I’m an out of shape 37m with a background in lifting for strength/general fitness. I don’t measure my goals according to rowing standards and I’ve never been an athlete. My interest in rowing is as an active rest day. My form is good so far as I can tell but I’m not interested in peak rowing performance.

My issue is I can’t figure out what is constitutes a general workout.

I typically do 5-10k meters in a workout but I don’t walk away feeling like I “worked out”. Generally I manage 500m in about 2:30 at about 28 strokes/minute. I walk away from a workout feeling taxed cardiovascularly/aerobically but I don’t feel like I had a total body workout.

How can I improve efficiency? I gather that intensity over time is the general advice but that steady state is the key for improvement long term. Should I do SS for longer distances with shorter breaks, or shorter distances over longer time? Varying both seems to make sense but without focusing on improving rowing as a skill how best to incorporate it into a routine focused mainly on strength and flexibility?