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VASA ergo fishies
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Thrilled with my craigslist purchase for $600. Though by the time it arrived in Australia it cost me all up $1100 freight, boxing and customs, now my garage/pain cave is complete with the tools for I hope to be a focused training.

For the past 10 days I have been doing steady state SS 30-40mins strength building efforts mostly 2k steady state 40/41spm, door setting on 1, HR is Z1 and 10 mins WU's, ensuring both the arms and shoulder are getting proper foundation. I was to take the line for my running and cycling in the past to take my time building a wide foundation as time is on my side. As I have a fair amount of aerobic conditioning but no upper body strength, has anyone found to be in the same scenario to slowly build with the foundation work at SS efforts while every week increasing the door resistance up one notch over 4-5 weeks then move into the build phase. I'm using the ergo daily 30-40 mins..

I am also curious to know has any one found a correlation between ergo training and olym /HIM distance race times. Did you find a point in the ergo sessions where you got a break through session that translated into a PB race time?
Last year the only time my toes touched the water was in a race, this coming 8-10 months it will be the same but with the ergo as my friend for conditioning. This has been the same with my running and cycling where I rarely get out on the road.

Thanks in advance


age is just a number after your name
Last edited by: AussieMikeinSD: Jul 6, 14 18:09
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Re: VASA ergo fishies [AussieMikeinSD] [ In reply to ]
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AussieMike

I had my best swim times (wetsuit swims) when I was doing focused Vasa Erg work 2 x week and masters or open water 1 x week.

I like to do several workouts ... On my longer steady sets I'll hold a steady pace for 75 meters then really pick it up for 25 meters and roll that continuously. Also like 200 m repeats.

It's all good on the Vasa. I did find I needed some kick sets the last several weeks before a race if most of my time was in the Vasa.
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Re: VASA ergo fishies [AussieMikeinSD] [ In reply to ]
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search cdw's posts about this; I think he has had some success with it.

maybe she's born with it, maybe it's chlorine
If you're injured and need some sympathy, PM me and I'm very happy to write back.
disclaimer: PhD not MD
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Re: VASA ergo fishies [AussieMikeinSD] [ In reply to ]
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I'm a huge fan of my Vasa trainer - you probably read some of my posts earlier this year when I bought it around January 2014 if you did a search on Google or Vasa.

Your price, even with shipping is an awesome deal. Mine was new for $2000, but I still consider it well worth the cost and would absolutely buy it again.

For me, the Vasa absolutely translates to freestyle swimming - nearly identically in my case. It literally feels exactly like swimming with paddles to me, down to the power and form. My stroke rate is a bit higher in the water(sans paddles) than on the Vasa, but all the power and endurance I build on the Vasa translates directly to my freestyle results.

Without working especially hard on my Vasa, but putting in decent time on it per week (4-5hrs of Vasa+pool per week), I dropped almost 10sec/100 for distance in pool and OWS, which I'm thrilled with. And I haven't even really cranked it yet on the Vasa - I was focusing on bike a lot this past 6 months, so Vasa was more of a means originally to not lose a lot of swim ability, but I ended up improving since it allowed me to signifcantly add volume to swimming due to the sheer convenience.

I would be confident enough now with my Vasa that I'm confident that I could swim PR or near-PR swim times with just 1-3 short pool sessions before race day. I actually have much less of a difference between Vasa vs pool than I have pool vs OWS, and I suspect most people would feel the same way.

Honestly, the Vasa has been so good to me that at this point I would not even consider an endless pool setup or even an at-home 25m lane, due to the upkeep and cost of those systems. The Vasa is so stupidly simple with no wires or other complications that its even less maintenance than the minimal maintenance of a bike trainer or treadmill. For me, it's been good for everything, from longer 60-90 steady state endurance swims (hard to do at busy public pools) to things like pool-like 10 x 200m as well as 25-50m sprints. I'd recommend you do all of the above - the Vasa works excellently for all of them.

And it's not just me that endorses their use - their in the regular rotation at the Germantown swim program, and you can see that even ex-olympian gary hall sr chimed in to offer his support and approval of the vasa erg on one of my threads earlier this year.

