Total Insanity: Exercise at Sea

People who work on boats might say that you get enough of a workout just living and working on a boat. Keeping your balance as the boat pitches and heaves requires some legwork for sure. But lately we’ve been mostly in the ice and at times our research vessel, the Nathaniel B. Palmer, is so smooth on the water that it hardly feels like we are moving at all. Operating heavy machinery and manually working on the boat could keep us strong, but most of us don’t. Instead we toil away in labs not very different from those we have at home. Occasionally we get to help out with deck work or even jump into a zodiac, but those experiences are true novelties. Our daily exercise is usually limited to lifting jugs and bottles of water. All that lifting is making my shoulders buff, but what about my cardio?

Cassandra filtering water for particulate organic carbon (POC), or “POC’ing” as she refers to it. Check out those guns! Photo credit: C. Riesselman.

Fortunately, we are surrounded with opportunities for staying fit. From the first day, the captain initiated a push-up tally sheet, encouraging everyone on board to participate so we could stay strong. We are supposed to do 25 push-ups each time a piece of scientific equipment goes in and comes out of the water. That’s 50 push-ups for every camera tow, net tow, or CTD (Conductivity, Temperature and Depth Recorder) we put in the water, all of which might collectively happen more than ten times a day. I vouched for five, rather than 25 but I still haven’t kept up.

Allison doing push-ups on the bridge. Some of the science crew need more motivation than others… Photo credit: C. Brooks.

On an average day I might make ten treks to the bridge, which entails climbing five flights of stairs. Other days I attempt to go for a walk, but confined by the ship, I don’t ever get very far. For those who like to run, we have a treadmill tucked away in an unused corner of the helicopter hanger. We also have a gym on board, fully equipped with an exercise bike, stairmaster and weights. When that isn’t enough, a small group of us engage in “Total Insanity” workouts, which entail 30-45 minutes of intense plyometrics that really get the blood pumping. But the most physically rewarding activity is when we have yoga classes in the third floor conference room, led by Amanda.

Cassandra running on the treadmill in the helicopter hanger (note the crew members working on the catwalk above). Photo credit: C. Riesselman.

Amanda adjusting Rachel during a yoga class in the third floor conference room. Photo credit: C. Brooks.

Antarctica is a world of extremes; it’s the coldest, windiest and most remote place on Earth. We work seven long days a week: science doesn’t sleep. Surrounded by superlatives, there is comfort in a ritual of daily exercise. It grounds us and reminds us how simply human we are.

View from the front of the Nathaniel B. Palmer – penguins on the left! Photo credit: C. Brooks.

—Cassandra