VIRGINIA BEACH, VA—Helping fitness professionals work better one-on-one with sailors preparing for deployment was the focus of a Navy Advanced Fitness Training held in late August at Dam Neck naval base near Virginia Beach, VA. Eighteen fitness professionals attended the class, which focused on exercise progression and safety, proper spotting technique, a review of supplementation and nutrition, and a demonstration of warm-up and cool-down exercises.
The one-one-one training is important because many sailors think they can’t work out while in a confined space, such as on a ship, says Marc Meeker, program manager of Navy Fitness, who instructed the class.
“On base the fitness center resembles any commercial health club,” said Meeker. “They’re so spoiled that the average sailor doesn’t know how to train when out to sea.”
Meeker showed class participants from the Mid-Atlantic Navy Morale, Welfare and Recreation region exercises using jump ropes, medicine balls, resistance bands and body weight that can give sailors a great workout in a small space.
“At the end of everyday I ask myself, ‘Have you helped a sailor?’” Meeker said. “If that answer is a yes, then I know I’ve done my job.”