Exercise after diving

[hwahl]

I am currently working a coral restoration internship in which we often do 3-tank dives in a day, the deepest of which is 30ft. Surface intervals between dives range from 10 minutes to 90 minutes, and water temperatures during the summer range from 80-90 degrees Fahrenheit. With this information, I have 3 questions:

1.) If I dive conservatively (making safety stops before surfacing) and stay hydrated, is it safe for me to work out after dives? I go to a CrossFit gym at which workouts can be quite strenuous, but I can modify the exercises I’m feeling tired.

2.) If I CAN work out, should there be a certain time interval between my last dive and the start of the workout?

3.) Is it safe/more safe for me to work out in the morning before a 3-dive day instead?

My primary concern is increasing my risk of DCI. Looking forward to hearing some answers!

 

[scubaozy]

 

[tursiops]

Can you summarize any relevant points from this "video?" Too much talking....

There are several somewhat independent DAN organizations: North America, Europe, and World (Latin America, Caribbean, Asia-Pacific, Indonesia, China), Japan, Southern Africa.....they do not agree with each other on everything, including exercise after diving, flying after diving, etc.

 

[scubaozy]

Can you summarize any relevant points from this "video?" Too much talking....

There are several somewhat independent DAN organizations: North America, Europe, and World (Latin America, Caribbean, Asia-Pacific, Indonesia, China), Japan, Southern Africa.....they do not agree with each other on everything, including exercise after diving, flying after diving, etc.

Recommendation;
Moderate aerobic exercise (avoiding heavy straining of muscle and joints as well as rapid movement of the limbs)
General consensus before and after diving:

• Exercise should be avoided within 4-6 hrs before and after diving. Previous 24h recommendation is simply impractical.

During dive

• Minimum exercise during on-gassing section of the dive
• Mild non strenuous exercise (like moving the limbs) during off-gassing is allowed

After dive

• Remain warm and low activity in between dives
• Sleeping directly after dive is not recommended as it will impair the limb circulation and you may miss the signs and symptoms.

Research

• Some studies done in Norway on rats as well as humans found 40 mins intermediate strenous exercise done 24 hrs before reduces venous bubbles in the heart after a chamber dive next day.
• Another research on navy divers, 45mins exercise 2hrs before 30min @30meters found significant reduction in bubble grades
• A French research found divers exercising 1hr before a dive also found similar reduction of bubbles.
• In 2006 a group of divers exercised 10 minutes after 30min @30meters dive, 20 mins and surprisingly, they found that bubbles were again reduced, albeit this was done on fit navy divers.

Overall not a good idea to extrapolate these results into normal divers and that would require more research.

 

[gamon]

A young couple did a double boat dive and then went home and did some "exercise" in the bedroom - which resulted in them each needing two chamber treatments.

Where did you hear or read this?

I don't tend to accept anecdotal stories such as this without any sort of proof.

For good reason.

 

[TheCatFish]

Gonna depend on your physical makeup and your bubble formation risk, which without a personal dopplar is hard to judge beyond just trying to quantify your fatigue over time and noting your physical activity before/after dives.

Rule of thumb, don't push yourself hard with weight (creating cardiac system pressure fluctuations), and don't get your heart flying too fast.

Another rule of thumb, don't hotub soak or sauna right after a dive, for similar reasons.
Keep in mind, if you are doing these shallow NDL dives that are right around 2bar of atmospheric pressure, the liklihood of developing DCI is quite low.

Finally: I am not a medical professional. Ask DAN for real info

 

[RedSeaDiver2]

Where did you hear or read this?

I don't tend to accept anecdotal stories such as this without any sort of proof.

For good reason.

I was their dive guide and they rang me late in the afternoon when they started to notice DCS symptoms as they didn't think that their dive profiles were likely to lead to DCS - they were a bit sheepish when I asked what they had done after the dives but told the truth - I must admit that their answer wasn't one that I had been expecting... I was expecting something like gardening, splitting firewood etc. I called the chamber and alerted them that I was bringing in a couple of customers and then picked them up at their house and drove them to the chamber. The chamber crew did have a bit of a giggle.

 

[fsardone]

Does lifting your kit from the cave back to the trail with some heavy lifting and walking counts as work out … because then I would have to stay overnight Sorry but many forget about non boat dive where you are the diver and the mule that carries the stuff and for some dives there is a bit of dry progression over and under ground.

This said, friend of mine got bent carrying his twinset from the shore to the compressor shack 200 meters uphill while me leaving the rebreather close to the shore and relaxing in the sun did not. Same dive profiles over 3 days (1 hour 40 meters top, light deco for him no deco for me - reb is a wonderful machine ) …. I know … I ended up diving nitrox and he was on air so comparison is unfair. This said he did all his deco and some but then he spent one week in hospital and did 6 recompression treatments …. (4 hours from symptoms onset to inside the chamber 1 hour to decide, 2 hours to drive and one hour in hospital to get in the chamber).

 

[Kendall Raine]

Does lifting your kit from the cave back to the trail with some heavy lifting and walking counts as work out

Yes, of course. Best ways to deal with that (in order): 1) hire mules, 2) wait an hour+ before lifting, 3) use side mount (smaller loads), 4) use more conservative deco profile, 5) get good chamber insurance.

 

[SKS22]

I don't know what the threshold is for vigorous exercise, but I do think that DAN is being ridiculous with their 24-hour rule regarding mild exercise. In the shore diving community there's plenty of people doing post-dive swims. I know folks routinely doing a half mile before and after a dive cuz that's cheaper than a boat. Then they get through the surf. Then they walk to wherever they were able to park with all their gear. Nobody gets bent. Sure, shore diving is often shallow, but it can also be deep. I always ask local dive shops about shore diving on trips and never once has one of them told me that I'm going to get bent because the swim is vigorous or the walk is long, though sometimes they want to know whether I'm a strong swimmer. So, at least as far as light exercise goes, for most people one can do that right up to the minute one descends, and get started again upon surfacing. Also, as noted by a commentator above, what do dive professionals do? Because according to DAN the safest thing a professional can do is be a couch potato. (And sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but according to my Garmin diving is not proper exercise. My heart rate when I'm diving usually averages about 90 bpm measured with the chest strap (most accurate method); the optical, which is going through the wetsuit and dealing with whatever other inaccuracies come from diving reads even lower at about 70 bpm. Either way, it's never even hitting zone 1 and is essentially zero cardio load for a middle aged man who regularly exercises.)

 

[tursiops]

(And sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but according to my Garmin diving is not proper exercise. My heart rate when I'm diving usually averages about 90 bpm measured with the chest strap (most accurate method); the optical, which is going through the wetsuit and dealing with whatever other inaccuracies come from diving reads even lower at about 70 bpm. Either way, it's never even hitting zone 1 and is essentially zero cardio load for a middle aged man who regularly exercises.)

Diving is not intended to be exercise, but it happens to be when you get gas in your tissues that can be forced out by exercise post dive. The thread is about strenuous exercise after diving. What is your point with the material quoted above?