Workouts at Nationals Park give members of the military a chance to train in a unique setting

WASHINGTON (AP) — Just after 7 a.m. on what turned out to be a record-tying hottest day in the history of the nation’s capital, more than 100 members of the U.S. military sprint from station to station to cycle through grueling drills.

The setting is not a military base but rather a baseball stadium. They run stairs and shuttle runs, do pushups in the outfield and toss a tennis ball next to the visiting bullpen at Nationals Park.

It is all part of a high-intensity interval training program the Washington Nationals started in 2022 to give members of the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, Space Force and Coast Guard the chance to come together and use the ballpark for a purpose well beyond 81 major league home games each season. Base HIIT has already attracted more than 750 participants over four sessions this year, growing as it becomes better known in the area for the ability to work out in such a unique setting.

“We thought, ‘What are the other parts of a service member’s life where we can relate to them and give them an experience they wouldn’t get elsewhere?’” Nationals senior VP of community and government engagement Gregory McCarthy told The Associated Press after the most recent workout Tuesday. “We thought it’s physical exercise, which is what they have to do as part of their training anyway. We’ve got this wonderful asset of this gorgeous ballpark, all this grass, but we don’t use it on most of the days of the year. So, we talked to our grounds crew and we made it work.”

The result of ongoing trial and error over the past couple of years is a 90-minute session that opens with a quick, dynamic warmup. An introductory message plays on the giant outfield video screen from starting pitcher Jake Irvin and All-Star closer Kyle Finnegan: “Welcome to Base HIIT, a one-of-a-kind experience that lets you work out here on the field at Nationals Park.”

Then, the active duty, guard and reserve military members run a lap around the warning track while the grounds crew nearby waters the infield. Next up is a series of stations, including the “wheel of death” pushup competition where the winner receives four premium tickets to a Nationals game of their choice.

Everyone who takes part can get a pair of tickets to a game the following week. But that is less of a draw than the camaraderie and the chance to run around on perfectly manicured grass usually reserved exclusively for professional baseball players.

“Nobody was forced out here, so you’ve got people that chose to be out here, so you’re going to have great attitude,” said 37-year-old Jose Ramos, a Marine currently serving at Fort Belvoir in northern Virginia. “Participation’s going to be high, and everybody just wants to have fun and still get better. We’re in the United States military. We need to stay fit, we need to stay ready and stuff like this right here, you can stay ready, stay fit while having fun.”

The workout comes to a crescendo in center field when the finalists gather around to see who can do the most pushups in a row. Surrounded by everyone else chanting and cheering, Ramos comes out on top.

“It was extremely tough — physically tough, but pushing close to 40, mentally tough,” said Ramos, who has been with the Marines for nearly two decades. “A lot of the servicemembers out here are a lot younger, so I have to show them that I can keep up.”

Younger, but similarly to Ramos, many are first-timers drawn in by the chance to try something new that is not offered anywhere else in the country.

“I like to work out,” said Erwin Montgomery, a 22-year-old serving in the Army. “Seeing this on an MLB field and giving our troops something to do and work out and grind towards is something special to me.”

Giving the starting orders before he assumes control of one of the stations is Nationals director of community relations and military affairs Sean Hudson, who served in the Air Force as a public affairs specialist from 2016-20. All along are constant reminders to hydrate, keep water bottles along the outfield fence and move quickly from one task to another.

The exercises change from time to time based on feedback from participants and members of the organization, many of whom were college athletes with ideas and the willingness to get to the stadium early to help run the event. There are six sessions scheduled this year when the Nationals are not playing at home, with each one another opportunity for members of the military to work up a valuable sweat and maybe even make friends.

“We would love to get to the point to where we have so many people that we have to start a waitlist or something,” Hudson said. “Being in the military is a unique lifestyle where you move around every three or four years. Not a lot of people understand that, so if Base HIIT can be a place and Nationals Park can be a place where service members and their families can come together and bond over things that they have in common, then I think it’s successful.”