The skierg, or as we like to call it “The Vertical Rower” is a machine that has been around for a few years now, but it really has not caught the attention of the mass public until recently.
Not only has the Crossfit community welcomed the skierg with open arms, but also the general fitness community as well as sport-specific strength and conditioning programs.
But why the popularity all of a sudden? Let’s check it out.
1. Upper Body Muscular Endurance
Muscular endurance is the ability of a muscle to repeatedly exert force against resistance.
A perfect example of muscular endurance is doing a max set of pushups. It’s not going to be a lack of breath that slows you down but rather the lactic acid buildup in your muscles that force you to stop.
The more you train for muscular endurance the longer it would take for you to slow down.
The skierg machine is practically the only machine currently available that has a focus on building upper body muscular endurance.
The skierg requires you to pull down two handles towards the floor against your chosen resistance, the higher the resistance the more power you must produce.
If you want to train for short bursts of power choose a high resistance, while if you’re looking to improve your long-range muscular endurance choose a slightly lower resistance and go for as long as you can.
Other machines such as the rower and stationary bike are predominantly leg movements and thus don’t give you the same benefit.
See the Skierg at RogueFitness.com
2. Build Muscle In Your Upper Body With Low Impact
The primary muscles engaged while working on the skierg are lats, shoulders, chest, and upper back so if these are areas of your body that you want to build then the skierg is a great option.
Not only can the skierg build these areas of your body but it can also do it with no impact, meaning the skierg can be used even for people who have previously injured their lower backs or necks.
As opposed to using heavy barbells or dumbbells in order to build muscle mass the skierg uses the resistance of the fan.
Instead of compressing your body with heavy weight where minor movement inefficiencies can result in injury, the skierg handles always move in the exact same direction which leads to better form and better muscle symmetry.
See the Skierg at RogueFitness.com
3. Improve Power & Strength In A New Way
If you’ve ever trained with any sort of olympic weightlifting movements such as the clean and jerk or snatch or even jump training then you likely have heard of the term triple-extension.
Triple Extension: Quite simply, triple extension is the simultaneous (well, actually sequential, separated by milliseconds) extension or, potentially, locking, of the ankle, knee, and hip joint
http://www.byanymeansbball.com/blog/basic-biomechanics-the-foundation-triple-extension
If you were to look at someone attempting to jump as high as they can you would see them bend their knees in order to gain momentum and then as fast as possible explode upwards while locking out their knees, ankles, and hips. This is triple extension.
Increasing power during the triple extension is one of the most important, if not the most important aspects of any weightlifting, jumping, or sprinting program.
Typically this is done through the movements listed above, but for an extra advantage you can train the reverse triple-extension with the skierg.
The skierg starts with you standing straight up and then finishes in a position where your knees, ankles, and hips are all bent. Then you explode back up and do it all over again.
By exerting power in a reverse direction you are hitting the muscles in a way they have not been trained before, resulting in new stability and core strength.
Shocking your body with new movements and training styles has been proven to result in quick improvements.
See the Skierg at RogueFitness.com
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