We often see soldiers training on their military bases and we regularly see the types of exercises that some of them do when they join the army. But we never think about them when they’ve been deployed, especially on a submarine.
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What you need to know is that the area where the sailors are, and what they have available, are rather limited. As a general rule, sailors sleep six to a room that is no bigger than a walk-in closet with their own bed. Sometimes however, these beds can be shared between two or three people due to a lack of space.
Since they don’t have a lot of space on the submarine, there isn’t any room for gym equipment. But in fitting with their characters and determination, we’re sure they still have to train. So sailors were forced to adapt and they created their own training routine. Men’s Health went to meet with the soldiers on board to USS North Dakota and here is the routine that followed.
The workout
Part 1: Descending repetitions ladder
- 15 body-weight squats
- 10 close-grip push-ups
- 10 lunges
- 15 regular push-ups
Nothing too complicated. The only difficulty is doing this workout in a ladder style, meaning removing one of the reps each round and finishing when you hit 5 squats and 5 push-ups. Rest 20 seconds after each exercise.
Part 2: Core/triceps circuit
- 15 chair dips
- 1 min 30 seconds rolling plank (30 seconds left side, 30 seconds normal, 30 seconds right side)
- 30-second high plank from push-up position
- 10 chair dips
This part needs repeating three times. The sailors then continue by doing squats and push-ups until failure, followed by sit-ups and then cardio.
The biggest advantage of this training program is that you don’t need any equipment, so anyone could even try it at home.
