Every February—right around the time the cold weather and snowstorms start to make you feel like you might never work out outside again—the team at Rowing Pad makes a celebration of remembering why we LOVE that wonderful invention dubbed the “erg.” Our catch phrase for the month is “LOVE YOUR ERG. PAD YOUR SEAT.”
The ergometer is truly a revolutionary machine, a way to replicate the on-water rowing experience so many of us love, even when we can’t get in the boat. And with today’s streaming and immersive workout programs, you can really get the sensation of gliding across some of the world’s most beautiful waterways. It’s no surprise that indoor rowing has gained massive popularity around the world. From rowing studios to athletes who are cross-training to people looking for low-impact ways to get their heart pumping, it seems we are tuned in to the ergometer and its many health and fitness benefits.
Why should I try a rowing pad?
Of course the erg is not without its flaws. For starters, it’s an investment to purchase one for your home. It’s also not always comfortable on the posterior. The seats are a bit unforgiving. Many a new rower has walked away from their first indoor rowing class with a sore rump and a plan to sit on an ice pack the next day!
What’s more, repetitive use of an ergometer can lead to lower back pain or exacerbate chronic back issues like sciatica. This makes sense: An ergometer sits on the hard floor, generating a ton of force during the course of a workout. Some of that pressure gets absorbed by your body—much different from rowing on water, where the natural buoyancy of the boat allows your back muscles to load and unload during the course of a stroke.
RowingPad was founded as a simple, effective way to reduce some of the negative elements of training on a rowing machine. Using input from some of the world’s best rowers and leading rowing coaches at the time, combined with our knowledge of materials manufacturing and high-performance foam, we designed a seat pad specifically for use on the erg. Our pads provide comfort for the sitz bones while also absorbing some of the pressure generated by the erg and enhancing rowing geometry to help rowers achieve a longer, more powerful stroke.
For this year’s Love the Erg month, we’re taking a look at 5 awesome reasons to make indoor rowing part of your fitness routine.
Rowing Is a True Full-Body Workout
As our friends at Hydrow detail so well in this blog post, rowing activates approximately 85% of your muscle groups with one stroke! The most obvious parts of your body involved with rowing are all located in your upper body—biceps, shoulders, triceps, and forearms. But you can also feel the work your back muscles are doing, engaging your upper back muscles and your lats. The abdominal muscles fire up quickly to stabilize your body and transfer some power from your lower body to your upper body. Those powerhouse muscles—glutes, quads, calves, and hamstrings—in your lower half are working hard from catch to recovery. Phew! We’re tired just talking about it.
Rowing Is a Low-Impact Exercise
Let’s start by affirming something our crew at RP believes: Low impact does not necessarily mean low intensity, or even low effectiveness. Low-impact workouts are for everyone, at any stage of life. And as a session on the erg will prove, low-impact workouts can be just as challenging as other types of exercise.
Rowing is an excellent low-impact activity for several reasons: First, it’s gentle on the joints. In fact, in many cases rowing can reduce existing joint pain by lengthening and strengthening the muscles around the joints. Second, rowing improves your full-body strength, just by using your own body weight. Rowing also builds cardiovascular endurance, without any need for typical high-impact activities like running or jumping. Pop an ErgPad on that ergometer and start spinning—low stress, low strain!
Rowing Improves Your Posture and Core Strength
Nowadays we all are in need of a massive antidote to our collective cultural neck tilt as we slump at our desks and hunch over phones. (Don’t despair—there’s hope!) A session on the erg is just what the doctor ordered. Rowing strengthens the core and back muscles, both responsible for helping you stand up straight and tall. Plus, by getting into the proper rowing position for each workout, you are re-training your body to sit with proper posture and alignment. Before long, you’ll be walking taller, sitting straighter, and hopefully enjoying fewer aches and pains as you go through each day.
If you are having trouble finding your ideal form on the rowing machine, it’s possible you need to adjust your height in the seat. (Not all bodies are perfectly proportional, so it’s natural to need some help in achieving proper rowing form!) Adding an ErgPad to your seat can help with your range of motion and getting your shoulders in front of the hips during the recovery. Rowing Pad makes seat pads in 10MM, 20MM, and 30MM thicknesses.
Rowing Is an Efficient Workout
If you have only a short time to dedicate to fitness each day, why not maximize the results you get from your effort? Few workouts do this as efficiently as rowing. In just 20 to 30 minutes, you can complete a solid full-body workout. Rowing also checks two boxes when it comes to how it challenges the body. While some workouts are predominantly strength-building, and others mostly cardio, rowing accomplishes both—toning your muscles and getting that heart rate pumping at the same time.
We all know eliminating excuses is essential in establishing a successful exercise routine. Knowing you don’t have to dedicate an hour or more to a workout can be incredibly helpful, especially if you are just getting started!
Rowing Has a Major Zen Factor
Look, we don’t know how early 2025 is treating you…but mentally, we could definitely use a little more “calm” and a little less panic in our daily outlook. It’s proven that aerobic exercise boosts blood flow to the brain, which can clear toxins, protecting against inflammation and fostering the development of new brain cells. It also helps protect the brain from cognitive decline and memory loss.
But certain forms of cardio are more “stressful” than others. (You won’t find this Rowing Pad crew member in a cycling studio anymore—the dark rooms, loud music, and often extreme intervals cause my brain to shut down instead of achieving any elevated “endorphin rush” state!) With its rhythmic quality, rowing on the erg can be extremely meditative. Rowers often report entering a sort of Zen state as they repeat their “catch, drive, finish, recover” cycle over and over.
Gliding toward calm plus a healthy dose of stress-relieving endorphins sounds pretty wonderful. Add an extra-cushiony Soft ErgPad from our extra-soft collection and you’ll be in rowing heaven!
RowingPad designs, manufacturers, and distributes all of our products from our cozy corner of New Hampshire, right here in the USA. It is our mission to continue to provide the highest quality products and attentive customer service as we support the rowing community.
