Diving and Exercise+

[Phil TK]

Welshman once bubbled...
Hey Phil TK

Spoken like a true Essex man!

Regards

Ha Ha! and spoken with a true tongue in cheek!
I actually spend a lot of time on the mountain bike and have a mini gym at home, which I do use. Sorry to dissapoint but I'm not a great drinker, not like many round here in Essex -I do a few beers on occaision, like when watching the rugby with the lads and the 'away' weekends with the motorcycle club (eg.-Abadere!!!!) but during most weeks I'm a dull sipper of the odd glass of wine.
I'm 41, 11 stone, 5' 9'' and 32 waist and intend to stay that way. I have an excellent personal trainer in the shape of a girlfriend who is frank about my appearance if I let things slip!
It is obvious of course that a reasonable level of fitness is good for your diving -but if you are a DM taking divers out you have to be carefull what you say to obviously unhealthy looking specimens. If I'm really concerned about a particular paying diver 'customer', I'll dive just with him/her and deligate the rest of my group over to another DM -but that isn't too often.
I do talk about what booze does in my dive briefings though and waffle on about body salt replacement blah blah, and encourage the quaffing of tea or mineral water just before a dive plus a few sweet biscuits to boost the sugars up a little bit.
Working in a holiday resort you are always going to get a percentage of diving customers show up in the morning with a mild hangover -many are good at hiding it unfortunately. I only refused one guy his dive when he actually bragged to me about smoking opium the night before!
Takes all sorts!

Phil TK

 

[John C. Ratliff]

I have read these posts with interest, and voted that I exercise regularly, but that this is incidental to my diving. It is very pertainent to my health as a whole. In the last year, I have also dropped about 20 pounds.

Today notwithstanding (Thanksgiving day feast), I've been able to control my weight much more effectively than in the past by doing the following:

--Exercise daily, usually at least 30 minutes, much of the time more than 60 minutes a day. I do this by bicycle commuting to and from work on most days (except Friday--nearly been killed twice on Friday bicycle commutes, so part of my bicycle accident prevention strategy is not to go for a third one on a Friday, when drivers here seem to be nearly insane at times).

--Eat much better than in the past. I do this by eating my wife's cooking (stir fry, with lots of veggies), eating my own granola mix (wheat, oats and barley flakes, raw; raisons; peanuts; sunflower seeds mixed together and eaten with a banana and non-fat milk. This, by the way, along with cutting the creamer and sugar in coffee, has left me heartburn free too. We also don't eat out much (high fat, salt).

--Fin swimming--I was fin swimming director for the Underwater Society of America in the 1980's. It's surprising to me that divers are not generally aware of fin swimming as a separate, competitive sport. There is a competitive aspect, which uses monofins for competition swimming both on the surface and underwater. Underwater swims are apnea (breathhold) for the 50 meter event, and scuba (holding a small cylinder in front of the swimmer) for the other events (100 m, 200 m, 400 m, and 800 m). Surface swims are at the same distances as the underwater swims, and the swimmer uses a front-mounted snorkel and goggles. The starts are racing starts, off the blocks. It is really a fun sport, and one that fits well with diving. For more information, see:

United States Fin Swimming

Divers are notoriously out-of-shape, and fin swimming can help a lot. For a diver who wants to stay in condition for diving by fin swimming, it's easy to do. You don't need a monofin. Simply pick up a full-foot pocket fin and start swimming the crawl stroke for distance/time (say a mile, or 30 minutes, at a time). This can be done in either a pool or open water (but be aware of the usual open water hazards). For instance, I sometimes swam 2000 yards in a pool, or about 45 minutes in a reservoir. Both were about 10 minutes away from work (in those days), and could be done over a lunch hour (like runners do with their distance training). If you really want better performance, get the long-bladed full-foot pocket "competition" fins, a low-displacement mask, and a front-mount snorkel. Then go out and chase the fish (I've literally done this). It's great fun, and a very good cardiovascular workout that is low-impact and especially suited for divers.

SeaRat

 

[stiebs]

Another great way to maintain and increase your fitness levels while remaining in the water is to find a local underwater hockey league, if you are lucky enough to have one in your area.

www.underwater-hockey.com
www.uwhockey.org

Played with a lead puck on the bottom of a 25m x 12m pool, using tin trays as goals. 6 players per side, armed with a small wooden stick and wearing mask, snorkel and fins.

 

[swimndive]

cwb once bubbled...
Do you go diving, and as a result, get some exercise, or do you make a conscious effort to exercise to improve your diving enjoyment and safety?

I swim for fitness and dive for pleasure. Sort of a yin and yang thing for me. Seems like the more I swim, the more I enjoy diving. Ratio is about 2:1, so maybe I should change my handle to swimnswimndive.

 

[Big-t-2538]

I used to Swim competitively, but now I dive. Swimming is nice, and I do enough outdoor landscaping work to keep myself in a healthy state. I consider diving enjoyable and recreational for the most part. Every now and again it is work, but I enjoy talking with students, sharing experiences, and leading small groups around quarries. Any exercise I get is beneficial, but I don;t have any alterior exercise realted motives to diving.

 

[Jersey]

targeted toward improving health & diving, not necessarily in that order. Fast walking - about 3 - 4 miles a night with my yellow lab, longer treks on the weekends. She is such a nudge, God forbid I forget her, she is in my face, banging her nose into me, whining. Biking - really keeps leg & abdominal muscles in shape, especially since I have ACL/MCL knee problems & can't run. I'm convinced they both help my diving especially air consumption. I adopted a more regimented training (bike) routine last summer & suddenly more air! Swim as often as possible. Ski in the winter, not sure if I'd call that exercise. I should do some light weight training, but I hate gyms, always have. I do a lot of yard work, landscaping, building retaining walls, split firewood and call that my weight training. Also take multi-vitamin, calcium supplements and vitamin E.

I also find diving makes me really hungry, but I can eat whatever I want and don't have to watch the scale.

The upshot? Both the dog & I have lost weigh!

 

[DameDykker]

After excersising my mind the last 1½ year I'm now back doing swims under and over water and addiding in some UW-Rugby. This is very good for you cardiac health. Fighting a the bottom of the pool will do that for you

But I guess this excelent sport hasn't hit the US yet. If your in Europe most contries have clubs and here most Diving clubs do some playing during their winter training.

To keep it up when I'm travelling and can not play I hold my breath going up and down stairs. Good excersise!

 

[Welshman]

Hey Phil TK

I suspected your tongue was firmly in your cheek.

What do you ride around Aberdare??

Regards

 

[budgy]

I'm not sure maybe it was u' r hondda.

 

[Phil TK]

Welshman once bubbled...
Hey Phil TK

I suspected your tongue was firmly in your cheek.

What do you ride around Aberdare??

Regards

I don't race anymore myself (too old) but go there to watch, we usually stay in Taffs Well (a couple of the pubs do lock ins) I'm a member of the VTR1000 owners club.

I'd better relater this post to the thread and point out that motorcycling is surprisingly good for fitness -especially motorcross, which I do occaisionally -but rather badly!

Phil TK