Diving and Fitness - What Exercises?

[mikecsmith]

Hi,

I'm a pretty big bloke - 6'2, 38" waist and 18 stone - and I know that this increases my risk of DCI and makes my SAC higher. I'm currently training for a 10k run in Leeds in June and I'm waiting to hear if I have place with the RNLI in the GNR.

I'm running around 2 miles every 2-3 days atm and increasing in increments of half miles every week but I'm not really varying my training too much. Was just wondering if anyone had advice on other (cheap - I'm a student and diving takes up all my money ) exercises I could do or different training regimes when running which would help improve my SAC?

Any help appreciated.

Mike

[Garf]

i cross train between the following and it's doing astonishing things for my SAC

1. Road Running
2. Gym Cardio Work
3. Swimming
4. Hill Walking / Running

i try to get out 4-5 times a week

[SoggyFox]

Originally Posted by mikecsmith

which would help improve my SAC?

stop worrying about it and enjoy the diving.

nice one with the running, keep it up.

[Ricky2703]

I dug these out from a post last year

Free Fitness and Nutrition Articles from Form Fitness Personal Training
Exercises, Stretches, and Nutrition for SCUBA Diving

Ricky

[sussexsubmarine]

Originally Posted by mikecsmith

Hi,

I'm a pretty big bloke - 6'2, 38" waist and 18 stone - and I know that this increases my risk of DCI and makes my SAC higher. I'm currently training for a 10k run in Leeds in June and I'm waiting to hear if I have place with the RNLI in the GNR.

I'm running around 2 miles every 2-3 days atm and increasing in increments of half miles every week but I'm not really varying my training too much. Was just wondering if anyone had advice on other (cheap - I'm a student and diving takes up all my money ) exercises I could do or different training regimes when running which would help improve my SAC?

Any help appreciated.

Mike

Even for those who aren't into the DIR way of doing things, they have some excellent articles in their Quest magazine on Cardio Conditioning and Diver Safety and another on Developing a Personal Fitness Regime. The copies of Quest containing these (along with all the other Quests for the past few years) are available for download as a PDF when you get a on-line membership for $29 per year at Global Underwater Explorers | Global Underwater Explorers.

James

[daveb0000]

Originally Posted by Garf

i cross train between the following and it's doing astonishing things for my SAC

1. Road Running
2. Gym Cardio Work
3. Swimming
4. Hill Walking / Running

i try to get out 4-5 times a week

Garf has got it pretty much covered with the mix and match, the trick is not to flog yourself to death and to build it up slowly

also try a bit of cycling, i think the more variety you put in to your exercise the better because you will maintain it longer than doing the same thing day in day out.

[nickb]

I'm not convinced about poor fitness & being overweight leading to a higher resting SAC, although loading an unfit person with extra effort would logically have an adverse effect.

I'm pretty fit (cardiovascular-wise) and not exactly overweight, yet I struggle to keep my SAC below 20l/min. My SAC is higher now than when I used to smoke, although that was a long time ago so other factors may be coming into play

I seem to remember someone (maybe Chris Boardman) discussing this and coming to the conclusion that very fit people metabolise O2 at a much higher rate that the rest of us mere-mortals. Maybe tolerance to CO2 declines with increasing fitness too.

[James The Badger]

Last year I cut the bad carbs out, and now on a work up for Tech training so run 5 miles a couple of times a week, 2-3 swims and Boxercise once a week. So long as there is music playing I am now deadly in a fist fight

[mikecsmith]

Carbs are my biggest nemesis, bread being the worst of all. I used to be huge and I'm not small now, but I lived in China for 18 months and lost 4-5 stone, since getting back a little over 2 years ago and discovering bread again I've put 2 stone back on - real chinese food is the way of the future, unfortunately it's bloody hard to come by in the uk.

[JasonP]

Originally Posted by nickb

I'm not convinced about poor fitness & being overweight leading to a higher resting SAC, although loading an unfit person with extra effort would logically have an adverse effect.

Agreed. Unless you're actually out of breath, I don't think fitness makes a lot of difference to your SAC. I've got a lower SAC than many people smaller and fitter than me. I've just done a load more diving than them.

Jason