Has anybody had to train on a Navy ship? I am deploying for 4 1/2 months and am taking my bike and a trainer with me. I was wondering if anybody had a routine they followed with a stationary trainer, weights and a treadmill. How did it go? Thanks.
Well, the swim should be easy.
Yes. Send me a PM and let me know what type of ship and where you’ll use the trainer.
I’ve never had my bike with me on ship. But I’ve logged lots of treadmill time. If my Marines thought I was crazy doing 2-3 hour treadmill runs…you should have seen the sailors… Also, I got quite a bit of personal experience in treadmill maintenance in order to keep those things rolling…
If my Marines thought I was crazy doing 2-3 hour treadmill runs…
Well done… TriBriGuy… the longest I ever got up to underway was a half marathon.
I wish I could have brought my bike and trainer with me on our 8 month deployment.
I trained for the Hololulu marathon for the 8 months we were underway and then I was back in Pearl for the four weeks before the race… That one hurt and I was slow. But it was so nice to be outside again.
Training underway is a huge pain… the only advantages are:
- If it was less of a pain more people might use the equipment
- It builds mental toughness like nothing else
- It is a good way blowing off steam and frustration at being away from home for so long.
On a submarine the treadmill gets cut into several pieces to fit down the hatch… then you have to put it back together again… (there are usually parts leftover)
The only place with enough headroom is outboard the main engines. So you have to wear double hearing protection and it is about 97 to 108 F.
Oh and there is a big chill water valve that is about 4 inches in front of your face. Additionally, while you are using the treadmill, nobody can get to the copier or down the port side of the engineroom.
When the boat takes an up angle you better be ready or get dropped off the back.
When the boat is transiting at high speed it lists a couple of degrees to port taking you and the treadmill with it. Over the course of your run the belt will work its way off one side of the treadmill. This requires one to run with a crab angle in to keep the belt centered.
Running while the boat is rocking back and forth at periscore depth is hard and dangerous.
It’s also a good place to hide from the XO.
On a submarine the treadmill gets cut into several pieces to fit down the hatch… then you have to put it back together again… (there are usually parts leftover)
''The only place with enough headroom is outboard the main engines. So you have to wear double hearing protection and it is about 97 to 108 F.
Oh and there is a big chill water valve that is about 4 inches in front of your face. Additionally, while you are using the treadmill, nobody can get to the copier or down the port side of the engineroom.
When the boat takes an up angle you better be ready or get dropped off the back.
When the boat is transiting at high speed it lists a couple of degrees to port taking you and the treadmill with it. Over the course of your run the belt will work its way off one side of the treadmill. This requires one to run with a crab angle in to keep the belt centered.
Running while the boat is rocking back and forth at periscore depth is hard and dangerous.
It’s also a good place to hide from the XO.‘’
Sounds like a fastboat. On the Big Pig (Trident) we did not have to disassemble the treadmills (yes, we had 2), they fit down the access with the LET removed for refit. They went in the Missile Compartment Lower Level (none of that running around the missile tubes in Sherwood Forrest crap from Sharks of Steel, which ironically enough is the very submarine I was on).
I used them every once in awhile mainly because I was not into tri or endurance sports but powerlifting. If you think running is crazy with the boat listing, it is downright dangerous and scary when you are lifting. And our stuff was crap too, but it was a release as you mentioned.
But no escape from the XO… He was a distance runner and could be found down there plodding away for an hour +. At least we had music and did not have to worry about extreme angles, we only did Angles and Dangles a few times in a patrol, although the Pacific in the Northwest can have some pretty brutal sea states, even submerged. Absent those times the rest was 3 Knots To Nowhere.
Brings back memories. I was a USN Deep Sea Diver and worked on subs out of Scottland for a couple of years during my enlisted days. Really wasn’t all that long ago. We’d swim security swims on the big Tridents at night and you’d get your ass lost under them they’re so big. Bout the only thing you could use for reference were weld beads. I can always remember crawling on board to tag out the ships valves and suctions and thinking, Man I’m glad i’m getting back off this thing. Always ran real quick through the reactor compartment as well. Good on you guys.
