- Imagine waking up for a morning run.
But suddenly, you're floating and there's no gravity.
This is a reality for our astronauts on the International Space Station.
Find out how they keep their bodies in shape for peak performance
next on "Real World."
[dramatic music]
Staying in shape is important not just for you,
but also for astronauts going into space.
Here at NASA's Johnson Space Center,
the main hub for training astronauts,
trainers work closely with future mission candidates
to make sure their bodies are prepared for the rigors of spaceflight.
- ASCR program, or the astronaut strength and conditioning program,
is a program for anything physical readiness
to help astronauts prepare for their missions.
That's what we engage in.
So our facilities that we have here
is basically set up like any human performance facility
that you would see outside the gate.
Inside the deal, on the strength and conditioning room,
we have everything we need as far as squat rack,
machines, all that stuff for resistance training.
We also have a rehabilitation aspect, too, that we do
or reconditioning aspect,
depending on what part of the continuum the astronaut is in.
- NASA has put some amazing research and technology
into the training facilities that help prepare astronauts
for working in space.
But what does an astronaut workout look like here on Earth
before going to space?
Why is physical fitness so important?
- Well, it's very important for everyone to be physically fit
because we're all fighting aging.
Reality is that you have that concept, use it or lose it.
Gravity has an effect on us that we have to fight on a daily basis.
So we don't have that in space, so the body is very efficient.
So it says, "I don't need this muscle mass.
I might as well get rid of it."
Deconditioning is basically the outcome of a period of time
where we stopped exercising, and the response the body has of that
is a lesser or a lower fitness level.
When astronauts experience long duration space flight,
there is a muscular consequence
or a deconditioning effect that they experience.
And likewise, there are cardiovascular deconditioning effect
that they experience.
Part of our job is to help astronauts get back
to their baseline fitness post-flight.
- So picture this: you're an astronaut,
and you've been training on Earth for your next space mission.
Now you're on the International Space Station in microgravity.
And sometimes these missions can take hundreds of days.
How do you maintain your strength?
What do you have to do differently in this environment?
- To get the same workout in space is a pretty difficult task.
The challenge is that early on, it's just the adaptation process
that they feel because when they're in space,
there's no up or down.
So actually, the treadmill that we have
is actually positioned on the wall on the International Space Station.
So obviously, we don't have weight in space.
So we basically have to strap the astronauts to the treadmill
with a bungee system.
So basically, just a rubber band.
And then that tension pulls them down to the treadmill.
In addition, if you imagine running here on Earth,
even our arms has weight.
So they just hang and they swing, and we get that normal reciprocal action
that we have with opposite legs, so right leg, left arm, so forth.
In space, the arms don't have weight.
So that reciprocal action feels a lot different.
So bottom line, exercising in microgravity is a different skill.
So they have to learn and adapt and understand that skill.
One example is that doing exercises in space,
astronauts could appear stronger
because we have to subtract their body weight.
So for example, doing 100 pounds here with squat,
astronauts are also lifting their body weight
when they're doing that exercise.
In space, when they do that same exercise,
the astronauts are not lifting their body weight.
So initially, it looks like that they can incorporate or lift more load.
But again, body weight is not in the equation.
Astronaut training has improved over the years
as far as our capability to curb
the deconditioning effects of space flight.
And that has a lot to do with our amazing engineers here
that works at JSC, who's giving us capabilities
that we have not always had with long duration space flight.
Here at Johnson Space Center, we have a treadmill
that's in the bottom of a pool where we can run underwater.
So when they're in the water running on the treadmill,
we have the opportunity to reduce
the percentage of the body weight that they are running at.
So, for example, if they're submerged
in the water at probably chest height,
they're running at 70% of their body weight,
not full body weight.
So that's a great way post-flight
to gradually take someone back to their physical readiness.
So how we calculate that is, we turn the percent to a decimal,
and then we multiply it by their current mass or their weight.
And then we get their percentage of their body weight.
So we can do that math by taking the percent,
turning it into a decimal.
So 0.70 times their body weight.
So if you weigh 100 pounds, then 70% of your body weight
would be 70 pounds.
In flight, astronauts spend about 2 1/2 hours per day exercising
to counteract the deconditioning effects of spaceflight.
Also because that is also their preference.
A lot of them love to train and also to stay healthy.
- For over 50 years, NASA has studied
what happens to the human body in space.
Researchers use that data to create specialized training programs
to keep our astronauts safe and healthy throughout their missions.
If you're interested in training like an astronaut,
visit NASA's Train Like an Astronaut website
to get all the information.
See you next time on "Real World."