Overweight instructors
- Thread starter gotnogills
- Start date
Please register or login
Welcome to ScubaBoard, the world's largest scuba diving community. Registration is not required to read the forums, but we encourage you to join. Joining has its benefits and enables you to participate in the discussions.
Benefits of registering include
- Ability to post and comment on topics and discussions.
- A Free photo gallery to share your dive photos with the world.
- You can make this box go away
James Bond boat entry
Contributor
If this is a PADI instructor, they are obligated to maintain good health as required by the membership agreement.
Give the membership paragraph a read, if you feel it applies, send an e-mail to qa@padi.com with all the details and they will contact you.
From the PADI membership agreement:
"I acknowledge that diving and dive instruction are physically strenuous activities and that it is my personal responsibility to maintain the necessary level of fitness in order to involve myself in diving instructional and supervisory activities. I also acknowledge that should my physical condition or health change, rendering me incapable of meeting the physical requirements of diving instruction and supervision, I will cease my instructional and supervisory activities until I am again capable and, if necessary, cleared by a diving medical examination performed by a licensed physician."
Give the membership paragraph a read, if you feel it applies, send an e-mail to qa@padi.com with all the details and they will contact you.
From the PADI membership agreement:
"I acknowledge that diving and dive instruction are physically strenuous activities and that it is my personal responsibility to maintain the necessary level of fitness in order to involve myself in diving instructional and supervisory activities. I also acknowledge that should my physical condition or health change, rendering me incapable of meeting the physical requirements of diving instruction and supervision, I will cease my instructional and supervisory activities until I am again capable and, if necessary, cleared by a diving medical examination performed by a licensed physician."
kadleck
Contributor
I doubt that! From what was described, this person would have had difficulty passing the DM swim test, or the rescue scenarios before that. Sounds like she developed a love for mama's apple pies after she became an instructor.
almitywife
Vegemite Mod
- Messages
- 22,171
- Reaction score
- 2,790
- # of dives
- 5000 - ∞
Every instructor, should either maintain the ability to complete all the skills and exercises that were required at their ITC or should stop taking responsibility for students in the water.
Clammy
Contributor
Weight or obesity is always an issue in any activity where a heart attack or other weight/obesity related problem can kill you. Weight/obesity is always an issue in any activity that raises your blood pressure and heart rate due to excess activity, strain, or stress. It's simply a matter of fitness. If you are obese, you are not as fit as you should be and unhealthy. As such, there are certain activities that you should probably not be doing and other activities that you should probably BE doing. Frequent light cardio with some resistance training and a change of diet comes to mind. What you should NOT be doing is putting yourself in a position where you are responsible to physically help other people when you are probably unable to. If you have a personal trainer who is overweight, would you want to be paying them to train YOU? Do you want the guy that's suppose to try and find you on a mountain to be the one that can't go 5 steps without panting or the one that can run a marathon?
I don't understand why people continually try to make excuses for why it's okay to be overweight and engage in pretty much any activity. It's dangerous and generally not a good idea. If you want to choose an activity to help you lose weight, then pick something that has a lower chance of killing you due to a complication.
P.S. I know I kept saying "you" but that's just for the general rant, not specifically YOU the OP.
I don't understand why people continually try to make excuses for why it's okay to be overweight and engage in pretty much any activity. It's dangerous and generally not a good idea. If you want to choose an activity to help you lose weight, then pick something that has a lower chance of killing you due to a complication.
P.S. I know I kept saying "you" but that's just for the general rant, not specifically YOU the OP.
That's me behind the girl on my trip to the Similans in March of this year.
Then there's me teching a course of two OW in April.
That's the difference from my life as a scuba instructor and when I'm on vacation diving liveaboards.
By the way. I'm the one BEHIND the girl. Get your mind outta there. I know her. She's taken...but she is a Swede...
Then there's me teching a course of two OW in April.
That's the difference from my life as a scuba instructor and when I'm on vacation diving liveaboards.
By the way. I'm the one BEHIND the girl. Get your mind outta there. I know her. She's taken...but she is a Swede...
Attachments
NudeDiver
Contributor
So....here's a question for the OP. How did you choose this particular instructor for your class? Or did you not bother to meet with the class instructor before signing up for the class?
- Messages
- 10,954
- Reaction score
- 4,130
- # of dives
- None - Not Certified
is there really a need for fat jokes?
Apparently, yes.
From the title of the original post, the tone was set. Whenever similar threads come up, there are the obvious comments and the subtle jabs from those more physically fit among us. I especially smile when they come from young beginner divers, like those under 40 and having less than say 800 dives.
Some day-dive operations on Roatan warn divers away from AI resorts lest they be forced to dive with pasty overweight people. It is forbidden to notice race, sex, mental issues or any other disease, but fat seems to still be open season. It's the way people are until they gain perspective in life.
If you want a quick glimpse into legal protections, just ask why the airlines haven't really started charging extra. If you can't noodle that out, ask an overweight lawyer. There is no Reverend Al for fat people, but it's only a matter of time.
To the OP: I dive with a number of XXL+ people. I would rather put myself in their hands as a diver in distress because even if they are physically stressed by their weight, they have the training and intelligence to handle the situation. That's how I make my dive buddy decisions.
The only person I ever saw doing in-water CPR (with chest compressions done like a Heimlich Manuever) was grossly overweight by any standard, but she was all alone and giving it hell.
I do not negate advice or training from someone with many, many years of diving just because they have developed a penchant for the local island beer and have disagreeable DNA.
Some people make judgements based on other criteria.
