Rowing Machines vs Cycling: Which Is Better for You?

Rowing machines are better than cycling if you want to train your legs, back and arms together in a short session at home. Cycling is better if you want to get outdoors, learn nothing new, or give your back a rest.

Neither wins on calories, and the one you’ll keep doing beats the one that looks best on paper.

Side by side

	Rowing machine	Cycling
Muscles	Legs, back, core, arms	Mainly quads, glutes, hamstrings, calves
Learning curve	Technique takes a few sessions	Very little
Where	Indoors, at any hour	Outdoors or on a trainer
Impact	Low	Low
Typical weak spots	Lower back and hips if form slips	Knees, hands, saddle area if set up poorly
Progress tracking	Split and rate on the monitor	Speed, power or cadence with sensors
Typical session	20 to 40 minutes	30 to 90 minutes

What each one works

Rowing. The stroke uses your legs first, then your back, core and arms. It builds muscular endurance in the back as well as the legs. See rowing muscles.

Cycling. The legs do the work, with the core and arms mostly stabilising. It’s easy to hold a steady pace for long periods, and you can cover ground outdoors, which keeps a lot of riders going.

Calories and effort

The tables show little between them, so don’t choose on this.

Source	Rowing	Cycling
Harvard Health, 30 minutes moderate, 155 lb (about 70 kg)	252 calories (stationary)	252 calories (stationary)
Compendium of Physical Activities, 2011	7.0 METs at 100 watts, 8.5 at 150 watts	7.0 METs, stationary, general

A MET is a rough measure of how hard an activity is compared with sitting still. So 100 watts on a rower and general stationary cycling come out equal. Calorie figures on machines are estimates and differ widely, and diet and sleep matter too if weight change is your aim.

NHS guidance counts ordinary cycling as moderate activity, and fast or hilly cycling as vigorous. The target is 150 moderate or 75 vigorous minutes a week. That’s 5 rides of 30 minutes, or 5 rows of 30 minutes at a steady pace.

Joints and comfort

Both are low impact. Rowing asks more of the lower back and hips if technique slips, while cycling can irritate the knees, hands and saddle area if the bike isn’t set up well. A wrong saddle height or reach causes more problems than the activity itself. If you have an existing injury, speak to a GP or physio before you choose.

Cost, space and convenience

A rowing machine lives at home and works whatever the weather. A road bike needs a safe route, daylight and decent conditions, unless you use an indoor trainer. Outdoor riding also has road-safety risks, so use lights, a helmet and good judgement.

Rowing machine prices run from around £200 for the Domyos Initial Rower 100 to around £990 for a Concept2 RowErg (both checked 30 Oct 2026). Our budget guide covers the cheaper end, and our JTX Ignite Air page shows how to judge a budget air rower. Bikes, turbo trainers and exercise bikes cover a similar spread.

Space is the rower’s weak point. A RowErg needs 244 x 61 cm when in use, although it splits in two for storage, and the Domyos 100 takes 184 x 40 cm. Our guide to the best rowing machine for small spaces has more options. If you’re comparing machines for indoor use only, rowing machines vs exercise bikes goes through that choice.

Using both

Cycling is a useful complement to rowing. A rower might use an easy ride as a recovery session when the back needs a break, and a cyclist might add rowing for the upper body and core.

Day	Session
Monday	Steady row, 30 minutes
Tuesday	Strength, 30 minutes
Wednesday	Easy ride, 45 minutes
Thursday	Rest
Friday	Interval row, 8 x 1 minute firm with 1 minute easy
Saturday	Long ride, 60 to 90 minutes
Sunday	Rest

That’s 165 minutes or more of cardio, if you count about 30 minutes for the interval row, so it clears the NHS 150-minute figure.

Swapping one for the other

When you’re swapping sessions, match the effort rather than the distance. As a rule of thumb, ride for a little longer than you would row, because a bike lets you coast and a rower gives you no free strokes. So a 30-minute steady row becomes a 40-minute ride. For intervals, keep the same pattern: 8 x 1 minute firm with 1 minute easy works on either, ideally on a flat, traffic-free route or a turbo trainer.

Which suits you

• Choose rowing if you have 20 to 30 minutes, want your upper body to work, and are happy to learn a technique.
• Choose cycling if you want to get outdoors, ride for 60 minutes or more, or need to rest your back.
• Choose both if you have the space and want variety across the week.

If you decide on rowing, start with how to use a rowing machine.