Controlling and reducing air consumption

[Joneill]

The really fit person may use less oxygen, but not necessarily less air. Air consumption is more closely tied to breathing rate. While it is true that someone who uses oxygen more efficiently is likely to have a lower breathing rate, it is not a given.

The main point is that someone who is physically fit will generally consume less air - it sure worked for me when I got my butt in shape and lost 40 lb by diet and a lot of cardio (and alot of low intensity to burn fat). A few flights of stairs used to wind me and now it's no problem... AND my RMV went from ~0.6 to on a trip at 240 lb to ~0.4 four months later at 200 lb.

 

[Joneill]

Here is the thing though, that statement is so vague. An athlete "may" have a resting heart rate as low as 40? Can we also assume someone who is not an athlete can have a resting heart rate as low as 40? Sure we can.

Also some people with low heart rates can actually have cardio vascular issues.



So on the other side some athletes will not have that low of a RHR, because it depends on the type of physical activity they typically perform, for instance high intensity exercise seems to lower RHR much more than low intensity exercise does.

So where does that leave the tennis player (athlete)? Will he have as low as a RHR rate of a sprinter? Probably not. Are the both in good cardio vascular health? Yes they are. So I guess my point is RHR is extremely general and the amount of time it takes you to get back to resting is a far better measurement of your cardio vascular health.



https://www.nature.com/articles/jhh200951

Until your RHR gets up to 80 you are at no greater risk of a cardiovascular event than someone at 40.



Elevated resting heart rate, physical fitness and all-cause mortality: a 16-year follow-up in the Copenhagen Male Study

Understood - thanks.

 

[gcarter]

The main point is that someone who is physically fit will generally consume less air - it sure worked for me when I got my butt in shape and lost 40 lb by diet and a lot of cardio (and alot of low intensity to burn fat). A few flights of stairs used to wind me and now it's no problem... AND my RMV went from ~0.6 to on a trip at 240 lb to ~0.4 four months later at 200 lb.

I think that is what I said. In contrast to the statement I replied to which was categorical.

 

[Joneill]

I think that is what I said. In contrast to the statement I replied to which was categorical.

My intent was not to be categorical, as there are rarely absolutes in anything. Sorry for the confusion - we are on the same page.

 

[BRT]

The main point is that someone who is physically fit will generally consume less air - it sure worked for me when I got my butt in shape and lost 40 lb by diet and a lot of cardio (and alot of low intensity to burn fat). A few flights of stairs used to wind me and now it's no problem... AND my RMV went from ~0.6 to on a trip at 240 lb to ~0.4 four months later at 200 lb.

Was that between dives 50 and 99? That will make a big difference. This all has been argued before, but other than some really tiny people the people I know who really don't breathe much air diving are fairly overweight.

 

[tarponchik]

Unless you are dead, you are always "doing work" with regards to cardiovascular activity. You are breathing to fuel muscular activity and metabolic functions. Why don't you understand that? Scuba diving involves swimming, an aerobic activity. It doesn't matter that good divers minimize the amount of physical exertion they use to dive, it's still exertion.

Of course I understand that we breathe to fuel muscular activity. What you do not understand is that at low efforts level, when we idle, though we still consume oxygen, our aerobic efficiency does not matter and air intake is determined by other factors.

 

[tarponchik]

Geez, even if we bought into your wacky premise that there is no work involved in recreational scuba, it is a FACT that a really fit person will have a lower resting heart and respiration rate so they would still use less air!!

Or maybe you meant work as in a job? In that case, you are right and, for most, recreational diving does not involve work so fitness is irrelevant. Lol!

Are you trying to play dumb? The lower RHR in athlets is compensated by their larger heart volumes. So they still pump more blood at rest than non-athlets.

 

[tarponchik]

Can we also assume someone who is not an athlete can have a resting heart rate as low as 40? Sure we can.

My grand grandma had a heart attack at age 60. She lived the next 35 years of her life with HRH 35-40.

 

[tarponchik]

Was that between dives 50 and 99? That will make a big difference. This all has been argued before, but other than some really tiny people the people I know who really don't breathe much air diving are fairly overweight.

Fat cells do not use much oxygen. If you ever cooked meat or at least saw it in a grocery you've probably noticed that lean meat is red but fat is pink or even white because it lacks blood vessels. Muscles need blood flow, fat does not. So adding a spare tire around your waist wouldn't increase your air intake.

 

[Joneill]

Was that between dives 50 and 99? That will make a big difference. This all has been argued before, but other than some really tiny people the people I know who really don't breathe much air diving are fairly overweight.

No - it was from one dive trip to the next trip. The last dive on the trip I was 240 lb on, I had gotten down to about 0.6 RMV and the first five of the next trip where I had shed 40 lbs and gotten much more fit, I was at about 0.4. It was between dives 43 and 44.