Could the need for ankle weights be influenced by gender?

[ZenSquirrel]

I don't think that the supplied articles are revelant to scuba diving. The articles are an analysis of competative swimmers which is a completely different thing than diving with a drysuit (I do both regularly).

Furthermore I'd say that the article is probably only 1/3 true. They tried to say that men use up a good deal of energy keeping their feet up and that plus additional drag is why they can pull faster than women. It has been my experience that men do pull porportionally faster than women and I'd say the contributing factors are:

1) Men generally have much more developed upper bodies. Women with weaker upper bodies will get a more even mix of forward motion from kicking and pulling. Men will rely more on the pulling. Thus if you take out the kicking women loose more of their total forward power than men do. Thus women go porportionaly slower, men do not go porportionaly faster.

2) Kicking burns a lot of oxygen/enegery stores and it is very inefficient. If you can shutdown the quad muscles then you free up your body to supply more oxygen to the upper body and you have more resources to clear latic acid buildup from the arms. Thus you can pull harder with no legs then straight swimming. Once again, men generally have more muscle. If you shut down 1/2 body this will free up more resources to service the rest of the muscles and the arm muscles are much smaller than the quad muscles. The arm are also much more efficient at transfering strokes to forward motion.

3) Body position is VERY important in swimming. I do not doubt that the center of boyancy plays some role in this. I just question how big of a role.

But at the end of the day this is all moot. The drag of a scuba tank, hoses, BC, lead, and a drysuit dominate the center of boyancy of the human body. In fact, carrying lead and wearing a BC are designed to dominate the boyance of the human body.

My $.02.

(P.S. When I say weaker/stronger/smaller/bigger I mean porportionally and in general. I know many women that can swim circles around me.)

 

[UWSojourner]

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.

Question: What is difference between wearing positively bouyant fins (and a bit of weight to offset), and wearing fins with the weight built-in?

 

[Diver0001]

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Ankle weights, like many other things in SCUBA, are a crutch.

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So are BCD's, weights, exposure suits and even masks.....

Just depends on how you look at it. Ankle weights, like all the things I just mentioned, are solutions to a problem.

If you can't see you wear a mask.... You *can* learn how to dive without one with proper training but a mask is easier so we all wear one. On the other hand....uh oh.... if your feet float....oh, now that's just taboo.....

Ankle weights are clearly not the only solution and perhaps not the best solution because they create new problems too but they work......so do Jetfins with steel straps. Just another sort of anchor on your feet. 6 of one 1/2 dozen of the other.....but at least that's not taboo.

R..

 

[Spectre]

Question: What is difference between wearing positively bouyant fins (and a bit of weight to offset), and wearing fins with the weight built-in?

Think of the mechanics of swinging a bat. If you choke up on a bat, you bring the weight closer and sacrifice power. Now with a weighted fin you are adding power to the fin, whereas on your ankle it adds no power to your kick.

Additionally, the further out on your leg the weight is, the less weight is required to have an effect on your trim.

Also, taking the weight onto the ankle, you take the power from the fin and just add work to the leg. You take some of your muscles out of the equation by reducing the muscles involved in moving that weight. With a heavier fin, you can use your ankle and calf strength, as opposed to an ankle weight where the thigh has to be the muscles doing the work.

Furthermore, how much do ankle weights actually weigh? I'm willing to bet the weight of an ankle weight is much higher than the weight of the fin.

 

[UWSojourner]

Think of the mechanics of swinging a bat. If you choke up on a bat, you bring the weight closer and sacrifice power. Now with a weighted fin you are adding power to the fin, whereas on your ankle it adds no power to your kick.

Additionally, the further out on your leg the weight is, the less weight is required to have an effect on your trim.

Also, taking the weight onto the ankle, you take the power from the fin and just add work to the leg. You take some of your muscles out of the equation by reducing the muscles involved in moving that weight. With a heavier fin, you can use your ankle and calf strength, as opposed to an ankle weight where the thigh has to be the muscles doing the work.

Furthermore, how much do ankle weights actually weigh? I'm willing to bet the weight of an ankle weight is much higher than the weight of the fin.

Thanks.

 

[Warren_L]

Ankle weights, like many other things in SCUBA, are a crutch.

I wouldn't disagree with ankle weights being inefficient as it adds more mass to your feet, requiring more effort to fin. But I don't see a problem with using these as "crutches". A crutch serves a useful purpose. It's only when you rely on these crutches permanently with little or no effort to correct the original problem which is perhaps more the issue.

 

[Spectre]

I wouldn't disagree with ankle weights being inefficient as it adds more mass to your feet, requiring more effort to fin. But I don't see a problem with using these as "crutches". A crutch serves a useful purpose. It's only when you rely on these crutches permanently with little or no effort to correct the original problem which is perhaps more the issue.

The problem you run into is them not realizing it's actually a crutch. I once dove with a fellow with well over 1000 dives. His trim was _so_ bad that he managed to silt up a dive site that had a sandy bottom in open water. Trying to point out the effect of the ankle weights on his trim would have been an exercise in futility. If the problem being crutched is perceived to be solved by ankle weights, how or why would they ever seek alternate methods of solving the problem?

 

[UWSojourner]

I wouldn't disagree with ankle weights being inefficient as it adds more mass to your feet, requiring more effort to fin. But I don't see a problem with using these as "crutches". A crutch serves a useful purpose. It's only when you rely on these crutches permanently with little or no effort to correct the original problem which is perhaps more the issue.

I think the point would be, why use a crutch if you can run?

 

[matt_unique]

So are BCD's, weights, exposure suits and even masks.....

Just depends on how you look at it. Ankle weights, like all the things I just mentioned, are solutions to a problem.

If you can't see you wear a mask.... You *can* learn how to dive without one with proper training but a mask is easier so we all wear one. On the other hand....uh oh.... if your feet float....oh, now that's just taboo.....

Ankle weights are clearly not the only solution and perhaps not the best solution because they create new problems too but they work......so do Jetfins with steel straps. Just another sort of anchor on your feet. 6 of one 1/2 dozen of the other.....but at least that's not taboo.

R..

Absolutely - the same could be said for flashlights, reels, signaling devices, deco/float bags, etc.

Use the tools you need to dive well, forget what someone else thinks is cool.

--Matt

 

[Warren_L]

I think the point would be, why use a crutch if you can run?

But I think the point here is that for some, they can't "run". If one breaks a leg, a crutch can be very useful. So long as it gets better, the crutch is not permanent.