Rowing as fast as you can for 500-meters on a rowing machine is no easy feat -- which is exactly why it's include in Decathlon's lineup of challenging events. To help improve your time, we've asked the experts at Throwback Fitness -- New York's "murderously" fun fitness class that focuses on partner and team workouts -- for some tips on how to pick up the pace on the rowing machine.

Co-founders Brian Gallagher and Ryan Wilke, who finish their 500-meter rows in 1:31 and 1:32, respectively, provided 3 rowing-intensive workouts you can do on your personal rowing machine or at the gym to get faster and better results.

Workout 1: Individual Option

10 rds, 2 min each.
Begin each round with a 300m row (can adjust downwards if necessary, depending on fitness level), followed by as many hand release pushups as possible. Your score is the total number of hand release pushups completed over the course of 10 rounds. (Can substitute any off-the-rower exercise you’d like.) Try

Workout 2: Partner Option
16 minute partner workout: score is max distance rowed.
One partner rows while the other partner is off the rower performing the following circuit: 10 dumbbell thrusters, 10 situps. Once the partner off the rower completes the circuit two times, partners switch. Go back and forth in this fashion for 16 minutes to see how far team can row. Be sure to set rower to zero at the start of the workout, and accumulate as much distance as possible. Do NOT reset monitor as partners switch!

Workout 3: Speed workout (individual)
30 second row sprint for max distance, followed by 30 seconds of rest.
Repeat this circuit 10 times. It should take a total of 10 minutes. On your rowing machine's monitor, this is one of the standard workouts programmed on any Concept2 rower. [Menu/Workouts/Standard List/0:30/0:30r].

Learn more about Throwback Fitness here.