Phil12
Level 8 Valued Member
Read this article about the International Space Station today and I thought it was quite a good read: http://www.theatlantic.com/features/archive/2014/12/5200-days-in-space/383510/?single_page=true
Of particular interest was the part about astronaut strength & conditioning:
Mark Guilliams is the lead strength-and-conditioning coach for NASAastronauts. He works out of the expansive astronaut gym at Houston’s Johnson Space Center, where the 43 active American astronauts are based.
“Living in zero‑G is the equivalent of a long stay in a hospital,” Guilliams says. You lose muscle mass and strength. You lose blood volume. You lose aerobic fitness, anaerobic fitness, stamina. “Spaceflight is hard on the body. Period.”
It’s hard on the body because it’s so easy on the body. The antidote is vigorous, almost relentless exercise while in space. The U.S. part of the station has three exercise machines—the seatless bike, a treadmill, and a weight machine known as the ARED (advanced resistance exercise device) with a 600-pound capacity. Astronauts are scheduled for two and a half hours of exercise a day, six days a week, but most exercise seven days a week. Exercise is considered so vital that NASA puts it right on the workday schedule, although some astronauts wake up early and do it in their own time.
Mike Hopkins is a fitness buff, and he made a series of YouTube videos to show what astronaut workouts are like. The treadmill is the hardest piece of equipment to get used to, he says, because you have to be bungee-corded down to provide the sense of weight to your body that a runner on Earth would have. “You run with a backpacking harness on, and that’s attached to bungees, and you can change the load, how hard it is pulling against you,” Hopkins says. “I would try to get up to my body weight, simulating what it was like to run on Earth. But you’re carrying that load on your shoulders and hips; it’s like trying to run with a 180-pound pack on your back.”
Zero‑G doesn’t make sweating any more pleasant. “You sweat buckets up there,” says Hopkins. “On the ground, when you’re riding the bike, the sweat drips off you. Up there, the sweat sticks to you—you have pools of sweat on your arms, your head, around your eyes. Once in a while, a glob of it will go flying off.” The astronauts use large wipes and dry towels to clean off. “The shower was one of those things that I missed.” Still, the sponge-bath method works just fine, and the station generally has a neutral smell. Astronauts wear fresh clothes for a week, which then become workout clothes for a week, which are then discarded with the rest of the trash.
The focus on fitness is as much about science and the future as it is about keeping any individual astronaut healthy. NASA is worried about two things: recovery time once astronauts return home, and, crucially, how to maintain strength and fitness for the two and a half years or more that it would take to make a round-trip to Mars, which President Obama has said he believes NASA can do by the mid‑2030s (although there is no detailed plan). Figuring out how to get to Mars safely, in fact, underlies much of what happens on the station. “If astronauts have a 10 percent loss of strength, of cardio capacity, how much does that impair their functioning on station? Not much,” says Guilliams. “But if you’re going to Mars, that kind of loss could be critical. What would they be able to do when they land?”
Here is one of the videos mentioned: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X1jxUjxWdEQ
On a personal note, I hope everyone's having as much fun during the holidays as I am. My gym has been kicked out of the house and even the garage for relatives, so I've been taking the 32kg out on the porch for some swings and presses. Pretty nice outside here this time of year in Texas, well, relatively anyway.
Of particular interest was the part about astronaut strength & conditioning:
Mark Guilliams is the lead strength-and-conditioning coach for NASAastronauts. He works out of the expansive astronaut gym at Houston’s Johnson Space Center, where the 43 active American astronauts are based.
“Living in zero‑G is the equivalent of a long stay in a hospital,” Guilliams says. You lose muscle mass and strength. You lose blood volume. You lose aerobic fitness, anaerobic fitness, stamina. “Spaceflight is hard on the body. Period.”
It’s hard on the body because it’s so easy on the body. The antidote is vigorous, almost relentless exercise while in space. The U.S. part of the station has three exercise machines—the seatless bike, a treadmill, and a weight machine known as the ARED (advanced resistance exercise device) with a 600-pound capacity. Astronauts are scheduled for two and a half hours of exercise a day, six days a week, but most exercise seven days a week. Exercise is considered so vital that NASA puts it right on the workday schedule, although some astronauts wake up early and do it in their own time.
Mike Hopkins is a fitness buff, and he made a series of YouTube videos to show what astronaut workouts are like. The treadmill is the hardest piece of equipment to get used to, he says, because you have to be bungee-corded down to provide the sense of weight to your body that a runner on Earth would have. “You run with a backpacking harness on, and that’s attached to bungees, and you can change the load, how hard it is pulling against you,” Hopkins says. “I would try to get up to my body weight, simulating what it was like to run on Earth. But you’re carrying that load on your shoulders and hips; it’s like trying to run with a 180-pound pack on your back.”
Zero‑G doesn’t make sweating any more pleasant. “You sweat buckets up there,” says Hopkins. “On the ground, when you’re riding the bike, the sweat drips off you. Up there, the sweat sticks to you—you have pools of sweat on your arms, your head, around your eyes. Once in a while, a glob of it will go flying off.” The astronauts use large wipes and dry towels to clean off. “The shower was one of those things that I missed.” Still, the sponge-bath method works just fine, and the station generally has a neutral smell. Astronauts wear fresh clothes for a week, which then become workout clothes for a week, which are then discarded with the rest of the trash.
The focus on fitness is as much about science and the future as it is about keeping any individual astronaut healthy. NASA is worried about two things: recovery time once astronauts return home, and, crucially, how to maintain strength and fitness for the two and a half years or more that it would take to make a round-trip to Mars, which President Obama has said he believes NASA can do by the mid‑2030s (although there is no detailed plan). Figuring out how to get to Mars safely, in fact, underlies much of what happens on the station. “If astronauts have a 10 percent loss of strength, of cardio capacity, how much does that impair their functioning on station? Not much,” says Guilliams. “But if you’re going to Mars, that kind of loss could be critical. What would they be able to do when they land?”
Here is one of the videos mentioned: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X1jxUjxWdEQ
On a personal note, I hope everyone's having as much fun during the holidays as I am. My gym has been kicked out of the house and even the garage for relatives, so I've been taking the 32kg out on the porch for some swings and presses. Pretty nice outside here this time of year in Texas, well, relatively anyway.