Ankle Weights?

[BILLB]

My view is that ankles weight should be like training wheels. Use them to learn more about the fine art of self control. Or more exactly, self bouyancy. Ankles weight may help in the interim but after a short period of working on your trim you need to ditch them and learn how to control your trim without them.

The first way is to get rid of the jacket style BCD. Back inflation will work wonders on the trim. Next, ditch the AL80 tank. A steel 100 either LP or HP (or larger)works wonders for the trim. The position of the tank on the back makes all the difference. If the trim is still not right use up to four pounds of weight on the tank.

Fins that are slightly negative also work wonders. When entering the water pull open the neophrene bootie and flood them with water.

Finally, if you are going to a place that does not have steel tanks, you can simply add a bit more weight to the tank. Most tank straps are long enought to add an additional 4-6 pounds and still stay secure to the velcro.

Ankle weights slow you down. They can alter the way you kick and eventually leave you even less hydrodynamic than before.

Dry suit use can be a problem for first time users also. If the dry suit has the built in boot, an elastic bungee around the ankle area will work to limit air inflation into the foot. The Artic style booties also allow lots of air into the foot. If you can stand it wear only cotton or wool socks instead. The best way to keep air out of the foot is the DUI rock boot system. ( I know cotton is NOT even close to being the type of insulator needed for dry suits but if the suit stays dry they help with the trim).

For those who are "naturally" bouyant, ankle weights may be the only way to keep the legs down. But then again you are probably using over 35 pounds anyway so 4 extra pounds on the ankles will not matter that much in terms of rescuce /self-rescue. Your trim will never be optimum either. So in this case grin and bear it.

 

[trymixdiver]

I was lucky enough to have a LDS loan us a U/W vid camera and housing when we dove Lake Tahoe. Its a good learning tool. After watching the vid you can see everything your doing. This was one way to see how your own trim really is. You can do a few diff fin kicks and check out your form and effectiveness of your kicks.

Andy

 

[rcohn]

A couple of issues.

... when you think about it your center of buoyancy is in the middle of your lungs...

Actually your center of Buoyancy is at the centroid of volume for your combined body and gear (including tank). It might be at your lungs but is probably lower down, there is a great percentage of volume in the legs and hips.

Ankle weights slow you down. They can alter the way you kick and eventually leave you even less hydrodynamic than before

Can you explain the logic here? If the legs are buoyant and the ankle weights balance the positive buoyancy, how will this slow you down? Why is a negatively buoyant fin a good idea that doesn't slow you down, but properly sized ankle weights are a bad thing that leave you less hydrodynamic. Added mass on the fins which could cause excess ankle/foot stress is good, while added mass at the ankle that doesn't stress the foot is bad?


Ralph

 

[large_diver]

One thing I would suggest is that if you buy ankle weights, you get a model that allows you to adjust the amount of lead shot in the anklet. I usually wear ankle weights (I believe they are 1.5 lbs each). For a larger than average human like myself, I don't even notice them.

If you weigh 130 lbs....different story.

Bottom line, IMHO, just as with your other weight, you want to wear the least amount possible.....carrying more weight generally requires added effort to propel yourself through the water.

 

[newton]

From advice I was given on this board and from a class I took, I'd try to avoid ankle weights. The most obvious reason to avoid ankle weights are that it's more work to kick with them (interia means you have to stop the weight, then re-start it moving in the opposite direction everytime you kick).

Since my wife and I just got new drysuits, in the course of doing the drysuit coursework in the pool, we both found that it was very easy to go feet up when adding just a little bit of air in the suits. (We are using rockboots, so it would probably be even worse if we didn't have them.)

The instructor gave my wife a pair of ankle weights to use, and that helped immensely. However, ankle weights make her work a lot harder (see above), but we have no other options, so we ended up buying a pair for her. (I on the other hand, was bound-and-determined not to wear ankle weights, knowing there *had* to be a better way). We've been spending at least one night/week in the pool, so after the course, we took our drysuits into the pool and worked on our drysuit drills.

During the course of swimming around in the pool that evening, I had an idea. On a whim, I took her ankle weights and wrapped them around the bottom of her tank, which was kept from rolling off by the tank boot.

