Meet iFIT Rowing Trainer Alex Silver-Fagen
iFIT Pro Trainers Make the Difference
With iFIT Pro you get access to some of the best-designed workout sessions and personal trainers out there — in effect, your own unlimited 1-on-1 personal training at a fraction of the cost compared to the $80+ per class session at your gym or fitness boutique.
iFit instructors are among some of the most talented instructors, coming as far from Australia and New Zealand to Los Angeles, Chicago, and New York City.
They guide, motivate, push, and encourage you to crush your goals when rowing stroke for stroke with you, and equally as hard as you are. Most have been or are currently trainers at the cutting edge, boutique fitness companies such as Peloton, Equinox, SoulCycle, and CityRow. Some are even gold-medal Olympians, like two-time gold-medal rower Alex Gregory. Most trainers also have their own clientele, training celebrities that include elite athletes.
iFIT is Personalized interactive training integrated with and streamed to your NordicTrack or Proform exercise equipment — literally taking you on rowing fitness journeys and workout sessions to waterways and destinations across the globe or in studio settings — you choose.
So, as part of our Get to Meet your iFIT Trainer series, meet Alex Silver-Fagen, formally a New Yorker now residing in LA, with one of her specialties, indoor rowing machine workouts. Learn a little about the NordicTrack rowing machines. Below, look at the 3 rowing machine workouts Alex recommends for bikers and spin enthusiasts to get in some beneficial cross-training that engages and strengthens your core.
Alex discusses iFit rowing with Aly Teich, of The Sweat Life, at a NordicTrack sponsored event in NYC. PC: Courtesy of The Sweat Life. NordicTrack Original RW900 rowing machine featured above
Alex Silver-Fagen
An instructor at CityRow in New York City and founding instructor at The Mirror, Alex Silver-Fagan is an ACE-certified personal trainer, as well as a Certified Functional Strength Coach (CFSC). She focuses on building strength and full-body functionality training programs. As a Nike Master Trainer, her hardcore workouts have reached hundreds of thousands of viewers. Alex works regularly as a content contributor and model for publications like Shape, Self, and Women’s Health, and she was named a top five finalist in the Women’s Health magazine Next Fitness Star Search. Follow her @alexsilverfagan.
You can also find Alex conducting rowing classes for iFit members on the Latest NordicTrack RW900 rower model, complete with its 24-inch FHD touchscreen originally released in 2022 and updated in late 2024, the current model of the RW700 with a 10-inch touchscreen, and NordicTrack RW600 rowing machine. We also break down 3 of her rowing workouts in the last section below.
SILVER-FAGAN’S PLAYBOOK - A FOUNDING INSTRUCTOR AT THE MIRROR
Courtesy Muscle & Fitness. Photo Credit Ian Spanier
Why Rowing is good for you if you Bike or Spin
Above Alex Silver-Fagan. Indoor rowing is a total body workout engaging over 85% of your body’s muscles. Your Arms, Core and Legs.
Adds Variety to Exercise for Muscles
“Cross-training is important to prevent injury and strengthen the muscles you don’t use on the bike,” says Alex Silver-Fagan, certified personal trainer for iFit. Rowing does this particularly well. “Your anterior body (like your chest) is hunched forward on a bike, and rowing opens these muscles up while strengthening the posterior side of the body (such as your back and the back of your legs),” Silver-Fagan says.
A Rowing machine provides excellent cross training exercise, strengthening your legs, posterior and back, says Silver-Fagan. Pictured above leading an iFIT rowing class on the Nordictrack RW900 rower
Rowing also allows you to increase your intensity without increasing your impact, which is especially useful for injury prevention. Plus, Silver-Fagan says the rower is one of the few machines that provides both intense cardio and strength training benefits.
““You use 80 percent of your muscles when rowing, namely your legs, the largest muscles in your body.” And yeah, stronger legs come in handy for biking, running and other sports.” ”
Alex using leg power and correct form during an iFit Pro studio rowing class
NORDICTRACK RW900 Rowing Machine
The latest Nordictrack RW900 rowing machine should top the list for any athlete or beginner fitness enthusiast thanks to its electromagnetic resistance—which makes it incredibly, quiet, powerful and smooth to row—and with the wide 24-inch HD touchscreen you get to stream and join iFIT rowing workouts with trainers like Kevin Scott, Alex Silver-Fagen and Jay Wein, both of NYC, City Row fame. If you’re limited on space, this rower can easily be stood upright to save space. The RW900, RW700 and RW600 rowers are connected fitness rowers and an iFit Pro membership — which is $33 - $39 per month.
