I have found this claim (similar to using a pull buoy) to be completely inaccurate.

I got a Vasa a few weeks ago and am finally swimming average paces of around 1:55/100m (or 1:45/100yd). That is a tough pace for me on the Vasa, but in the pool, 1:45s with a pull buoy was a walk in the park.

To be fair, though, I do not have the ANT+ computer (although if one was in stock, I'd buy it....wink wink) and the timer usually runs for 5-10 seconds after stopping the last stroke of the set. So, maybe I should be comparing my 2:05/100m affort to my 1:45/100yd effort, which is more equal.

To me, door 3 on vasa is nearly identical in feel to swimming with buoy and small paddles. Door 5-7 like med to large paddles.

Paces are a bit slower on vasa compared to me with buoy and paddle (i go faster with paddles by a dexent amount) But on door 3 its very close to my no toys pool swim speed.

I dont use the vasa speed anymore though, and i prefer to use the power output so im not constantly hoping for equality with pool paces. More power, go faster.

i completely agree with the flatness and it sucking. i roll a towel up or use a foam noodle in the middle of my torso to let me roll to and fro.

---

80/20 Endurance Ambassador

There are many variables at play here when trying to compare the Vasa SwimErg power meter data to actual swimming in the water.

For your consideration:
• Pace per 100 on the Vasa is Meters, not yards;
• The workout data from the power meter is consistently repeatable, so you can compare workouts and see progress;
• For "apples to apples" comparison Vasa workouts, consider doing time trials (at least 1 time/month) using the Set Up mode. You select the distance and the meters count down while time elapses. At the end, when distance reaches zero, the timer stops and you can record it;
• Real adaptation and progress won't happen in 3 weeks of training. Allow yourself a minimum of 6 to 8 weeks before you begin to see real improvements;
• Avoid overdoing it early on to prevent injuries. Start with low damper door settings until your musculoskeletal system, especially shoulders, can adapt to the loads;
• For greater power output, be sure you engage core and torso muscles. Drive the opposite hip into the bench right as you catch and pull. This will probably bump your watts up a bit and your pace/100m will be a bit faster. Plus, you'll engage the lats a lot more this way, thereby saving the shoulders. Some people place a rolled-up towel lengthwise on the bench and lay on it from sternum to pelvis. It allows a bit more core engagement;
• Vasa is now allowed to do some business (Governor's mandate eased a bit) and we have ANT+ power meters you can get online;

I hope this helps. Thank you!

I take offense to your assumption I do not know the difference between yards and meters. However, I am happy to hear the ANT+ units are in stock and I will likely place an order soon.

Give it time! I'd say 4-6 weeks and you will start seeing times closer to what you are used to in the pool with PB and Paddles. Try not to get too hung up on replicating exact times to pool and VASA. I did this early on. No different really than trying to correlate inside watts vs. outside watts. Not true apples to apples. The real measure of improvement will be when you slap the wetsuit on and hit the OW and you see your times compared to what you used to swim. They will be faster. I got my VASA in 2012 after 17 years in Triathlon, it was not until swimming with the VASA did my OW times start to drop significantly. I went from an avg 1:06 to 1:10 Ironman swim time to consistently under an hour. I have several athletes that I have coached seen their swim times plateau regardless of how much pool time they had. I convinced them to get a SwimErg and their times (in the pool and OW) came down shortly thereafter and significantly. Hope that helps. Stick with it and good luck!

Dear Pro_Sandbagger,

I meant no offense. My comment about meters vs. yards was simply matter of fact to clarify that the Vasa power meter is pace per 100M. This was stated in order to rule out any possibility of confusion on that point.
As KWatson pointed out, it's best not to seek an apples to apples comparison of SwimErg to OWS or pool swimming. I hope you'll find progress in your swimming efficiency, ability to sustain power, and ideally a slightly faster swim.
Sincerely,
Rob Sleamaker

I am regretting not getting on the VASA train earlier and it looks like I am too late. All items are out of stock. Any idea of when we may expect to see items back in stock?

