I'm contemplating a rower and impressed with the amount of muscles (+/- 83%) that it involves.
I stopped my gym membership a couple of years ago and have lost muscle mass and strength in my upper body.
Not really complaining as I've lost weight in the process, and my leg strength is much stronger because of biking.
My arms are toned, but I wouldn't mind re-gaining some muscle mass above my belt line.
I know rowing is considered cardio.
Anybody use a rower notice muscle gain in their upper body?
Rowing machines will not build any appreciable muscle mass. They will do other, wonderful things, but I would be very surprised if you gained any real muscle from it. Even at an elite olypic level, rowers are not particularly muscular, and machine rowers involve less strength than actual rowing anyway.
As someone above said, a pullup bar would be a much wiser investment. It would build much more muscle for a fraction of the price. Between pullups and hand stand pushups you can build muscle across your entire upper body. Add in front and back levers and hollow body holds and you can build a strong core too. Of course, working up to hand stand pushups isn't easy, but you can start with pushups and hand stands (against a wall) and see where you end up