Nordictrack New RW900 Rowing machine Featuring streamed iFIT Classes led by Alex Silver-Fagan
NordicTrack Rowers with iFit Pro
Good design aside, iFIT interactive training and its tight integration with the equipment is what makes NordicTrack rowing machines so special. Whether on the NordicTrack RW900, the RW700 or the RW600 your rower will dynamically sync with iFit classes so as your trainer increases resistance so does your rowing machine, while at the same time it syncs with your strokes to display power stats plus capture workout data to track your progress against other workouts taken over time.
Select from a wide range of studio rowing classes to on the water trainer-led destination rows on stunning lakes, rivers and waterways around the world.
Learn the correct form and pace with iFit Trainers as you row in beautiful French Polynesia, Slovenia’s Lake Bled or on the London Thames from among a selection of many global destinations you can choose from —as your trainer guides you through the class stroke by stroke. Rowing sessions range from baseline beginner rowing, endurance rowing, calorie burn rows to HIIT training rows with Row and Lift classes where you combine cross-training on-and-off the rowing machine exercises with intense bursts of rowing to get your heart pumping, and shred calories.
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Experience a varied range of global destinations as your rowing coach dynamically adjusts your resistance to match theirs to push, challenge and motivate you.
NordicTrack RW900, RW700 and RW600 rowers offer Realtime live trainer control and On-Demand Workouts that stream high-energy studio and on-the-water rowing sessions with world-class rowers controlling your machines digital resistance in real-time to sync with their workout cues.
All the above NordicTrack rower models’ support 26 digital resistance levels. The Original RW900 and RW700 has two types of resistance — Silent Magnetic Resistance with the 26 levels, plus a Manual Air damper Resistance option to increase intensity, but it’s not for everyone. This RW900 rowing machine model has a folding design and is only available at Amazon while inventories last.
READY TO ROW WORKOUTS
Alex Silver-Fagan, a specialist in High-Intensity Indoor Rowing sessions, put together three rowing machine workouts that will make you a stronger cyclist, a better skier, surfer, climber and overall athlete.
If you have an indoor rower or are thinking of getting one, then you’ll find Alex’s workouts set to go on your own. Do each one weekly set of 3 for maximum benefit on-and off-the rower.
Rowing Machine Workout for Speed
“These are sprint intervals, so your split times need to be around 1:50,” Silver-Fagan says. “Stroke rate should be around 28 to 32, but not over 32,” she says. “That’s when your form starts to break down.”
⦁ 100m row, 30 seconds of rest, repeat 5 times
⦁ 150m row, 45 seconds of rest, repeat 5 times
⦁ 200m row, 60 seconds of rest, repeat 5 times
[2 minutes of rest]
⦁ 200m row, 60 seconds of rest, repeat 5 times
⦁ 150m row, 45 seconds of rest, repeat 5 times
⦁ 100m row, 30 seconds of rest, repeat 5 times
2. Rowing Machine Workout for Endurance
“Your stroke rate should be between 25 and 28, pushing hard but not crazy fast,” Silver-Fagan recommends. “Split time should hover around 2 minutes and become lower towards the end of each push.”
1-minute row, 30-second rest: Hold drive position (a.k.a. seat at back of
machine with legs straight) and do arm strokes while resting.2-minute row, 60-second rest (30 seconds’ true rest; 30 seconds holding
drive position at back of machine doing arm strokes while resting)3-minute row, 90-second rest (30 seconds true rest; 30 seconds holding
drive position at back of machine doing arm strokes while resting; 30 seconds of just leg strokes: arms stay straight, straighten and bend legs)4-minute row, 2-minute rest (60 seconds true rest; 30 seconds holding drive
position at back of machine doing arm strokes while resting; 30 seconds.
of just leg strokes: arms stay straight, straighten and bend legs)5-minute row
3. Rowing Workout for Full-Body Cross Training
The rowing machine already works a ton of muscles, but this workout
gets you off the machine for a true full-body challenge.
“This workout is the total package,” Silver-Fagan states. “You’ll work your core, legs, and arms, then do some metabolic conditioning with burpees.”
5-minute easy row warm-up
10 pulls; 5 push-ups + 5 V-ups. Repeat 2 more times.
20 pulls; 10 reverse lunges + 10 squat jumps. Repeat 2 more times.
30 pulls; 10 burpees. Repeat 2 more times.
30-second row; 30-second plank hold off the rower. Repeat 5 times.
Cool down.
