Can working out a few weeks prior to diving prevent a lot of medical accidents?

[Arcadie]

I'm sorry if this is the wrong place to post this, not really sure what category this should go in.

This is something that dawned on my not actually diving but from my constant rollercoaster approach to working out daily for a few months, then quitting for a year, then starting again.

If you look at the accidents forum, a large majority of the "accidents" seem to be health related, many of them of them heart attacks or something along those lines. Presumably from divers who are "couch potatoes" that do not perform any serious exercise during the year than instantly jump into a dive which is almost like a shock to their body.

If you are like me and are constantly taking up exercising regularly than quitting, you may have experienced the same thing. The very first day you start working out again after taking a hiatus, doing something like jogging a mile seems like its going to kill you. I often have felt like I was going to pass out the first 2-3 days. It's a feeling that just "hits" you all of the sudden. then day 4 or 5 comes around and it's no issue, the feeling of passing out/blacking out nearly vanishes. It doesn't "feel" easier to jog that mile, it's just as hard as it was the first day, however, i don't feel like I'm gonna black out. I have googled around and it seems like this is a relatively common thing people like me experience. One thing I would like to point out is that after a week, I'm not really in better shape per say, sure I may have lost a pound or 2 but being 2 pounds lighter is not the difference between blacking out and successfully running a mile, rather its your body adapting to your new routines. But my main point here is that after just a few days that this blacking out feeling nearly vanishes. And from what i have heard from a personal friend is this is also true for "skinny" people as well. I have a friend who just started working out who had very little if any fat on him, not to lose weight of course but to gain weight and muscle and he experienced the same feeling the first few days of lifting weights.

Here is where I am thinking the diving community may be wrong:
Diving if you are overweight, is much more dangerous than if you were not overweight.

Many divers suggest that it's dangerous for an overweight person to dive. Taking my experiences from above, I'm not sure its necessarily being overweight, rather that not having any stamina built up. I am willing to bet that by simply starting a jogging, biking or other aerobic workout routine just a week or 2 before you go on that dive vacation may significantly decrease the chance of a "medical event" underwater by simply avoiding that shock reaction your body has when you suddenly do a strenuous activity after being dormant for so long.

That being said, what are your thoughts on this statement:
It is more dangerous (in terms of a medical heart attack related event) for a "skinny" person to dive if he has not performed a strenuous activity for a long period of time vs an overweight/obese diver who has been actively jogging daily for the last couple of weeks.

 

[FinnMom]

I think the current wisdom has for some time been that diving is vastly safer for people with decent to good fitness, i.e. it's about fitness, not BMI. Because being overweight is often related to an inactive lifestyle, if someone is significantly overweight (BMI maybe +35), it's a "headsup" that this person might also have poor fitness. It makes sense that it gets flagged on the medical statement but it's just the start of the conversation.

As for you question, it depends on age, genes, past fitness habits & lord knows what else. But an "overweight" person physically capable of jogging daily doesn'y worry me too terribly much about his/her fitness. Usually the overweight we assume to mean a heart attack risk are persons something like +49 yrs and +39 BMI who clearly seem to find routine activity (such as climbing 1 flight of stairs) strenuous.

 

[KeithG]

I suggest you do more research about the effects of exercise. If it was as easy as getting tangible benefits in under 2 weeks then no one would be fat.

You also need to get a good understanding of how to exercise. A couch potato should not start out by jogging daily.

 

[NYCNaiad]

So let me begin by saying that I am not a doctor.

It's my understanding that the current wisdom points to poor cardio fitness (& other risk factors) as being more problematic than being overweight. Here's an article from DAN on cardiac health & diving.

From what I've read from a number of different sources, you can start feeling the benefits of exercise & eating better around the two-week mark. And certainly, any additional exercise (& some better nutrition choices) is better than none. However, it's my understanding that it takes about 6-8 weeks to seriously improve your aerobic endurance. At that point, you may or may not be dive fit as it depends upon where your body was when you started the process.

Could just 2 weeks of exercise help reduce accidents? I don't know, but I do know that as I grow older, it becomes even more important to maintain a good overall level of fitness for my diving.

btw, I don't think it's necessarily healthy for you to be working out so hard at first that you feel like you're going to pass out especially when you haven't been active in a while. My understanding is that starting slow is better for your health.

Side note: A great place to post medical questions is in the Diving Medicine forum. And if you want this post to be moved there, we're happy to do so.

 

[RainPilot]

Agreed, I've moved it to Diving Medicine.

 

[Vicko]

I am in no way a doctor and by the look of me I'm not a fitness expert either. However I am a divemaster and I would much prefer it if you would have your heart attack in a gym then in the sea, and I would guess that the survivability rate is much higher.

