Get a total gym from Craigslist and attach some paddles. You need the basic version though without the base plate thing, unless that comes off.

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--Chris

Like this: http://lanegainer.com/...o-a-halo-swim-bench/

Definitely can DIY much cheaper that this.

Somewhere to rest your head?


The DIY enthusiast in me wants to figure out a way to rig a bench, paddles and (rigid) cords to a smart bike trainer (or maybe a rowing ergo) and hence get power readings out of it...

StetchCordz.

I'm starting to look at used rowing machines combined with a workout bench that I already have.

There has to be enough of us that there is a market for this.

I actually have that bench. Found it used on eBay. I use it with a vasa erg I found on Craigslist also. I don’t have the Vasa bench so I have my own space saver erg. It wasn’t pretty much impossible to ship a full Vasa because of that long post but the business end isn’t too bad. It’s most empty and not too heavy, just big.

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--Chris

I tried a number of things like you have suggested and not one of them was close enough to a real swim feel for me to stick with it. The Vasa is not perfect, but for the time-constrained athlete or someone who just can't get to a pool, it is a solution. Frankly, I don't understand people's hang-up on the price. Since I bought my ergometer I still have spent two or three times the price in other bike equipment. If you are riding a second-hand tri bike that cost $500, then maybe the Vasa is expensive, but it does not even hit the "entry-level" tri bike cost that is sold these days.
I suspect were a beginning triathlete to ebay a cheap bike and pay the full price for a Vasa, they would be a much better triathlete in one, two or five years.
Heck, since buying my Vasa, I have not done more than four or five pools swims in ten years. No cold water, no chlorine, no closed pools that you don't find out about until you walk in, no wet workout gear.

More specifically to your question, the bands tend to jerk your arm back and don't have a linear resistance. You can't do a overhand recovery with the Vasa, but the feel is very smooth and simulates the recovery better. It just feels very much like swimming. I never noticed my arms getting tired on the recovery in races when I was doing 100 percent Vasa swimming. The swim is a weakness for a lot of people and the Vasa can address some percentage of the problem, i.e. swim fitness or lack thereof because of minimal frequency. If your form is horrible then it can't help you there, though I think it may have improved some part of that for me because it is hard to use the Vasa without employing the early vertical forearm when you are training.

Edit: If forgot to add that if I was a little more mechanically inclined or was trying what you are trying, I would rig some sort of pulley system with weights, rather than use the stretchy bands. If you set up a 2x4 at bench level and used a couple of smooth pulleys with a bearing in them, you could probably duplicate the swim motion, it would be a more linear resistance, and it would not wear out like a stretch band elasticity. The Vasa is essentially ropes with paddles using a pulley attached to a large flywheel.

Question from the dumb/ignorant here...

Is there any advantage to being in the prone position for swim erg training? Because it seems to also involve a number of downsides (due to not floating in water): lying on your chest, holding your head up, taking up lots of floor space, dangling your legs out, getting sweaty on a bench, etc.

Seems to me it would make more sense to sit or stand upright and pull downwards. Head is naturally positioned, torso can rotate, you could look in a mirror and see your form, etc.

Bonus credit: You could stand on one of these:

and get some kick training at the same time (either for kick strength or just rotation/balance/timing practice)

I really need my knee to recover so I can get away from the computer...

In my third year of Triathlon, and just shelled out for "the bike" this year.

So personally my objection to the Vasa price is that there are only so many items I can compress into my yearly budget, not to mention get approval from my wife :)

Nordic skiers have been using something called a "roller board" since way back before Bill Koch was skiing. I'm sure NordicSkier would be able to lend some details on how long the Norwegians, Swedes & Finns have been using them at their national team level. We had some at the University back when I skied in the early 90's. You should be able to find instructions for a roller board online--free & make it out of leftover lumber.

A skierg seems to be vetter than a rowingmachine. They already have two lines. Maybe more difficult to find perhaps.

I picked up an old NordicTrack XC ski trainer off Craigslist with the intention of making a DIY Vasa but never quite got around to it. The guts of the NordicTrack, a weights bench and some wood/steel, a bit of ingenuity and you're there.

Cheers, Rich

Thanks, I'll look into those.

