Cave Diving fitness
I just wanted to take a moment to remind everyone to take a long hard look in the mirror and think about whether you are okay to be doing a stressful activity like cave diving. It could save your life.
If anyone on here has given up diving due to age or health- when did you know it was time to call it quits?
Active divers- what are your thoughts on what it would take to make you hang up your fins?
Somebody will have to tell me to hang up my fins. Even then I might not listen.
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+1,, sounds like brovado but its better to die doing what you love than to live doing what you hate.Originally Posted by IowaCaveDiver
God, don't let me die doing my taxes!
Michael
Since a huge percent of cave diving deaths are related to medical issues, an aging cave diver needs to be honest with themselves, and have their health checked. People will make the off hand comment that person died doing what they loved. Drowning while suffering from a crippling medical ailment in a submerged cave is not how anybody wants to go. Getting a basic health screen and perhaps a stress test will tell you a lot. One thing we can't change from aging is how we handle decompression. I have given up on long deep dives, and my gradient factor is very conservative.
"Not all change is improvement...but all improvement is change" Donald Berwick
I don't find cave diving to be stressful. Just the opposite. It is not stressful to me because I have stopped trying to reach some arbitrary goal like distance, depth, time, SAC rates. Like Kelly, I am finished with long deep dives. I got rid of my 104's. As long as I can enjoy a 60 minute dive, I will keep going.
The word "fitness" is very subjective. What is considered fit by a 25 year old is vastly different than what is fit for a 66 year old. What you do to keep "fit" will change radically as your joints go bad, the injuries you had at 20 catch up with you, your cardiac functions change with age. You are not immune. Remember, its not just the age, its the mileage.
Last edited by OFG-1; 12-25-2019 at 04:50 AM.
"Have you ever noticed
When you're feeling really good
There's always a pigeon
That'll come shiat on your hood?" John Prine 4-7-2020
"Into the blue again; in the silent water
Under the rocks, and stones; there is water underground" Talking Heads
When my blood pressure got too high. Besides I had been open water diving for 50 years, and cave diving for 40 years. I have laid miles of line in virgin cave, I haven't missed anything.
Blood Pressure is controllable with medication, surely this alone would not influence you to stop diving??
Why yes that was me inshorts and a t-shirt
oops, a drysuit @ the 700' marker
Cave Diving fitness
Thats all good if you?re solo diving. But people need to keep in mind the most important aspect isnt your life/death. Its the safety of your dive buddy and the recovery team. While I agree with the sentiment, in reality its a selfish idea.
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Bp is controllable to a point. Just because meds cant get your bp down, doesnt mean its foolproof and safe. BP issues in my opinion are a hidden cause of many of the ?medical incidents?
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