Rowing is a type of cardiovascular exercise that works your upper and lower body at the same time. It is performed by sitting on a movable seat, placing your feet on a platform or pedals and pulling a handle toward your body as you simulate rowing in a boat. When you are training, it is good to keep tabs on your heart rate to monitor your progress.
Identification
Heart rate during rowing is based on your maximum heart rate, or max HR. The maximum heart rate is the highest your pulse rate can get according to the Cleveland Clinic. This determination is made by subtracting your age from 220. For example, if you are 45 years old, your maximum heart rate is 175. If your heart rate gets up to 175 during your workouts, then you are going all out.
Heart Rate Zones
When you row, you have three training zones to strive for -- low intensity, medium intensity and high intensity. A low-intensity training zone is 60 to 70 percent of your max HR, medium intensity is 70 to 80 percent max HR and high intensity is anything over 80 percent.
Considerations
When you first start rowing, it is tempting to get your heart rate elevated as high as possible to see fast results. Start off at a lower intensity instead and gradually work your way up. Fifty percent of your max HR is a good starting point. The key is to gradually increase your intensity as you improve your cardiovascular strength. After six months or more of regular exercise, you may be able to exercise comfortably at up to 85 percent of your maximum heart rate, according to the American Heart Association.
Monitor
When you are training on a rowing machine, an easy way to check your heart rate is with a heart rate monitor, or HRM. This is a two-part mechanism that has a chest strap with a transmitter and a wrist watch. The electrodes in the transmitter pick up signals from your heart and send them wirelessly to the watch where they are continuously displayed, according to the American College of Sports Medicine. This comes in handy when you are trying to stay in a particular zone. Take the medium-intensity target heart rate zone for example. Your goal is to keep your heart rate between 70 and 80 percent of your maximum. If you are 30 years old, your maximum heart rate is 190 and your training zone is 133 to 152 beats per minute. When using the HRM, look at your wrist to see if you are in your zone. If not, you can easily speed up or slow down to get into it. With some heart rate monitors, you can set them to sound an alarm if you drift above or below your heart rate zone.
Counting the Beats
If you do not have access to an HRM, you can manually check your heart rate. The only drawback is that you are going to be forced to stop rowing momentarily. To check your heart rate, place the index and middle finger of one hand on the inside of your opposite wrist right below your thumb. Feel for your pulse and count the beats for 30 seconds. Double this number and you have your heart rate. For example, if you count 70 beats, your heart rate is 140. This is called the radial pulse. To read your heart rate with this method, you need to be wearing a watch or be within seeing distance of a clock that shows seconds.
EPOC
Excess post-exercise oxygen consumption, or EPOC, is the rate at which your body utilizes oxygen after you are done exercising. This in turn causes you to burn a high amount of calories. The heart rate returning to a pre-exercise state is a contributor to EPOC. You can boost this effect by doing interval or sprint training during your rowing workouts.
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