ERGOMETERS VS. TREADMILLS

By Marie Mulrooney

At first glance rowing ergometers, also known as stationary rowers, and treadmills both tone your muscles and provide you with a challenging cardiovascular workout. While you should ultimately choose the machine you enjoy using most, since that's the one you're most likely to use consistently over time, there are a few practical considerations you should take into account when comparing ergometers and treadmills.

Calories Burned

According to Harvard Health Publications, you can burn anywhere from 210 to 377 calories in half an hour on a rowing ergometer, depending on how much you weigh and how hard you work out. You'd have to run at about 5 mph--12-minute miles--on a treadmill for 30 minutes in order to burn approximately the same number of calories. If you're capable of running 6-minute miles, or 10 mph, for half an hour, you stand to burn as many as 733 calories on a treadmill.

Function

Using a treadmill is fairly intuitive. After all, you've been walking and running since you were a small child.
Using a rowing ergometer properly isn't quite as intuitive, but it doesn't take long to learn. Start with your legs and arms both fully extended. Learn forward slightly from the hips, letting your hands move forward past your knees. Slide the seat forward, then push with your legs to scoot the seat forcefully backward, leaning slightly back from the hips and pulling both hands in toward your sternum. Extend your arms. You're now back in the starting position.

Muscles Worked

Treadmills work your entire lower body including your glutes, hips, quads, hamstrings and calves, but don't work your upper body at all. A rowing ergometer also works your glutes, quads, hamstrings and calves, but involves your back, shoulders and arms, too.

Features

Higher-end rowing ergometers mimic the rowing motion; they come with adjustable resistance and onboard computers that display basic information like stroke rate, time spent and distance rowed. Other special features include the ability to race against yourself or other boats, analyze the force curve of your rowing stroke or coach you through target training. Lower-end ergometers are solely exercise machines, without any performance enhancing features beyond the adjustable resistance.
Most motorized treadmills have a motorized belt, although some lower-end treadmills are manual: You push the belt back with your feet as you walk. Most treadmills have adjustable incline and an electronic console that displays basic information like speed, distance, time and calories burned. Some treadmills also feature preprogrammed workouts that will automatically adjust the treadmill speed and incline for you, and many feature built-in heart rate monitors.

Cost

As of May 2010, you can find a rowing ergometer that costs anything from $150 or less to several thousand dollars, depending on features and how sturdily the rower is built.
While you will find a few manual treadmills for under $200 and some motorized models for under $1,000, expect to spend $1,000 or more for a decent motorized treadmill if you expect to put it to frequent, sustained use.

References

• Harvard Health Publications: Calories Burned in 30 Minutes
• Treadmill Doctor: Treadmill Buyer's Guide
• Concept2: Rowing Technique
• Concept2: Comparing Monitors
• SportsUnlimited: Rowing Machine Prices