One of the many benefits to exercising is that it can improves the strength of your heart, and reduces your chance of cardiovascular disease or heart failure. Any kind of cardiovascular exercise can help you meet your goals, but one machine in particular can be especially helpful. To improve your heart health, lose weight, and gain muscle, consider using a rowing machine in your fitness routine once a week or more. One of the biggest benefits of using a rowing machine is the caloric burn. One hour can burn an average of 500 calories, depending on the weight of the person and the intensity of the machine. Burning calories is important in the equation of weight loss, and 500 calories burned each day would total one pound of fat loss per week. Another benefit to using rowing machines in your workout is that it uses most muscles of the body. Many machines, such as treadmills or spinning bikes, focus primarily on toning the lower half of the body. The rowing machine, on the other hand, manages to incorporate the whole body in one simple movement. A rowing workout will help you to gain muscle and firm up your lower body as well as in your shoulders, arms, back, and core abdominal muscles. This makes it an ideal combination machine to gain benefits of both cardio and strength training. An added benefit of this machine is that it places little stress on the joints, making it ideal for people who have had trouble using machines in the past like the treadmill or the elliptical cross-trainer. Of course, as a cardiovascular exercise, one of the greatest benefits of the rowing machines is that it can improve the health of your heart. Aerobic exercise is one of the most important aspects to a healthy lifestyle. By rowing at a low intensity and higher speed, this can become a challenging aerobic workout, improving the strength of your cardiovascular system and well as circulation. Overall, the rowing machine is one of the best workouts available. You can get a great aerobic workout by setting the weight low and keeping up your speed, or you can focus on building muscle mass by increasing the weight and working harder. It puts very little stress on your joints, and can be a great tool for expending more calories and losing weight successfully.