DivingDoc
Contributor
In general, women seem to have lower air consumption than men. The explanation generally given for this is that men have more muscle mass, ergo a higher basal metabolic rate, ergo higher air consumption.
Well, in January, when diving in Grand Turk, I had an experience which challenges that explanation.
While we were diving there, they were shooting a made-for-PAX-TV movie. Some of the actors dove with us on days when they had a break. One of those actors was Ralf Muller. You might remember him from the movie, Gladiator. He was the really BIG German gladiator who took a bite of Maximus' (Russel Crowe) food and pretended to be poisoned.
Seeing him in the movie, you don't realize quite how big this guy is, because all the gladiators were fairly big. He was Mr. Universe in 1986. He is 7'3" tall and 275 pounds of mostly muscle.
I thought this guy was going to suck his tank dry in about 10 minutes. His basal metabolic rate must be enormous.
But he didn't. We usually had 5-6 people on the boat. I usually was the last to come up, and even when I did, it was just so as to not keep everyone waiting -- I usually came up with 800-900 PSI left in the tank. My husband swears I have gills. Ralf came up only 5-10 minutes before I did. Admittedly, he probably had less in his tank, but he was probably 4th or 5th out of the 6 divers to come up.
Now what is the explanation for this? Does fitness overrule muscle mass?
What are all the components that contribute to rate of air consumption? I can think of the following possibilities:
1. Muscle mass.
2. General cardiovascular fitness.
3. State of calmness or anxiety.
4. Level of exertion (are you doing a gentle drift dive, flipping along in a leisurely fashion, or trying to make headway against a current?)
5. Style of breathing (deep and slow being better than shallow and fast).
Comments? Opinions? Explanations of why Ralf's air consumption was so good? I'd like to hear them.
Well, in January, when diving in Grand Turk, I had an experience which challenges that explanation.
While we were diving there, they were shooting a made-for-PAX-TV movie. Some of the actors dove with us on days when they had a break. One of those actors was Ralf Muller. You might remember him from the movie, Gladiator. He was the really BIG German gladiator who took a bite of Maximus' (Russel Crowe) food and pretended to be poisoned.
Seeing him in the movie, you don't realize quite how big this guy is, because all the gladiators were fairly big. He was Mr. Universe in 1986. He is 7'3" tall and 275 pounds of mostly muscle.
I thought this guy was going to suck his tank dry in about 10 minutes. His basal metabolic rate must be enormous.
But he didn't. We usually had 5-6 people on the boat. I usually was the last to come up, and even when I did, it was just so as to not keep everyone waiting -- I usually came up with 800-900 PSI left in the tank. My husband swears I have gills. Ralf came up only 5-10 minutes before I did. Admittedly, he probably had less in his tank, but he was probably 4th or 5th out of the 6 divers to come up.
Now what is the explanation for this? Does fitness overrule muscle mass?
What are all the components that contribute to rate of air consumption? I can think of the following possibilities:
1. Muscle mass.
2. General cardiovascular fitness.
3. State of calmness or anxiety.
4. Level of exertion (are you doing a gentle drift dive, flipping along in a leisurely fashion, or trying to make headway against a current?)
5. Style of breathing (deep and slow being better than shallow and fast).
Comments? Opinions? Explanations of why Ralf's air consumption was so good? I'd like to hear them.