The Apple Watch is the newest addition to the family of Apple devices that can run apps; until recently, these were limited to smartphones and tablets. Now, it is easier than ever to track your rowing activity on your apple watch.
The vast majority of rowing apps cater to either stationary rowing machines or watercraft. On the water, you don’t have much time to check your watch, therefore most athletes only care about distance, time, and swing rate with a split time calculation. It is only possible to conduct an in-depth analysis once training has been completed.
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Selection of Apple Watch Rowing Apps
Rowing SPM
This is straightforward and excellent at its single intended purpose, which is to keep track of rating strokes a minute and show averages throughout a single piece.
The person keeping the score must manually tap the screen every time an oar enters the water. But if you’re rowing and can’t afford to stop to keep pressing the screen, this is of little value. Useful for coaches and, perhaps, coxswains.
Swim.com
You can use this app as an alternative to a traditional rate counter, and it may even function while you’re out on the water. More in line with the necessities of rowing than Rowing SPM, which was created for surfers and also has an iPhone watch version.
This app is sensitive enough to tally strokes at a high rate and allows you to work out as it records since your arm moves when swimming and the forward push in each part of the stroke aren’t very obvious. This app also works on Android, which is a plus.
PowerRow
This premium app is easy to use, and it works great whether you’re on the water or in a gym with a rowing machine. The Apple Watch’s motion sensors are used to keep track of each stroke. However, it is quite simplistic and cannot calculate stroke rates, so you would be better off using Workout.
Workout
The Workout app is included with every Apple Watch, but unfortunately, rowing isn’t one of them. The indoor rowing setup is useful for estimating caloric expenditure, but it is of little practical use once you are really in the boat.
The Workout app and swap racing for the activity can be used as a clever approach. Your location may be plotted on a map, and your heart rate, pace, active calories, distance, and time can all be tracked.
Benefits of Rowing Using Apple Watch
When you’re rowing, your whole body is in endless movement. Because of the increased heart rate, you’ll be able to burn more calories and progress through the Move ring on the Apple Watch. However, rowing isn’t like any other cardio activity.
Rowing is an excellent full-body workout, unlike leg-centric activities like jogging and cycling. This exercise targets a wide variety of key muscular groups, including the biceps, lats, glutes, quadriceps, erector spine, and abs.
Additionally, rowing improves physical strength in addition to endurance since it forces the muscles to operate against a greater amount of resistance as the rower increases the pace. That’s like getting twice the exercise for the price of one.
Rowing has the added benefit of being a low-impact sport, meaning that your body won’t take as many blows as it would if you were pounding the pavement while running. You’re less likely to injure yourself when rowing because of the machine’s limited range of motion.
If you have knee problems, rowing can be a better form of exercise for you than running. If you’re trying to keep in shape after suffering a sports-related injury, rowing is one option.
Benefits of Recording Your Rowing on Apple Watch
An Apple Watch recording has the added benefit of keeping track of your heart rate and the number of calories you’ve burned during your workout. It’s best to do it this way because it’s the quickest and most convenient. There is nothing else to do but click Start on your wrist.
Using an Apple Watch to record a session is most effective when done in a natural setting. A watertight device or a watertight cover is a must. Put it where you can see it while rowing, but make sure it’s not horizontal and is ideally facing in the direction you’ll be rowing. Avoiding disaster by securing the watch in some way is a must.
Rowing is the most efficient form of exercise since it works the complete body and improves both endurance and strength simultaneously. Time spent rowing wearing Apple Watch is time well spent whether you’re hitting the water or the gym.