Floating may not sound like much of a fitness activity. But scuba diving cranks up the calorie burn, requires cardiovascular strength, upper body brawn, demands the power of a good leg-kick, challenges your core muscles, and envelopes you in deep relaxation all at once.
Yours truly at 35 feet with a hawksbill sea turtle, Bonaire, Dutch Antilles May '09
Yes, fitness takes many forms. And one of my favorites is scuba, as you can see in this short 9 second clip my husband - and dive buddy - took hours ago.
All else aside - including the exhilaration of swimming with sea turtles - of which one admittedly never tires - here are some fitness afloat bits and insights:
1) Calorie burn: depending on which resource you use, I'm burning off about 600 calories per hour during scuba. This is not so much due to athletic activity as to the thermogenesis generated keeping core temperature stabilized.
Even at 80 degrees - which is the temperature of the water here in mid May according to our dive computers - that means the body needs to ramp up metabolic activity to keep things as close to 98.6 as possible.
Additional calorie expenditure happens kicking through currents, in and out from shore, and schlepping dive gear around. The tanks can weight from 30 to 50 lbs. Once underwater, they feel like nothing, but somebody has to get them there. And as our diving here is walk-in style, guess what that means?
And EPOC generated by thermogenesis and the other activities here help offset airport food blunders and other holiday travel indulgences.
2) Cardiovascular strength: once out to the reef and bobbing beneath the waves, the aerobic challenge can be minimal - or all out high demand. When a current kicks up or when you are kicking like mad to keep up with the eagle ray or dolphin pod (impossible, but we try!), you better be fit of heart baby or you are going to last only a few kicks.
At the same time, each shore dive has an aerobic component. Initially the "paddle to the sea", out to where the reef drops, requires a straight kick on or right below surface
3) Upper body strength: Scuba tanks themselves weigh up to 30 -50 lbs. Add to that the rest of your gear and schlepping all of it into and out of the of the dive truck, and you have one heck of a workout you can sink your teeth into. Last year's dive triip inspired motivation to build up some upper body strength (see Supersets for Super Shape) and it's paid off big time in this spring's adventure.
4) Leg and kick strength: kinetically related to #2, cardiovascular strength, the athletic demands of kicking out to the reef drop and the kicking intervals that are integral to the process build hamstrings, gluteal muscles, and provide a great butt workout.
5) Core muscle development: Try loading up your back with over 50 pounds of gear and teetering through the sand and beach coral to the waterline. The demands on the core muscles to provide balance, stability, and uprightness against gravity are huge. That means abdominals (all of 'em!), spinal erectors, lats...you name it, it's recruited.
6) Deep relaxation: all of the above may make this sound like it is all hard work and no play. But actually the real prize with tropical scuba - and what is remembered most -is simply bobbing around in gentle warm water surges with lots of beautiful and funny finned critters and their companions. And breathing. Slowly and gently. It's all slow motion. It quiets the mind and transports. That's the secret of scuba.
The perfect antidote to the stress of travel.
Below, a snapshot from 24 hours earlier at the Curacao airport.
"Where's my private jet?"
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© Lani Muelrath All Rights Reserved
Comments
Umm i do a lot of scuba but still fat. why?
If your caloric equation is still in a positive balance - in other words if you are taking in enough calories to sustain your current weight and body composition even with lots of scuba hours - then the weight is gonna stay - or grow!
Unless we have the training schedule of Dara Torres or Michael Phelps, most of us cannot eat with abandon and not have to pay attention to the consequences: When it comes to fat loss, calories do count.
I notice many a hefty scuba
I must respectfully disagree with your conclusions, except point 6 (relaxation). I started to write a very similar article praising SCUBA as a good choice for fitiness. It seemed only common sense that we were getting fit because of SCUBA. However, when I researched my article I found that it was quite the opposite. In fact exercise during SCUBA diving can be dangerous and increase your risk of decommpression sickness (the bends). You can see more in my article, "Don’t Count on Diving For Fitnes
my previous comment was truncated: SEE "Don’t Count on Diving For Fitness, but Do Count on Fitness for Diving." at Scubgadget dot com/?p=113.
John, Actually, I agree wholeheartedly with your perspective and have even altered my article title to reflect same: "6 ways scuba DEMANDS fitness!" You DO get a workout during scuba - in my experience! But better not count on your time under the waves as your training time. Be prepared with prior fitness to play safe and avoid complications. Thank you for your thoughtfulness at adding to the discussion!
John, you're actually mistaken with regards to the bends and exercise. It depends on how much exercise you do before, during and after the dive that may impact your susceptibility to the bends. Read the article from www.diversalertnetwork.com. You do burn calories during your dive, so the article is valid.
Another very important piece of the puzzle!
The effects of prior exercise, exertions after, physical condition, hydration... there are lots of consideration one needs to keep in mind when it comes to playing safe under the surf.
Yet bottom line, the facts of the initial article stand - you get a good workout and you burn lots of cals during scuba diving.
Thanks for your contribution!
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