There are tons of programs you can find online that teach you how to train like an Olympic athlete, ballerina, pro wrestler, and just about any other extremely fit individual you can think of. But you know who goes through rigorous, challenging, and even dangerous training to be in top shape for their job? Astronauts. These men and women push their bodies to the limit in order to go where most humans have never gone before. If you want to experience the kind of athleticism that can keep you alive in space, here’s how to train like an astronaut:
1. Weight lifting should be your main focus.
Bones decay at a rate of about 1% per month in space. This is why astronauts have to ensure they stay strong, and a great place to start is with weights. Start off with as much as you can safely handle, then work your way up. If you don’t have access to weights or want to be able to work out anywhere, bodyweight exercises such as push ups and crunches are good options.
2. Endurance is next.
Have you ever seen those videos of astronauts training in huge suits underwater? This is mainly for endurance, and considering those suits weigh about 300 pounds, it must work. The underwater training prepares astronauts for spacewalks, but similar workouts can train you to keep up your stamina. To emulate an astronaut, consider swimming and learning how to dive for items at the bottom of the pool. Work towards progressively deeper diving until you can reach the bottom of the deep end.
3. For cardio, choose running or biking.
When astronauts are up in the space station, they are allotted more than two hours a day for just staying fit. Many choose to run (sometimes as much as 5 days per week) on a treadmill, but they also have access to an exercise bike. Either indoor option would work for you as well, or you could head into the great outdoors to breathe the fresh air that astronauts don’t get to appreciate until they come back home.
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