Diving and exercise

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DaveScuba

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Location
Overland Park, Kansas, United States
# of dives
25 - 49
So from what I remember from my OW course (2001) diving and exercise aren't recommended. I guess first question, am I remembering correctly?

My second question is what about light exercise, such as yoga, that's more stretching and balance oriented. Is that ok? or will it lead to problems?

I normally have been riding an exercise bike 35-60 minutes 5-6 times a week and doing Wii Fit Yoga 2 or 3 times a week. So I never feel like I "get a workout" from yoga alone.

If I do yoga poses a few times while I'm on a liveaboard, is it likely to "affect" me (besides the other divers making fun of me, heck I'd make fun of me)


Thanks in advance for your advice, opinions, and comedic comments.

-Dave
 
I believe the caution against exercising before diving has been largely relaxed, although it's probably not a good idea to do your toughest workout immediately before jumping in the water. Exercise post-dive is still felt to be contraindicated.
 
DAN published an article on the subject in a recent issue of Alert Diver. Here is the summary of the article....

In summary, physical fitness — including both strength and aerobic capacity — is important for divers both for physical safety and decompression safety. Regular exercise training is best scheduled to separate intense exercise and diving. Intense physical training should be avoided 24 hours on either side of diving activity. Any exercise within 24 hours of diving should involve the lowest possible joint forces.

and a link to the whole article online....

DAN Divers Alert Network : Juggling Physical Exercise and Diving
 
Didn't Dr Deco post recently to the effect that they now think mild exercise before diving may actually reduce DCS risks, although they didn't fully understand why?
 
Strenuous exercise puts ... wait for it... strain on the body. Lungs are strained. The body gets dehydrated. And the chance for those little murderous gas bubbles in your blood getting together is higher.

A relaxing exercise like yoga on the other hand is beneficial as far as helping avoid panic during the dive.
Freedivers- dont most of them do some form of yoga and meditation now?

Light exercise before the dive would improve circulation and probably up your oxygen levels, which does help prevent DCI.

And the leaner your meat and the better your endurance, the lower the chance of getting bends- nitrogen bubbles just love them some fat! so 3x week exercise in your off-diving time is a must.

Note that I am an army fookin' medic, so all I know is how to stab, knock out, and put out of misery. Not a doctor.

Sources:
DAN Divers Alert Network : Juggling Physical Exercise and Diving
Doc Vikingo's Exercise & DCS

A recent study reported that a single episode of high-intensity aerobic exercise 24 hours before a chamber dive decreased the number of bubbles more than fourfold and halved maximum bubble size.

Follow up studies on rats found that high-intensity aerobic exercise suppressed bubble formation and reduced DCI-related deaths when performed 20 hours prior to a simulated dive. This benefit was not noted when the exercise occurred substantially before or after 20 hours. At one-half hour prior to the dive, greater bubble formation was reported.
 
Wisloff and Brubakk (31) reported that endurance exercise reduces bubble formation and increases survival in rats exposed to hyperbaric pressure. It is not known whether DCS preconditioning reduces bubble formation after the next episode of decompression from a hyperbaric environment. Nevertheless, endurance exercise is a stressor that increases the expression of HSP70 and may represent a powerful preventative agent against tissue injury in several models (8, 23). These reports suggest that stresses such as endurance exercise can activate bioprotective mechanisms. Compatible with these reports, our results show that prior DCS is also a stress inducer, which may activate a bioprotective mechanism similar to that induced by endurance exercise. This suggests that this protection involves mechanisms more complex than a reduction in bubble formation. . .
http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/5291933-post5.html
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/perdix-ai/

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