Ski Erg

Execution

1. Start with your arms extended overhead, hinged slightly at the hips.
2. Exhale and pull both handles down and back past your hips, driving with your lats and core, not just your arms.
3. Finish the pull with your hands near your hips, back still flat.
4. Inhale and let the handles return overhead with control as you reset your hips to the start position.
5. Repeat rhythmically, building the pace up to a level you can sustain while still hinging cleanly each stroke.
6. Someone new to the machine aims for 8-12 minutes of continuous pulling at an effort where a short sentence still comes out, not counting the warm-up and cool-down; once the back stops staying flat, end the set.
7. To stop or rest, let the handles return fully overhead and ease the pace down gradually rather than dropping the handles abruptly, since the cords stay under tension.

Quick cues

• Hinge first, pull with the back.
• Pull the handles past your hips.
• Don't pull with the arms alone.
• Exhale on the pull down.
• Hold a pace you can still talk at.

Common faults

• Fault: Pulling with the arms only without hinging the hips

  Fix: Drive the pull by hinging forward at the hips and engaging the lats, not just bending the elbows.

• Fault: Standing too far from or too close to the unit

  Fix: Position your feet at a distance that lets your arms extend fully overhead without leaning excessively.

• Fault: Rounding the back when hinging forward to pull

  Fix: Keep the back flat and hinge from the hip joint, not the spine.

• Fault: Letting the handles snap back overhead instead of controlling the return

  Fix: Guide the handles back up slowly, feeling even tension in the cords the whole way.