OP
HBVetera n2312
Contributor
It depends on which machine you are using, age, gender and weight. What I am seeing generally for folks over 35 is 100-120 on the bike and 140-150 on the elliptical. I stress to folks to not look at a single event to judge fitness levels but rather the WHOLE assessment. To be honest, I knew a guy in his 50's who scored GOOD to EXCELLENT on all events, clean bill of health, no hypertension, good diet, and he died of a heart attack on a morning jog. The point is that yes, he had a congenital (genetic) condition and it got him eventually. But when assessing a diver's fitness level, the purpose is not only to mitigate and improve the risk factor to the diver, but also to reduce risk to the entire dive operation. That means that if you are a high risk for an emergency event due to your fitness or lack of fitness, you are also a risk to other divers because they will try to help you, which puts EVERYONE else at risk on the dive.
I don't mean to sound preachy here, but diving is risky. Dive tables, no decompression limits, safety stops, decompression times, residual nitrogen levels, and off gassing rates are all closely studied by the US Navy Experimental Dive Unit. These are extremely fit young people and physicians studying the effects of breathing compressed air under atmospheric pressures. In all US military dive units, combat and surface supplied, it takes an incredible level of fitness and water competency just to get IN to this training, much less pass standards and graduate as divers. I was surprised to see the ease in which anyone could sign up for PADI or NAUI or whichever civilian certification entity you can imagine, and go breathe compressed air underwater. There are so many variables that affect your body physiologically and mentally. These variables surface exponentially under a stress or emergency situation. The level of fitness mitigates these stresses and allows the diver to solve problems faster and more efficiently. I understand that what we do is recreational and the current recreational dive planners and computers adjust for us, but when a diver is out of air or suffering from nitrogen narcosis, mental clarity is critical to solve those problems, which is directly related to fitness. This is why a "whole person" assessment is critical.
I hope I answered your question, even if it was in long form. I sure am glad folks are considering fitness when it comes down to strapping on your rig and hitting the water. I just want everyone to be as safe as possible not only for themselves, but for their diving buddy too!
