Strength and aerobic conditioning for Rescue

[EireDiver606]

I think you're a bit out of date with things, but ok.
It doesn't increase your metabolic rate if you're hungry. Breaking down meals into smaller portions throughout the day allows the body to not store excess calories as fat stores which in essence does keep metabolic rate higher, giving the body what it needs but not too much.

I wasn't using low weights actually.

And hiit burns more fat than steady state cardio. In fact, there are current research studies showing weight training is showing gains in metabolic rates for a longer period than both steady state cardio and hiit.

Op as I said stay consistent with lean proteins, veg's, in the gym and your rest and you'll see overall fitness gains for as long as you stay consistent.

HIIT doesn’t really burn fat as well as people think, it actually makes you more muscly. I know this from experience because I tried to lose weight a few years ago and did HIIT 20 mins 5 times a week and I didn’t really lose much fat or weight, I just gained more of a more muscly build but still had the fat. My cardiovascular fitness increased tremendously. HIIT burns fat but no where near as good as high volume low intensity steady state cardio does. If you need to lose a lot of weight, do long cardio, if you want to burn a little bit of fat but retain muscle, do HIIT.

Then I did walking 1 hour in the morning a few days a walk and actually lost stubborn fat. High intensity high volume means you get fitter but lose muscle. HIIT means your get fitter but you’re not actually burning as much as you think, no where near. My diet was the same for each.

There are a lot of misconceptions in the fitness industry. Try them and put the myth to the test.

As for the metabolic rate, metabolism is not how good your body is a not storing fat,it is how good it is at using energy. I never said you need to be hungry, just eat normal meals X3 a day. There has been no study performed that has proven that more frequent smaller meals increases metabolic rate by any measurable amount. All that matters is keeping active and balancing calories. Basal metabolic rate is the least amount of energy need for the body to function normally at rest. If you have high metabolism, it means your body is efficient in using the calories you put in because you are active or have muscles, muscles consume energy. Nothing to do with how often you eat. Do you want to be full or be slightly satisfied with your smaller meals is the last question because that’s just plain wrong. Metabolism is controlled by age, genetics, activity level, diet and how much muscle you have.

Maybe I’m completely wrong and I’m a natural freak as I got more muscly from doing HIIT. Maybe I was doing too much HIIT? I’ve heard of others on the internet who had happen to them what happened to me. HIIT you’re not doing it long enough to burn it completely as you’re stopping starting 2-3mins on 1 min off or 1 min on 1 min off. Now if you do long HIIT workouts, then you will definitely lose fat like 1 hour.

All I’ll say is don’t believe everything on the internet OP, try things for yourself and see what works for you.

The reason why HIIT is promoted as burning the fat best is because people assume you want to retain muscle.

 

[Mustard Dave]

You do not need to be a superhero* to do PADI Rescue Diver; it is not going to turn the average diver into an instant pro. In my opinion, the reasons for taking the course should be to develop your awareness, develop your confidence, learn some techniques which you can improve over time, make you a better buddy, and introduce you to rescue management. It will also help you understand your limitations.

If you do the rescue course, I recommend you keep practising your skills to keep them sharp, and improve them. I did my course with my local dive school, who also have a club that I used to belong to. After the course, we were encouraged to tag along on future courses; they are always glad of people to to act as victims and swell the numbers for the rescue scenarios, so you get the opportunity to practice your skills at no cost.

A few years ago, I watched Mark Powell (author of the excellent Deco for Divers) give a talk on diving and fitness at the Birmingham NEC dive show. Unfortunately, us Brits often do not fit the image of svelte beauties and bronzed Adonises that you see in promotional literature. During his presentation, he showed us a video of a rescue scenario. It was videoed by an underwater cameraman, and with a drone above the water.

The video was made with the support of a number of agencies. The participants had basic tech qualifications and were selected as they weren't completely unfit, but could do with a little work on their fitness. The scenario was an unresponsive diver under the water, so the rescuer had to perform a controlled buoyant lift, followed by a casualty assessment on the surface, tow and recovery from the water etc. The rescuer was fitted with a heart rate monitor, and the data was displayed throughout the video.

