Ski Machine Strength - Benchmark Protocol

The Benchmark Protocol

Ski Machine Strength opens and closes on the same test. You run the ski benchmark on Week 1, Day 1, retest it in Week 8, and finish with a full ski-and-stations simulation. Same setup, same effort standard, so your results are directly comparable and your progress is measurable.

What the benchmark measures

Three things: your race-pace 1000m ski split, how well you pace mixed station work, and how much your split degrades once fatigue arrives. A faster opener is nice; a smaller gap between your fresh and fatigued splits is the real prize.

Setup

You need the ski machine, plus a sandbag, kettlebell, and wall ball for the simulation, and clear floor space. Set the damper where you normally race. Warm up with the program flow and a few build-up pulls. Have a way to record your ski split and your station splits.

The 1000m ski repeats

Ski race-pace 1000m repeats: the fastest pace you can hold with clean hinge-and-pull to the last stroke. Note your split (time per 500m) and how the repeats hold. This is your headline number.

The ski-and-stations simulation

The closing test pairs ski efforts with the stations you have trained: sandbag, carries, and wall balls. This is where the program premise gets tested. Keep your ski split steady under station fatigue rather than sprinting the first effort and fading.

How to pace it

Open at a pace you can repeat, not your single best 500m. Race pace lives around RPE 8. If your later efforts drift more than a couple of seconds off the opener, you started too hot. The station work sits at a strong, sustainable effort, not a sprint.

Recording your numbers

Write down your 1000m ski split, each simulation ski split, and how your splits held from first to last. These are the numbers Week 8 has to beat.

The Week 8 retest

Repeat the exact protocol at the same RPE. The taper in Phase 3 should have you arriving fresh. Compare your Week 8 split to Week 1 at matched effort, and check whether your fresh-to-fatigued gap shrank.

How to read your progress

A faster ski split at the same RPE means a bigger engine. A smaller drop-off across the simulation means your strength and station work did their job. Either one is proof the block worked. Both together is the goal of Ski Machine Strength.

Ready to start? Return to the program guide or read Phase 1.