Is it possible to track an indoor rowing machine session?

[jakewho]

Is it possible to track an indoor rowing machine session? If so, what are the best ways to do this?

[Jane]

Hello @noxious1010 

Even on a "dumb" rower that doesn't connect to an App, you should be able to record at a minimum your elpased time and heart rate data.  Check out this article on how to record indoor activities on Strava.

[Jane · Accepted solution]

Hi @jakewho 

Thanks for posting about this.  The short answer is Yes, it is possible to upload rowing activity data to Strava, but it depends on what kind of equipment you're using.  There are many rowers that do offer an integration with Strava.  For example if you're using a Concept2 rower, they explain on their site how to sync that data to Strava.

If you're using another brand, you can check in with the Manufacturer to get instructions or if you let us know what kind of rower you're using, I'll be happy to check into that.

A couple of links I would encourage you to check out:

General info on uploading activity data to Strava

List of third party Apps that integration with Strava

[jakewho]

I am using a WaterRower brand rower, but unfortunately it is not one of the ones with their SmartRow feature, so all of the data would have to come from my Apple Watch and not directly from the rower.

[Jane]

Hi @jakewho ,

Rowing is supported on the Strava App for Apple Watch.  

[jakewho]

I tried the rowing option on the AppleWatch Strava app yesterday and unfortunately it seems to be geared towards outdoor rowing and not indoor rowing, e.g., it doesn't try to count strokes or approximate distance rowed. Tomorrow I am going to try the AppleWatch exercise app to see if it does a better job and provides any additional data.

[noxious1010]

Yup, I am facing the same problem. Would really like to switch to Strava for my rowing machine sessions. And my machine is a dumb one, so no data auto-upload is passible…