DIY Training Tools

After thunderstorms forced me inside for training yesterday I had to get creative with my workout. Luckily, over the years I've built an array of ski training tools to cope with bad weather...or, if you've seen videos of things like the TerkTech self-groomer you may just think I have an affinity for building random ski crap out of junk.

Regardless of how meaningless, I thought I'd share some of the tools and devices I've made, and maybe it'll inspire others to take up the task themselves...honestly I don't have a lot of patience, and in my High School's beginner woodworking class I got a B, so anyone can do this.

ROLLERBOARD:
This one's simple, and built from old wood from a nearby barn (though I'd suggest forking out a few bucks for nice wood from Home Depot because mine's starting to collapse). Components: A running board, two sidewalls and a wall mount make up the bottom. The rolling part is just a thick board with three wheels (4 would be better) and a piece of old carpet nailed on for comfort. One pulley on the roller, two on the wall mount.

The rope isn't climbing rope or anything special, but it is synthetic to prevent wear...it sees a lot of friction. I also tied on some old pole grips, but you can just make loops.

The photos show the basic setup...took maybe 2hrs total. If I were to do anything differently I'd get nicer wood, 4 wheels not three, and get some larger pulleys. In essence, this thing can be as nice as you want it to be if you spend an extra $20, but this probably cost $10 total since the only things I paid for were the wheels, pulleys and rope.






SINGLE-STICK ERG

Years before the SkiErg was dreamed up by Concept2, I invented this, and it literally takes almost no explanation: First, find an old NordicTrak on the side of the road, or at a yardsale. I swear every single yardsale has one of these because they're so useless nobody wants them. Next, unscrew the poling apparatus, and screw/nail it to a wall. Boom. Single-sticking with adjustable resistance. I find sets of 2 or 3 minutes work well, increasing resistance as summer progresses.



The best part about this guy is that it takes up almost no space.

BILL KOCH ROLLERBOARD

I'll refer to an earlier blog post for this one. Stratton was given a rollerboard designed by Bill Koch. It's unique in that it uses full body weight, and can incorporate single-sticking. Basically it is more vertical, with 3 pulleys on top and 2 on the roller. You can see my design HERE, and a video of Newell using it below. Ethan and I discussed making a higher-quality version at school this fall, so the SLU one will be possibly the 4th in the world.