The sailboat cabin is small and there is no free floor / deck space or other area for calesthentics [sp?]. I can sit and I can lie on the bunk. I cannot quite stand straight. Adding thngs like weights is not a good icea as their storage would be challenging, especially when underway and the boat is heeling back and forth and plunging up and down.

So, what would the best exercise stuff be? Resistance bands? Spring-type exercisers?

Thoughts?

Thanks.

Hi Dweste,

I'd recommend isometrics (worked well for me in prison)....JOKE!
You could always fill containers with water and use them as weights. A collapsible container could fold away and the water be returned overboard. Unless you are talking about a spaceship...vacuum is pretty light.

-NIM

If I were limited by the amount of space available for both storage and working out, I'd think about using resistance bands. Essentially it's a set of elastic tubes much like surgical tubing color coded for the amount of resistance offered by each. Most sets have interchangeable handles and velcro straps for attachment points. The sets definitely don't take up much space and as long as you can find the room to extend your limbs to the fullest in multiple directions they should work fine.

Calisthenics would work. As would isometrics.

You might try a set of those rugger loops. They can apply considerable amounts of resistance. Often more than 100 pounds. Hook one of the stronger bands around a winch and pull or punch against it.

I wouldn't give up on weight training. A five gallon bucket of seawater is what, better than 45 pounds. You have an anchor that is pretty hefty. Tie weight to one end of a halyard and pull on the other. You can even tie a Swiss seat onto one end and haul yourself or your girlfriend up the mast.

More than one sailor has built long oars and work the body rowing with one or two. Good upper body workout.

Swimming is good exercise. Scrub the hull to take off the slime a couple times a week and your exercising.

Depending on the room available you might fit in a folding stationary bicycle. Make good use of it by rigging a small dynamo and charge a battery.

I have seen a guy who would anchor out and then pull the boat several hundred feet up the anchor line working like he was climbing the rope. When He got close to the anchor he would let the boat drift back and then do it again. Substitute stirrups on prussic knots and you could work the legs.

I also wouldn't give up on free weights if that is what you like. A sailboat is full of heavy objects, anchors and batteries to start with, that need to be kept low and fastened in place to be safe in heavy weather. Build yourself a sturdy rack to hold the weights and make provisions for the weights to be lashed down tightly. A simple engineering problem.

Can you find a way to do sit ups, push-ups and pullups ?
And when weather is good swimming.. seems like they could keep you in shape ?

With this and the past thread of everyday exercise in mind. I remember I used to use grip strengtheners in the car.
You are doubling and tripling the number you can do within weeks
Got funny looks when screaming with the effort from other drivers, but that's their problem. And by jove once I had someone in a hold in Jui Jitsu they were going nowhere!
The Sock

Seems to me that the typical sailing vessel is one vast, rather complicated workout machine, what with winches to grind, sails to hoist, decks to holy stone, and anchors to raise. Even on power boats, I can simply staying upright for a long day would give me a pretty noticeable workout. Throw in some scuba diving and you will snooze blissfully at night, sleeping as only those well exercised can....

Get out of your cell and go to the gym.

I would want a pair of 5-10 pound dumbells, but a couple of 1 gallon jugs could work too. Online there are workouts using milk jugs.

Resistance bands of surgical tubing or bungee material would suffice. You can exploit their mobility in any position to work any muscle group, and they are infintely scalar. I can't imagine a better suited device in a confined space.

+1
That's what astronauts are using on the ISS.

check out a book called 'The Naked Warrior' for really tough effective workout without any equipment at all.

I'm in the fitness industry and have tried all the 'modern' fitness gear, bands, balls, bells, tubes, programs, etc.

Based on a sailboat I would recommend TRX. I have used this product on a regular basis and recommend it.

Standard disclaimer applys

I'm not sure the actual method you use matters much. The biggest cause of failure is that people don't keep at it. And one of the biggest reasons is they are impatient and then, trying to make it work faster, they work it too hard and injure themselves and/or get too sore to continue. Once they give up for a day or two the equipment stays in the closet thereafter.