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Training - Vasa Test Day

Posted by Glenn Mills on Sep 02, 2008 10:46AM (4,128 views)

In getting a new season started, I decided I'm going to substitute practices this season with daily training on my Vasa Ergometer. To kick off the season, I'm going to start out with an all-day session of tests, with the machine set at various levels of resistance, and trying to measure my performance over the course of the day.

If nothing else, it should be a nice day of working out, and I'll know more about what to expect through the course of this season.

I'm setting my phone to alert me at 20-minute increments. Each time it goes off, I'll venture into the back room to do a 100-meter test. Each time I perform one of these tests, I'm going to increase the resistance by 1 level. I'll do my best to record the entire day, and we'll see what happens, and how I feel.

Here we go.

1.  Door set at "1" -- all the way closed. Felt really easy, and I didn't push it. Time: 1:29.1
2.  Door set at "2" -- more resistance than "1." Not a problem yet. Time: 1:23.6
3.  Door set at "3." Uh oh, this is going to get VERY difficult. Time: 1:20.7
4.  Door set at "4." Man... on every pull, the machine is asking me to generate so much more power! That one was getting much tougher. Time: 1:20.1
5. Door set at "5." Definitely time to zone out and count. I knew it was going to be much tougher, so watching the counter isn't a good thing. Counted to 30 strokes, then checked. I'm just shy of 25 meters per 30 strokes. We'll see what "6" is. Time: 1:18.7
6.  Door set at "6." Hitting the wall a little bit. So much more power required. Really looking forward to going back down in the setting, but this would certainly make you VERY strong. Time: 1:20.1
7. Door all the way open at "7." I tried to go hard on this one but, having done this a few times, I was a bit afraid of what was going to happen. I also felt my elbows dropping a bit toward the end. Gonna have to work to get this one feeling good. Time: 1:19.1
8. I am going to try to do some fast 100s at this point. I looked back at the fastest 100, which was when the door was set at "5," and decided to close it down one more to be able to get through the whole 100. So, with the door set at "4," and trying to pull with as fast a cadence as possible, I was able to drop the best time by just a bit. Oh yeah... it hurt. Time: 1:17.2
9) I think I've hit the wall. I figured I'd drop down to a resistance of "2" and get some speed going. The real trouble is, I'm not generating nearly the power necessary for real speed. In other words, I'm spinning my wheels. That was the hardest one, and the time didn't show it. Time: 1:18.2
10) OK... that did it. I went back up to level "5" resistance to try to add a bit of power back in. Didn't go hard on the first half... died anyway. Probably too much rest between sets, and not enough warm-up prior to trying to go fast... but that's OK too. Time: 1:22.2

Considering all the 100s were done fairly cold, it's easy to see where I'm going to be able to initially generate the highest power levels, combined with the fastest speed. Setting the resistance level pretty near the middle of the road allows me to get a steady turnover for the entire duration of the exercise, as well as developing good power.

Gonna be a fun year on my VASA, and I've got some goals in mind based on the season starting tests. Here we go.

Vasa, training

Responses

Tomás	Responded Sep 02, 2008 04:05PM Well Glenn, I wish you the best. I quite don't understand this VASA trainner...just a remainder: it's good to develop power but please don't forget your body position in the water. Good luck.
Glenn Mills	Responded Sep 02, 2008 04:31PM Are you saying we don't have enough drills that deal with body position? I think this is about some of the only POWER stuff I've got on here. I appreciate the advice on body position, but body position alone doesn't make you fast... no matter what some people say.
Tomás	Responded Sep 02, 2008 05:12PM Well now that you put it that way....this brings to my mind one of those questions with which I have been struggling since I practice swimming...what is faster? a slicky not so powerful body on top of the water, or a more powerful body that ploughs through the water. I have this image of Britta Steffen winning the 100 free over the heavy favorite Libby Trickett and it surprised me how different her body is now when compared to her body when she established the 100 free WR in 53:30 So what I believe now...is that there is a relationship, a critical relationship between your body type and your power....swimmers that look like a javelin don't need that much power, much heavier swimmers do need that power.
Glenn Mills	Responded Sep 02, 2008 07:21PM If you're going to cite Olympic swimmers then it's simple... you need a ton of power. Not just a little... but a ton. These swimmers that you talk about already have tremendous body awareness, but without power, they won't go to the speeds that get you talking about them... they'd just be really good swimmers. You can tweak, discuss, theorize all you want... but if you want to cite Olympians, then you're talking power. Now for normal people, it's a mix as always. Balance without power is just pretty, but can be effective in the right situations. Power without balance is just ugly but can still be effective in the right situations. It's not one over the other, it's a balance until you reach the results you're seeking. The trouble you're having Tomas, is that you're pitting one against the other. You're seeking to justify why one is better than the other, and it's simply not the case. You need enough of each, and depending on what your goals are, you'll eventually find what's right. Think of it through the athletes you talk about eyes. If they have the opportunity gain MORE of either of those qualities... which do you think they'll seek? More balance... or more power? Please understand before you answer... they already have great balance. Heck... even take me for instance... I can't get more balance in most cases... I've got what I got and I've been working on it for more than 40 years. However, I lack power... hence the nature of this drill... which was the point of this drill... power. It had nothing to do with balance, because... it wasn't the point. Hope that helps.
Stan_D	Responded Sep 02, 2008 09:36PM If you really want to develop power on that thing you're going to need to hit it at least 3 times a week and come up with some sets of low reps. And I would guess you're going to need to stick with it for 90 to 120 days. I couldn't help but notice you are almost straight armed through the pull. Shouldn't you try to mimic your actual stroke? That is elbow almost at 90 degrees as it passes the mid section?
Stan_D	Responded Sep 02, 2008 09:48PM No edit function here, so a second post. It will be interesting to see what you come up with in terms of work outs on this thing. I can see where it could be a benefit. On the other hand I can see where a 3000 meter work out would be boring. Unfortunately it's out of my price range so I'll just have to wait for our pool to get one; not!
Glenn Mills	Responded Sep 03, 2008 12:18AM I think it gets very close to the stroke. Without the body roll (and there are ways to work on that), the hand will be outside the body. Also, if you watch some of the great freestylers today, the arm stroke is wider as well. Trust me, this thing is a great workout, and as close as you can get to swimming on land. The ability to also measure your progress is also fantastic. For someone like me, who loves to race... always... even when I decide I'm going to just hop on and put in some yards and ends up checking splits every 25... I've pretty much never gotten off this thing without a good feeling of accomplishment. Not only that... I only did this test in freestyle. My son and I have a circuit we do on the VASA incorporating probably 15 different exercises. It's not just a freestyle bench. One of the main reasons for this drill this week is that the pool is closed, I'm rushing to head to Las Vegas for the coaches conference, and this is what I do when I can't get to the pool. So regardless of what could be seen as a minor technique issue (which I don't think it is), this is a great way to swim without water... oh... and build big power in a very swimming like fashion.
Brian Deller	Responded Sep 03, 2008 03:54AM Remineds me of a Nordic Trainer sans skis. Does ir give you the feel of a real catch or just resistance? In other words can you develop a good early catch via the Vasa traine?

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Training - Vasa Test Day

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