Best gym workouts for dive fitness

[njedrn]

I focus on cardio.... get my heart rate elevated and keep it there... seems to do the trick.

 

[spectrum]

If you're going to fall of a boat in the Caribbean then the bar is not very high.

If you're going to make significant shore entries they can turn out to be a workout.

Technical diving can compound many forms of body stress and raises the bar further.

Diving is virtually an anaerobic activity.... until you get caught in a current.

Cardio is tops.

Some leg extensions & curls can help pre-condition the legs for what awaits.

Sing to tone your diaphragm for breathing efficiency.

Some stretches to improve your valve reach are nice and they feel good too.

Pete

 

[halocline]

One word: swimming, lots of it.

Next would be whatever you need to look better in a wetsuit. Drysuit divers can just go back to more swimming. (tongue in cheek)

 

[oldflounder]

I don't think any one has mentioned exercising with a snorkel in your mouth yet. I find this to be a great way to keep me tuned up for diving with a reg in my mouth. Of course I am talking about in a pool/body of water, but I quess if it didn't embarrass you, it could be done on a bike or treadmill. The idea is to get yourself to a point where you are huffing and puffing and just starting to hyperventilate. Normally you just gasp in air and get your breathing back to normal on dry land. Your body takes care of getting your CO2/O2 ratio readjusted. But underwater you have to make a conscientious effort to force out CO2 without gasping in too much O2 to get those ratios back to normal. I do this by taking in a shorter breath than my mind wants, pausing for a second or two at the most and then blowing out a longer exhale for a few cycles. If you find yourself in an exerting situation underwater [currents, multitasking, anxiety, etc.]and you start hyperventilating your mind is screaming "suck in air" and your reg tells you "no can do." You can overbreath your reg leading to a very serious problem at depth.

Luckily I have a Y pool available to me and I try to do a minimum 1 mile swim 4-5 times a week. For almost an hour the snorkel doesn't come out of my mouth and most of my body is submerged. I do several different types of strokes that are diving specific - mostly concentrating on leg strength amd finning techniques. I think it is very important that you learn what kind of diving you will be doing locally so that you can exercise those muscle groups needed. Around here we do a lot of shore dives with surface swims out 500'. We need to carry 80 pounds on our backs - down and back over rough terrain sometimes. We frequently get into a strong current/surge situation that you need to back away from quickly. You need to have certain muscles available that don't tire soon in these situations. You need good cardio for those bursts of strain on your lungs and heart when you're climbimg out over those rocks at low tide.

In the gym I try to get myself huffing and puffing and then do a relaxing stroke such as an extended doggy paddle or dolphin kick to concentrate on getting my breathing back under control. If I panic [in the beginning I did a lot - now never] I just pop my head to the surface. The first few laps each day I have to concentrate on my breathing for a few breaths but later on in the swim my body just adjusts automatically no matter how hard I push myself. It finds a certain pattern to follow to keep those ratios in check. Breathing through a snorkel is the closest thing I have found to simulate breathing with a reg.

Anyway - as others have said - vacation diving may not require a lot of physical fitness - but local diving on a regular basis requires that you learn to exercise the appropriate muscle groups for those unexpected seconds of hard swimming or muscle exertion. The last thing you want around here is to be a couple hundred feet out in frigid water and be too exhausted to get back to shore or to be at the exit point and be unable to deal with the surf or surge because you haven't enough strength left.

 

[oldflounder]

I know the first response to what I just said will be "why would anyone want to force themselves to hyperventilate underwater?" I believe that if you can train yourself to deal with this type of a situation in a controlled environment - when the real thing happens at depth - you hopefully will be able to deal with it without bolting to the surface in full panic mode.

 

[EcoSea]

The thing that allways works me is my back, so swimming is the order of the day, works everything. I do 4 min at 90% rest 3, 4 min at 90% rest 3, I do 4 reps and I am worked. My breathing and stamina are much better once I started this and my back feels better than it has in a while.

 

[spectrum]

I don't think any one has mentioned exercising with a snorkel in your mouth yet. I find this to be a great way to keep me tuned up for diving with a reg in my mouth. Of course I am talking about in a pool/body of water, but I quess if it didn't embarrass you, it could be done on a bike or treadmill. The idea is to get yourself to a point where you are huffing and puffing and just starting to hyperventilate. Normally you just gasp in air and get your breathing back to normal on dry land. Your body takes care of getting your CO2/O2 ratio readjusted. But underwater you have to make a conscientious effort to force out CO2 without gasping in too much O2 to get those ratios back to normal. I do this by taking in a shorter breath than my mind wants, pausing for a second or two at the most and then blowing out a longer exhale for a few cycles. If you find yourself in an exerting situation underwater [currents, multitasking, anxiety, etc.]and you start hyperventilating your mind is screaming "suck in air" and your reg tells you "no can do." You can overbreath your reg leading to a very serious problem at depth.

What I was able to do early on is combine this with swimming by doing laps in the pool with snorkel gear. As you state, in trying to hold a travel pace you are conditioned to take deep deliberate breaths to overcome the dead air volume while exerting. It's surprising how few breaths per pool length you can get down to and still feel great doing it. When you translate to the fresh air delivery of a regulator (or daily life) you can please your lungs in fewer breaths.

Of course if your have the right conditions available getting out into open water to skin-dive, doing some at an expeditious pace is excellent stuff and fun.

For me the hardest part over time is adapting to available facilities and time. Some advice I got years ago is that if you get your body up to a good sweat once a day you're going to do OK.

Pete

 

[RJP]

Does anyone have an exercise regime they follow which is focussed on fitness for diving?

 

[RJP]

Scuba diving is not particularly physically demanding. General fitness is all that is required.

I was thinking the same thing just the other day as I was making my way to the back of the boat with a set of double 119's on my back, an 80 slung on one side, a 40 on the other, a canister light, and two 400' reels.

:shocked2:

 

[SeaCobra]

Looks like an old time NAUI ITC

Better fitness means better diving. as has already been stated, is an excellent resource.

Jeff