It's an awesome device - go crazy and expect big things!
Last edited by: lightheir: Jul 6, 14 20:32
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Re: VASA ergo fishies [AussieMikeinSD] [ In reply to ]
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AussieMikeinSD wrote:
Thrilled with my craigslist purchase for $600. Though by the time it arrived in Australia it cost me all up $1100 freight, boxing and customs, now my garage/pain cave is complete with the tools for I hope to be a focused training.

For the past 10 days I have been doing steady state SS 30-40mins strength building efforts mostly 2k steady state 40/41spm, door setting on 1, HR is Z1 and 10 mins WU's, ensuring both the arms and shoulder are getting proper foundation. I was to take the line for my running and cycling in the past to take my time building a wide foundation as time is on my side. As I have a fair amount of aerobic conditioning but no upper body strength, has anyone found to be in the same scenario to slowly build with the foundation work at SS efforts while every week increasing the door resistance up one notch over 4-5 weeks then move into the build phase. I'm using the ergo daily 30-40 mins.. I am also curious to know has any one found a correlation between ergo training and olym /HIM distance race times. Did you find a point in the ergo sessions where you got a break through session that translated into a PB race time? Last year the only time my toes touched the water was in a race, this coming 8-10 months it will be the same but with the ergo as my friend for conditioning. This has been the same with my running and cycling where I rarely get out on the road. Thanks in advance.

I think you are treading on very thin ice to rely on the Vasa for all of your swim training as you will be sorely lacking in your "feel for the water" when you do actually swim. This is obv the big diff between biking/running and swimming: the bike and run both take place on land whereas the swim takes place in the water, which is quite diff from the solid ground since minor things like breathing become a bit harder in the water than on land:) Think you need to find a way to get to a pool at least 3 days/wk to translate your erg conditioning into actual swim power. There is a huge diff between pulling on paddles on an erg and pulling in the water, just in the way it feels, plus you need to be confident in your breathing, overall body position, etc, etc.

In addition to cdw that Tiger mentioned, you might want to PM lightheir, as he's been using the Vasa for about 5-6 months now.


"Anyone can be who they want to be IF they have the HUNGER and the DRIVE."
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Re: VASA ergo fishies [lightheir] [ In reply to ]
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lightheir wrote:
I'm a huge fan of my Vasa trainer - you probably read some of my posts earlier this year when I bought it around January 2014 if you did a search on Google or Vasa.

Your price, even with shipping is an awesome deal. Mine was new for $2000, but I still consider it well worth the cost and would absolutely buy it again.

For me, the Vasa absolutely translates to freestyle swimming - nearly identically in my case. It literally feels exactly like swimming with paddles to me, down to the power and form. My stroke rate is a bit higher in the water(sans paddles) than on the Vasa, but all the power and endurance I build on the Vasa translates directly to my freestyle results.

Without working especially hard on my Vasa, but putting in decent time on it per week (4-5hrs of Vasa+pool per week), I dropped almost 10sec/100 for distance in pool and OWS, which I'm thrilled with. And I haven't even really cranked it yet on the Vasa - I was focusing on bike a lot this past 6 months, so Vasa was more of a means originally to not lose a lot of swim ability, but I ended up improving since it allowed me to signifcantly add volume to swimming due to the sheer convenience.

I would be confident enough now with my Vasa that I'm confident that I could swim PR or near-PR swim times with just 1-3 short pool sessions before race day. I actually have much less of a difference between Vasa vs pool than I have pool vs OWS, and I suspect most people would feel the same way.

Honestly, the Vasa has been so good to me that at this point I would not even consider an endless pool setup or even an at-home 25m lane, due to the upkeep and cost of those systems. The Vasa is so stupidly simple with no wires or other complications that its even less maintenance than the minimal maintenance of a bike trainer or treadmill. For me, it's been good for everything, from longer 60-90 steady state endurance swims (hard to do at busy public pools) to things like pool-like 10 x 200m as well as 25-50m sprints. I'd recommend you do all of the above - the Vasa works excellently for all of them.

And it's not just me that endorses their use - their in the regular rotation at the Germantown swim program, and you can see that even ex-olympian gary hall sr chimed in to offer his support and approval of the vasa erg on one of my threads earlier this year.

It's an awesome device - go crazy and expect big things!