As we watched the rescuer's heart rate rise, Mark paused the video and explained that the heart rate monitor was not transmitting live data; it was downloaded afterwards. He told us had he known what his heart rate was at the time, he would have ended the exercise.

I have watched many divers of varying degrees of fitness receive rescue training; even the healthier specimens can appear short of breath when it is new to them. As your technique improves, along with your confidence, it becomes less strenuous. It is never a bad idea for a diver to seek to improve their fitness, but it is also never wrong for any diver to learn rescue skills.


* I am told that flashing a Rescue Diver card in a bar can convince impressionable members of the opposite sex that your day job involves jumping out of helicopters in scuba gear and saving people. I would, of course, never countenance such deceit.

 

[Chidiver1]

HIIT doesn’t really burn fat as well as people think, it actually makes you more muscly. I know this from experience because I tried to lose weight a few years ago and did HIIT 20 mins 5 times a week and I didn’t really lose much fat or weight, I just gained more of a more muscly build but still had the fat. My cardiovascular fitness increased tremendously. HIIT burns fat but no where near as good as high volume low intensity steady state cardio does. If you need to lose a lot of weight, do long cardio, if you want to burn a little bit of fat but retain muscle, do HIIT.

Then I did walking 1 hour in the morning a few days a walk and actually lost stubborn fat. High intensity high volume means you get fitter but lose muscle. HIIT means your get fitter but you’re not actually burning as much as you think, no where near. My diet was the same for each.

There are a lot of misconceptions in the fitness industry. Try them and put the myth to the test.

As for the metabolic rate, metabolism is not how good your body is a not storing fat,it is how good it is at using energy. I never said you need to be hungry, just eat normal meals X3 a day. There has been no study performed that has proven that more frequent smaller meals increases metabolic rate by any measurable amount. All that matters is keeping active and balancing calories. Basal metabolic rate is the least amount of energy need for the body to function normally at rest. If you have high metabolism, it means your body is efficient in using the calories you put in because you are active or have muscles, muscles consume energy. Nothing to do with how often you eat. Do you want to be full or be slightly satisfied with your smaller meals is the last question because that’s just plain wrong. Metabolism is controlled by age, genetics, activity level, diet and how much muscle you have.

Maybe I’m completely wrong and I’m a natural freak as I got more muscly from doing HIIT. Maybe I was doing too much HIIT? I’ve heard of others on the internet who had happen to them what happened to me. HIIT you’re not doing it long enough to burn it completely as you’re stopping starting 2-3mins on 1 min off or 1 min on 1 min off. Now if you do long HIIT workouts, then you will definitely lose fat like 1 hour.

All I’ll say is don’t believe everything on the internet OP, try things for yourself and see what works for you.

The reason why HIIT is promoted as burning the fat best is because people assume you want to retain muscle.

Believe me I understand metabolic rate, digestion, absorption, etc. The knowledge comes from voraciously reading and studying biology, nutrition, biochemistry etc in college recently with RD's and professors. Sucked having to measure every ounce of intake of food, water, juice, fruit etc I took in, etc.

Hiit cardio isn't supposed to be done more than 3x a week, if you're doing it right anymore than that doesn't provide sufficient recovery time, it's been said numerous times.

You seem to have a decent grasp of knowledge, but it's unusual to not lose fat from hiit cardio. It also is said to depend on what you kept your HR at while performing the sessions. Maybe your composition of fast twitch fibers are slight more than some other people, who knows.

You said muscle helps basal metabolic rate and helps burn calories so you would want to increase muscle to increase fat burning.

Op just needs to stay in the gym, and not step backwards if he takes some time off. Supported by rest and proper nutrition he will see gains in easurements of cardio, strength, and endurance.

That's the bottom line. Eat right to support your gym time. And rest for repairs. I'm sure he will get where he wants to be, if he wants to get there enough. Change up your exercises to try to avoid plateaus.

 

[Mustard Dave]

I don’t disagree but if they teach you to do breathes while towing, that’s how you do it.

I'm not sure what everyone is teaching now, but when I did PADI RD about nine years ago, I was taught rescue breaths every five seconds while towing. I have recently been doing the BSAC Advanced Diver course, which includes a review of rescue skills, and we are taught two on the surface, and then tow all the way without until they are out of the water and you can start CPR.

