If you are born to thrive, you might be wondering why divers are more fit compared to other sports enthusiasts. Those who are working with a personal trainer even notice that in some cases, divers have more defined muscles than them. Is there something that they are missing? Read on to find out.
Top Reasons Why Divers are Fitter than You
Health experts will tell you that you need a combination of cardio exercises and strength training to attain a medically acceptable level of fitness. This is supposed to maintain your muscle mass and your heart’s overall vitality.
For some of us, there is a need to go beyond this standard particularly if we need to lose weight. Some discovered diving and rightly so. While some do not associate scuba diving with fitness, this is a misconception because it actually does.
Not only is it good for physical fitness, it’s actually good for mental fitness as well. I personally cannot stand running on a treadmill for hours. I better spend that same amount of time watching the fishes forgetting that I have actually covered miles of sea space.
- Swimming strengthens the muscles
Personal trainer at the gym will push you with weights just to attain a level of muscle mass. While there are some merits to this, it can also be attained with natural resistance training. In diving, you naturally get that with the water offering resistance as you swim. In fact, this is so beneficial that other gyms are now offering water aerobics.
- Swimming against the current
If you have experienced swimming against the current, you wouldn’t exchange it for any weight training in terms of muscle punishment. Overcoming the resistance of the current is no joke because if you get pulled by it, you know that it’s your life that is at stake.
- Maintaining body temperature
Another reason why divers are so fit is that even when they are not actually swimming, they need to work underwater to maintain body temperature. The body loses heat 20 times faster underwater than on land even in the coldest of seasons. Because of this, the diver needs to maintain activity just to conserve body heat. This is even harder if you’re diving in colder climates.
- Diving burns calories
Due to the reasons above, divers actually burn more calories without them knowing it. While most divers are not actually calorie counter—they have better things to do—they actually burn more calories as a whole. We can compare diving to the calories burn with slow but long run except that you use not only your legs but your entire body.
Scuba diving is a full body workout and you won’t even realize it until you’re done. Unless you’re diving against the current, you won’t even notice your muscles getting worked up. It’s only when you get out of the water that you will feel the stress of what you are doing.
Have you tried scuba diving? Share us your thoughts in the comment section below.