Sure, many swim programs use the Vasa but it is a supplement to their in-the-water training. I haven't checked the Germantown web site but I suspect they might do around 3-5 hr/wk of dry-land training along with about 18-24 hr/wk of actual swimming, or at least this is a fairly typical ratio between DL and SW time.


"Anyone can be who they want to be IF they have the HUNGER and the DRIVE."
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Re: VASA ergo fishies [ericmulk] [ In reply to ]
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ericmulk wrote:
lightheir wrote:
I'm a huge fan of my Vasa trainer - you probably read some of my posts earlier this year when I bought it around January 2014 if you did a search on Google or Vasa.

Your price, even with shipping is an awesome deal. Mine was new for $2000, but I still consider it well worth the cost and would absolutely buy it again.

For me, the Vasa absolutely translates to freestyle swimming - nearly identically in my case. It literally feels exactly like swimming with paddles to me, down to the power and form. My stroke rate is a bit higher in the water(sans paddles) than on the Vasa, but all the power and endurance I build on the Vasa translates directly to my freestyle results.

Without working especially hard on my Vasa, but putting in decent time on it per week (4-5hrs of Vasa+pool per week), I dropped almost 10sec/100 for distance in pool and OWS, which I'm thrilled with. And I haven't even really cranked it yet on the Vasa - I was focusing on bike a lot this past 6 months, so Vasa was more of a means originally to not lose a lot of swim ability, but I ended up improving since it allowed me to signifcantly add volume to swimming due to the sheer convenience.

I would be confident enough now with my Vasa that I'm confident that I could swim PR or near-PR swim times with just 1-3 short pool sessions before race day. I actually have much less of a difference between Vasa vs pool than I have pool vs OWS, and I suspect most people would feel the same way.

Honestly, the Vasa has been so good to me that at this point I would not even consider an endless pool setup or even an at-home 25m lane, due to the upkeep and cost of those systems. The Vasa is so stupidly simple with no wires or other complications that its even less maintenance than the minimal maintenance of a bike trainer or treadmill. For me, it's been good for everything, from longer 60-90 steady state endurance swims (hard to do at busy public pools) to things like pool-like 10 x 200m as well as 25-50m sprints. I'd recommend you do all of the above - the Vasa works excellently for all of them.

And it's not just me that endorses their use - their in the regular rotation at the Germantown swim program, and you can see that even ex-olympian gary hall sr chimed in to offer his support and approval of the vasa erg on one of my threads earlier this year.

It's an awesome device - go crazy and expect big things!


Sure, many swim programs use the Vasa but it is a supplement to their in-the-water training. I haven't checked the Germantown web site but I suspect they might do around 3-5 hr/wk of dry-land training along with about 18-24 hr/wk of actual swimming, or at least this is a fairly typical ratio between DL and SW time.

I def still agree with you - to be the best swimmer possible, the more pool and OWS the better. Vasa as supplement is best - but if the pool is not happening for whatever reason, the Vasa is an excellent substitute.

For sure, if your in-water technique is poor enough that you can't take advantage of your power and endurance due to gross inefficiencies, the Vasa won't save you. In fact, you'll probably notice little improvement, as the technique will be more of the limiter than the power/endurance.

I doubt that any dedicated competitive swimmer, in or out of pool, will willingly trade legit pool time for Vasa. They might add it on top for a different stimulus, but for sure, specificity of water = best pool results. But again, for the folks like myself who simply can't get to the pool enough to to family and job constraints (and I'm sure there are quite a few folks out there like me), using Vasa to add to your volume will help immensely, and in my case, led to significantly better results than I would have if I was limited strictly to pool swimming.
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Re: VASA ergo fishies [lightheir] [ In reply to ]
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lightheir wrote:
ericmulk wrote:
lightheir wrote:
I'm a huge fan of my Vasa trainer - you probably read some of my posts earlier this year when I bought it around January 2014 if you did a search on Google or Vasa.

Your price, even with shipping is an awesome deal. Mine was new for $2000, but I still consider it well worth the cost and would absolutely buy it again.

For me, the Vasa absolutely translates to freestyle swimming - nearly identically in my case. It literally feels exactly like swimming with paddles to me, down to the power and form. My stroke rate is a bit higher in the water(sans paddles) than on the Vasa, but all the power and endurance I build on the Vasa translates directly to my freestyle results.

