Overweight instructors

[MXGratefulDiver]

You mean that should have happened in "an open water site that offers swimming-pool-like conditions with respect to clarity, calmness, and depth"

Where I live the only swimming pools are full of bikinis.
Not that I mind.

No, I mean it should have happened in whatever the agency defines as "confined water".

In our part of the world (which is where this particular class occurred), that means a swimming pool.

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[mgmonk]

Did OP say that the original CESA demo was in OW?
I just re-read the posts, and didn't find any indication that it was. I just read that the CESA was demoed poorly.

Anyway, it was only an (now regrettable) off hand comment. If you guys know the instructor/conditions first hand, and you think it was out of order, I'm not complaining.

I'm just saying I know a REALLY big CD who does a great job certifying people. So, fat jokes aside, it's a case by case situation.

Anyway, the issue is not about weight, it's about competency and mastery. Agencies aside. Safety first.

Why do I always regret making jokes on this board?

 

[themagni]

I had a really muscular instructor for my AOW. Easily 250, and if there was enough fat on him to fry an egg, I'd be surprised.

He thought that anyone who wasn't in at least as muscular as he was would surely be a bad diver. He also believes that physical strength is able to compensate for any bad situation. The stress on the course was in how we were not strong enough to dive. This had no bearing on how fit we were - we just weren't ripped bodybuilders. I can easily carry my dive gear (100# +) for a long walk to a shore location.

One of the other students was somewhere in the 80-100 pound range. I had to carry her weights on our training dives, since she had serious trouble scrambling over 3 foot high blocks with all her gear. (One of our local dive locations is a breakwater made up of thousands of precast concrete blocks.)

I'd rather have a portly dive instructor.

 

[GrandpaScuba]

IOne was so overweight that she had to have the other put fins on for her...

Are you sure weight had anything to do with this? When you enter the water in a drysuit, the legs compress very tightly. In some suits the legs can become so stiff in this situation as to make it very difficult bend the leg into the "figure 4" to put on the fins. I've helped many perfectly fit instructors put their fins on.

 

[Thalassamania]

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.

As a point of information (if you want to discuss this topic please start a new thread): In-water CPR (Rubicon Link) done is this manner was advanced by Nico March but is not currently thought to be efficacious. Here are some interesting letters to the editor on the subject.

 

[Clammy]

I had a really muscular instructor for my AOW. Easily 250, and if there was enough fat on him to fry an egg, I'd be surprised.

He thought that anyone who wasn't in at least as muscular as he was would surely be a bad diver. He also believes that physical strength is able to compensate for any bad situation. The stress on the course was in how we were not strong enough to dive. This had no bearing on how fit we were - we just weren't ripped bodybuilders. I can easily carry my dive gear (100# +) for a long walk to a shore location.

One of the other students was somewhere in the 80-100 pound range. I had to carry her weights on our training dives, since she had serious trouble scrambling over 3 foot high blocks with all her gear. (One of our local dive locations is a breakwater made up of thousands of precast concrete blocks.)

I'd rather have a portly dive instructor.

The guys "I will squish your head like a pimple between my massive biceps, yaahh, so I'm here to pump, YOU up" attitude aside, the fact of the matter is that physical strength and general fitness CAN help you mitigate and compensate for situations in which you may be lacking in skill. The opposite is true as well. Experience and skill comes with time and practice. No one here would argue that everyone should continue to gain experience, practice their skills, and continue their education in whatever they endeavor to do. So, where one requires more effort, planning, and money, why not lose some weight which requires nothing more than will power and some time... maybe a little money. You don't even need a gym membership. Change your diet, walk around the block a few times a week to begin with. Running is free, so are push ups, sit ups, and pull ups.

 

[themagni]

T Change your diet, walk around the block a few times a week to begin with. Running is free, so are push ups, sit ups, and pull ups.

Good advice.

I'm 5'11", 175 pounds, and my doctor says I'm in "excellent" health.

I weigh a little more than average for my fitness level; I used to bike to work, so my legs weigh a lot. I don't anymore because I have to drop the kids off at daycare, so I drive. I do regular cardio, yoga, and strength exercise.

 

[scubamountaingirl]

IMHO I agree that this is unacceptable however I was actually taught to help your buddy on with their gear so this likely falls within limits



This should have been an oops moment where she ate her words and displayed he other skills and went to retrieve the mask herself. Obviously if the other instructor was there to retrieve it for her, she would not have been leaving any students alone.



IMHO, you do not yet know what it takes to be a safe instructor other than an uneducated but possibly very intelligent thought process. Watch out how you label someone as unsafe (or incompetent) and simply decide you want to switch because you are not comfortable with that instructor.

What should you do??? Since you are part way through you may pull the other instructor aside and let them know you would be more comfortable with them rather than the other woman....but ice. Tell them it is her teaching style or something rather than get into a fight about weight. Finish your training and get your C Card, then pull the LDS owner aside and tell them your concerns. Perhaps that person will be talked to....perhaps not.

If this does not work and you cannot get the other instructor to take you over and still feel unsafe, stop your training and find another instructor elsewhere.

A few things, i need help with my fins in my new dry suit its not cause i am fat, its cause i cant reach that far and i have a load on my back...so help is nice. if godzilla was chasing me i am sure i COULD do it alone..but i dont think that is the problem. You are offended by her size. I can tell you that since i took up diving almost 1 1/2 years ago, i have never seen such overweight people. In my case mostly men. I am assuming this is because it is a comfortable exercise for obese people to do with the least effort. I have had three out of four of my instructor be extremely obese. It has not had the least effect on how they taught. some were good some sucked but not because of their weight.
I agree that if one is to go into Tech diving being slimmer as opposed to gross is necessary, but to be a good OW diver, i dont see that ones size is the issue
If you did not get taught well, move on. My OW teacher and Dry suit teacher was the pitts and he was tiny and mean....so thats my two cents.

 

[Clammy]

Am I missing something? Did the OP say that a dry suit was involved? Anyways, it sounds from the OP that her size prevented her from being mobile enough to put on her fins, not due to some other factor.

 

[offthewall1]

Wouldn't be allowed here. Every instructor that earns £0.01 or more is classed as a commercial diver and therefore needs a HSE commercial medical annually.

BMI of >30 is immediate fail. Also has peak flow, lung function tests, ECG and exercise tests.

No medical == not allowed to instruct for any agency.

I have to ask... what does that medical cost and who is it paid to? Sounds like government intervention to me...