Poon wrote:
This is the kind of item I would need to test at an expo or somewhere else.
If somebody was creating a treadmill for the first time, I might jump on it as a prospective run training tool. Reality is that I hate treadmills and only use mine during extreme weather or the days when I am limited to being inside the house due to kid watching duties.
Is there something more inherently enjoyable about a Vasa than a treadmill? Does it provide some amazing benefit to your swim fitness? I need convincing.
I've used and 'reviewed' the Vasa a lot on these forums, having owned it for more than several years now AND doing a lot of training on it.
Some tips before you pull the trigger:
- It's MORE boring than a treadmill. Yep, I said it. I do hard intervals on it to keep up interest, or watch Netflix for longer steady-state work. If you hate TMs, you will almost certainly hate the Vasa, unfortunately.
- It works great, but just like anything else you will get the point where you really have to work hard on it to improve, no different than a treadmill. If you think you're going to buy this, and get faster without suffering, you'll be wrong. I'm at the point where I really have to suffer on it to make meaningful gains, which is hard to do in offseason!
- I actually improve better with a mix of Vasa + pool. They synergize well, with Vasa being very similar to paddle pull workouts (musc. endurance emphasis, less cardio) and then you can use that oomph on the pool to crank the cardio. I also found the vasa a godsend for folks with not-great shoulders like mine that are prone to shoulder strains with hard swim efforts - the low elbow recovery position on the Vasa avoids this problem completely for me.
- Dan Empfield recently featured an article with forumite 'sgy' who is a multi-world-AG-Kona world champion, who uses it exclusively of going to the pool for most of the year, and only swims 8-12 times before the big day. I don't think you'll get any better endorsement than that.