Thank you for your question and interest in Vasa. Here is the message we have posted on our website. We do have a mountain of orders waiting to be filled once we are allowed to start production again:

All non-essential businesses in Vermont were ordered by the Governor to cease regular operations until May 15, 2020. We are currently out of stock of all Vasa SwimErgs, SpaceSaver SwimErgs, SUP Erg, and Trainer Pro models due to the high demand and temporary production stoppage aimed at preventing the spread of the COVID-19 virus.
If you want to get on our waitlist, complete the form on the website product page so the Vasa customer service team can keep you updated. Note that we just started taking orders for our folding Sport Bench, which can be used with swim cords. It makes a good weight bench, too.
We will let you know more as we get more information during this rapidly changing situation. If you need to contact us, it’s most effective to send an email to info @ vasatrainer dot com
We’re doing our best to respond within 1-2 business days. Your business means a great deal to us and we look forward to serving you as soon as possible. Thank you for your patience and your support!

Having read a lot of your posts here on the Vasa, I finally pulled the trigger and ordered one in December. I live in the UK, so ordered it through Sport-Thieme and it was scheduled to arrive in February. It finally arrived a week before we went into lockdown for which I was really grateful. I have a lot of metal in my left shoulder so I was very pleased that I could actually swim on the Vasa with no shoulder pain or aggravation despite my left arm having about 50% of the power of my right.

My first workout was 400m on DD1 with a 48watt Average and I was BEAT! I did workouts little and often to gradually build up my strength and 2 weeks later did 400m on DD1 at 64watt Average. One month on I did 1000m at 73wAverage. I then read another of your posts about the benefits of a longer duration straight swim so I did a 2500m straight swim with a 60w Average. Seeing as my recent IM swims have been about 1:08, I will probably try to progress to doing a 70min swim once a week. Seeing as the pools are all closed, I have no reference as to how my water swimming is actually progressing but will be interesting to see when I get back in the water.

The immediate benefit for me is the time saving. I can go to my garage and get 2500m done in 45 mins. I would need at least double that time to do a pool swim which is a crazy time saving. On top of that, the only time I can swim in the pool is early in the morning. If I am on evening shifts, then I only get 5hrs sleep before I have to get up to swim. Now, I can get a good 8hrs and swim whenever I like during the rest of the day. That's also a huge bonus. Of course the other real bonus is that all the pools are currently shut so the Vasa is a lifeline.

When the lockdown is over, the plan will be to still swim in the pool at least 1xweek but most other 'swims' will be on the Vasa. All I'm after is to be able to still swim the same time in an IM. If using the Vasa makes me faster, that would be a crazy bonus on top of the time saving.

Tubs

I bought a vasa 3 years ago after reading Sam Gyde's experience with it. I started swimming at age 40, now 50, and would say I am not in love with swimming. I have managed a 1:04 IM swim in the past and most IM races are between 1:06-1:09. Totally untrained I did a 1:13. I used the vasa very sparingly since owning it. I decided last December to try to get in 4-5 Vasa sessions a week and have managed to do it.
Initially I could not make it more than 10 minutes on DD1. I now do 4 sessions of 80 minutes. I can not use anything more than DD2 because of pain in my shoulder, but the improvements have been great.

I do the following session

10 x 50m 1-5 steady, 6-10sprint
20 X 75m 1-5 steady 6-10 sprint
5 X 100m steady and 5 X 75m sprint.
At the end of the set I have added 90 seconds of straight swimming a week and am now up to 20 minutes.

After reading this thread I need to experiment with the settings to start keeping track of my watts during these session, but I can tell the gains from how much longer I can go.

I look forward to testing my fitness in the pool when they reopen.

Thank you for putting your faith in Vasa swim training!

