Caving and Energy Expenditure

[Christian_Chourot]

1. Has anyone come accross any research about the energy expenditure during caving? Now we all know that caving is as physically demanding as you want it to be and that it's so varied it would be impossible to come up with a hard and fast value but I'd be interested if anyone has ever done any work on it.

2. On a similar note, where typical energy expenditure values are available, what activities do people reckon are the most comparable to caving where you're able to define the cave type as appropriate. i.e. Aveline's Hole --> Walking

3. And just how energy intensive do people think squeezing is? Flat out crawls? I have no idea!

 

[cap n chris]

As has been pointed out in the bruising thread, earlier (see: http://ukcaving.com/board/index.php/topic,6438.0.html), the energy expended is often determined by the experience of the caver, those with plenty of experience wasting little energy, being efficient in their manoeuvres, with newcomers often over-exerting themselves to be on the safe side (i.e. grasping tightly when climbing, pushing harder than necessary in squeezes etc..). There's a suspicion that an experienced caver may expend less energy doing the Round Trip in Swildon's Hole than a newcomer would burn up on their first trip in Goatchurch Cavern! {However, I guess you could at least work out a ballpark figure by looking at the kinetic/potential energy required - i.e. altitude gain, horizontal distance covered, time taken etc..}

 

[caving_fox]

I've no idea but I've always been curious.

A caving weekend is a time of vast calorific intake for me. Big breakfasts, quite a bit of chocolate undergorund, a hefty dinner and a few beers.

But considering how tired I can feel after a 6+ hurs trip underground I wonder whether I've consumed more calories than I've burnt or not.

 

[eastwater]

Hi there the energy you use and the calories you burn will depend on the type of caving and your own metabolic rate and muscle mass . The pace of the caving will trip will have big effect too.  A very slow  trip with no  real sweat or raised hart rate  will burn less then if you upped the pace and kept it up for the duration of the trip so that you were breathing and sweating harder the body then is having to work much harder so you will burn more . similar as say doing circut class.

how tired you are will not necessarily determin how many cals you burn as that's more of a fitness stamina thing so for someone that may be unfit a short walk or a flight of stairs can leave them knacked and panting with not many Cal's burned  but for someone fitter they can go on much longer without feeling the effects . this is the same for caving .

As the other post states as ones experience grows there caving gets slicker so less energy is used up but  cave fitness will improve so you will be able to go on for longer .

I find that on wet fast  caving trips  where I can  get cold easily if i don't move quick  I loose more pounds than on dry slow trips as when you are cold the body has to generate heat faster to keep your temp regulated so you burn more in the process .
its an interesting subject that I have pondered over for some time

Mad Fi

 

[MSD]

I know on expeditions in cold caves I reckon to eat at least 1500 calories a day more than I usually eat. On one expedition when the food was not at all well organised I lost several kilos of body mass. Since I'm quite thin to begin with, this was quite a substantial weight loss.

Mark

 

[Blitz]

I'd second that.  In China in 1988 on the Bob Lewis South West Guizhou expedition, the food supply to the camp (lovingly known as Camp Squalor!) was erratic to say the least and we were living on a diet of rice, eggs and a green leaf which we called oil seed rape.  That, coupled with some fairly hard caving on long trips meant I lost several Kgs.  When I showed the expedition video to my mother on our return she was horrified and thought that I had been deadfully ill on the expedition whereas I was in peak fitness! 

It didn't take long to put the weight back on though and I'm still putting it on!

Blitz

 

[graham]

That was all them sausages you ate in Shanghai.