Without working especially hard on my Vasa, but putting in decent time on it per week (4-5hrs of Vasa+pool per week), I dropped almost 10sec/100 for distance in pool and OWS, which I'm thrilled with. And I haven't even really cranked it yet on the Vasa - I was focusing on bike a lot this past 6 months, so Vasa was more of a means originally to not lose a lot of swim ability, but I ended up improving since it allowed me to signifcantly add volume to swimming due to the sheer convenience.

I would be confident enough now with my Vasa that I'm confident that I could swim PR or near-PR swim times with just 1-3 short pool sessions before race day. I actually have much less of a difference between Vasa vs pool than I have pool vs OWS, and I suspect most people would feel the same way.

Honestly, the Vasa has been so good to me that at this point I would not even consider an endless pool setup or even an at-home 25m lane, due to the upkeep and cost of those systems. The Vasa is so stupidly simple with no wires or other complications that its even less maintenance than the minimal maintenance of a bike trainer or treadmill. For me, it's been good for everything, from longer 60-90 steady state endurance swims (hard to do at busy public pools) to things like pool-like 10 x 200m as well as 25-50m sprints. I'd recommend you do all of the above - the Vasa works excellently for all of them.

And it's not just me that endorses their use - their in the regular rotation at the Germantown swim program, and you can see that even ex-olympian gary hall sr chimed in to offer his support and approval of the vasa erg on one of my threads earlier this year.

It's an awesome device - go crazy and expect big things!


Sure, many swim programs use the Vasa but it is a supplement to their in-the-water training. I haven't checked the Germantown web site but I suspect they might do around 3-5 hr/wk of dry-land training along with about 18-24 hr/wk of actual swimming, or at least this is a fairly typical ratio between DL and SW time.


I def still agree with you - to be the best swimmer possible, the more pool and OWS the better. Vasa as supplement is best - but if the pool is not happening for whatever reason, the Vasa is an excellent substitute. For sure, if your in-water technique is poor enough that you can't take advantage of your power and endurance due to gross inefficiencies, the Vasa won't save you. In fact, you'll probably notice little improvement, as the technique will be more of the limiter than the power/endurance.

I doubt that any dedicated competitive swimmer, in or out of pool, will willingly trade legit pool time for Vasa. They might add it on top for a different stimulus, but for sure, specificity of water = best pool results. But again, for the folks like myself who simply can't get to the pool enough due to family and job constraints (and I'm sure there are quite a few folks out there like me), using Vasa to add to your volume will help immensely, and in my case, led to significantly better results than I would have if I was limited strictly to pool swimming.

Well said LH, couldn't have explained it any better myself:)


"Anyone can be who they want to be IF they have the HUNGER and the DRIVE."
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Re: VASA ergo fishies [ericmulk] [ In reply to ]
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The only place I would disagree with you is the concept that you suggest that you STILL have to get in the pool 3-4x/week to swim decently well even with Vasa. I don't think that's true at all now that I've used it for a good 6 months. I am absolutely certain that I could do less than 1 pool swim/week on average, and do the rest on a Vasa, and have a near-PR, or even PR swim for myself provided my Vasa training was high in quality and volume. My PRs now are set with the lowest pool volume I've done while training for racing i the past few years (admittedly it's a low bar PR!)

The Vasa page has an anecdote about one of their Germantown collegiate freestylers who got injured for over 6 weeks or so, and was relegated to vasa duty for that time, and still came back with no loss of ability or speed even at that level of swimming, so that does add proof to the concept.
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Re: VASA ergo fishies [lightheir] [ In reply to ]
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lightheir wrote:
The only place I would disagree with you is the concept that you suggest that you STILL have to get in the pool 3-4x/week to swim decently well even with Vasa. I don't think that's true at all now that I've used it for a good 6 months. I am absolutely certain that I could do less than 1 pool swim/week on average, and do the rest on a Vasa, and have a near-PR, or even PR swim for myself provided my Vasa training was high in quality and volume. My PRs now are set with the lowest pool volume I've done while training for racing i the past few years (admittedly it's a low bar PR!)

The Vasa page has an anecdote about one of their Germantown collegiate freestylers who got injured for over 6 weeks or so, and was relegated to vasa duty for that time, and still came back with no loss of ability or speed even at that level of swimming, so that does add proof to the concept.

