Exercise after diving

[hwahl]

I am currently working a coral restoration internship in which we often do 3-tank dives in a day, the deepest of which is 30ft. Surface intervals between dives range from 10 minutes to 90 minutes, and water temperatures during the summer range from 80-90 degrees Fahrenheit. With this information, I have 3 questions:

1.) If I dive conservatively (making safety stops before surfacing) and stay hydrated, is it safe for me to work out after dives? I go to a CrossFit gym at which workouts can be quite strenuous, but I can modify the exercises I’m feeling tired.

2.) If I CAN work out, should there be a certain time interval between my last dive and the start of the workout?

3.) Is it safe/more safe for me to work out in the morning before a 3-dive day instead?

My primary concern is increasing my risk of DCI. Looking forward to hearing some answers!

 

[kissonerga.ccr]

The point of the material quoted above is in response to the people that say that skipping exercise is okay because diving is exercise. One person suggested exactly that in this very conversation.

Ah. This had to be me, in #9. But did you skip the part where I said that generalized recommendations make little sense because all divers / dives are different? For me, an average dive these days is a 75-120’ run time to 45-60m on trimix dil, with little support before / after the dive, hauling 50-60kg of gear down/up-slope. For someone else, it can be much easier, or much harder. Probabilistically, chances of a DCS hit are higher X hours post-dive, I choose not to establish with any precision what my X is. I know that the next day is good enough for me. You may feel otherwise, good luck with that.

I genuinely don’t understand the urge to engage in vigorous exercise on the same day. Why not postpone it? In one phase of my life having run several dozen marathons and ultras (and placed first in 5 of them), I believe it’s totally ok – unless you are a professional athlete training for a high stakes event, in which case you probably shouldn’t be diving at all

 

[SKS22]

Ah. This had to be me, in #9. But did you skip the part where I said that generalized recommendations make little sense because all divers / dives are different? For me, an average dive these days is a 75-120’ run time to 45-60m on trimix dil, with little support before / after the dive, hauling 50-60kg of gear down/up-slope. For someone else, it can be much easier, or much harder. Probabilistically, chances of a DCS hit are higher X hours post-dive, I choose not to establish with any precision what my X is. I know that the next day is good enough for me. You may feel otherwise, good luck with that.

I genuinely don’t understand the urge to engage in vigorous exercise on the same day. Why not postpone it? In one phase of my life having run several dozen marathons and ultras (and placed first in 5 of them), I believe it’s totally ok – unless you are a professional athlete training for a high stakes event, in which case you probably shouldn’t be diving at all

"But did you skip the part..." Guilty. I commented in a parenthetical, so minimal detail, and offered my personal numbers. Your post deserved more, but I didn't want to make my post too long and it was focused on other aspects of the discussion, plus I figured that OP had read and considered your post. FWIW I thought the point you made was a valid one for discussion; not sure why that aspect's inclusion was so vigorously challenged. Also, I agree that rest days and/or recovery/light days are fine and even longer breaks can help after a tough fitness regimen. But what about pros and folks like OP?

In trips I've chatted with guides who are working 6 days weeks for the season. OP is "often" doing 3 tank dives a day to help restore coral. Telling folks diving often to take a rest day every time they dive means that they don't exercise in any meaningful way! Due to the obesity epidemic, which is now global, and humanity's # 1 killer (via cardiovascular disease), advice that reduces exercise merits careful scrutiny. DAN's article is laden with CYA -- e.g. describing the findings upon which their advice is dispensed as "preliminary findings" and "We do not yet have sufficient data to quantify the difference between beneficial and potentially harmful exercise." Given all that hedging, should DAN really be pushing a "rule of thumb" of "24 hours" that encourages these folks to be sedentary? One need only glance at the comments in this discussion to see the chilling effect on exercise the article created.

OP -- My advice: Search for the Copenhagen dive right here on ScubaBoard. Or call Gold Coast Scuba which has been guiding that dive forever. You don't need to take my work for it. You'll find that lots of folks right here on SB have swum .7-1 miles (depending on whether they had a guide or got all turned around finding the wreck), then dived a profile similar to what you're describing, then swum back to shore. Or, since you're from San Diego, where a lot of folks shore dive (shout out to La Jolla shore divers) ask some of the local shops about whether anyone's gotten bent under similar circumstances. Unfortunately I can't comment about crossfit, which is far more intense than the swims I'm describing, but at least you can do something equivalent to a mile of swimming with confidence during your internship on diving days. As a crossfitter you'll loose some fitness on that program, but it will keep you in the habit of exercise and preserve your base fitness -- better than nothing!

 

[tarponchik]

p 72:

Furthermore, in a subsequent study we have shown that post-dive, high intensity exercise did not increase the risk for DCS, but rather caused an 8-fold reduction in bubble formation. Th is was somewhat surprising since we hypothesized that it would promote venous bubble formation, based on the previous reports of increased nitrogen elimination with post-dive exercise after simulated dives to 20 msw (Muth et al., 1994). Th ese inconsistencies may potentially be explained with the differences in type of diving (open water versus simulated) and the exercise intensity (high versus moderate). Th e most likely cause of reduced bubble formation observed during post-dive exercise is the increased blood fl ow induced by exercise which may cause a depletion of bubble nuclei at the surface of endothelial cells, without which bubbles cannot grow

 

[blueskies_up_ahead]

I genuinely don’t understand the urge to engage in vigorous exercise on the same day. Why not postpone it? In one phase of my life having run several dozen marathons and ultras (and placed first in 5 of them), I believe it’s totally ok – unless you are a professional athlete training for a high stakes event, in which case you probably shouldn’t be diving at all

I can only answer for myself: I don't want to exercise hard on the day of a dive. If on vacation I might like to play some beach volleyball. And if diving at home, I'd like to work out the next day, which would in most cases be less than 24 hours after surfacing on the last dive. Hence my interest in the subject.

 

[J-Vo]

Any cases of DCS documented after post-dive strenuous exercise? Somehow I find statements that "gas in your tissues can be forced out by exercise post dive" questionable. Why would exercise force the gas out of tissues?

Yes me.

Let's not forget that 25 to 30% of people have some kind of shunt. All it takes is one good tank toss to push veinous bubbles across and cause a hit. That's a big enough % of the population that it needs to be taken into account in the recommendations.

 

[tarponchik]

Yes me.

Let's not forget that 25 to 30% of people have some kind of shunt. All it takes is one good tank toss to push veinous bubbles across and cause a hit. That's a big enough % of the population that it needs to be taken into account in the recommendations.

If you meant artery bypass, the rate is much lower, 62/100,000 in Western Europe. I doubt it is much higher in the USA.

Personally, I used to do pull-ups during surface interval when I was diving Old Airport in Kona.

 

[J-Vo]

If you meant artery bypass, the rate is much lower, 62/100,000 in Western Europe. I doubt it is much higher in the USA.

Personally, I used to do pull-ups during surface interval when I was diving Old Airport in Kona.

I believe PFO is the most common, but not the only possible. 25 to 30% is about correct.