Rowing for Perimenopause: A Low-Impact Full Body Workout Worth Starting
A rowing machine offers full-body cardiovascular and strength benefits during perimenopause with minimal joint impact. Here's how to start and build a habit.
Why Rowing Is Worth Considering During Perimenopause
The rowing machine is one of the most underused pieces of gym equipment, and during perimenopause it offers a combination of benefits that is difficult to match elsewhere. It is almost entirely non-impact, placing no significant load on knees or ankles, which matters as joint sensitivity increases with declining oestrogen. It engages approximately 86 percent of the major muscle groups in a single stroke, working the legs, back, core, and arms simultaneously. This full-body engagement means a shorter session delivers more cardiovascular and muscular stimulus than many single-muscle or single-plane exercises. Rowing also builds posterior chain strength, targeting the back extensors, glutes, and hamstrings, which supports posture and counters the forward-flexion pattern that prolonged sitting creates. For women at a stage of life where maintaining muscle mass and cardiovascular health are both priorities, rowing addresses both in one activity.
Getting the Technique Right From the Start
Rowing technique is not complicated once understood, but it is commonly done incorrectly, which reduces effectiveness and increases back strain. The movement follows a specific sequence: legs drive first, then the back pivots, then the arms pull. On the recovery, the sequence reverses: arms extend first, back rocks forward, then legs compress. Beginners almost universally make the mistake of pulling with their arms too early, before the leg drive is complete, or hunching the upper back on the pull. A brief session with a coach or a technique video from British Rowing or Concept2 at the start builds good habits that pay dividends in comfort and efficiency for months and years. The most important cue is to think of your legs as the engine and your arms as the finishing mechanism, rather than treating it as an upper-body exercise.
Understanding the Damper Setting
The damper lever on the side of a Concept2 rowing machine is frequently misunderstood. It controls air resistance, but a higher setting does not make you work harder in a straightforward way. A damper set to 10 is like rowing a heavy barge, slow and laborious. A damper set to 3 or 4 is like rowing a racing shell, faster and requiring more power to be generated quickly. Most recreational rowers find a setting between 3 and 5 most efficient and comfortable. The drag factor visible in the monitor's performance menu gives a more precise measure than the damper number alone, since air density affects the actual resistance. For perimenopause, a moderate drag factor prioritises technique and consistency over forcing heavy loads through the movement, which reduces injury risk during the learning phase.
Programming for Beginners in Perimenopause
A sensible starting point for someone new to rowing in perimenopause is short, consistent sessions rather than ambitious targets. Ten to fifteen minutes of steady, moderate-effort rowing three times per week builds technique, cardiovascular base, and muscular endurance without the recovery cost of longer sessions. Rate of perceived exertion, keeping effort at a level where you can hold a conversation, is a useful guide. As technique stabilises over the first few weeks, sessions can extend naturally. A varied approach works better than always rowing the same distance or time. Short intervals of two minutes on, one minute recovery, build cardiovascular power. Longer steady efforts of twenty to thirty minutes build aerobic base. Mixing both across the week prevents adaptation and maintains engagement.
Combining Rowing With Strength Training
Rowing works particularly well alongside a strength training programme during perimenopause. The cardiovascular and muscular endurance benefits of rowing complement the progressive loading focus of strength training without competing for recovery. A practical weekly structure might involve rowing two or three times and strength training two or three times, with at least one full rest day. Rowing on days between strength sessions provides cardiovascular maintenance without adding significant muscular fatigue to legs and upper body that are already recovering from resistance work. As fitness improves, the rowing can take on more intensity, including higher-rate sprint intervals, which deliver additional cardiovascular stimulus without requiring extra gym equipment or programming complexity.
The Concept2 Community and Challenges
Concept2 is the dominant rowing machine brand in gyms and homes worldwide, and the company maintains an active online community and logbook system where rowers can record their sessions, participate in monthly challenges, and compare results with others at similar fitness levels. For perimenopausal women who find social elements of exercise motivating, this provides a form of community and accountability that solo indoor exercise typically lacks. The Concept2 logbook tracks distance, time, and pace across sessions, creating a meaningful record of progress over months. Monthly challenges, rowing a target distance within a calendar month, provide short-term goals that sustain engagement. The community is welcoming at all fitness levels, and seeing your name on a completion list alongside thousands of others from around the world provides a modest but real motivational boost.
Tracking Progress and Listening to Your Body
Progress on the rower during perimenopause may look different from what you experienced before hormonal change. Recovery is slower, energy levels are less predictable, and a session that feels excellent one week may feel exhausting the following week for reasons that have nothing to do with fitness. Accepting this variability and working with it rather than fighting it is more effective than demanding consistent output regardless of how you feel. On low-energy or high-symptom days, a shorter, easier row at a comfortable pace still delivers benefit. On good days, pushing the pace or extending the session capitalises on available energy. Logging your sessions in PeriPlan alongside your symptom and energy tracking helps you spot patterns over time, making it easier to predict good rowing days and plan your training around them.
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