Well, I guess the need for pool time would depend on the person's swim skill set. Obv the college swimmer in your example had excellent swim skills developed over many years before he was injured, but the typical tri swimmer not so much. I suppose it is possible that you have developed enough skill to do without the pool but OTOH you have continued to swim 1 or 2 times per week over the past 6 months, right??? You might be surprised at how you would feel if you did nothing but Vasa for 8-10 months like the OP is planning. I can only compare my use of the stretch cords when I could not swim in AFG and IRQ during my USAF deployments, and my experience has been that it takes a good 3 months to really get back in swim shape after 12 months of just stretch cords, but maybe the Vasa is much better. Let's see what some of the other long-time swimmers have to say, they'll prob chime in soon:)


"Anyone can be who they want to be IF they have the HUNGER and the DRIVE."
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Re: VASA ergo fishies [ericmulk] [ In reply to ]
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Yes, I've been in the pool 1-2 hrs/week for the most part, and yes it helps.

I did however, do a bunch of weeks where I had some medical issues and couldn't go to the pool pretty much at all in Feb and early March, so it was all vasa. It is def much better than swim cords, which I've also used - it really maintains swim form very well if your pool technique is decent. (I clearly am not a fish, so decent doesn't mean amazing form.) I had zero uncomfortableness in the water when I re-entered the pool, and actually was probably a bit faster thanks to the good Vasa volume I did.

It was actually very similar to the experience of going from pool -> OWS for someone who has already had enough OWS to be comfortable with it, and then otherwise trains exclusively in a pool. Probably easier for me at least, since sighting and the scrum of bodies in race OWS is a bigger challenge for sure than the Vasa to pool.

I still wouldn't recommend going months without pool though unless you had to, but I'd certainly say that if you were in a completely pool-free place, the Vasa would allow you to swim orders of magnitude better than if you had either nothing or just stretch cords. And after you're used to the pool-vasa transitions like I am after a bunch of use (I intentionally made my technique as identical as possible with both, took some adjustments that were good for my pool form), the need for pool drops even more imo.
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Re: VASA ergo fishies [lightheir] [ In reply to ]
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bamaE
Thanks. I agree about the kick thing, this will be my limiter too but then having suffered a road accident on the bike this year losing half my leg strength in the right calf a minor detail compared to getting back my biker legs.

Lightheir
Great to hear. I was hoping for this sort of feedback that someone was going to benefit. I would to see a ten second improvement too. I have the benefit from one year of focused swim training, another with none, now this coming period to make comparison. My best times is 1:30 over 100m so if I can get to 1:20 sweeeeeet.

Ericmulk,
...thin ice?... You forget last season I had no swimming! and still managed to come out in the top 10% of my AG, albeit my times where 1-2 mins slower over sprint distance.
I have no trouble being comfortable in the water. Played water polo at school, a swimming instructor and managed to acquire all the swimming life saving certifications Australia offered. Maybe not a speedie guy I do have the Diesel engine compared to most triathletes I race. Those in front of me are usually HS or collegiate swimmers.

I do agree specificity pool swimming wins hands down. But then when no pool is available.... My local pool as it happens is under renovation this season and when I go, a season pass of 300$, plus fuel, plus time. Can't beat rolling out of bed to then walk into the garage a minute later 7 days a week. I'm going to be diligent record this in my blog and in training peaks. All I need is for my 2 k times to be in the 25-27 range.

AussiemikeinSD


age is just a number after your name
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Re: VASA ergo fishies [AussieMikeinSD] [ In reply to ]
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IMO, you sound like the perfect person for a Vasa swim trainer. You have enough water experience to make the most of the power and endurance on the Vasa and already have most of the technique ironed in.

If you're more of a diesel engine guy, def emphsaize short power sprints on the Vasa - you'll be surprised at how effective it is in building power. (The powermeter helps with this!)

I think you'll also find that you enjoy pool workouts more when you're with the Vasa. It's much more fun to swim when you've got the fitness of 5 days/week (or more) of swim training versus the typical AGer who is lucky to get even 3 days in, at which point you're more staving off loss of ability than actually improving.

