Scuba Divers Share Vision of Fitness ScubaFit® and Ride FitTM
SAN DIEGO - Local scuba divers, Gary Hawkins, Founder of Ride FitTM and underwater videographer, and Gretchen M. Ashton, CFT, NBFE, owner of ScubaFit® and FitDiver®, have joined forces.Committed to the health and wellness of scuba divers, both have personal fitness stories, are inspired by adventures in scuba diving, and empowered by the influence of the sport to motivate divers to fitness.
Hawkins transferred his underwater film success to Ride FitTM; www.ride-fit.com an exciting new series of videos to motivate and prevent boredom for cyclists who train indoors.The videos are designed for stationary exercise bikes of all kinds and may be downloaded to a variety of electronic devices. Cyclists can take Ride FitTM workouts anywhere within the home, travelling or the fitness center.Gary commented, “A good level of cardio fitness is very beneficial to your overall health and essential for safe diving.If indoor cycling is part of your exercise routine, the Ride FitTM series will make your workout fun, motivating and structured.Our virtual indoor cycle training videos are shot in stunning high definition from the first person perspective.Users will experience, as closely as can be achieved in an indoor environment, actually being there on the road.”
Ashton is delighted to introduce Ride FitTM to scuba divers.Gretchen is a fitness professional and co-author of the PADI ScubaFit® Diver Distinctive Specialty Course.“Cycling is excellent aerobic exercise to maintain cardiorespiratory fitness for diving.A great starting place for divers is the Ride FitTM Fiesta Island Fun video.The workout is inspiring and takes place near the water.Importantly, the Fiesta Island Fun ride incorporates the 70% and 80% training heart rate zones ScubaFit® recommends for divers.“Divers benefit greatly by training in both zones in the same workout and the Fiesta Island Fun ride accomplishes this in just 45 minutes,” says Ashton.This training video combines the scenic shores of Fiesta Island at Mission Bay in San Diego, California with music (optional), easy-to-follow instructions, and a digital dashboard reflecting the intervals and cadence for each training zone.The video is very affordable at $7.99 and divers can progress their training or add variety with a choice of four other currently available titles.All five videos are available individually or as a combo pack.
Both Ashton and Hawkins are extremely excited about this new partnership between their respective organizations.They added, “We see this initiative as a way of further promoting and encouraging diver fitness.Ultimately this will lead to improved diver safety and betterment of the general wellbeing of the dive community.”
Gretchen M. Ashton, CFT, NBFE Founder of ScubaFit® PADI Advanced Diver Personal Trainer - Fitness Therapist Biomechanic Strength Trainer Arthritis Specialist World Champion Hall-of-Fame Athlete Public Speaker, Columnist and Author
Why ScubaFit®? Gretchen M. Ashton, CFT, NBFE
As scuba divers we complete training through certifications, we practice and demonstrate our skills and follow safety protocols. We are reminded of the inherent risk of sport diving every time we sign our medical release and liability forms. Many of us can share times when something unexpected happened during a dive and we were able to handle it because of our experience. We can also share the circumstances of dives where events did not go as planned, and only fortuitous circumstances or the actions of another diver, dive master or instructor made the positive difference. In these moments we especially see the evidence for the individual responsibility of an adequate level of competency and preparedness essential to scuba diving.
It is my opinion, as a fitness professional and scuba diver, one of the most significant individual responsibilities for prevention and preparedness of illness and injury in diving is physical fitness and good health. With a desire to learn what the diving industry has to offer on the subject, I have voraciously read and researched everything I can find regarding physical fitness and diving. My initial discovery reveals, while there is some level of available information along with consensus that physical fitness is important to diving, at best it is superficial in specific applications that match the health profile of our diving community. Perhaps this is because the benefits of fitness have grown parallel to the diving industry. My goal is to bring the two together with a long-lasting positive affect.Read Full Article
Pros Team Up to Bring Fitness to Divers
PADI approves brand new ScubaFit® Diver Distinctive Specialty Course
Dive and fitness instructors alike can now become certified to teach fitness to divers. The Padi ScubaFit® course was developed by Gretchen M. Ashton, a certified fitness trainer and Stephen Mendel, a multi agency scuba instructor.
The PADI ScubaFit® Diver Distinctive Specialty Course offers new opportunities for instructors and dive shop owners to improve the health, performance and safety of their diving clients and increase diving participation. Divers who are fit are much more likely to enjoy their diving experience and to dive more often. Classes are forming now. For more information, interested instructors may contact: gretchen@scubafit.com.
