While I do want to know what the Rowing Machine does for your body, this is more of a "what-if" scenario. I am still going to lift weights, but that does not change the fact that I love the Rowing Machine.

So, let's say that I have the perfect diet for muscle building. Perfect calorie intake, perfect macros, and perfect foods (whole grain, lean meat and things like that), and I follow them down to the last gram of Protrein, Carbohydrates and Fat. Never a gram too much or too little.

But let's say that the only exercise I do is the Rowing Machine. Could I become muscular that way, or is heavy weight liftinh required?

I know that just saying that I am going to use the Rowing Machine isn't enough. I have to specify how often I use it, which intensity I use it at, how long I use it and things like that. But I am more interested in all scenarios.

What would happen to your body if you did a lot of low-intensity, high duration Rowing. What would happen if you did High-intensity, low duration Rowing? What would happen if I did HIIT Rowing? Maybe a mix of all three? Just answer as much as you can?

On a second note, what would Rowing do to your body if your main workout was lifting weight, but you also did a lot of rowing?

Thank you in advance.

Rowing can help you build somewhat of a physique for sure. If you look at the people who row in the Olympics for example, they have pretty decent shoulders and legs on them as the main drives for rowing with power and rowing fast. However, it's not just rowing that gets them in that shape - there's only so much resistance the water (or a machine) would provide, and you probably couldn't overload on it forever.

So while it CAN be used to build some mass, I wouldn't solely rely on it. It's obviously still more of a cardio machine to work on endurance. That's what you would get if you did a lot of low intensity rowing - endurance training. High intensity rowing would boost your anaerobic capacity, helping you with speed and power, not to mention fat loss.

If you did a mix.. well.. you would get better at both, but progress would be slower when doing both compared to just focusing on one aspect. But it's not bad to do both. And if you did a lot of rowing and working out, it would obviously burn more calories so you'd have to take that into consideration if your goal is to build muscle, which is why I said in the other post it can be counter-productive to gaining mass if you do it heaps and everyday without accounting for lost calories.