Anyone have success with using a VASA trainer? Living in CA, I have lost easy access to pools for swimming and it is unlikely to change (local pool permanently shut down). For what it is worth, I am typically a front pack swimmer.

I've had a couple to a handful of athletes use these for 50-75+% of their total swim training. call it 3-6 athletes over the years

They didn't swim any faster, in fact they probably swam slower even though their vasa + swim total hours were 10-15% > total hours of swim training. There's a lot of subtle stuff you need to swim well that a vasa isn't going to allow you to replicate.

There’s never only one way. But of the many ways to maintain or improve swim fitness, the vasa ranks on the lower end of the list.

If they had not used the vasa, but did not change the total number of pool hours that season, would they have been able to maintain and improve their swimming? Did they improve at all in the bike or run during that season with the vasa?

The vasa is great because it saves huge amount of time and delivers fitness. Im sure the vasa freed tens of hours of time over a season for your ahletes

i "swim" almost exclusively on a vasa as water is just not that accessible to me. 1 vasa at my remote work location and one where i live.

it makes you stronger, it does not necessarily make you faster. it can not teach you technique and feedback of the water. it cant teach you balance in the water. you really cant roll that well on it. i used to roll up a towel or use a noodle under the centerline of my body but thats not comfortable so i ditched it.

physique wise it def makes you stronger and builds muscles, but for someone thats not a great swimmer (myself) its not going to teach you the things that really matter in the water which is your form.

that said, i love the fact that i can do anything at all in the absence of readily available water / actual swim time.

The one big issue of VASA is its cost: it's bloody expensive; a rower with the same amount of hardware and technology stays in the 500-800$ range. Would it be more reasonably priced, people with limited pool access would buy it with less hesitation. 2 swim sessions + 2 vasa sessions per week is still better than 2 swim sessions alone

It's expensive, but honestly, in the grand scheme of things, it's actually arguably NOT expensive.

$2000 for a machine that you can use for years with minimal upkeep and next-to-no maintenance costs (I had to replace the cables in mine after 4 years, $60). Use it for years and do the math. If you have great pool access, then no need for one, but it's a godsend for anyone who has problems with pool access or scheduling for it.

@desertdude - Vasa excels at swim-specific muscular endurance. That is literally what it is made for, and really works - I literally feel it during swim sessions!

To all the folks who say it doesn't work - I'd heartily disagree. I went 6 months+ during the COVID lockdown, with only one measly 30 minutes OWS during that whole time, but kept up 'easy-moderate effort' Vasa erg about 2-3hrs/wk. I lost nothing when I came back. Seriously, if you wiped my memory, I bet I wouldn't have even been able to tell that I'd just spent 6 months of zero pool swimming during that first swim back - it was as if COVID never existed for me! No loss of 'feel for the water' that everyone keeps crowing about and my swim speed was the same pre-COVID, even at distance. (Quit my YMCA membership as a result!)

I see the erg like a swim-ability 'backstop'. Prevents you from backsliding in swim ability (it seems to be REALLY good at this, at least for me!) And when finally commit to pool time for real improvement, it allows for higher quality sessions and more training of swim movements at intensity as a pool supplement.

Have you seen this?


https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/whipr-a-portable-multi-sport-training-machine#/

Have you seen this?


https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/whipr-a-portable-multi-sport-training-machine#/