I’ve never had my bike with me on ship. But I’ve logged lots of treadmill time.
There were no treadmills aboard during my Med cruises (between '80 & '82). I logged some pretty good mileage on the flight decks of LPD’s & LHA’s.
On a junk boat, all you get is a stair climber stuck down by the freezer and the bow thruster engine - we had some great contests on that thing.
Here’s the best game divers use for PT: cards (do a 4 count exercise for whatever number flips up, J=12, Q=14, K=16, A=20)
-diamonds are diamond pushups
-hearts are regular pushups
-spades are a 8 count bodybuilders (a hop n pop w/ a pushup)
-clubs are 25 4-counts of any ab exercise (choice of the guy who turns over the cards) no matter what number turns up
so shuffle the deck and get to it, it takes about an hour to do the whole deck
oh, don’t forget to do a max set of pullups before and after ;-p
Thanks for all the info. I will be on a Frigate, my XO is allowing me to store my bike in one of the hangars. So that is where I will ride it. There is also one other guy onboard with a bike so hopefully we can ride together when we pull in to ports. Wont be the best training but I think its better than nothing.
I am so glad I chose the USAF!! Seriously, though, my hat is off to you guys for figuring out such creative ways to stay in shape.
SPot
wait a minute - you were in the USAF and you work out? 
you were in the USAF and you work out?
He didn’t say that. He just said he was glad he chose the AF.
Is golf a workout?
Amazingly enough, yes.
buy yourself a little tv/dvd combo (they make ones that are ac/dc), get those Chris Carmichael or Spinergy DVD’s…Will make those work outs so much better…
riding ships/subs had ruined me for life when it comes to using a bike trainer or treadmill…But, I do it when I HAVE too which isnt very often anymore…
and remember…get up and do it…even if you dont want too!
Yeah… did it on an LHD a few years back. Bigger ships = easier; at least less roll in rough seas. Space is always at a premium - there wasn’t room to PT in the stateroom and getting to/from the hangar deck w/ a bike and trainer is a challenge.
But, when we weren’t flying I could walk the bike out to the flight deck and get a great session with the wind blowing in my face… as good of a trainer session as I’ve ever had.
Sailors always look at you weird - but half of them were probably admiring the tight shorts. You know what they say about the Navy - sleep on your back or someone else will!
T-Bear,
I spent a deployment on FFG-40…You can be in BETTER shape when you leave a FIG than when you boarded her if you are disciplined.
Don’t give in to the SWO-BS that “you can’t work out so you might has well have another donut.” The community needs hard-chargers who show discipline in ALL phases of their leadership (including fitness).
FFGs have plenty of space to workout…I recommend that you always dedicate the 90 minutes prior to evening chow or immediately following your evening/night watch to PT…Make it your lifestyle and don’t deviate and you’ll be very strong when you leave the ship.
An iPod is a great idea to help you “get away” from the ship’s noise while working out.
Get in shape and then make a push to join NECC and the Boat Units (SBU, IBU, Riverine) if you really want to live the adventure.
Good luck,
Jonathan C. Puskas
Commanding Officer
Inshore Boat Unit ELEVEN
Skipper,
I would say,GO DEEP SEA…We all know Navy Divers Go Deeper and Stay Longer!
PS…if you need any help with the specialty programs,swcc, dive, eod, seal,look me up…I am here to help with the “inservice recruitment”!
damn! those are the most unmotivating brutal training conditions I have ever heard. YOU are hardcore. damn!
damn! those are the most unmotivating brutal training conditions I have ever heard. YOU are hardcore. damn!
Thanks… though I assure you I’m still quite slow
The most discouraging are the up angles. If the Diving Officer doesn’t have the ship trimmed right it can sit at an up angle all day. So you when you feel the treadmill tilting up you have no idea if it for 3 mins or 3 hours. It was always so tempting to call up the control room and crap on the OOD for allowing sloppy ship driving to inconvenient my work out… PRIORITIES MAN!!!
I guess if we had been thinking we would have propped the back of the treadmill up to that it was naturally at a down angle. That way we could use the incline feature to cancel out sloppy dive’s. But the incline feature was one of the first things to break.