I empathize with the desire to carry less weight, just to make moving gear around easier. But short of changing your body composition or your exposure protection, there is no way to do it.
How do you make yourself less bouyant?
- Thread starter LanceRiley
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What's your BMI?
OP
LanceRiley
Contributor
TsandM,
It's not moving gear from car to boat. or divespot... It's the desire to move faster underwater. that same kick will propel me faster if I was less loaded. don't you think so?
I know that a lot of people just don't feel that it matters. well that's ok.. Im just finding ways to improve myself. so far... Loose body fat and gain muscle mass seems to be the best bet.. I guess i'll have to work on that.
MX727,
hmm... I weight 170 lbs. i think... height is 5'6".
It's not moving gear from car to boat. or divespot... It's the desire to move faster underwater. that same kick will propel me faster if I was less loaded. don't you think so?
I know that a lot of people just don't feel that it matters. well that's ok.. Im just finding ways to improve myself. so far... Loose body fat and gain muscle mass seems to be the best bet.. I guess i'll have to work on that.
MX727,
hmm... I weight 170 lbs. i think... height is 5'6".
Well, my scuba gear weighs in the neighborhood of 75 pounds and I weigh 120, so the net is almost 200 lbs. I don't think I would notice a couple of pounds of change, in terms of inertia or decreased effort to kick. Streamlining one's equipment would probably have a much greater effect.
OP
LanceRiley
Contributor
stripping the weights 1 lb at a time.. from 12 lbs to 7.5 lbs did wonders for me http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/images/smilies/Standard Smiles/04.gif
Could it also be that experience did those 'wonders'? TSandM has a good point, on your total inertia of 170 lbs + gear 1 or 2 lbs is not going to make a noticeable difference.
If you carry TOO MUCH weight - as you apparently did with 12 lbs, you'll have to compensate by putting more air in your BC and that will make a difference in your streamlining.. But it sounds like you are spot on with 7.5 lbs and better worry about enjoying your dives.
PS: Your smileys are shown as full URLs... something is going wrong there.
CT Sean
Contributor
In theory yes, all else being equal moving 200 lb's will require less effort than moving 220 but you're not talking about anywhere near that kind of weight difference. HOWEVER you are probably talking more like moving roughly 230 (you plus 50 lb of gear) vs 228.5 lbs I'd be amazed if that even noticeable.
That puts you at a BMI of 27.5 which, according to US standards, = overweight by about 20 lbs (assuming a BMI target of 25). Unless you are particularly muscular that is likely a fair amount of excess fat.
I still maintain my initial recommendation of "just accept that people are different and be content that 7.5 lbs is the right weight for you" but burning that extra fat is a worthy goal. It will also make a heck of a lot more difference in your ability to move yourself through the water than otherwise dropping 1.5 lbs of lead.
Last edited:
DevonDiver
N/A
DazedAndConfuzed
Contributor
If you substitute Krypton gas for the nitrogen in your tank, you will weigh roughly 10LB more, so you can ditch all your weights. Or go with Argon and you can take 2 LB off your weight.
Tigerman
Contributor
BMI is a crappy individual measurement. It accounts for nothing but height and weight and doesnt neccesarilly say squat about how "fat" you are.
When I was in the army my BMI would suggest that I was overweight and at times very much so, but fact is that I was much more fit than most people with a "normal" BMI.
One of the reasons why BMI suck is called "muscles".
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