Concept 2 Rowing: The Perfect Exercise

I always tell people that if I you had to do one exercise the rest of my life to insure fitness, it should be the Concept 2 Rower.
It's non-impact, you use upper and lower body muscles (as well as the core, big time!), it's "push-pull;" an unbelievable cardiovascular workout, and suitable for anyone from rehabbing heart patients to Olympic athletes. It's also perfect for kids.
You can do sprints at an all-out pace to boost you lactate threshold, Vo2 Max, and prepare for competitions; or go easy to get a good aerobic workout without pounding on your joints.
I've been doing it for over 20 years, and got some great tips from Rutgers University crew team memebers, who use the Concept 2 for their "off-water" workouts.
I also competed in the New Jersey Indoor Rowing Championships about 10 years ago, at the Westfield YMCA, which attracted about 50 die-hards of various ages and sizes. I won the 40-49 lightweight (under 160 lb.) division, but I think I was as close to death as any point in my life. You go 2000-meters (about seven minutes and a half minutes, for me) of total heart-pounding pain.
The most demanding thing about the rower is that, unlike the treadmill (where your body keeps up with the pace of the machine), you must create all the energy yourself. Every stroke counts, and if you let up, you must pull that much harder on the next stroke to make up for it!
My favorite workouts on the Concept 2 are: 12 x 500-meters, which is about two minutes of effort, followed by one minute rest; 6 x 1000-meters, a 4-minute to-2 work-rest ratio; or 10,000 meters straight through (my best time is slightly under 42 minutes).
It's also amazing how the time rowing equates to running. My all-out rowing mile and running mile are both right about six minutes long! In fact, most of my winter "running" intervals are done on the rower.
Also, as a trainer, I do abs six or seven times a day, every day. I always feel it's almost impossible to get my stomch sore. Sure enough, a hard rowing workout will!
In our club, the rower is a popular piece of equipment, because we use it in training clients a lot, and acquaint all the members of it's benefits. I've been in other gyms where the rower collects a lot of dust.
Don't go along with the crowd and choose the easy way out. Give the rower a try. It will be the best workout decision you ever made!