When I did the Emergency First Response course before the rescue course, my instructor was a very highly regarded freediver. He showed us a video of a freediver who was unresponsive as he surfaced. As one diver assessed him, another popped up and gave a rescue breath, which made him come around instantly. The most probable cause was a shallow water blackout, which is not uncommon in freediving, but he stressed the effectiveness immediate rescue breaths can have.

 

[Edward3c]

I'm not sure what everyone is teaching now, but when I did PADI RD about nine years ago, I was taught rescue breaths every five seconds while towing. I have recently been doing the BSAC Advanced Diver course, which includes a review of rescue skills, and we are taught two on the surface, and then tow all the way without until they are out of the water and you can start CPR.

That isn’t the current guidance. It was changed a few years ago to 1 minute RB, then tow.

From BSAC’s Safe Diving:
In-water rescue
New recommendations about this were made in 2016 and BSAC now recommends the following in- water rescue sequence:
 Give one minute of rescue breaths (RB) (10 RBs)
 If no spontaneous breathing returns
then either
 Tow the victim to shore as quickly as possible without further RB
or
 Continue on the spot with approximately 10 RBs per minute until support from rescue boat or helicopter arrives to take over the resuscitation. This decision will depend on the local situation, such as sea conditions, distance to shore, and availability of rescue boat or rescue helicopter.
 In either case, when reaching shore, or having access to the boat or helicopter, the casualty should be promptly dekitted and landed as quickly as possible without further rescue breaths.

 

[wnissen]

The biggest thing for any course is that you need to kick with fins on. Sidestroke will let you get full range of motion and mimic the "do-si-do" position that you will have to tow while giving rescue breaths.
Physically you'll be fine, but depending on how long the tow is, it's cramping that will get you because kicking is a very different motion than normal workouts and you'll want to practice alternating kick cycles to prevent cramping.

Sidestroke, where have you been all my life! I have literally never done it, not in any form. So I was all over the lane, and very grateful that there weren't enough people in the pool to require splitting. And it was super awkward to be looking sideways instead of down. But wow, is that better than swimming any of the prone / supine strokes! I was getting the full stroke for the first time not on SCUBA, and my ankles and calves started to hurt right away. The second time I was able to do 900 m / 1050yd in 30 minutes, mostly without using my arms at all, and I hope to be able to do a full 1500m next week. That will really help. I should probably try to watch some videos, because I'm sure my technique sucks.

One month till I start my pool work! I've been taking the online portion of the Red Cross First Aid / CPR course. Not bad, but I wish it had more explanations of what things like "responsiveness" mean.

 

[tbone1004]

@wnissen you'll probably have trouble finding any finning technique videos. A true "sidestroke" involves somewhat complicated hand motions and a scissor kick that only has your top leg going forward. When practicing with fins on whether to get your flutter kick technique down or to get the muscles exercised for something like a tow, you are doing the normal kicking position just while on your side. Your bottom arm will be extended forward to help steer, and you are obviously on your side, but those are the only real similarities to a true sidestroke which is a resting stroke when swimming.

 

[wnissen]

So, update! I continued training, both diving and pool / weightlifting / biking. Having a specific task to accomplish is such a great motivation! I think in the month of June I only missed one of the 5x weekly workouts I was hoping to complete.

We did the pool work one evening, 6-9. About 2 hours in the pool, not too demanding except for the exits. I really should not have squatted that morning, because I was so sore the next day, and then my son really wanted to bike to work. I did rest completely on Friday. A couple hours of classroom yesterday morning, followed by about 3 hours in the local quarry running the open-water scenarios. About 4 hours in the water with only a short hydration break, which we should have doubled due to the 100F / 38C air temperature. I drank 2L of gatorade but was still dehydrated afterward. The water felt good with no exposure protection!

You all were right, it is physically demanding but not in the way I expected. It's a lot of swimming back and forth, getting in and out of gear, and, yes, towing. I would still say that being in outstanding shape would help, but it was within my limits. I am not qualified to be a Baywatch / SCUBA rescuer, but I do have a reasonable set of skills that I could call on, more or less confidently, in an emergency. Thanks, everyone!