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Horizontal running inside circular walls of Moon settlements

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Re: Horizontal running inside circular walls of Moon settlements

#41

I didn't see any mention of having a spinning surface. A tapered cylinder "gravity gym" with adjustable angled walls, and variable speed spinning, could smoothly create much greater "gravity". Spin gravity would also enable body weight exercises, core exercises, stationary or small area cardio like exercise bikes, VR games, yoga, etc. Even sleeping. EDIT: I missed this: > but Moon-based centrifuges allowing locomotio…

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Re: Horizontal running inside circular walls of Moon settlements

#42

Is there a reason something like a water rower wouldn’t work on the moon? Possibly with a weighted vest or a weighted seat. Rowing is pretty full body and doesn’t seem that reliant on gravity.

I'm always baffled that these studies don't put more emphasis on resistance training, since the main issue is that your body no longer has to resist the forces of gravity on a day-to-day basis.

In theory exercises like the major compound lifts should go a long way because they stimulate almost every muscle in the body. You get a lot of sustained muscle growth out of doing big lifts even just 2-3 times of week.

Of course you're not going to be literally lifting weights in space because they're weightless! But resistance can be produced with bands, pneumatics etc.

Rowing is a really good one because you get resistance training and cardio at the same time.

But the Moon does have gravity, just less of it. Is no one considering just squatting and deadlifting huge-ass boulders? Fill a big basket with moon rocks and eventually it's gonna be heavy...

Re: Horizontal running inside circular walls of Moon settlements

#43
Finally I get to be that guy in the comments with a weird about of relevant experience. I built the world's largest hamster wheel in 2012[1], a large rotating circular platform ~6m in diameter.

It was a fun and unique experience to run on for a short amount of time, but most people would get dizzy after a few minutes of jogging on it. The curved platform also turned out to be a bit of a tripping hazard. It was more often used as a sort of swing (could this work on the moon?).

I'm skeptical that the experience on the moon will be much better, especially since the diameter they're proposing is even smaller.

1. https://sdusd-newsfeed.blogspot.com/2012/09/pt-loma-high-sen...

Re: Horizontal running inside circular walls of Moon settlements

#44
Running around in circles sounds like a great way to fight boredom. Right next to their aptly named Wheel-of-Death device there's an entire room dedicated to paintwatching, which is a bit like birdwatching, or at least so says the promotional material.

Re: Horizontal running inside circular walls of Moon settlements

#46
post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I assume they’ll eventually just build a big gravitron. The seals would be tricky (I guess the axle it spun on could contain a ladder and door?) Of course they could simply stop spinning it whenever they needed to open an airlock. (Or just put it in orbit, where these problems are easier to deal with and you don’t need to deal with day/night radiation shielding/heating.)

Spin gravity in orbit has its own issues. Most notably you can't anchor the structure anywhere, so won't spin around the spin axis you want but around its center of mass. A center of mass that will shift as people move around, equipment is moved, etc. Another issue is that you need a certain scale, otherwise the Coriolis force as well as differential gravity (the gravity at your feet being higher than that at your he…

The rotation axis could be stabilized actively by shifting counterweights. But the dynamics of the structure change depending on whether the counterweights move radially or tangentially. Rotation speed would fluctuate slightly in either case. This sounds like an interesting control problem!

Re: Horizontal running inside circular walls of Moon settlements

#47

Running around in circles sounds like a great way to fight boredom. Right next to their aptly named Wheel-of-Death device there's an entire room dedicated to paintwatching, which is a bit like birdwatching, or at least so says the promotional material.

Shades of 2001: A Space Odyssey

Re: Horizontal running inside circular walls of Moon settlements

#48
I spent so many years riding bikes in circles on a velodrome. Doesn't seem too different.

When I would ride behind a motorbike, at 40+ mph, it was effort to just keep my body from being pushed down into the handlebars. At 50+, my tires would start to skip upwards/outwards.

Re: Horizontal running inside circular walls of Moon settlements

#49

It takes a few clicks to get to the supplemental data movie: https://rs.figshare.com/articles/media/a_participant_running... You'd probably want to switch directions often!

Why? The bungee cord is only needed for earth gravity.

Re: Horizontal running inside circular walls of Moon settlements

#50

I spent so many years riding bikes in circles on a velodrome. Doesn't seem too different. When I would ride behind a motorbike, at 40+ mph, it was effort to just keep my body from being pushed down into the handlebars. At 50+, my tires would start to skip upwards/outwards.

Velodromes already seem cool to me, so a velodrome on the moon seems cool as hell.
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