At-Home Workout Test: Does the Hydrow Wave Rower Paddle Off the Pounds? An interview/workout with Hydrow founder and CEO Bruce Smith.

By Dan Bova

Rowing is an unbelievably efficient way to stay in shape, but it has two major drawbacks: it is boring and most people don't know how to do it properly. So says former U.S. National Rowing Team Bruce Smith, which is why he was inspired to found Hydrow, an immersive at-home rowing machine and streaming training program.

"As a coach for elite athletes, I had to learn a lot about physiology and how to improve people's performance, and I learned that when people sit on a bike, they have to spend literally twice as long to get the same benefit as rowing," Smith told Entrepreneur. "Rowing is the best-kept secret in 'whole health' and so I wanted to build a company that wasn't just an exercise company, but one that helped tap into that amazing feeling of flow you get out on the water," he says. "You put those two things together and it is like peanut butter and chocolate."

Related: 4 Scientific Reasons Exercising Is an Entrepreneur's Biggest Competitive Advantage

The Hydrow Wave ($1,495) is a sleek and relatively compact machine that has a 16-inch touchscreen where rowers can access thousands of coached workouts or freeform POV videos that simulate rowing everywhere from Boston to Switzerland. "With a fun and engaging training program that you can watch and learn from, we believe in the next five or 10 years, we're going to outsell both bikes and treadmills," says Smith.

Entrepreneur sat down (and rowed!) with the founder and CEO to learn how he turned his big idea into a business that experienced 300% growth last year. Check out the above video to learn how he tackled every aspect of the launch, from concept to design to delivery, and was able to break out in a crowded at-home exercise market. (Watch to the end to see if Entrepreneur's interviewer keels over at the end of the interview/workout!)

Dan Bova

Entrepreneur Staff

VP of Special Projects

Dan Bova is the VP of Special Projects at Entrepreneur.com. He previously worked at Jimmy Kimmel Live, Maxim, and Spy magazine. His latest books for kids include This Day in History, Car and Driver's Trivia ZoneRoad & Track Crew's Big & Fast Cars, The Big Little Book of Awesome Stuff, and Wendell the Werewolf

Read his humor column This Should Be Fun if you want to feel better about yourself.

Want to be an Entrepreneur Leadership Network contributor? Apply now to join.

Editor's Pick

Business News

JPMorgan Shuts Down Internal Message Board Comments After Employees React to Return-to-Office Mandate

Employees were given the option to leave comments about the RTO mandate with their first and last names on display — and they did not hold back.

Business Ideas

70 Small Business Ideas to Start in 2025

We put together a list of the best, most profitable small business ideas for entrepreneurs to pursue in 2025.

Business News

Zillow Predicts These 10 Places Will Have the Hottest Housing Markets in 2025

Zillow predicted that the hottest housing market of 2025 will be Buffalo, New York. Here's why.

Business News

'Masculine Energy Is Good': Mark Zuckerberg Tells Joe Rogan He Thinks Companies Need More Aggression

On the most recent episode of "The Joe Rogan Experience," Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said corporate culture has become "neutered."

Business News

'More Soul-Crushing Than Ever': Popular Hiring Platform Finds Around 20% of Its Postings Were 'Ghost Jobs'

Is that job listing too good to be true? There's a one-in-five chance that it might be.

Starting a Business

Starting From Scratch

Here's what you need to know before you launch your big-time food product.