Boat-Gym

[SaltyMonkey]

Everywhere pot-bellied sailors!

There's been a few isolated threads on staying in shape while on a boat, but I'd like to hear how others inventively use their boat or create gear to exercise while under way or in port. For example, in the past I rigged an incline with a strap which I attached off my wash boards so I could do sit-ups and leg lifts. It also doubled as an emergency rudder and could come apart to become emergency planks.

[rebel heart]

exrx.net, combined with these:

Amazon.com: PowerBlock Personal Trainer Adjustable 2.5 to 50-Pounds per Dumbbell Set: Sports & Outdoors

You can get heavier if you need them for squats and suit case deadlifts. But a nice range of dumbbells from 5-50lb's will take care of most people. For the heavier stuff I'd switch out from db presses to pushups with someone on your back, and clipping the weights to a belt and doing some weighted pullups from a bar braced across the companionway.

~30 minutes a day, a few days a week, will hold onto whatever gains you made in a real gym.

[SaltyMonkey]

Wow rebel heart, those bells are great! Thanks for the fantastic tips!

[rebel heart]

Originally Posted by SaltyMonkey

Wow rebel heart, those bells are great! Thanks for the fantastic tips!

I heard free diving is pretty good exercise too. Was reading Amazon.com: The Cruiser's Handbook of Fishing (9780071427883):… the other night and the author has a whole chapter on free diving and spear fishing. It sounds pretty cool. "Swimming" is kind of boring for me. Running I can handle, scuba diving is pretty sedate, but the free diving thing sounds kind of interesting.

[MarkJ]

If your ass is larded up go for a sail.

On any of our passages we lose weight.

So its not "Everywhere pot-bellied sailors". They are NON sailors!

[DannySt]

Originally Posted by MarkJ

If your ass is larded up go for a sail.

On any of our passages we lose weight.

So its not "Everywhere pot-bellied sailors". They are NON sailors!

If you are in a mono, sail into the wind

I've seen a blog by a couple on a cat (couldn't find the link ) who are both into training. They have a 4 way straps system that is a complete body workout.

I guess you can just hang the straps from your mast, or from the boom and do the straps workout like that.

[Dockhead]

What they said. Go sailing. The boat IS a gym.

How much more exercise could you possibly need? It is the closest thing to a total exercise program I can imagine, especially if you get in a good swim after a day's sailing. Running up and down the companionway 100 times a day is better than ten stairmasters. Cranking winches, climbing masts, hauling warps and other heavy items in and out of lockers, scrubbing things, hauling on lines, flaking sails, carrying all kinds of gear, etc., etc., etc. It never ends -- a good 10 hours a day of energetic physical activity, I guess, for me on average when sailing. And what's great is that unlike bicycling or rowing, say, you're working your entire body.

Like Mark, I don't know any pot-bellied sailors. I lose probably a pound a day on board, and I never had a pot belly to begin with, despite consuming probably double the calories I consume on land.

[Doodles]

This is the latest rage among athletes on the go ...Fitnessanywhere.com |Home of TRX and Suspension Training, the original bodyweight training fitness tool, train with the best in class exercise equipment, fitness equipment

I'm a marathon runner and triathlete, and I got one for the boat and the house in Thailand where I don't have a gym. Believe me it works!

[Irie]

Water aerobics

[SaltyMonkey]

Nice doodles. Great new SaltyMonkey toy - must have!

MarkJ, Dockhead - not just when you are on the prow of the ocean, but also on the anchor or stuck in port. Lard galour from beer.

[rebel heart]

I think people have a different definition of "fit" as well. I'm talking about <15% body fat, good nutrition and calorie balance, functional strength, flexibility, stamina, defined and balanced muscle development, and (for me) the ability to run a decent distance at a good clip.

There are certain things, like bone density, that are only increased by impact sports and strength training.

Considering that most cruisers are averaging ~90% of their lives on a hook or otherwise moored, zipping around with an outboard, there's plenty of room for improvement in the modern sailor's fitness.

[Brent Swain]

Dumbells on a boat are dangerous. Go to your bike shop and pick out some used innertubes from their dumpster . Loop them over a cleat and you can get resistance training from any direction you choose. Its a weigh machine you can fin in your backpack, Break them and you can tie them backup, or make another trip to the bike shop.
I do boxing workouts on my double end bag, which is easy to hang in my cabin from a couple of padeyes. More potentially useful in a back alley, than three step aerobics workouts.

[SaltyMonkey]

rebel heart - most definitely. Big problem. For me aerobics and stamina are important. I'm a 6x day a week gym rat, and mindful to keep below 15% body fat and a healthy heart.

Brent - that's got to be the most inventive idea. A boxing boat-gym!!

[rebel heart]

Originally Posted by SaltyMonkey

rebel heart - most definitely. Big problem. For me aerobics and stamina are important. I'm a 6x day a week gym rat, and mindful to keep below 15% body fat and a healthy heart.

Brent - that's got to be the most inventive idea. A boxing boat-gym!!

Yeah that's a level that not a lot of people are at and I think it's hard for a gym rat (I'd count myself as one too) to relate. The idea of just sitting around watching all those gains atrophy is unbearable. We even have ON whey on board and blender bottles and stuff. When you get to a certain level of fitness, and you know what it took to get there and what it takes to maintain it, the idea of falling off is just not an option I can consider.

In regards to dumbbells being dangerous I really can't agree with that. Gasoline, spear guns, toxic chemicals, slipping and falling, and so many other things typical on a boat are far more dangerous than doing a set of lateral rises with 15 dumbbells on deck in calm waters. We're not talking about doing Romanian deadlifts underway on a beat. Just a good way to haul some adjustable / compact dumbbells around to allow for some weight training under good conditions. Hard time seeing that as more "dangerous" than going aloft. You do them both safely and you're better off than if you didn't.

[SaltyMonkey]

I think those dumb-bells can be secured fashionably for sea, just like any anchor. Might be some water-based bells somewhere that would work.

Yes, one of the issues for me on going on a long journey again or liveaboard. I do not want to gain back 30 lbs of lard.