DIET | DETECTIVE^®

1. Rowing provides great cardio conditioning. The constant upper-body movement gets your heart pumping, which leads to an intense calorie-burning workout.

2. If you're someone who doesn't usually row (and that means most of us), the movement allows you to work new muscles, which is a challenge. What's more, rowing is "an 'unaccustomed exercise,'" says Bell, meaning that your body's not used to the particular coordination that's being demanded between your upper and lower body.

3. Rowing works major muscles in your back, arms, shoulders, legs and hips.

4. Variety will keep you coming back for more. Adding a new exercise to your routine can help prevent workout boredom. Even more important, mixing up your fitness activities will help you avoid overtraining syndrome, in which people do the same activity over and over again causing joint injuries and stress fractures.

5. Rowing promotes stabilization throughout the torso. "When people do aerobics, they rarely focus on their alignment and posture; in fact often they train their bodies to perform in a slumped over position," says Bell. These habits can lead to bad posture, injuries in the knees, hips and back, and can ultimately cause digestive problems. Good posture does more than make you look taller and more self-confident. Proper spinal alignment supports your internal organs and your torso.

Note: Before you start training on the rower, make sure you've got the form down in order to get the most out of your workout. Maintain a normal upright posture, and-to avoid the common error of pushing with your legs and hips first, which puts a great deal of pressure on your lower back-remember to pull with your arms and push with your legs simultaneously. Another important "don't" is pulling with only your upper-body, which can be harmful to your spine.

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