- Submariners have very little space, time, or equipment to exercise, and jumping onboard is banned.
- That may sound familiar to people who workout at home in apartments or small spaces.
Trying to keep fit is hard at the best of times.
Trying to keep fit while living on a submarine is another kettle of fish entirely.
Submariners in the UK's Royal Navy are often undersea for weeks at a time, and while large warships can have relatively well-equipped gyms and physical trainers onboard, submarines tend to have little more than a rowing machine or exercise bike and a couple of dumbbells or kettlebells in a four-foot by four-foot space, both a former submariner and one of the Royal Navy's senior physical trainers told Insider.
Warrant Officer Paul Todd, who is in charge of physical training for recruits at HMS Raleigh in Cornwall, UK, told Insider on an exclusive visit to the naval base earlier this year that before submariners go out to sea, they are taught how to get a good workout with minimal equipment, in a short space of time, and without jumping. And, ultimately, these are useful skills for anyone who has to workout in a confined space and can't jump, like an apartment or their bedroom.
There are multiple reasons why jumping is banned: submarines have low ceilings, plus it could potentially make it wobble and easier to detect. The submarine service is known as the "Silent Service," because the Royal Navy says it operates "unseen, unheard, and undetected."
Todd said that submariners simply aren't going to be able to do optimal training for hypertrophy (muscle-building) or plyometrics (explosivity) like you could in a regular gym, but they can build at least some muscle and move enough to stay fit and feel good.
Focus on compound exercises
Whether you're on a submarine or just in a small apartment, you can get a good workout in 20 to 30 minutes with basic equipment (or none at all), Todd said.
Submariners tend to do a lot of interval-based workouts such as tabata or HIIT, but make sure to perform full body compound exercises that tick off the basic movement patterns, Todd said.
These are:
Compound movements, such as squats, lunges, deadlifts, and push-ups, are those that recruit multiple muscles at once, making them an efficient way to train.
On the flip-side, submariners avoid isolation exercises such as bicep curls because they only work a small part of the body so aren't efficient when you don't have much time. For this reason, submariners prioritize full-body exercises, Todd said.
However, he stresses that there's no one size fits all approach and what's most important — whether you're on a submarine or not — is finding a type of training you enjoy.