My last 2 cents - bluetooth headphones plus laptop video is awesome for Vasa sessions, and can do double duty on the bike trainer sessions. Otherwise, it can be sort of a grind, but you know that having bike trainer work yourself. A fan is pretty helpful too - I use my bike trainer fan.

The convenience of the Vasa is unparalleled - it really is amazing to literally go into your garage for even a quick 20-30 min session squeezed in wherever you can get it - it's been a total game changer for me, well worth the $2k. (I honestly think that most people who paid that much for carbon racing wheels would have spent their money much better had they just bought a vasa) I don't want to oversell it, and it's still def hard work (just as hard work as if you had to do it all in the pool, so be prepared to work!) but I it's honestly been far more effective than I'd thought, and is a very elegant device. No errant power cords, no maintenance at all (compare to any pool gah!), no unnecessary stuff - just get on and pull hard.
Last edited by: lightheir: Jul 7, 14 6:50
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Re: VASA ergo fishies [lightheir] [ In reply to ]
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Pool hours are so limited where I live (Portland, ME area) that I have thought about buying one of these...lots of good information in this thread.
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Re: VASA ergo fishies [blueraider_mike] [ In reply to ]
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Here's a thread I started before I made the purchase, lots of even better info here, including Gary Hall Sr's chiming in.


I say go for it. With limited pool hours or the dreaded 2:00+/100 swimmers in the 'fast' lane circle swim who haven't quite learned to yield at the wall yet, it takes huge amounts of anxiety out of swim planning.
Last edited by: lightheir: Jul 7, 14 8:22
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Re: VASA ergo fishies [lightheir] [ In reply to ]
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lightheir wrote:
Here's a thread I started before I made the purchase, lots of even better info here, including Gary Hall Sr's chiming in.


I say go for it. With limited pool hours or the dreaded 2:00+/100 swimmers in the 'fast' lane circle swim who haven't quite learned to yield at the wall yet, it takes huge amounts of anxiety out of swim planning.

Can you redo the thread...its not linked properly, thanks.
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Re: VASA ergo fishies [blueraider_mike] [ In reply to ]
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As a Vasa ERG owner I appreciate the debate as to what benefits may or may not be obtained by using the product.

I can only comment that it's helped me and am more interested is those who use the product posting some sample workouts or to explain how exactly they are using it.

I personally do a lot of 100's or pyramids going from 400 to 100 and increasing the damper door as I do so. Normally I'm toast by the time I've completed a set. I keep most of my workouts in the 1500-2000 range.

Please share some workouts if you don't mind. I love learning what others are doing to strengthen their swimming abilities.
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Re: VASA ergo fishies [toadbra] [ In reply to ]
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toadbra wrote:
As a Vasa ERG owner I appreciate the debate as to what benefits may or may not be obtained by using the product.

I can only comment that it's helped me and am more interested is those who use the product posting some sample workouts or to explain how exactly they are using it.

I personally do a lot of 100's or pyramids going from 400 to 100 and increasing the damper door as I do so. Normally I'm toast by the time I've completed a set. I keep most of my workouts in the 1500-2000 range.

Please share some workouts if you don't mind. I love learning what others are doing to strengthen their swimming abilities.

I for the most part do what you do. I don't think you need to make the Vasa different than swim workouts - I have a small notebook for triathlon swimming workouts by Gale Bernhardt and I've done a bunch of those when I go 3000+ just to keep it interesting.

As said above though, I've found that ALL distance/volumes work well for me. 3000+ workouts have real value for me, even at lower overall pace, and even going at a 'straight swim'. 100s-200s are my staple, just because that's how I swim in the pool, but I wouldn't neglect hard 25s and 50s as well - I recently started doing a lot more of those, and was happily surprised at how high yield they were in the pool. I thought at first from reading the manual that I would only do 1000-2000 on it, but now that I've used it a lot, it works for everything.