We’re producing workout videos and other resources to support your training. I encourage you to check the Vasatrainer.com blog for recent articles and videos. We also just posted a Coach locator page on the blog in the event you wish to engage with a qualified coach with experience training athletes using a Vasa.

Remember: Consistency will lead to Confidence. Confidence and consistency will lead to Stronger, Better, Faster swimming for you once you are back in the water!

We welcome your questions, feedback and suggestions. Thank you and happy training!

Just a n=1 heads up for any Vasa users - cycling videos, especially Sufferfest, work GREAT on the Vasa.

Doing a set of 1' on all out 1' off on the Vasa can be rough to do more than one session, facing that kind of beatdown. But do it to Sufferfest Revolver, and you'll be hammering away no time.

I just busted my Sufferfest and other bike training videos out again, and it's amazing how good they are for the Vasa (obviously, it's not being erg controlled, I just go by their estimated RPE.)

Also - for any Scosche+ hrm users, I found that when using the Vasa, the Scosche actually works (for me at least) best on my upper ankle. It doesn't seem to work at all on my arm when I'm using Vasa when I'm in motion, unfortunately, but it works great on my calf, captures continuously.

Thank you Rob. It looks like Vermont may modify some of those orders, so here is hoping!

Can you please briefly describe the difference between the VASA SwimERG and the SpaceSave SwimERG? I looked on the website but the link only seemed to take me to various accessory pages.

I also want to say how I appreciate you answering the many questions on this sub. It is a sign that separates a great from from good company

Here you go

https://lmgtfy.com/...pace+saver+ergometer

Or

https://vasatrainer.com/product/spacesavererg/

I"ve had both space saver and regular swim erg. I much prefer the space saver. Same workout but does not take up much space at all and I am happy with wall I installed it on.

My apologies. Apparently I was on the Accessories sub-page of the VASA website, which is why none of that was making sense.

I could not get the Scoshe (old Rhythm) or my Garmin 235 to work on my arm, but both worked great on the ankle. Back in January I bought a Polar OH1 - it works great on the upper arm.

Trainer Road is also great for Vasa workouts. I like being able to see the graphical display of actual power versus target.

Good question!
Think of the front end of the Vasa SwimErg (same unit as SpaceSaver Erg) as an "outboard motor". It can attach to the monorail, or to the wall. It still functions exactly the same way in terms of the air fan resistance feeling, the power meter data, and the overall functionality. For example, when you accelerate the pulling (from catch to finish) versus using a monospeed pull, you'll see the power numbers increase on the power meter and you will hear the fan noise change with the acceleration. Both are useful biofeedback mechanisms, especially at the onset of fatigue.

The main differences between the freestanding SwimErg and the wall-mounted SpaceSaver Erg are the platform you would lay on to swim. The freestanding SwimErg padded bench is mounted to the seat carriage which can roll freely on the monorail. This has a few features which come down to user preference.
1. The free rolling bench acts a bit like a "mechanical treadmill" in that as you pull with power, the seat rolls forward. If you hold consistent power, you will remain in relatively the same position on the monorail, but if your pulling power drops, the bench will roll backwards a bit. All this action is dependent on the user's bodyweight, so people over 180 pounds or so may not experience the same amount of movement as a lighter athlete.

2. The monorail offers a physical and visual guide so people don't cross midline during freestyle. In fact the entire front frame along with the monorail give the users a "stroke path lane" for each Right and Left arm.

This also allows users to add the Trainer Strap System accessory to the front frame, thereby creating the functionality of using it like our other model, the Vasa Trainer. That works by "pulling your body past your hands" which are anchored into the fixed length webbing straps.

For the SpaceSaver Erg, we suggest using the Vasa Sport Bench, which is a folding bench that you set up in front of the wall-mounted Erg. It has essentially the same padded bench as our XL bench. It's also great as a general weight bench (and it can be used with swim cords).

I hope this helps. Feel free to contact me or our customer service team by email at info@vasatrainer dot com
Thanks
Rob