One of my biggest complaints about internet health and fitness discourse is how much it exaggerated the time commitment for exercising.

A fitness routine like you described (20 minutes, 3 times per week) is actually plenty of time to make a significant improvement in fitness levels. The key is consistency over the long term.

Too much of the fitness discourse on traditional media and social media revolves around extremes and glorifies the misery component of extreme exercise. Popular programs like CrossFit are all about pushing the limits and the grind. That’s fine for some people, but it’s not even close to necessary.

A basic exercise regimen of 1-2 hours total per week will make a world of difference compared to no exercise at all. Really, you don’t even need to go for intense exercises like rowing. It’s entirely possible to get fit and stay fit by doing mild to moderate weight lifting routines where you may barely break a sweat.

I wish we’d do a better job of normalizing the mild to moderate exercise routines instead of the way the discussions are all about pushing yourself until you’re miserable.

Also exaggerating how much of a chore it is. Find an activity you like and it will never be hard to stay active. Of my 5 favorite things to do, 3-4 are different physical activites.

Just to quickly share what worked for me since many of us don't have room for a row machine: a pull-up bar and a 30lb kettle bell. Every 4hrs between 9AM and 9PM my Alexa reminds me to work out. I then do 3 out of 4 of the following: a set of push-ups, 100 crunches, 25-pullup (or 100 row style push ups with my feet on a tall bar stool), and/or 100 kettle bell swings. The routine is usually over in 7 minutes if I stay focused. It's short enough where I don't sweat so no need to change clothes and shower.

To be clear when the workout reminder chimes, sometimes I don't want to do any of it. But then I remind myself "you can do something" and I at least do the push-ups and pull-ups. I couldn't be more pleased with the results especially given how little effort is required.

Of course genetics play a huge role here.

This idea is not founded in science. However, as Dr. Baraki outlines - dosage is very relevant regarding pain and injury

Rowing and squash are the worst :)

It's just not challenging enough (and I'm not very fit). Running/cycling (on a machine), I can easily ramp up the difficulty enough so that I'm sweating in 10 minutes. Rowing, I barely sweat even after 20 minutes (on max hardness, 27ish strokes/minute).

One of the best "time savers" for cardio is HIIT, and you just can't do that rowing.

1) 27 strokes per minute is not max. I'm 70 years old and I do 30 to 33 on the rowing machine where I work out. When I was in college, our training sessions were all at 30 to 35 strokes per minute. Training sessions lasted for 1 to 2 hours, six days a week.

2) As for HIIT, during a race we would often do a "power 10", where we would apply maximum power to our strokes for 10 strokes. We only did 10 strokes because at the power levels we were expected to apply, doing more than 10 would burn us out rather quickly.

I still do rowing because it's an aerobic exercise that works most of your muscles; arms, back, legs, stomach. The only exercise I've heard of that does more all around is cross country skiing, and I hate the cold.

33 strokes per minute. set to 10 resistance on concept2. proper form. go for 30 minutes.

I'm unconvinced this is an easy thing for an unfit individual. I'm fairly sure an unfit individual would only be capable of 2 minutes... at best.

> One of the best "time savers" for cardio is HIIT, and you just can't do that rowing

Of course you can, something is wrong here, although it might be difficult to diagnose over the internet. "max hardness" might be a clue - you probably shouldn't be setting the resistance to maximum and maximum resistance does not imply more intense workout.

But if you want challenging, join the Concept2 challenges. I was doing 10k rows several times a week as a middle-of-the-pack competitor and if that doesn’t challenge you then you should go pro.

But as I mentioned in another comment, you can injure yourself on a Concept2 if you don’t cross-train. It’s not a magic device.

Ramming speed...

Rowing fast is one of the most demanding movements you can do.

Pulling faster/harder will make it more difficult. Try that, I guess?

(I tweaked my hips during 2020 lockdown by overdoing it on my Concept2).

My advice is an app like Keelo, which creates HIIT workouts based on the equipment you tell it you have - including a rowing machine. I have my rower, some dumbbells, a plyo box, a kettle bell, and some rings.

Every workout is different than the last, you can use your own Spotify playlists, and it will kick your ass in all the best ways.

I’m suprised how I go to gyms and find they don’t have a rowing machine

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25905467

(Launch HN, not Show HN)