Hip heavy diving

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Antagonist

Contributor
Messages
152
Reaction score
4
Location
Sunabe, Chatan, Okinawa, Japan, Japan
# of dives
100 - 199
i start my tech class and I am really hip heavy. Is there a way that I can add weight to my backplate so that I can focus on my tasks during traing and not so much on fighting my gear trying to stay horizonal. I am also using scubapro jet fins.
 
i start my tech class and I am really hip heavy. Is there a way that I can add weight to my backplate so that I can focus on my tasks during traing and not so much on fighting my gear trying to stay horizonal. I am also using scubapro jet fins.

You don't need to add weight to your back plate to fix this. I would be willing to bet your harness is adjusted wrong.
DIR-diver.com - Adjust the backplate
 
First off, what gear configuration are you using, and what exposure protection? If you are diving doubles, being feet-heavy is almost unheard of. People almost ALWAYS rear up out of the horizontal when they switch to doubles, but the reason is because the manifold and regs makes you head-heavy, so you rear up to shorten the lever arm that those things have to work on pushing you down. The solution to a head-up position in doubles is almost always to move as much weight down as possible . . . but that assumes good posture to begin with.

Posture is amazingly powerful in balancing gear. Posture is the reason that people like Bob Sherwood and Andrew Georgitsis can look beautiful and stable in almost any configuration. They are absolutely flat from shoulder to knees, and use their arms and their lower legs to fine tune their balance. Of course, this can't account for gross imbalances in equipment, but it can do an amazing amount. A lot of us struggled with doubles when we started, and find, a hundred dives or so later, that we can't remember why it was so hard.

Gross imbalances, like trying to dive doubled LP95s, HAVE to be amended with weight. When I dive double 80s in Mexico, I put a 7 pound half v-weight BELOW my bottom bolt -- that both weights me and balances me perfectly.

The test is to get in the water with a buddy. Get as flat as you possibly can; get your buddy to give you feedback on whether you are dropping your knees or your head. (Video is the best, but you can communicate a lot with hand signals.) Get horizontal -- buddy can give you the okay when you are there. Then STOP MOVING. See where you tilt. If you tilt head-down, you need to move weight down. I would be willing to bet good money that that is what you find.
 
If you are using a back plate then you should have 2 cam band straps. I dive single aluminum tanks with my bp and I need to bring 2 extra pounds to balance out my thick wetsuit. I can definitely tell the difference between putting that 2 pounds on the top or bottom cam band.
I would suggest first get rid of much extra weight as possible so you are just barely neutral at your planned deco stops. Then try and orient your weight towards the top of your tank. Not that this might be the issue, but if you are diving with a new set up might it be possible you are not quite getting neutrally buoyant? I see people all the time that are just slightly negative and it really has an impact on their trim. One tiny shot of air so that you're definitely neutral will naturally help bring your feet up to balance yourself out.
 
i start my tech class and I am really hip heavy. Is there a way that I can add weight to my backplate so that I can focus on my tasks during traing and not so much on fighting my gear trying to stay horizonal. I am also using scubapro jet fins.

This is a troll right? You can't seriously be taking tech training and still wondering how to get horizontal.

.... because if this is really true then I know the answer to your question but you're not going to like it......

That said. I'll repeat what I recently said to a friend. If your hips/knees are sinking then your mental focus should be on your shoulders. If you get your shoulders "laying down" then the way the human body works, the rest will (very likely) fall in line. It's all connected.

R..
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/perdix-ai/
http://cavediveflorida.com/Rum_House.htm

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