I love using my Concept2 rower, which I bought a couple of months ago. However, one thing I'm wondering about is actual Calories burned by me vs. the number of Calories the rower says I've burned for any given workout. My typical workout is to go until I burn 400 Cal according to the rower, which usually takes me about 27-28 minutes. (My best was 25:45.) So, I'm burning about 900 Cal/hour. That seems good, but when I compare it to running, it doesn't seem that impressive. According to various online sources, a guy of about 190 pounds like myself burns about 130 Cal/mile while running (some figures are as high as 140 and some as low as 125). So, my 400 Cal workout is about the same as a 3 mile run, but running that far in 26 minutes seems a lot less vigorous than my rowing workout, which is making me wonder---

1) How many Calories do I really burn per mile while running?
2) Is it possible that I'm burning more Calories while rowing than the rower tells me?

It's my understanding that Calories burned while running is proportional to weight, which makes sense in that force is proportional to weight. The resistance one encounters while running is almost completely due to throwing the weight of one's body continuously up and forward, so that would be proportional to weight. The resistance involved in rowing, on the other hand, is mostly due to pulling on the cord and spinning the flywheel. The amount of energy involved with that is independent of one's weight. But my exertion on the rower isn't just pulling on the cord to spin the fan; it's also to move my body forward and back, which should also be burning Calories. And this exertion should be pretty much proportional to my weight.

So, am I right to think that rowing burns more Calories than indicated for a heavier person and perhaps not as many as indicated for a lighter person?

rowing will always burn more calories than running if done at comparable intensity. the reason for this is the inefficiency of the rowing movement vs running. While running is smooth and the legs can work together, the rowing motion involves two decelerations (at the catch and the finish), uses more (and larger) muscle groups and is more impressive to your friends because it rules. For more about the caloric costs of rowing, you can google Fritz Hagerman who is a physiologist at Ohio University. He did many studies comparing rowers to other endurance athletes and came to the conclusion that rowers are huge ballers.