratefully received!

posted by Socksmith to Health & Fitness (2 answers total)

It sounds like you are invoking two myths: 1) Different exercises will change your muscles in different ways ("toning" vs "bulking." They won't; a particular muscle either get stronger and bigger or weaker and smaller. Of course, different exercises will target different muscles. 2) You're a risk of accidentally getting big muscles. This is extremely unlikely, especially for a 40 year old woman who doesn't build muscle easily. (If you ever find you have too much, then cut down on the exercise; just as if you accidentally end up with too much cash to fit in your safe, go out and spend some.)

Rowing's a great exercise: full-body, both cardiovascular and muscular, low-impact. Keep it up.
posted by Mr.Know-it-some at 1:22 PM on October 3, 2017 [9 favorites]

Best answer: Hello~

You're me from about 6 months ago, when i started rowing.

I went from 0 minutes rowing to 30mn rowing using Concept2's 9 session Beginning Working programme.

From then on, I followed their "Weight Management" programme, which gets you to 90minutes continuous rowing in about 4 months.

The strength (heh) of rowing is in it's ability to let the athlete do long steady state (60-90mn) cardio with very low stress on the body. During this time, you can listen to an ebook, watch some documentaries, or listen to your metronome, like me. The payoff of having a lower resting heart rate will be better than you can imagine.

Here is a link to concept2's Indoor Training GUide. I basically taught myself, with very minimal googling. This document is a lot of fun to read, and gives you a lot of options depending on your long term goals.
posted by tedious at 8:47 PM on October 3, 2017 [10 favorites]