4 Great SkiErg Workouts

Here’s a collection of favorite SkiErg® workouts from the Concept2 Team. They range in length from 20 to 45 minutes.

Suggested warm-up for all workouts: 5-10 minutes of skiing, starting easy and gradually adding some 15-30 second bursts of harder effort.

Suggested cool-down for all workouts: At least 5 minutes of easy skiing.


1. Short-rest intervals: 40 seconds hard/20 seconds easy. (OR 200m hard/20 sec easy; OR 10 Calories/20 seconds easy)
- Start with a set of 10 of these intervals.
- Take a 3 minute break.
- Do a second set of 10 intervals.
- Still feeling good? Do another set! But two sets is usually plenty.


2. SkiErg Pyramid: 1-2-3-4-3-2-1 minutes with equal rest
- Ski 1 minute hard, rest 1 minute; ski 2 minutes hard, rest 2 minutes, and so on.


3. 3-minute pieces, increasing intensity
- Ski 3 minutes at a comfortable intensity, noting your average pace.
- Rest with 2 minutes of easy skiing.
- Ski 3 minutes again, aiming for an average pace that’s a couple seconds per 500 faster than your first 3 minute piece.
- Rest again for 2 minutes.
- Repeat these 3 minute pieces, gradually increasing your intensity, until you can’t continue to increase it.



4. 1000m x 3-5 repetitions
- Ski your first 1k at a comfortable conversational pace.
- Rest 2-3 minutes.
- Increase your intensity for the next 1k.
- Then try to maintain the same pace for another 1-3 pieces.