WCAX.COM Local Vermont News, Weather and Sports-Workout Gear

Workout Gear

Essex, Vermont - February 6, 2009

Vermont's lakes and ponds may be frozen but that's not stopping Brian Dewyea from going kayaking. He explains, "It's all the same muscle groups [as real kayaking]."

He works for Vasa. The company makes exercise equipment for specialized sports training including skiing, swimming, and even surfing.

Company president Rob Sleamaker says, "When [surfers] find out you're in Vermont, they're asking, 'How are you in the swimming industry? You're in Vermont, don't you ski?!'"

Sleamaker was in fact a ski coach for Nordic competitors and Olympic biathlon teams. He knew athletes needed to work specific muscle groups they couldn't on treadmills or other typical gym equipment. In the case of swimmers, Vasa's trainer lets coaches see techniques that are normally hidden underwater.

Sleamaker says, "There aren't really other machines that let you do that."

Vasa gets its metal fabricated in Lyndonville, and separate crews assemble the gear in Morrisville and Rutland. But the final touches happen at the Essex headquarters, where they shipped out more than 1,000 machines last year to private homeowners, college training rooms, and international athletic teams.

The company even snapped a photo of Olympic champion Michael Phelps using its signature "swimming treadmill" before he was a gold medalist.

But at prices just shy of $2,000 apiece, will this economy sink sales? "We're doing fine," Sleamaker says.

Vasa points to 11 percent growth in 2008, crediting that to the fact they are in such a niche market with few competitors. They can also do very narrowly-focused marketing to the swim and surf industries. But they're watching 2009 spending.

Sleamaker adds, "We don't know how budgets will be affected. School budgets and university budgets? They're 40% of our sales."

So to expand its reach, in this birthday year, Vasa will launch a new trainer. Skiers and casual gym-goers can use it, but it can be easily lowered for the sizable field of physical therapy centers.

Brian Dewyea explains, "Patients in wheelchairs could wheel right up, use their upper-body, and you don't necessarily need to be standing."

It's one way this company hopes to keep in business shape with its "Made in Vermont" fitness equipment.

Of his contractors, employees, graphic designers, customers, and all others who have helped Vasa in business, Sleamaker says, "It's the people around you that help build your success. I'm quite grateful for that."

Jack Thurston - WCAX News - Made in Vermont