Proper Form Is Key for Optimizing Rowing Workouts—Here’s How to Master It

Whenever you start a new exercise format, whether it’s running, lifting weights, barre, rowing, or something else, one of the first things you need to do is learn how to do the movements properly. After all, achieving proper form in any type of exercise will lead to faster results while significantly reducing your risk of injury—and rowing is no different. Here, we’re diving deep into how to execute proper form for the rowing machine (such as the Peloton Row), plus how to avoid common mistakes and get the most out of your rowing workout. 

Why Proper Rowing Machine Form Is Important

As we just mentioned, there are two huge benefits to rowing with proper form: you will see results faster and lower your injury risk. Here’s why.

Rowing as an exercise notably engages 86% of the muscles in your body. But—and this is a big but—that’s only if you are rowing with proper form. If you are pulling too much with your arms, you won’t maximize the engagement of the muscles in your legs. If you’re not swinging sufficiently through your hips, you aren’t going to utilize as much core. Using proper rowing machine form guarantees that you are engaging virtually your entire body and reaping the muscle-toning and calorie-burning benefits that come with it. 

Second, rowing with proper form protects you from injury. Over the course of a single class, you’re going to take a lot of strokes. If you row for 20 minutes at 24 strokes per minute, that’s 480 strokes. If you’re not rowing with proper form—say you’re yanking on the handle too much with your arms or your back is collapsing forward at the catch—you risk injury from overloading your muscles or repeatedly putting your body in unnatural positions. Rowing with proper form is powerful and strengthening, while rowing with improper form risks injury and setbacks.

What Are the 4 Fundamental Rowing Positions?

When you are rowing with proper form, the stroke moves through four fundamental positions. They are:

How to Master Proper Rowing Technique

Here, we’re breaking the rowing stroke down into its four fundamental positions. When you are starting out on a rowing machine, or even at the beginning of each class, it can be helpful to break down the stroke like this to remind your body what proper form feels like. But once you’ve completed your warm up, remember that rowing is all about rhythm. “Truly try to go with the flow,” as Peloton Row instructor Katie Wang previously mentioned in The Output. “Sometimes our best strokes happen when we aren't stressing too much about the form or the metrics and instead fall into the rhythm of the workout.”

The Catch

The catch is the front of the stroke, when your body is the most compressed at the front of the slide. While you are only in this position for a moment, it’s important to get it right. Your arms are extended straight out in front of you, your back is straight, your knees are bent, and your heels are slightly lifted. Depending on your hip flexibility, your knees will be somewhere between your elbows and your armpits. 

The Drive

This is the powerful pushing movement that takes you from the catch to the finish. The bulk of the work that happens during rowing occurs during the drive, as you’re engaging first your legs, then your core, then your arms. Here’s how to complete the drive with proper form.

The Finish

The finish is the position your body is in at the end of the drive. Your legs are straight or nearly straight, you’re leaning back slightly, engaging your core, and your arms are bent with the handle right below your chest. 

The Recovery

Finally, you’ll move from the finish back to the catch, which is the portion of the stroke known as the recovery. The recovery is essentially the drive, but in reverse. Here’s how to do it.

Mistakes to Look Out For When Working On Your Rowing Form

While it may feel easy to achieve proper rowing form when you are moving slowly and breaking it down, it does get a little trickier when you pick up the pace. Here are some common mistakes to look out for at each position and how to fix them. 

Common Mistakes at the Catch: Hunching and Lunging

Especially when you are rowing at high stroke rates, it’s not uncommon to throw your body into the catch, letting your back hunch over and your heels fly up. To avoid this, try to think about the catch as a position you reach only for a fraction of a second before exploding back out again. This will help you control your approach during the recovery, preventing too much hunching and lunging. 

Common Mistakes In the Drive: Pushing Off the Balls of Your Feet and Pulling too Much with the Arms

As the working part of the stroke, there are a few mistakes you can make on the drive. The first is pushing through the balls of your feet instead of your heels, since the balls of your feet never leave the footplates. If you do this, you’re missing out on using the powerful glutes and hamstrings, which are only engaged when you push through your heels. The second is bypassing the legs altogether and pulling too much with the arms. “If you find yourself falling into the trap of pulling with your upper body, try getting your shins close to parallel at the catch to create greater force with your lower body in your stroke,” Katie suggests.

Commons Mistake at the Finish: Not Opening the Body

Like the catch, you’re only at the finish for a moment during the stroke. And because of this, it’s very common to forget to swing your body open. But skipping this step means you won’t utilize the muscles of your core and lower back or get the power they can provide. Try to avoid pulling with the arms until you’re leaning back. 

Common Mistakes In the Recovery: Not Swinging the Body Forward and Going too Fast

Just as not swinging the body back is a common mistake at the finish, not swinging forward is a common one in the recovery. “Let your arms cross over the knees and pull your body forward before your legs start to bend,” says Katie. Likewise, many people tend to quicken the recovery when they increase their stroke rate, which should be avoided. It’s called the recovery for a reason; it’s your chance to breathe during the stroke. The fix: Try to keep your recovery twice as long as your drive. In other words, count “one” on the drive and “one, two” on the recovery.

Final Takeaway

Rowing with proper form can help you maximize your results while minimizing your injury risk. At the beginning of each class you take on the Peloton Row, take a minute or two to lock in your form, thinking about the four fundamental positions and how to move through them efficiently and effectively. The more you practice, the easier it will get and the better you will get at rowing. So, what are you waiting for? Explore the Peloton Row today.