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Re: DIY MacGyver "Vasa" [Gtjojo189] [ In reply to ]
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Interesting to see this pop back up now that I've been using the solution I MacGyvered above for 3-4 years.

When COVID hit, it also knocked the pools out for a significant portion of the last two years. Even as recently as last month, pools have been in a state of rolling closures. I've been using this solution to keep up my swim fitness - working my way through episodes of Arrested Development. Last year, I switched to a lower resistance band and concentrated on form, rather than trying to knock out any sort of cardio or higher resistance.

Somehow, we managed to have a 70.3 in Muskoka last year, and I had my best swim both in terms of time, and placing. Usually, the swim is my weak point (coming out mid pack), but I actually came out of the water well ahead of when I usually do (13th out of the water in M40) - to the point where I lost a place on the bike because I was so far ahead of my usual placing - not because I had a poor bike (I had a good bike too!), but because I was so far ahead of the usual groups of whom I'd put time into when I get out of the water. The best part is that despite not having optimal swim prep, I still felt like I could keep going. I also changed wetsuits, so I wouldn't give this DIY solution all the credit, but for me its definitely something that was beneficial.
Last edited by: timbasile: Feb 22, 22 11:20
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Re: DIY MacGyver "Vasa" [timbasile] [ In reply to ]
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Old thread but something else that works pretty well and can be found really cheap is an older Total Gym. You can easily set it up for a swimming style workout.
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Re: DIY MacGyver "Vasa" [timbasile] [ In reply to ]
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Stretch chords to a door knob and lie upside down on an exercise ball and you can simulate all strokes, except the ceiling is the bottom of the pool in that configuration and you'll actively use the core like in swimming.

I got these

https://www.amazon.ca/...aps%2C58&sr=8-17

You still won't get your cardio going like real swimming, but its pretty darn good.
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Re: DIY MacGyver "Vasa" [Cup] [ In reply to ]
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Cup wrote:
Old thread but something else that works pretty well and can be found really cheap is an older Total Gym. You can easily set it up for a swimming style workout.

Echoing this as well. I bought one off of craigslist for $150 recently when kept out of the water for a couple of months with a surgery (tracked time/strokes/stroke rate with my garmin in rowing mode). It's worked great for me-I lost very little (if any) swim fitness in that time (while everything else tanked), and within a few weeks back in the water, was swimming better than prior to the layoff. I've continued to supplement with it a few times a week, because it definitely feels useful!
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Re: DIY MacGyver "Vasa" [Gtjojo189] [ In reply to ]
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Gtjojo189 wrote:
doing 2x100 on the bands 2-3 times a day (WFH) and it would take less than 5 minutes to do those.
Just curious about how you determined the hundreds? Was it by time?
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Re: DIY MacGyver "Vasa" [violator] [ In reply to ]
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violator wrote:
Gtjojo189 wrote:
doing 2x100 on the bands 2-3 times a day (WFH) and it would take less than 5 minutes to do those.

Just curious about how you determined the hundreds? Was it by time?

Possibly the unit of measure is "strokes", not yards or meters
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Re: DIY MacGyver "Vasa" [violator] [ In reply to ]
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It was just a simple rep count. 1,2,3,4.... I'm sure I could have come up with something more creative. I used the cords Davish used in his post above.

I'm kind of in the same boat again. Last year after Ironman Chattanooga I quit going to the pool for time's sake. Dedicated my time to getting my townhome ready to sell and the find a new house. My wife and I moved in December right before Christmas but we have been trying to do a few renovations to the place before our baby shows up next week. I'm just starting to turn my attention to the cords again. I've deferred my registration from Chattanooga 70.3 2020 to this year so I'm hoping I may get a chance to do it with the baby. I probably won't get a chance to make it to a pool til late April, May so we will see how it turns out.
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Re: DIY MacGyver "Vasa" [Gtjojo189] [ In reply to ]
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here is another option if you are a data nerd: https://whipr.com/

It used to be cheap, but that china shipping to USA crisis

surprised no one on this forum has gotten one yet.

Yes unfortunately you need 2 units, but maybe someone can make a swivel hack like nordic track so you can use just 1?
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Re: DIY MacGyver "Vasa" [timbasile] [ In reply to ]
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How about the zen 8 that sponsors the scientific triathlon podcast? Less than $200. https://www.zen8swimtrainer.com/
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Re: DIY MacGyver "Vasa" [devashish_paul] [ In reply to ]
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OMG I so overpaid for mine. Got the brand name StretchCordz...should have messaged ya first Dev! lol
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Re: DIY MacGyver "Vasa" [synthetic] [ In reply to ]
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synthetic wrote:
here is another option if you are a data nerd: https://whipr.com/

It used to be cheap, but that china shipping to USA crisis

surprised no one on this forum has gotten one yet.

Yes unfortunately you need 2 units, but maybe someone can make a swivel hack like nordic track so you can use just 1?

I looked at them when I was hunting for a solution, but back when I made the post a few years ago they were still on Kickstarter. From the looks of it, it looked like it was much to light to be a proper rowing machine but would work well for this if you managed to get 2 of them.
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Re: DIY MacGyver "Vasa" [Dean T] [ In reply to ]
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Dean T wrote:
I used my cheap old Nordic track, unmodified, during lockdown, for swim fitness, with great results.

Could the arm cords and resistance wheel be removed and used as a swim-only exercise?

I'm going to pick up a Nordictrack for cheap but instead of adding yet another exercise machine to a garage that's starting to get crowded, I was thinking about somehow attaching just the mechanism to an empty spot on the wall behind my bench and use it similar to a Vasa/Halo etc.
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Re: DIY MacGyver "Vasa" [WelshinPhilly] [ In reply to ]
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WelshinPhilly wrote:
Dean T wrote:
I used my cheap old Nordic track, unmodified, during lockdown, for swim fitness, with great results.


Could the arm cords and resistance wheel be removed and used as a swim-only exercise?

I'm going to pick up a Nordictrack for cheap but instead of adding yet another exercise machine to a garage that's starting to get crowded, I was thinking about somehow attaching just the mechanism to an empty spot on the wall behind my bench and use it similar to a Vasa/Halo etc.

I certainly don’t see why not. It would be as easy as hack sawing the unit off, and that would leave some meat to drill holes in, and use as a mount. However… don’t discount the usefulness of the whole machine. I’ve used it for recovery from stress fractures, and PF, and maintained decent fitness. It also folds down, and takes very little room.

Athlinks / Strava
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Re: DIY MacGyver "Vasa" [devashish_paul] [ In reply to ]
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"and lie upside down on an exercise ball"


I wanted to second this, and recommend an exercise ball in general. It is too wide to just lie on it. However, you can orient your body (and, especially, rotate along your spine's axis) to simulate many parts of a stroke, and even work out lats and abs and hips. In fact, alternating between an exercise ball (upside down and not) standing upright, standing bent at the waist, facing the resistance point, and facing away from it, has facilitated a lot of very beneficial stroke development and even endurance, at least for me.



The trick has been moving while using the bands to simulate parts of a stroke, or even all of it.


I think if I had enough room, I'd like to suspend the bands or pulleys from the ceiling.


2 cents.
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