Diver fitness

[Jen]

To many of us, the winter isn't kind. Each year we make promises to ourselves and then something always comes up that allows us that excuse of not having the time. Fitness and taking care of yourself as a diver is important. "So important" in fact that many of us take it for granted....in other words...we forget about it! . Diving is a hobby, a passion, a relaxing act....however you want to look at it, it is a sport, and can put various stresses on the body that we don't pay enough attention to. These stresses include lifting/carrying extra weight, cardio, temperature, and in some cases if you are uncomfortable, a little anxiety, along with many other things depending on training levels.

Last week a diver died (out West) after surfacing from a dive that was well planned out, not very deep (maybe average depth of 40 ft), had all of the communication in place, but yet when they turned the dive and ascended, on the surface he told his buddy that he had trouble breathing, and went unconscious. His buddy was a firefighter/EMT, and there were other trained people to tend to him, but he was without a pulse. He was described as a larger gentleman.

I won't draw conclusions as there are many things that could have happened here that we don't know about. We all know that cardio plays a huge role in stress management, and in situations that require physical exertion. Having good cardio and being fit as a diver helps with decompression, gas exchange, SAC rate, lifting gear with less chance of injury, and lets face it....when we feel better we look better . Personally I am not where I would like to be on the fitness end of my diving, and I plan on making the effort to get back into shape. There is a great book on diver fitness that I bought (Fitness For Divers by Cameron Martz), and I only really glanced at it. This book has everything tailored to the diver...stretches that help divers, weight exercises that help the muscels that divers depend on, and even work out plans. Now that the dive season is on us, it might be time to think about getting into the best shape possible.