Dont get me wrong, I really want the Vasa. I tend to make one big purchase a year for Tri (wheels, wetsuit, trainer, etc) per year so this would be it - but its not me you have to convince. :)

Thanks for the feedback on the bands. If I had more floorspace, I'd rig up a pulley/weight system but now you've given me something to think about.

https://forum.slowtwitch.com/...sa_Trainer_P1354367/

Old thread but I don't think much has changed in the Total Gym world :)

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--Chris

Hi Turboferret,

I just coincidentally found the same NordickTrack Ski machine on my local classifieds for next to nothing. I want to go take a look this weekend. I know you have not done the Vasa "conversion" but I was wondering if you know the answer to the following.

Do the hand/ski pull function independent of the shoe/leg piece?

It seems there's a flywheel on the legs for resistance. Ideally I'd like to scrap completely the leg piece and simply use the rest of the machine to rig with as you said a bit of creativity.
Any hints as to what or how you were planning on doing the conversion?

Any input is appreciated!

The arm mechanism is entirely independent of the foot tracks, and is a simple friction system, which if memory serves me correctly, may be adjustable.

The foot tracks have a large flywheel which is driven from the tracks via rollers which have one-way bearings, so they spin the flywheel when moving backwards, but don't when moving forwards. I was going to use a cord which looped over these same rollers to drive the flywheel. That should give a much more realistic feel in my opinion, as opposed to just the friction of the arm mechanism, although would be more complicated to rig up.

I hope this makes sense and is helpful!

Cheers, Rich

Well that's a bummer. More than likely messing with the flywheel would be more than:

#1 I'm willing to spend on it timewise
or
#2 Skillwise

Thanks for the reply. I was hopeful when you said they worked independently, but I guess it's try flywheels seem to work great (example Bike Trainers)

This is the best post on the thread. I think if you take a vasa ski erg and attach paddles, you might get close to what you need and most importantly it will engage the core connecting hand to opposite hip, which you don't get lying around on a swim erg or swim trainer

Timbasile, I can appreciate your dilemma. Finding a quality swim training solution is a question of prioritizing budget with Importance and Viability for each person's life circumstances. I encourage you to create a few solutions, including pool time if you can manage that at least once per week. Vasa does make the Sport Bench, which is a folding bench we sell for $399. It's designed to be used with our Spacesaver wall-mounted Ergometer, and it can also be used with safety sleeve tubing and Vasa power paddles for the most economical solution (under $450). If you got that, you could eventually add the Spacesaver Erg to use with it. We believe in "Quality costs less", so it's a fun challenge to gain the highest quality swim training, while expending a reasonable amount of time and money as your situation allows.

Regardless of which swim bench solution choose now, make the most of your training time by paying close attention to proper form in order to engrain the key fundamentals needed for efficient, powerful pulling and strong, long, taut body line once in the water.
Vasa blog and Youtube channel provides many useful articles and videos to support that. Best of success to you!

Hi, I tweaked my waterrower rowing machine. It took me just to replace the main cord connected to the handlebar. Nice thing about this "DIY swim erg" is that the harder you pull, the harder the resistance and this mimics, somehow, what happens in the water. It is also nice because in the catch phase you do not have so much resistance, as opposed to tubing, and this should be in line with the spirit that the catch is a prep phase.
The downside of this "DIY swim erg" is that you have to wait to pull with one arm until the opposite completes the recover; not ideal to train the tempo, but I hope that this help to do not rush the stroke. It would be nice to device some system, like the one used in the ski erg, that, I assume, allows to pull even if the opposite arms has not fully ended recovery. Incidentally, I also noted that over the web some people devised a swim erg with using two C2 rowing machines; not bad if you already own two rowing machines.

Even though my idea applies to a waterrower, I think that one can convert almost every decent (and cheaper) rowing machine

Last summer I got just a set of stretch cords and set them up in my garage. I hadn't swam since covid lockdowns started and had just gotten married so I was trying to jump start/maximize my swimming time without driving too and from the pool. The swim has always been my weakest leg. Training ended up being going to the pool twice a week and swimming 3000 yards then going to the garage daily and doing 2x100 on the bands 2-3 times a day (WFH) and it would take less than 5 minutes to do those.

Ended up doing a half and full last year and in the half I was try to chase two guys I know locally. I stayed with one the entire swim and the other was about 1:30 in front of my and I know he was constantly in the pool way more than me. For the Ironman, it was the highest I had came out of the water against the field ever in an Ironman branded race.

So in short, unless you are a great swimmer, ever basic stretch cords used consistently will give you a return without having a vasa. I'd say 80% of us don't come from a swimming background so something like this is better than nothing.

I used my cheap old Nordic track, unmodified, during lockdown, for swim fitness, with great results.

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Athlinks / Strava