The Downsides of Rowing

The main downsides of rowing are a slow learning curve, overuse injuries (above all to the lower back), sore hands, the cost of good equipment, and logistics if you row on the water. None of them should stop most people, but they can explain why some give up in the first few months.

If you have a health condition or current pain, check with a GP or physio before you start. The summary below shows who each drawback hits hardest and what to do about it.

Downside	Hits hardest	What to do
Slow to learn	Everyone in the first 6 weeks	Row short sessions, film your stroke, get one coaching session
Injury risk	People who add volume quickly	Increase weekly time in small steps
Sore hands and seat	New rowers	Relaxed grip, padded shorts or a cushion
Time and logistics	Club rowers	Use the erg for midweek sessions
Cost	Home buyers, boat owners	Try a gym or club first
Weather	Water rowers	Keep an erg session in reserve
Image	Newcomers to clubs	Book a taster session
Boredom	Long steady erg rowers	Use structured pieces

It takes time to get good

The stroke looks simple and isn’t. A sequence of legs, body and arms, timed to a controlled recovery, takes weeks to feel natural and months to refine. On the water, balance and blade work add another layer. Beginners often feel tired without feeling fast.

Keep the first sessions to 10 to 20 minutes at rate 18 to 22, and stop the session if your form falls apart. A phone video from the side once a week shows more than any number on the monitor. The first month on the erg gives you a structure to follow.

Injury risk

Rowing has no landing impact, but it isn’t risk-free. The lower back is the most commonly reported injury site, with one sports medicine overview reporting a 12-month incidence of 32 to 53 per cent for rowing-related low back pain. Ribs are another rowing-specific problem, with a reported incidence of about 9 per cent, and shoulders, knees and wrists also feature. Treat those as broad research figures, not as your personal risk.

Most rowing injuries are linked to repeated stress, particularly training volume and technique. That gives you three levers:

• Add time gradually. Going from 2 to 5 sessions a week in one jump is a classic mistake.
• Stop adding hard strokes when your back starts to round late in a session.
• Add two strength sessions a week once rowing feels routine.

Our guide to common rowing injuries goes through each site. Sharp pain, or pain that builds, means stop and get it checked.

Hard on the hands and seat

Blisters, calluses and a sore bottom affect most new rowers. A tight grip makes hands worse, so hook your fingers around the handle and let the palm relax. A seat pad and padded shorts solve most seat problems. Tape up early hot spots, and cover any broken skin before you share a machine.

Time and logistics

Water rowing needs a club, a boat, a crew and often an early start. Tides, daylight, river conditions and boat availability can all decide your session. Carrying the boat out, rowing, washing down and putting it away means a one-hour row can take two hours or more door to door. At three outings a week, that is 6 hours for 3 hours of rowing.

Indoor rowing avoids that, which is why many people train mainly on the erg. A 20-minute session plus a shower fits into 30 minutes. It still needs floor space, though: a Concept2 RowErg has a footprint of 244 x 61 cm.

Cost

Costs vary a lot. Joining a club usually means a membership fee, and sometimes coaching or boat fees, so ask for the full figure before you commit. Owning your own boat is a much bigger outlay.

At home, a Concept2 RowErg is around £990 (checked 30 Oct 2026). At three sessions a week for three years, that’s about 470 sessions, or roughly £2.10 a session. The sum only works if you keep using it, so try a gym or a club’s beginner course first. Our page on why rowing machines are so expensive explains where the money goes.

Weather and location

Water rowing depends on a safe stretch of water, and wind, cold, flood and heat can all cancel or change a session. Winter rowing needs layers and more care around cold water. If you don’t live near a club, the sport is simply harder to reach. The erg fills the gaps, but it isn’t the same experience.

Access and perception

Rowing has a historic image as an upper-class sport, tied to certain schools and universities. Community clubs, adaptive rowing and indoor events are changing that, but the perception still puts some people off. A taster session tells you more about a club than its reputation does. Our guide to adaptive rowing shows how the sport is opening up.

It can be repetitive

Forty minutes facing a wall is dull for most people. Break the time up with a target:

Session	Time	Why it helps
4 x 8 minutes, 2 minutes rest	38 minutes	Four short targets, not one long one
10 minutes easy, then 20 at steady pace	30 minutes	A clear second half
500m on, 500m easy, repeated	30 minutes	The distance counts down fast

For a bigger goal to work towards, our list of intense indoor rowing challenges has five to aim at.

Is rowing still worth it?

For most people, yes. The drawbacks are real, and they’re largest in the first six weeks. It may not suit you if you dislike repetitive training, have a back problem that rowing aggravates, or have no space for a machine and no club nearby. If repetition is the sticking point, our comparison of rowing machines vs CrossFit looks at a more varied option. For the other side of the ledger, read our reasons rowing is such a good sport.