Question about dry suit leg squeeze

[Mr. Ed]

Do you have a thin polypro base layer from outdoor activities? No cotton!

I’ve been in a 80F pool with my thick fleece undersuit to tweak weighting. Sucks, but sometimes you gotta do it. I only made it 30 minutes, though. I can’t stand being hot.

Last weekend I wore street clothes shorts and t-shirt with Bare ultra warmth leggings and a long sleeve shirt. My instructor would not let me change out of my street clothes into swim-suit. I don't know if wearing street clothes under Bare undergarments had anything to do with the squeeze?

 

[Mr. Ed]

That is just the physics of drysuits when your legs are lower than your lungs (approximation). Aside from minor tightness/discomfort, is there another problem you are having that I'm missing?

It's more than minor tightness it is painful and it distracts from my diving

 

[Marie13]

Last weekend I wore street clothes shorts and t-shirt with Bare ultra warmth leggings and a long sleeve shirt. My instructor would not let me change out of my street clothes into swim-suit. I don't know if wearing street clothes under Bare undergarments had anything to do with the squeeze?

Why would you want to wear a bathing suit under dry suit undies? It’s a drysuit not a wet suit.

 

[Outbound]

The air is going to flow into the highest part of the suit. If you are in proper horizontal trim, that generally means along your shoulders and upper back and your lower legs and feet. If you are standing or vertical, you will get a squeeze in your lower torso and legs. If you go head/torso down and legs up, you will feel the air start to flow into your legs and feet. You will feel more of a squeeze if you are wearing thinner layers, because thicker layers will cushion the squeeze of the trilam material more.

My guess is that one of two things are happening: 1) you think you are head down/feet up when you might not really be, and/or 2) you aren't used to having a drysuit on and don't yet have enough experience to know how it feels to dive in one. There are frequently going to be transitory moments of various amounts of slight squeeze depending on your depth, trim, undergarments, etc. A "real" squeeze is when you definitely do not have enough air in your suit and it is pressing rather uncomfortably around you and compressing your undergarments, preventing them from lofting and doing their job to keep you warm.

 

[Outbound]

Why would you want to wear a bathing suit under dry suit undies? It’s a drysuit not a wet suit.

I wear boardshorts under my drysuit undergarments all the time (at least during the warmer months). It beats walking around in my skivvies when gearing up.

 

[Mr. Ed]

The air is going to flow into the highest part of the suit. If you are in proper horizontal trim, that generally means along your shoulders and upper back and your lower legs and feet. If you are standing or vertical, you will get a squeeze in your lower torso. If you go head/torso down and legs up, you will feel the air start to flow into your legs and feet. You will feel more of a squeeze if you are wearing thinner layers, because thicker layers will cushion the squeeze of the trilam material more.

My guess is that one of two things are happening: 1) you think you are head down/feet up when you might not really be, and/or 2) you aren't used to having a drysuit on and don't yet have enough experience to know how it feels to dive in one. There are frequently going to be transitory moments of various amounts of slight squeeze depending on your depth, trim, undergarments, etc. A "real" squeeze is when you definitely do not have enough air in your suit and it is pressing rather uncomfortably around you and compressing your undergarments, preventing them from lofting and doing their job to keep you warm.

Thank you for explaining this to me. You’re right I don’t have enough experience with a dry suit to have learned how to dive in one. Thanks again for the excellent feedback.

 

[Outbound]

Thank you for explaining this to me. You’re right I don’t have enough experience with a dry suit to have learned how to dive in one. Thanks again for the excellent feedback.

It will come in time! My pool sessions with a drysuit felt very uncomfortable. It felt like my legs and feet were too floaty, and it felt like I was constantly struggling with buoyancy control. I also didn't really like the feeling of the drysuit, as it was definitely more constrictive than diving in a thin 3mm wetsuit in the tropics. Now, however, I love diving in a drysuit. Gearing up on a hot summer's day, on the other hand...

Keep at it and you'll get the feeling for it soon enough.

 

[Akimbo]

It's more than minor tightness it is painful and it distracts from my diving

It should not reach the threshold of being painful. Perhaps there is physical anomaly that should be considered? I'll ping @Duke Dive Medicine to see if he has any thoughts. Are you exceptionally tall?

You can't change that fact that pressure increases 0.445 PSI/Ft or about 0.03 Bar for every 300mm of depth. This strongly argues for being horizontal when decompressing, both for optimum circulation and reduced WOB (Work of Breathing).

 

[Duke Dive Medicine]

It should not reach the threshold of being painful. Perhaps there is physical anomaly that should be considered? I'll ping @Duke Dive Medicine to see if he has any thoughts. Are you exceptionally tall?

You can't change that fact that pressure increases 0.445 PSI/Ft or about 0.03 Bar for every 300mm of depth. This strongly argues for being horizontal when decompressing, both for optimum circulation and reduced WOB (Work of Breathing).

Thanks for the ping. It sounds like a combination of technique and drysuit material - in my own experience trilam is less comfortable when compressed than neoprene. But, to your point, if someone has some sort of neuropathy or vasculopathy it could make the legs more sensitive.

Best regards,
DDM

 

[Doby45]

I think you are still in the "learning" process and are spending more time in a vertical posture than you are a horizontal one. I have never had an uncomfortable squeeze on my legs while at the surface, but I also am not just staying for long periods of time at the surface. Get horizontal, your pain will go away and do not wear street clothes under your drysuit. You ain't James Bond. I wear a pair of underwear and an undergarment, nothing else is needed and none of that is restrictive.