Keith Wassung
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- Feb 5, 2006
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The hottest place I have ever trained was in the lower levels of a nuclear missile compartment on a nuclear submarine while deployed.
Certain scenarios would require the AC to be shut off, which somehow always seemed to be during my workouts. We were required to wear the uniform, which was basically coveralls, so I had to train in that. The temperature would reach about 120 degrees with no circulation at all. I would train in a spot where I had "just enough" room between the forward missile tubes, maybe with a 3 inch clearance on all sides, so technique had to be precise. I would easily drink 2 gallons of water during a one hour workout.
The warheads were actually in the top of the missile, which was two levels above where I was training. On my second submarine patrol I brought a bar and about 650lbs of Olympic weights and an old flat bench with no uprights. As I said, the area was very limited. I had to keep the weights in a metal, rubber lined can, much like a 55 gal trash can. Just getting the weights in and out was almost like a workout. Each plate went into the can and then was covered by a sheet of rubber-this was to prevent vibratation into the super structure. The diameter of the plates was about half an inch smaller than the diameter of the stowage can, so getting them in and out was a challenge and a test of grip strength. It took longer to get the weights set up and then restowed then the actual workout.
I was under strict order to never drop the weights or even set them down roughly, again for fear that the noise would go out into the ocean. I knew if this ever happened, that I would lose the weights. I used to train during the early morning hours, knowing that if I accidentally banged a weight, my buddies in the sonar room could "erase" the noise and I could get away with it. When I used to compete, judges were amazed and how slowly I would set the weights back down after a deadlift-some thought I was showing respect to the meet director in not wanting to damage the platform when in reality I was still scared of making a noise that would give away the position of our ship.
I used to buy 5 boxes of Hershey bars, with 36 to a box and would use them to bribe the other guys to spot me. To do heavy squats, I would dead lift the weight, then have 2 or more guys hold the ends of the bar and crawl underneath and get into the low squat position and then stand up with the weight. I would do my set and then we would have to reverse the process. I once did a full squat with 625lbs in this fashion. I used to claim this as the world submarine squat record. lol
The exercise selection was limited, lots of rows, squats, presses
(cleaning the weight was like playing the old board game, Operation as I had to clean the weight very slowly in order to avoid hitting the missile tubes or forward supply lockers) Towards the end of my workout, I would put most of the weights away and take a couple of plates and go up the ladder and walk to the torpedo room and would use the toropedo loading trays to do dips. We did not have dumbbells, so I used boxes of TDU ( Trash Disposal Unit) weights, which were added to trash cans that was ejected out of the bottom of a submarine in order to make it sink. The boxes weighed 70lbs and they became my dumbbells I used heavy duct tape (known as EB-GREEN) to make handles and straps, almost like a crude kettle bell.
It was very common during a workout to have the sub take an up or down angle. If I was in the middle of a set, I would just have to hold the weight in a static position until the bubble (ships angle) would be at zero. If the sub would go up to periscope depth, there was a constant rocking motion. Despite that, the workouts continued.
I often overhear people complain about their modern gym because it only has 3 different types of a tricep cable machine or the bearings on the rear pec dec isolator sticks, etc, etc, and I laugh and I think back to the days training hard and using whatever was available.
Keith
Certain scenarios would require the AC to be shut off, which somehow always seemed to be during my workouts. We were required to wear the uniform, which was basically coveralls, so I had to train in that. The temperature would reach about 120 degrees with no circulation at all. I would train in a spot where I had "just enough" room between the forward missile tubes, maybe with a 3 inch clearance on all sides, so technique had to be precise. I would easily drink 2 gallons of water during a one hour workout.
The warheads were actually in the top of the missile, which was two levels above where I was training. On my second submarine patrol I brought a bar and about 650lbs of Olympic weights and an old flat bench with no uprights. As I said, the area was very limited. I had to keep the weights in a metal, rubber lined can, much like a 55 gal trash can. Just getting the weights in and out was almost like a workout. Each plate went into the can and then was covered by a sheet of rubber-this was to prevent vibratation into the super structure. The diameter of the plates was about half an inch smaller than the diameter of the stowage can, so getting them in and out was a challenge and a test of grip strength. It took longer to get the weights set up and then restowed then the actual workout.
I was under strict order to never drop the weights or even set them down roughly, again for fear that the noise would go out into the ocean. I knew if this ever happened, that I would lose the weights. I used to train during the early morning hours, knowing that if I accidentally banged a weight, my buddies in the sonar room could "erase" the noise and I could get away with it. When I used to compete, judges were amazed and how slowly I would set the weights back down after a deadlift-some thought I was showing respect to the meet director in not wanting to damage the platform when in reality I was still scared of making a noise that would give away the position of our ship.
I used to buy 5 boxes of Hershey bars, with 36 to a box and would use them to bribe the other guys to spot me. To do heavy squats, I would dead lift the weight, then have 2 or more guys hold the ends of the bar and crawl underneath and get into the low squat position and then stand up with the weight. I would do my set and then we would have to reverse the process. I once did a full squat with 625lbs in this fashion. I used to claim this as the world submarine squat record. lol
The exercise selection was limited, lots of rows, squats, presses
(cleaning the weight was like playing the old board game, Operation as I had to clean the weight very slowly in order to avoid hitting the missile tubes or forward supply lockers) Towards the end of my workout, I would put most of the weights away and take a couple of plates and go up the ladder and walk to the torpedo room and would use the toropedo loading trays to do dips. We did not have dumbbells, so I used boxes of TDU ( Trash Disposal Unit) weights, which were added to trash cans that was ejected out of the bottom of a submarine in order to make it sink. The boxes weighed 70lbs and they became my dumbbells I used heavy duct tape (known as EB-GREEN) to make handles and straps, almost like a crude kettle bell.
It was very common during a workout to have the sub take an up or down angle. If I was in the middle of a set, I would just have to hold the weight in a static position until the bubble (ships angle) would be at zero. If the sub would go up to periscope depth, there was a constant rocking motion. Despite that, the workouts continued.
I often overhear people complain about their modern gym because it only has 3 different types of a tricep cable machine or the bearings on the rear pec dec isolator sticks, etc, etc, and I laugh and I think back to the days training hard and using whatever was available.
Keith
). In the winter it was either very cold (when you opened that small window) or, well.... imagine how it smelled in this little room after 4-6 guys sweated their asses of for an hour 
