Strenous Exercise after Diving: How Long Should I Wait?

[medic_diver45]

I read that strenuous exercise after diving increases your risk of DCS. This is something that worries me, seeing as I don't want to get bent, but I recently started exercising everyday but Sunday (decided I wasn't in as good of shape as I could be, and decided to do something about it):
Arms (strength training) on Monday
Bicycling (CV workout) on Tuesday
Back and chest (strength training) on Wednesday
Distance swimming (CV workout) on Thursday
Legs on Friday (strength training)
Up to an hour on a stair climber on Saturday (usually with a backpack with 30 lbs of weight in it on to simulate a Scott Pack)

How long do I need to stay topside before I can safely workout? I don't want to cause myself to develop DCS. Any input from the docs would be appreciated.


-Steve

 

[Saturation]

You can find threads on this topic all over scubaboard. About 24h before and after diving is safest. 6 hrs before and after is minimum.

 

[DocVikingo]

This has been posted mutliple times on the Diving Medicine and Dr. Decompression forums--->

Exercise Before, During, and After Diving
... there are DCS risks, indeeed

http://www.undercurrent.org/UCnow/articles/Exercise200403.shtml

Hope it proves informative.

DocVikingo

 

[medic_diver45]

Thanks everyone....looks like I may have to cut back my exercise routine if I want to dive.

 

[Dr Deco]

Hello medic diver:

Summary

As indicated above, this has been covered before. In a nutshell, I suggested that one wait about four hours between exercise and diving, and then one wait six hours between diving and post-dive exercise.

Rational

This is based on the idea that the lifetime for exercise-induced micronuclei is about one hour. The four hours should give sufficient time for these to resolve. Remember however, that nuclei will also be generated in the course of walking and lugging tanks, etc.

At the other end of the day, sixty minutes will allow for off gassing of the longest compartment generally encountered in recreational diving. If one is involved in deep diving (decompression required), the gas loads require longer times to be properly described. This six-hour recommendation will thus be too brief.

Dr Deco :doctor:

Readers, please note the next class in Decompression Physiology :1book:
http://wrigley.usc.edu/hyperbaric/advdeco.htm

 

[pasley]

...Up to an hour on a stair climber on Saturday (usually with a backpack with 30 lbs of weight in it on to simulate a Scott Pack)...

Steve, substitute a dive for the stair climber.
Go beach diving. 70 pounds of weight (38 pound tank, 20 pounds lead and misc equipment), long walk to water down steep hill, swim out 300 yards on surface and then do 1 to 1.5 hours of a dive, then swim back and up the hill should nicely take the place of the stair climber.

I read recently that 40 minutes of diving (particularly beach diving) is equal to 40 minutes of the stairmaster.

 

[Dr Deco]

Hi Melvin and Readers:

While this is good exercise, these hiking activities on the shore are still nuclei producers and could get you into trouble if the time restrains are not observed. Certainly, every diver performing such activity will not have a problem. Indeed, most will not. When something does occur, however, divers credit an “underserved hit” since they were within the dive tables. Remember, dive tables only track gas loads; they cannot track tissue nuclei concentration generated by musculoskeletal activity.

Dr Deco :doctor:

Readers, please note the next class in Decompression Physiology :1book:
http://wrigley.usc.edu/hyperbaric/advdeco.htm

 

[Saturation]

Hi Melvin and Readers:

While this is good exercise, these hiking activities on the shore are still nuclei producers and could get you into trouble if the time restrains are not observed. Certainly, every diver performing such activity will not have a problem. Indeed, most will not. When something does occur, however, divers credit an “underserved hit” since they were within the dive tables. Remember, dive tables only track gas loads; they cannot track tissue nuclei concentration generated by musculoskeletal activity.

Dr Deco :doctor:

Readers, please note the next class in Decompression Physiology

http://wrigley.usc.edu/hyperbaric/advdeco.htm

I concur very strongly with Dr. Deco.

Please be a slug after and before a dive as much as possible.

Reserve switching tanks over or doing any lifting of gear near the end of the 1st hour of the SIT.

 

[headhunter]

I concur very strongly with Dr. Deco.

Please be a slug after and before a dive as much as possible.

Reserve switching tanks over or doing any lifting of gear near the end of the 1st hour of the SIT.

Perfect! I was looking for a solid reason for having coolies or sherpas carry me and my gear to the waters edge!

But seriously, if one is climbing up and down some of these very steep goat paths, it would obviously be somewhat inconvenient to wait 4 hours once at the waters edge before going in and 6 hours after the dive to climb back up the hill.

I see that Saturation has mentioned waiting an hour after a dive before engaging in "heavy lifting". I understand that 6 hours is closer to "optimal" for NDL dives. I also understand that this is not an exact science and that everyone's body will react differently. Should a 1 hour period after a dive be used as a "rule of thumb" for strenuous activity?

I'm a fan of these "cliff access" dives, but I'm not a young whippersnapper anymore. (I'm still a whippersnapper, though!) This is why I ask.

Thanks.

Christian

 

[DocVikingo]

The following is from the article linked in post#3 above:

Vigorous aerobic exercise, like hard running or strenuous hiking, can produce pronounced changes in body temperature, blood flow, and oxygen use within tissues. Done immediately before a dive, this could result in an undesirably rapid uptake of nitrogen upon descent. After a dive, such exercise could contribute to a dangerously accelerated elimination rate and/or the formation of micronuclei.

Some scuba venues, like Hawaii, invite arduous post-dive hiking to altitudes that can seriously compound the worries. Don’t hike too soon after diving, and if trekking remotely near altitudes of 8,000 feet, follow DAN flying-after-diving recommendations of waiting 12 or more hours after making a single no-decompression dive and 17 or more hours after making repetitive dives.

Best regards.

DocVikingo