Could the need for ankle weights be influenced by gender?

[divewench]

From these articles it looks to me like women in general are more likely to have problems with floaty feet, and that the persons' least likely to need ankle weights are men who are a bit overweight and carry the extra weight in their belly.

Women, in general, have a higher body percentage of body fat than men, giving them a buoyancy advantage. Female fat tends to be disproportionately distributed in the lower half of the body, giving a bit more lift to the legs which in turn reduces body drag. ....... Since men tend to store a large amount of their fat above the waist, putting on more fat would shift their buoyancy forward, making their legs sink - which increases drag. This is easily demonstrated by the fact that most men can swim faster with a float between their legs than without it, whereas women experience little or no improvement when they add flotation to their legs.

http://www.usswim.org/programs/template.pl?opt=coaches&pubid=570
http://www.usms.org/training/bodycomp.htm

 

[chickdiver]

No one "needs" ankle weights. Proper trim and weighting ditribution can be acheived without them. A problem that contributes to many women having "floaty feet" is the use of flimsy,positively bouyant fins.

 

[Walter]

Ankle weights merely tire you out faster and make it harder to swim.

 

[DandyDon]

You've already received good responses from two members I consider Experts, so my addiition is different...

I've seen newbies who looked like they needed ankle weights for trim, but it was only because they were new, holding on to too much air in their lungs perhaps, and/or just not experienced at swimming underwater with Scuba. The divers you've referenced probably just need practice and bouyancy training - a common need for newbies. Maybe, maybe not - just offered as a possibility...

don

 

[divewench]

I'll agree that everyone can learn to dive without ankle weights by adjusting trim (i.e. changing their center of buoyancy). But it seems from the research done for high performance swimmers that in general men's feet will drag below the surface of the water and that woman's will float. Meaning that woman will probably need to work at overcoming the need for ankle weights, and that many men will never need them and so adjusting trim to compensate for floaty feet is not an issue for them.

 

[Snowbear]

I'm female, dive with a drysuit, non-buoyant/non-split fins and have "floaty feet." I do not need nor use ankle weights and somehow manage to stay reasonably trimmed.

 

[chickdiver]

Sorry, I probably should have a taken a few more minutes withmy answer, rather than doing so hastily. Ankle weights, like many other things in SCUBA, are a crutch. The instructor doesn't have time to teach correct bouyancy/ trim to the fullest, so they do the best they can and make it "work". This is often accomplshied by overweighting and using things like ankle weights. The new diver now thinks she _NEEDS_ the ankle weights because the her instructor (SCUBA role model) said so. The diver's trim and bouyancy issues are never truly addressed. Fast forward several years, maybe our new diver becomes an instructor herself, and puts her own students in ankle weight, and the cycle is perpetuated.

I count myself lucky that I learned to dive 17 years ago, in one of theose mythological 6 week classes, with class teice a week, and divig on the weekends. I really learned HOW TO DIVE, rather than how to most likely be relatively safe while breathing on SCUBA. Some of these skills are rarely taught anymore, as more emphsis is placed on getting students through the class quickly and giving them just the bare essentials. This is my tenth year as an instructor, and I have never had a student leave my class wearing ankle weights, even the ones who came to me in them.

 

[simbrooks]

I think what others are trying to say and what seems to be obvious from the quotation by divewench is that women and men might need to take a slightly different approach to adjusting their weight positioning for trim from each other. It would appear that men need to shift weight forward/up and women backward/down.

However everyone is different and no two women or men would fall under a general rule in the same way (ie. YMMV), but the "average", due to the extra lower body fat on women floating their feet and men with their dangling feet due to midrift fat, will indicate what has been summarised from the others responses in general.

Still no real arguement for ankle weights. Who keeps bringing this up, ankle weight manufacturers unhappy that we are not wanting to use their products for $25 a pair? I saw them being used for OW classes as a crutch for those learning and then being recommended as a solution instead of properly adjusting trim with equipement placement. I am sure this is very common as a practice with weekend wonder courses and the like to get people into the water quickly without really going through things. I have heard from a reasonably experienced PADI hardliner (MSD who follows the code on all things they teach, including drysuit for bouyancy) from the NE that he uses ankle weights, he has other views that i also disagree with.

 

[Spectre]

I have heard from a reasonably experienced PADI hardliner (MSD who follows the code on all things they teach, including drysuit for bouyancy) from the NE that he uses ankle weights, he has other views that i also disagree with.

Ankle weights are incredibly common up in new england. I have seen a few folks with ankle weights, and an ankle weight on their tank up by the valve. The valve weight is to help their trim, the ankle weights are to keep their feet from floating.

Some things just aren't worth debating.

 

[matt_unique]

Ankle weights are very common in New England as pointed out previously. Figure out your own preference for trim. If ankle weights help you trim the way you want - use them. They are also handy to spread your lead over your body.

--Matt