Ashton is a diver and the owner of ScubaFit®. She is an International Sports Sciences Association Personal Trainer and Fitness Therapist, National Board of Fitness Examiners Personal Trainer, World Champion Hall-of-Fame Athlete, and scuba fitness writer. Her training success, unique coaching style and innovative work establishing a health profile of the scuba diving community also resulted in the FitDiver® program.
Mendel, owner of Premier Scuba Diving, is a NAUI and Los Angeles County Instructor Trainer, PADI Master Scuba Diver Trainer, CMAS and Handicapped Scuba Association and a First Aid/CPR/AED instructor. He has extensive diving, teaching and leadership experience along with a longtime and ongoing participation and interest in fitness. He is also a voice over artist with many projects to his credit.
Ashton and Mendel acknowledge both the inspiration and practical importance of Dr. Glen Egstrom’s groundbreaking research and the meaningfulness it brought to this first of its kind course. Egstrom, Professor Emeritus of Kinesiology at UCLA, is renowned for his extensive contributions including the UCLA Diving Safety Research Project and over 100 publications on the topics of dive training and safety.
“We believe that our collaboration provides the best knowledge, resources and experience to bridge the worlds of diving and fitness. We encourage dive instructors and fitness professionals who select this specialty course to enhance the teaching and learning experience by working together whenever possible, for the common good of all divers.”
The purpose of the PADI ScubaFit® Diver Distinctive Specialty Course is to teach divers who are new to fitness an effective approach toward the establishment of a foundation of general fitness and fitness specific to diving, as well as an understanding of the physical demands of diving.
The course serves as a safe and supervised fitness program for diving. This specialty familiarizes divers with the skills, knowledge, planning, organization, procedures, techniques, problems, hazards and enjoyment of being physically fit for diving. Divers will learn how fitness greatly improves diving performance and reduces the risk of injury and illness.
For those divers with experience and knowledge of general fitness, in addition to the above mentioned topics, they will learn activity specific exercises and training concepts that will enhance all their diving activities. All divers will also be given an introduction to the basics of nutrition and the necessity of maintaining hydration during diving.
California Diver Magazine New Magazine Embraces Scuba Fitness
California Diver Magazine debuted in September 2010 as one of the few wholly independent publications in the dive community. Publisher Chris Constantine's passion for scuba diving runs deep and is reflected on every page of California Diver. Chris and the contributors to California Diver are dedicated to building and supporting the dive community in California.
The full-color magazine features articles and photography written by divers for divers. Covering 840 miles of California coast and inland bodies of water such as Lake Tahoe, topics include unique diving destinations, abalone diving and lobster hunting, blue water diving, California dive clubs, adaptive scuba, marine life, underwater photography and physical fitness for scuba diving.
ScubaFit® is honored to be a contributor.The September / October issue was timely for the scuba fitness article, Physical Conditioning Fast-Track for Lobster Season, and Derek Tarr, Wild Ocean Photo, provide the March of the Lobsters photogragh for the piece. Just in time for the holidays, the November / December issue included the article, Eating Well for Scuba Diving, and the January / February issues includes photographs provided by the Rosenkranz family, and discusses Dive fitness at Any (Every) Age.
Both California resident divers and divers from out-of-state looking for great west coast dive locations, will love California Diver. Learn more about California Diver and subscribe online at www.californiadiver.com .
Copyright 2007-2012, ScubaFit® and FitDiver® all rights reserved, Gretchen M. Ashton, CFT, NBFE, Owner Use of images, graphics, text or fitness training recommendations contained on these pages without prior written authorization by Gretchen M. Ashton, Owner of ScubaFit® is prohibited.
Trademark registrations for ScubaFit® and FitDiver® are standard character and are protected with broad rights. The use of the term "scuba fitness" or any variations of the words ScubaFit® and FitDiver® to promote, instruct, describe, conduct, advertise, and/or discuss exercises and fitness, which has not been exclusively developed by ScubaFit® and FitDiver® or owner, Gretchen M. Ashton, CFT, NBFE, for any purpose including website / database / RSS Feeds / Blogs / Forums / SEO use is considered an infringement due to likelihood of confusion and dilution of brand identity.
Disclaimer: This information is intended for educational purposes, to promote exercise and foster discussion. It is necessary to seek professional medical evaluation and clearance before beginning any exercise program. Further, it is well-advised to seek professional fitness instruction when engaging in new physical activity. An Agreement of Waiver and Release of Liability is required for FitDiver® membership. Webmaster: gretchen m. ashton