 

[Aviyes]

Will it hurt probably not, but it can add its own dangers as well. But, that is an example of looking for a shortcut. Much better to be on constant workout routine. Doesn't have to be a gym rat/marathoner training intense, but just being active with walks, hikes and jogging for example. In the end, there are so many factors other than fitness that increase the risk of heart related incidents, that to look for one phrase why can be a dangerous idea. Hence, the more common recommendation of making sure to have a doctor's physical to identify those potential risks before you start diving.

 

[BenjaminF]

There are some contradicting messages about this out there. I'm very much NOT an expert, but I try to read as much as possible.

On page 39 of this https://www.uhms.org/images/DCS-and-AGE-Journal-Watch/dujic_beneficial_role_exerc.pdf , they talk about how exercise before diving can help reduce the risks of bubble formation in rats. This: Aerobic exercise before diving reduces venous gas bubble formation in humans talks about the same thing in people.

This (unfortunately paywalled): Endurance exercise immediately before sea diving reduces bubble formation in scuba divers also talks about it.

 

[Trace Malinowski]

When I think about the epitome of a "fit but fat" person, many linemen in the NFL come to mind. These guys are definitely carrying unneeded bioprene, but they are also conditioned for high levels of brief intensity with seconds to minutes of rest between downs. A skinny couch potato would in no way be able to compete with a fat pro football player when placed in situations of physical stress such as attempting a surf rescue.

But, the OP puts an interesting twist on the age old "fit but fat" question. What if the person only had a couple of weeks to train before "the training effect" really could make a difference? As a former certified personal trainer, my answer would be that barring any complex or unknown medical issues such as a PFO, the more physically trained a person is the more likely that person will be able to survive the physical stresses of diving. Stress, as we know, can be reduced by proper breathing. A regulator will deliver gas with some resistance and if a person is unduly out of shape working against the density of movement through water, gear drag, and trying to get oxygen to muscles with an increased work of breathing, there will be both an increased cardiovascular stress and an increased psychological stress placed on the diver which would more likely result in a cardiac related event or panic should predisposing factors exist.

Many variables come into play when we look at the cardiovascular system. As a general rule, maintaining a healthy weight, the correct ratio of "good" vs. "bad" cholesterol, younger vs. older divers (less time to develop age-related heart diseases), diet and exercise as well as a lifestyle that follows American Heart Association and physician guidelines for heart health will give a diver better odds of not developing a cardiac event. Stress, too, can be caused by many factors and divers should try to get adequate rest, exercise to reduce stress and anxiety, dive often, and visualize dives having a positive outcome before diving and even in the midst of an underwater stress situation.

Now, what if you haven't been exercising regularly? Your ability to bounce back to fitness due to muscle memory is going to be primarily dependent upon the level to which you had been trained before cessation of exercise, your age, the time away from training, and the types of physical activities you engaged in prior to ceasing exercise as they relate to diving.

Can two weeks make a difference? Yes! It happened to me. I had not been swimming in a couple years. I normally would swim 1 mile a day in college. After college, I swam on a US Masters team twice a week. But, I was no longer around my old pool and hadn't been swimming. I joined a gym with a pool and went back to swimming three days a week. Two weeks later, with just 5 - 6 swim sessions, I found myself having to make a swimming surf rescue without rescue equipment when a diver yelled for help off a beach in rough seas, rips, the whole 9 yards. I had to cross chest carry him to safety. Two weeks got me conditioned enough due to my previous training, age, and activity level (running, lifting & diving) to make that rescue.

Would I recommend a Yo-Yo exercise regime? Train a bit, quit, train a bit? No. Like previous posters suggested, maintaining a fitness program is the way to go. At age 48, I personally like 5x5 weight training such as Strong Lifts, Bill Starr's program, or Madcow's program for strength training 3 times a week. Just 3 exercises + 5 sets of 5 repetitions each day. Out of the gym in about 20 - 30 minutes. On the other days, I do beach sprints, steady state cardio runs just 2 to 3 miles, or swim up to 1 mile. Post less exercise more. 30 minutes less Internet might add years to your life and keep diving fun and safe.

 

[chrisch]

You cannot be fat and fit. Your BMI can be bigger due to muscle and bone mass but if you are fat you are not fit. If you carry fat you are at risk of heart disease more than a "normal" person. Stamina is a good thing and certainly helpful for diving but if we take the view that heart failure is a problem when diving (not sure it is TBH) then having a lower percentage of fat as part of your overall body mass is a good start point.

With no evidence at all - just my hunch - I think that stress is probably a bigger factor in the underwater deaths that are so often put down to "heart attack". Sure fitness is going to help, but IMHO being more confident in the water is probably a better start point.

Yo-yo exercise, yo-yo dieting and so on all seem to be worse than none at all. Find a (gentle) exercise you enjoy and do it for fun (I mountainbike) and find a sensible diet you enjoy too - don't be miserable - eating is a pleasure, but overeating on junk food is a mental illness.

I think all of us carry a few pounds too many. I'm sure I do too. No big deal. dive and exercise within your limits. Enjoy life - you only get one chance