A side benefit for me as well - my pool workouts were often limited by a sore right shoulder. I'm almost certain it's due to the high arm recovery on that side, as it's not sore when I pull hard, but sore when I lift. (I've had coaches and self-video - it's not because of some egergious pull error.) The Vasa has a low arm recovery if you choose, and that's allowed me to put in a lot more volume without worsening that shoulder. I've been pain-free for 4 months now, which is the longest I've been for the past 4 years.
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Re: VASA ergo fishies [toadbra] [ In reply to ]
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And also for additional fun and reference:

Here's a good ST thread on Vasa workouts

And here's a good article from Vasa with good sample workouts that you may have read. I agree with pretty much everything claimed in that article, except for the recommendation that you limit swim distance on Vasa to 2000 Vasa meters; I've really benefited from 3000 and beyond workout distances on it.
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Re: VASA ergo fishies [lightheir] [ In reply to ]
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Just curious.....what type of stroke rate do you aim to maintain?

I've found a difference in trying to translate my Vasa stroke rate into actual pool swims. I'm sure it's me as I'm an aspiring guppie and everyone else may not experience this?
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Re: VASA ergo fishies [toadbra] [ In reply to ]
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I honestly don't worry about my vasa stroke rate too much, but I do monitor the power quite closely.

With a door setting of "3", my vasa rate is lower than my pool rate, but almost identical to my pool stroke rate if I'm using small paddles. As said, for me the Vasa feels identical to pool swimming with paddles for form, turnover and resistance.

You may have to re-analyze your pool stroke to make it similar to the Vasa or vice versa, as if they're significantly different, you will obviously get less benefit.

One thing I learned from the Vasa videos with the masters woman (Pipes) that was very valuable but which I just ignored until I self-videod myself, was paying attention to fingertip orientation on the pull. I didn't pay it attention in the pool at first, and on my video, my hand was diagonal, and all sorts of crazy throughout my pull in the pool. Once I got that straightend out to point straight down all the time in the pool, I felt I connected even more the Vasa to pool swim experience. Turns out your fingertips can really reveal some pull inefficiencies, as it can help show where the vector of power is being oriented. Seems subtle, but it's real.
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Re: VASA ergo fishies [toadbra] [ In reply to ]
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toadbra,

What I have learnt in the past three years with my running is consistency and working at two session/week that tacks the system around 85-95% of my best 10k running time. I can to these year round and as my time comes down I adjust accordingly, then the weekend is a 90-105mins run every other week that will also tacks the system to adapt. The other days are v.easy runs around 5-6k. So using this system I am looking to do the same with swimming once I have my upper body swim strength. Of course I will also experiment with the door damper system to asses building power. Just like running I get to a point I up the incline on the treadmill to build leg power.

While doing this build phase I will look at my stroke rate and make comparisons to my swim time. Hopefully some other ST'ers vasa fishies can chime in on whether this has any correlation to be made.

As for work outs I'll be using the same that used in the pool 2 years ago when Ryan Bolten was coaching me. In addition I'll use a variety of suggestion from the Fish threat on ST.

lightheir, I cant use the earphones....I'm using the stroke metronome while I listen to NPR in the background. More focused on getting that rhythm for the next couple of months. Even now I have given up on long runs with earphone just to listen to my body rhythm in the way it ticks.

As for the wheel comment....I can see where it comes from....it's a tangible thing, you touch it, feel it, it looks fast. Unlike the vasa it's like going to the gym for strength training as it is only you who feel and senses the benefits. Until someone sees your swim times LOL.



I've started a blog to track my vasa session. http://vasaergotraining.blogspot.com.au/


age is just a number after your name
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Re: VASA ergo fishies [AussieMikeinSD] [ In reply to ]
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Something I dont understand is why one would mimic swim training so closely on the VASA. Swim training is a little bit odd but for very obvious reasons, reasons that you dont face on the VASA. Wouldnt it be smarter to do VASA workouts more like trainer workouts? Like trainerroad? 3x5x(60/60), 7x3 min@108%, 20 min threshold, etc.

Endurance coach | Physiotherapist (primary care) | Bikefitter | Swede
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Re: VASA ergo fishies [AussieMikeinSD] [ In reply to ]
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AussieMikeinSD wrote:
door setting on 1

Put it on 7 and leave it.
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Re: VASA ergo fishies [mortysct] [ In reply to ]
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mortysct, now that's another thought too by taken some clues from TR. When I have some time I'll make some of these up.

I have heard from Vasa they are in talks with Training Peaks discussing the integration of Ant+ with the TP, which could mean that what the guys at TR have done can be done in sample workouts. This would be cool


age is just a number after your name
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