Wonder of wonders, her trim was almost as good, but it was easier for her to kick. Unfortunately, using ankle weights as a tank weight isn't very safe, so I got some tank trim weights, and bought a really old tank cam band from my LDS and mounted the weights to the bottom of the tank, as low as I could make it. With the single trim pocket, I was able to add 1/2# more weight than the ankle weights, and now my wife's buoyancy is perfect. Because it works so well for her, I tried it out and I must admit it is really nice.

Note, this might not be necessary with Steel tanks, but with our Al80s, I consider this a *great* solution.

No ankle weights (which are fairly expensive), plus it gives us even more flexibility to adjust trim. I can move the band up/down the tank at will, and choose how much weight to add by reducing/increasing the amount of weight I stick in the pocket. I just leave the strap on the tanks now, and remove the weight when I bring in the tanks for fills.

If you didn't have trim pockets, you could probably just use hard weights and weight keepers on a cam band to do the same thing. The advantage of trim pockets is that you can change the weights without having to remove the belt from the tank.

*HIGHLY* recommended. I got my trim pockets from a shop in California on a business trip, but Halcyon sells a set of two for $21. Check out http://www.extreme-exposure.com, or if you have a local Halcyon dealer, they are quite inexpensive.

The bottom line is that I can't see any downsides to this solution, other than the cost. However, the cost of the setup is not that much higher than the cost of buying a good set of ankle weights.


Nate

 

[Starfish]

I added ankle weight when I was in OW class because I was wearing lots of lead with a 7mm suit, gloves & hood.

I continued to use them when I went to a tropical destination. Things worked out fine until I had to tow a diver against a stong current. When we got to the boat my legs were EXTREMELY fatigued by the ankle weights (I almost dropped them while doing the tow). Never again.

Now I use them elsewhere for trim only.

 

[ScubyDoo]

Based on what everyone has said, I think I'll try to avoid the ankle weights if at all possible. Im just a 150lb guy and a total of 3-4 lbs on my ankles would probably be too much. I will try to trim it out some other way first.

I neglected to mention that during the dive where the fin-high problem became evident, I wasnt weighted as heavily as I should have been. I was neutral buoyant with a full tank. I really should have had another 4lbs on me, which by itself may have trimmed me out. I ran my tank down to 1100 pounds and was just beginning to notice myself becoming positive. I just hate to start a dive so negative bouyant. I hate having to add air to my BC to adjust it. My PPB dive I had on 4lbs and NEVER had to add any air at all. Works real good till your tank starts running dry.

I'll be doing alot of practice dives at the LDS pool, but will very likely be alone, so minus a big mirror it will be difficult for me to self-evaluate my trim. I know it will get worked out eventually as I get more into buddy diving, but Im just an impatient sort I guess.

Anyway, thanks for all your advice. I'll take it all to heart!

 

[Uncle Pug]

Originally posted by ScubyDoo
I hate having to add air to my BC to adjust it.

That is what a Buoyancy Compensator is for.....
You have enough extra weight to compensate for the loss of the air in the tank over the course of the dive.... you use air in the BC to compensate for that weight at the beginning of the dive and then let air out as you use air in your tank and it becomes lighter.

 

[ScubyDoo]

I know Uncle Pug..

I never said I didnt understand the principle of tank related weighting.....I just said I didnt like it.

I believe what I said was that its really nice to NOT HAVE to add air to the BC. Thats not going to happen very often but it does happen. I never added any air to my BC during my PPB dive and I maintained neutral buoyancy for 45 minutes. Of course I was only 14 feet deep and my suit didnt compress......but thats another topic altogether.

 

[BILLB]

Ralph,

Thanks for your input on the subject of ankle weights. My reasoning for not recommending ankles weights is you must push more mass throught the water (finning) with ankles weights. This requires more energy and effort. It may also lead to modifing you fin kicks to compensate for the fatigue. This has nothing to do with bouyancy. As for "slightly"negative fins, this is only a recommendation too. Most of the open heel fins I have tried are not dead weights but slightly negative. The point is not to add to leg bouyancy problem with positively bouyant fins. Swimming under water with good horizontal trim is a learned skill. It takes time and some equipment changes to do this. I strongly recommend that ankles weight not be used. Legs up diving position is a real fact of life when using a dry suit too. In fact a dry suit kind of levels the playing (diving) field for all of us. I occasional see a dry suit diver using ankle weights but most divers take the time and master the skills required to properly dive and with minimal amounts of lead.