Midlife Adventure Crisis!

[aquacat8]

OK, so I'm a tiny bit over 50, and one of my pools recently shocked me by saying I now qualify for a senior discount. Horrors... but I'll take it! It occurred to me that according to PADI I'm now supposed to plan my dives as if they were 10 feet deeper. I started wondering, how do you progress as a diver and at the same time scale back risk? Part of me feels like I could risk MORE now... less time left, gonna die anyway, you know. So old guys, how do you approach this?

 

[Wookie]

55. I make no changes, except for knees. I’m very careful with my knees.

 

[aquacat8]

I sort of feel like this...risk of incapacitating injury: AVOID! Risk of death: unavoidable anyway. What this means for me and diving is, yeah I do stuff alone in the ocean, and yeah I stay way within limits. So I am both less and more conservative.

 

[RyanT]

I make no changes, except for knees. I’m very careful with my knees.

I worry more about my back than my knees, but +1 for what Wookie said. My buddy and I have a rule now, neither of us schlep doubles by ourselves.

 

[aquacat8]

I have back pain that comes and goes... sitting is terrible for it, activity helps, but schlepping weight no! Love that warm water. I think if I could afford it I would get a lightweight rebreather. One old guy I know injured his back badly falling on a boat and he told me he knew someone who could make him a 15lb rebreather. Rebreather diving is a perfect example of the kind of risk assessment I'm thinking of: risk of death maybe high, risk of screwing up your back maybe lower.

 

[Wookie]

I worry more about my back than my knees, but +1 for what Wookie said. My buddy and I have a rule now, neither of us schlep doubles by ourselves.

As heavy as I am, I've been blessed with a strong core, so no bad back. Too much crossfit led to really painful knees, but there are cures for that too.

 

[Neilwood]

I think as time marches on you end up listening to your body more. What you got away with in your twenties and thirties starts to come back and haunt you when you progress to 40s etc.

 

[aquacat8]

As heavy as I am, I've been blessed with a strong core, so no bad back. Too much crossfit led to really painful knees, but there are cures for that too.

What fins do you like for those knees?

 

[Wookie]

Plana Avanti Quattro Pro. Used them for 20 years.

 

[aquacat8]

Plana Avanti Quattro Pro. Used them for 20 years.

Well you're certainly not wimping out on the fins... I believe fin swimming strengthens muscles that keep leg things together: you look at that seated leg lift they recommend for knee rehab and it's like a fin kick.