Do experienced divers need to carry less weight?

[TMHeimer]

Put simply, yes, as they are more relaxed and can figure out the correct amount of weight needed.

Also as your wetsuit gets older, it loses buoyancy, so a little less lead is needed.

Over time (10 years) I was able to drop 7 pounds wearing my original wetsuit. I thought it was due to the "experienced, you can drop some weight" philosophy. When I got my new wetsuit all 7 pounds went back on. It wasn't me at all.....

 

[tursiops]

Please provide the physiological basis for this, because, frankly, I don't understand how this might be. Are tensed muscles more buoyant than relaxed muscles? Are they more compressive? What are you saying?

Tensed muscles are bigger.....try it with your bicep.

 

[boulderjohn]

or a new diver, being over-weighted is usually better because:

• A buddy or instructor can remove your weights for a rapid ascent.
• It provides a better scenario for practicing neutral-buoyancy including inflating & deflating the BC.

When I read these first two, I assumed the post was in total sarcasm. Then I started getting the idea you were serious.

• Do you seriously consider dropping excessive weight for a rapid ascent to be a good thing?
• Practicing neutral buoyancy by inflating and deflating the BC is not what you really want to be doing. You want to be able to practice neutral buoyancy through breath control, and an overinflated BC because of overweighting makes that difficult or even impossible.

 

[KatieMac]

New divers are still trying to understand neutral buoyancy and every body and rig is different. They are also often instilled a bit of fear in training of uncontrolled ascents and over lung expansion injuries so being a bit negative may make them feel more comfortable.

That said, the biggest problem most divers face starting out is how to breath underwater. Many fear taking full breaths and exhales. That little thought in the back of their mind saying hang on to a bit of gas in the lungs just in case this gear stops working. They also tend to be in poor trim in a more vertical position, and well if your legs are under you and you're kicking you're going up, so that extra weight giving them the illusion of being neutral seems normal.

With experience you learn how much ballast you need with your rig and the exposure you're wearing. You get your trim right. You also begin to trust your reg is going to deliver the gas you need. You become more comfortable and start breathing normal. Before you know it diving is like riding a bike. You don't even think about all the small little things you're doing that make the dive a walk in the park. Consequently, most people learn they are over weighted and eventually start ditching ballast. They also start ditching all the non essential gear they bought, which also will reduce weight and makes them a more streamlined diver.

I learned that when I was doing my rescue course. I was too cold in my 3/2mm and bought a brand new 5mm but forgot to increase my weight. I felt free! It was an amazing experience - effortless - well, effortless once I got a bit of water in the new suit. I still tend to carry a few extra pounds - but that's because I've been in a situation twice where someone else on the dive was underweighted. But when I'm diving with the experienced group I normally dive with, I prefer to not have the extra weight.

 

[Hppyfam]

I know us tropic divers are laughed at.. but at 135ft in just shorts and a tshirt and my temps reading at 84f.... I don't think I could dive cold.

I'll say this, there's not much better than board shorts, a t-shirt, wing and a steel tank with just two hoses on the reg in 85° water. It feels good. About as close as you can get to freediving. No weight needed.

Probably the best thing I have seen is cold water divers trying to use their 16+lbs of weights when wearing a 5mm or greater wetsuit when diving in skin and shorts.

I am chubby by all accounts but I dive with an alu backplate, stainless steel triglides/ d drings and sink/ hold trim just fine with no extra added weights.

 

[eleniel]

Over time (10 years) I was able to drop 7 pounds wearing my original wetsuit. I thought it was due to the "experienced, you can drop some weight" philosophy. When I got my new wetsuit all 7 pounds went back on. It wasn't me at all.....

Experience was involved... your original wetsuit was 'experienced'.

 

[Streydog]

I am not as bouyant as I look. I was certified on a whim after a dicovery dive in Roatan. It took me a while to get my weighting right since I started off quite higher than I need to be.
Last year I found a weight pocket burried in the mud durring a dive. I pulled it out, shot some air in my BC and continued the dive carrying the pocket around. I was sure I was dragging 5 or 6 + extra lbs. around during the dive. I was very suprised when I opened the pocked after the dive and it only had 2 lbs in it.

 

[CuzzA]

I know us tropic divers are laughed at.. but at 135ft in just shorts and a tshirt and my temps reading at 84f.... I don't think I could dive cold

Shhh. Let them laugh. The tropics have enough people.

Though my first dive this year was in 65° and I was nice and warm. An open cell suit is just as warm as a dry suit, and you smell fresh, skin smooth and conditioned after a dive, and don't need condoms on your tallywhacker.

 

[Storker]

Tensed muscles are bigger.....try it with your bicep.

So... where does this extra volume come from?

Just to be sure, I did a small search. One of the papers I found (R. J. Baskin, P. Paolini: "Volume change and pressure development in muscle during contraction", The American journal of physiology 213(4):1025-1030, 1967, DOI 10.1152/AJPLEGACY.1967.213.4.1025) did in fact measure a volume increase of muscles during contraction. Up to a whopping 3x10^-5 mL/g, or some 0.003%. I don't think that a volume change of 0.003% would have a significant effect on weighing.

 

[johndiver999]

When one muscle contracts, there is basically an opposing muscle which stretches. One would seem to offset the other?