Fitness for diving

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NJDiveGirl

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Location
NJ
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The thread about Yoga got me wondering - how good of shape should one really be in for diving? You can go out one day and everything could be perfect - you dive in, have the worlds easiest dive but you surface and conditions have roughed up. How are you going to climb back on the boat with steel tanks in 3-5' seas?

My thought is combining a routine of cardio and strength training - as well as yoga for breathing. Could come in handy in certain situations. I'm definitely not in great shape, but I'm not in bad shape either. I want to be in great shape.

I'm just wondering how other people "train" for diving or if they do at all -

Any suggestions?
 
NJDiveGirl once bubbled...
The thread about Yoga got me wondering - how good of shape should one really be in for diving? You can go out one day and everything could be perfect - you dive in, have the worlds easiest dive but you surface and conditions have roughed up. How are you going to climb back on the boat with steel tanks in 3-5' seas?

My thought is combining a routine of cardio and strength training - as well as yoga for breathing. Could come in handy in certain situations. I'm definitely not in great shape, but I'm not in bad shape either. I want to be in great shape.

I'm just wondering how other people "train" for diving or if they do at all -

Any suggestions?

I've been fortunete enough to stay in halfway shape but I did just join a gym. I feel you should be in some kind of descent shape if you want to dive or teach.

I personally know of a few instructors that are goodyear blimps.
 
Join a Masters swim team. That is the best total body conditioning you can get and in addition it makes you very comfortable in the water.
 
Join a Masters swim team. That is the best total body conditioning you can get and in addition it makes you very comfortable in the water.

Agreed. I have started swimming again recently and it is a great workout.
 
During my DM course, I was assigned to shadow an AI as he watched a group of student OW course divers do their swim test in the pool.

There was this one student who had been body building for over 5 years - he was massive on the muscle side of things - but all his effort was purely isometric. To my confounding surprise he swam 1/2 down the lane and sank to the bottom! Whoa! Needless to say several of us jumped in and we all pulled him from the water and turns out he was fine, though shaken. He did not complete the course however.

In our discussion that followed, we all agreed that the cause was explained in a comment he made after his rescue - namely that he never does cardio workouts. Bottom line - the man was completely OUT-OF-SHAPE when it comes to any endurance requirements in sports. It was a very important lesson learned about being fooled by appearances and that we need to do the right kind of exercise to match the type of sport we are invovled in. I'm just tremendously happy that this man was unharmed.
 
ZenSquirrel once bubbled...
Join a Masters swim team. That is the best total body conditioning you can get and in addition it makes you very comfortable in the water.

You're right, swimming is wonderful, but it is not weight-bearing exercise. If NJDiveGirl wants to condition herself for dealing with a heavy scuba tank (getting back on the boat and such), she needs to do weight training. I'd recommend a good, functional exercise like squats and lunges. Just make sure you get instructed in how to properly execute a squat.
 
ZenSquirrel once bubbled...
Join a Masters swim team. That is the best total body conditioning you can get and in addition it makes you very comfortable in the water.

It truely is a great workout.
 
lragsac once bubbled...


You're right, swimming is wonderful, but it is not weight-bearing exercise. If NJDiveGirl wants to condition herself for dealing with a heavy scuba tank (getting back on the boat and such), she needs to do weight training. I'd recommend a good, functional exercise like squats and lunges. Just make sure you get instructed in how to properly execute a squat.

Good point. I'd skip the weight training and do some martial arts, though. Doing some kind of martial art will enhance your sense of timing and coordination. If done properly it will also increase your "total body" strength. If you want to move your gear around better, you don't need to do a bunch of curls down at the gym. That only makes a single muscle group stronger. Most excercises in martial arts will strengthen groups of muscles to work together and give you more "everyday" strength. See the post above about the body-builder that could not swim across the pool.

Yoga would probably be just as good as a "martial art" as far as building strength and balance. I don't know about coordination. The yoga I have seen is basically switching between static postures so I'd think that coordination would be a minor gain. You can get the same air consumption benifits that yoga provides from doing "chi kung" excercises (basically standing around doing deep breathing and sometimes you wave your arms. That is what it looks like from the outside, anyway :wink:) found in "kung fu" systems like Tai Chi.
 
yeah...swimming is a good workout...but it gets boring.....20+ years, and I'm going over to the pool tomorrow morning with my 1 yr old daughter....yeah, that's right....20+ years and I'm only 26.....

wait...maybe I should have said it is like a crack cocaine addiction......but with the side effects of rotting hair and this cool chlorine like smell that never goes away....ever.
 
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