ScubaSeaMonkey
Registered
My wife and I only recently got our certification. After hanging out at the LDS on social nights and going on a couple of weekend group dive trips, we were both surprised at how the majority of the people around us "appeared" to be out of shape physically. Many of them struggled to get up from the bench of the dive boat and stagger to the back and drop in. And I have to wonder how many of them would make it in a situation where they had to put that gear on and then make a short hike to get to the water in the heat.
When we first started doing this, we were surprised at how exhausted we felt after a morning doing a 2-tank dive. But to me it felt like a different kind of exhaustion. I didn't feel physically tired like my muscles were worn out. I felt tired "on the inside". That's the only way I know to describe it.
I have always been somewhat active. Mainly doing weight training, but not a lot of cardio. At 6' tall and age 47, I still have a 32" waist. I don't like cardio so I never did a lot of it since I controlled my weight through sensible eating and resistance training. Since we started scuba, my wife and I have made cardio part of our 4-time-weekly gym visits. On our last scuba trip, that "tired on the inside" feeling was mostly gone. I was also ending my dives with more air in my tank. And most of the big guys were coming up way sooner than me.
The MD who started this thread was probably talking more about the physical effects of obesity or other medical conditions on their ability to handle the unique stresses of scuba. And there is no doubt that obesity diminishes your body's ability to deal with those effects. But then again, so does a sedentary lifestyle. And obesity and sedentary do not always go hand-in-hand. I think the guy who weighs 300 and has a strong cardio regimen can probably handle scuba better than the guy who weights 175 and sits on his couch all the time between dives.
But as someone else stated, the mental game has a big part in it. If you are stressed while you are underwater, your body is going to be more exerted. Your heart will beat faster, your breathing will be faster, your blood pressure will go up, your thinking will not be as clear. Give me a dive buddy with a 52" waist but is calm under pressure, and give the guy with a 32" waist who panics to someone else.
When we first started doing this, we were surprised at how exhausted we felt after a morning doing a 2-tank dive. But to me it felt like a different kind of exhaustion. I didn't feel physically tired like my muscles were worn out. I felt tired "on the inside". That's the only way I know to describe it.
I have always been somewhat active. Mainly doing weight training, but not a lot of cardio. At 6' tall and age 47, I still have a 32" waist. I don't like cardio so I never did a lot of it since I controlled my weight through sensible eating and resistance training. Since we started scuba, my wife and I have made cardio part of our 4-time-weekly gym visits. On our last scuba trip, that "tired on the inside" feeling was mostly gone. I was also ending my dives with more air in my tank. And most of the big guys were coming up way sooner than me.
The MD who started this thread was probably talking more about the physical effects of obesity or other medical conditions on their ability to handle the unique stresses of scuba. And there is no doubt that obesity diminishes your body's ability to deal with those effects. But then again, so does a sedentary lifestyle. And obesity and sedentary do not always go hand-in-hand. I think the guy who weighs 300 and has a strong cardio regimen can probably handle scuba better than the guy who weights 175 and sits on his couch all the time between dives.
But as someone else stated, the mental game has a big part in it. If you are stressed while you are underwater, your body is going to be more exerted. Your heart will beat faster, your breathing will be faster, your blood pressure will go up, your thinking will not be as clear. Give me a dive buddy with a 52" waist but is calm under pressure, and give the guy with a 32" waist who panics to someone else.
