SkiErg for upper body muscle gain and toning muscles?

[rentagreement]

Hi all,

I am mostly a cyclist and rower. Cycling is completely lower body, Rowing is in average rather lower body than upper.
Strength Training is not my favorite and I struggle to stay motivated working the iron on a regular basis. I do PushUps and PullUps rather regularly, but feel I need a more regular workout for my upper body. I do a lot of stretching, Yoga and stuff, helps my back a lot!
I also feel there is a chance to use my off-bike and off-rower rest days for some workouts, which are not focussing mainly on the legs (tired from Cycling and Rowing) and which are not pure strength session.

The goal would be to:
- strengthen posture, work against future back problems coming from sitting a lot at work
- further develop cardiovascular capacity, which I think is already quite good for my age (just below 50) through Cycling and Rowing
- toning upper body muscles, strengthening them and even maybe "slightly" pumping up upper body muscles: Breast, Aps, Arms
- reducing body fat

Would the Ski Erg offer me this? Is it the right way to go? Thank you for your thoughts.

[Sakly]

The skierg complements the rowerg very well, but it does not give you any pump for upper body muscles, as primary movers are legs and core. Lats probably a little bit more involved than in rowing, but marginally (from my individual study with n=1).

Reduction in body fat isn't achieved by any of these sports, as this is completely linked to diet.

[Ombrax]

The goal would be to:
- strengthen posture, work against future back problems coming from sitting a lot at work
- further develop cardiovascular capacity, which I think is already quite good for my age (just below 50) through Cycling and Rowing
- toning upper body muscles, strengthening them and even maybe "slightly" pumping up upper body muscles: Breast, Aps, Arms
- reducing body fat

I would say get a SkiErg if you want variety in your cardio workouts.

1) Posture - bodyweight core exercises can do that quite well.
2) Develop cardio - between the bike and the rower you have that covered well enough.
3) Toning upper body muscle - weights are the clear winner for that. Machines, or free weights. That's how one builds up muscle.
4) Reducing body fat - 99% diet. The primary benefit of exercise here is to help you realize how efficient the human body is, and that burning off calories is hard, unless you spend hours and hours and hours on the bike or erg. Once you see how hard it is to burn off the calories that will motivate you to reduce your intake.

Bottom line, you don't really need to add a SkiErg to the mix, but if having one will motivate you, then it won't hurt. I plan on eventually getting one, but don't feel that it will add a whole lot right now. When I have more time (i.e. I'm retired) then I'll probably order one.

Good Luck

[Sakly]

I plan on eventually getting one, but don't feel that it will add a whole lot right now.

Fully agree to this (and all other written I deleted, as I don't wanted to reply to it ).
I use a skierg since November last year (only in my gym) and it gives me much fun and some variety to the rower. It is another stimulus to the cardio system, different in its technique and movement pattern you need to apply, but I don't see any benefit in terms of improvement of cardio more than before or improvement in muscular fitness, as gym/strength training outperforms both the skierg and even the rower (which needs quite a bit higher amount of power compared to skierg).

[DghSpanishWelsh]

Hi all,

I am mostly a cyclist and rower. Cycling is completely lower body, Rowing is in average rather lower body than upper.
Strength Training is not my favorite and I struggle to stay motivated working the iron on a regular basis. I do PushUps and PullUps rather regularly, but feel I need a more regular workout for my upper body. I do a lot of stretching, Yoga and stuff, helps my back a lot!
I also feel there is a chance to use my off-bike and off-rower rest days for some workouts, which are not focussing mainly on the legs (tired from Cycling and Rowing) and which are not pure strength session.

The goal would be to:
- strengthen posture, work against future back problems coming from sitting a lot at work
- further develop cardiovascular capacity, which I think is already quite good for my age (just below 50) through Cycling and Rowing
- toning upper body muscles, strengthening them and even maybe "slightly" pumping up upper body muscles: Breast, Aps, Arms
- reducing body fat

Would the Ski Erg offer me this? Is it the right way to go? Thank you for your thoughts.

I think the Skierg might be a good move for you.

If you do it properly, there is some leg involvement (think of doing quarter squats for the time you're on it), there's a fair bit of glute work (from the bending over and straightening back up) but the bulk of the work is done by abs, back and triceps.

I've got a history of back issues, stopped using a waterrower for that reason, I find the work the skierg gives me is good for it. Cardio-wide, I don't get the heartrate as high as running, but higher than cycling or rowing. And as for improving the look of the upper body, it won't turn you into Cbum (it's still cardio) but it's improving me.

[Dave Neve]

Hello

I asked a question last night on the BikeErg group but for me, it's related to your question.

The big muscles groups of the chest are not covered by either the RowErg or the SkiErg.

I'm talking about the pecs (chest) and the pushing movement that exercises these muscles.

So my workouts that combine cardio and resistance weight training always include an Assault bike of some sort, where you can both push and pull the moveable handles.

If I had to chose just two machines, it would be either the RowErg and an Assault bike or the SkiErg and an Assault bike

The latter lets you concentrate on pushing and pulling movements, as well as your legs, and you can vary the effort between your legs, the pulling movement and the pushing movement depending on muscle tiredness and what you are trying to achieve in each session

I'm pretty much against BikeErgs no matter who manufactures them for general training for the reason you yourself gave. They are legs only machines, and some of them do not even offer resistance if you pedal backwards, which is also beneficial.