freediving weight

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mbalmr

Contributor
Messages
164
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Location
Belding, Michigan
# of dives
25 - 49
Hey guys,
I am going to start freediving this summer in fresh water. To start out I will just be in my swim suit, no wetsuit. I am was wondering how much weight I would need. I am 5'10 195lbs. Any input would be appreciated. Thanks:popcorn:
 
Weight is required to offset the bouyancy of a wetsuit. Safer to not use any weight. May want to consider a CO2 popper horse collar or auto-inflating freedivers safety vest though.
 
If there is a formula, maybe the folks at Performance Freediving (who are in this forum) might know.

I can tell you what works for me. I use 8 lbs for scuba and 4-5 lbs for freediving, but I only do salt-water scuba, not fresh water. Keep in mind that salt-water makes you more positively buoyant than fresh water.

The freediving that I do is simply recreational and I seldom go below 40 ft. I believe that competitive freedivers weigh themselves based on the depth at which they want to cross over from positive to negative. So the answer to your question can get complex, depending on what your goals are.

Lastly I might suggest that you not do this alone due to the inherent dangers of blacking out, and also, that if you intend to pursue this as something more than just casual recreation, you enroll in a freediving class.
 
The buoyancy of the human body is highly variable, mostly a balance between bones and air-filled spaces. It also depends on your depth since lung displacement will reduce. Ideally, you will be buoyant at the surface and neutral once you reach your target depth.

Individuals with long limbs, heavy bone structure, and relatively small lungs will be negative on the surface. This is undesirable since you will have to work more to stay on the surface, thus your lungs and tissues will have lower Oxygen and higher CO2 than desirable to start a freedive. In that case, it would be worth the extra drag to wear a thin wetsuit or shorty and maybe a light weight belt. Being able to drop your weightbelt is a good safety option.

Although it is usually not an issue with beginning freedivers, SWB (Shallow Water Blackout) is about the only physiological issue you should be aware of. This link is worth looking over.

Welcome to DiveWise - the Freediving Education Initiative

You can determine your desired weight in a pool experimentally. Add 2½% for sea water.
 
I would suggest zero lead. In saltwater you may need lead, but in freshwater almost for sure no lead
 
The buoyancy of the human body is highly variable, mostly a balance between bones and air-filled spaces. It also depends on your depth since lung displacement will reduce. Ideally, you will be buoyant at the surface and neutral once you reach your target depth.

Individuals with long limbs, heavy bone structure, and relatively small lungs will be negative on the surface. This is undesirable since you will have to work more to stay on the surface, thus your lungs and tissues will have lower Oxygen and higher CO2 than desirable to start a freedive. In that case, it would be worth the extra drag to wear a thin wetsuit or shorty and maybe a light weight belt. Being able to drop your weightbelt is a good safety option.

Although it is usually not an issue with beginning freedivers, SWB (Shallow Water Blackout) is about the only physiological issue you should be aware of. This link is worth looking over.

Welcome to DiveWise - the Freediving Education Initiative

You can determine your desired weight in a pool experimentally. Add 2½% for sea water.

i am going to have to say you are wrong. i don't mean to call you out or anything but i do not want some one reading that and then going and killing them self or some one else!
and its not just SWB (Shallow Water Blackout) that you have to worry about its all black outs that will kill you if you are alone in the water/pool. you still might even die if you are with a buddy and they don't know what to look for/do.

there is a forum called deeperblue go on there. it is much better then this place for freediving!
i don't know everything about freediving but it seems i know much much more then the OP so if you want send me a pm and ill fill you in on some easy safty stuff.

@ Akimbo please do not post things like this. bad info is worse then no info

YOU ALWAYS HAVE TO WORRY ABOUT ALL BLACK OUTS EVEN IF YOUR A NEW FREEDIVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
I was under the impression since the OP added a popcorn eating icon that there was some search for a debate on weighting safety, so I added some safety items.

DeeperBlue.com and SpearBoard.com may have more experienced freedivers. Also good to check these sites.

We have Ask Performance Freediving subforum which may be one step better.
 
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i am going to have to say you are wrong. i don't mean to call you out or anything but i do not want some one reading that and then going and killing them self or some one else!
and its not just SWB (Shallow Water Blackout) that you have to worry about its all black outs that will kill you if you are alone in the water/pool. you still might even die if you are with a buddy and they don't know what to look for/do.

there is a forum called deeperblue go on there. it is much better then this place for freediving!
i don't know everything about freediving but it seems i know much much more then the OP so if you want send me a pm and ill fill you in on some easy safty stuff.

@ Akimbo please do not post things like this. bad info is worse then no info

YOU ALWAYS HAVE TO WORRY ABOUT ALL BLACK OUTS EVEN IF YOUR A NEW FREEDIVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The link in my post details all forms of hypoxic reactions in freediving. I used SWB as a collective term for all of them since that is the most commonly used. I felt it was inappropriate to go into greater detail on a post that was addressing weight adjustment and not freediving physiology.

Fortunately, it is statistically far less likely that beginning freedivers suffer hypoxic reactions since they have not developed skills and tolerance to increased CO2 levels. This information would have been widely known more than 100 years ago if this were not the case.

For those interested, these physiological responses and many more are explained in the Manual of Freediving: Underwater on a Single Breath by Umberto Pelizzari and Stefano Tovaglieri and are taught in courses by Performance Freediving and others.
 
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Among beginning freedivers (aka snorkellers), blackout is not nearly the dangerous issue that drowning is. It takes training and practice to blackout.
 
The link in my post details all forms of hypoxic reactions in freediving. I used SWB as a collective term for all of them since that is the most commonly used. I felt it was inappropriate to go into greater detail on a post that was addressing weight adjustment and not freediving physiology.

Fortunately, it is statistically far less likely that beginning freedivers suffer hypoxic reactions since they have not developed skills and tolerance to increased CO2 levels. This information would have been widely known more than 100 years ago if this were not the case.

For those interested, these physiological responses and many more are explained in the Manual of Freediving: Underwater on a Single Breath by Umberto Pelizzari and Stefano Tovaglieri and are taught in courses by Performance Freediving and others.

so your saying that your less likely to black out when your a new freediver?
are you saying that because if you are new you are less likely to push the limit?

i have taken a Performance Freediving class and no where in that class do they say you don't have to worry about blackouts when you are new to the sport. that happens to be the main thing you need to be worryed about!

and snorkeling is not freediving!!!!

again i didn't post to start a fight. i just want to make it clear that you always need to take the right safty steps in case of a black out. it doesn't matter if your new to the sport or have been doing it for years. blackouts kill you just the same either way!!!
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/swift/

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