heavy legs

[Blacthorn]

and basiclly its all going back to putting balloons on your feet...

But really with better bouyant fins(trying anything that is positive) and thicker neoprene boots this might help. The major problem with the boots is that at depth you are going to lose that benefit very quickly. It would seem that hovering with your feet held above the rest of your body would (should) be the best fix for this, not in a tense way, but simply relaxed, maybe take a book and pretend you are a teenaged girl. Of course for that whole image you need to be popping bubble gum at the same time.

Or Drysuit...

 

[Frog Dude]

The results are in.
Test subject 6’1” 187lb. 16 % body fat (measured biometrically immediately prior to test).
Fresh water pool.
Equipment:
Mask and snorkel: considered neutral, captive air volume will offset negative mass.
Booties: approximately .5 pounds positive each. 1 pound total positive.
Fins: the Scubapro jet fins, definitely negative and discarded for this test. I chose the Scubapro Veloce adjustable to use. The fins would be considered overall very slightly positive. The tip of the blade protruded ¼ inch above the water with the remaining hanging down.
Farmer johns: 3/16” neoprene with knee pads. Positive 7.3 pounds.
Shortie: 3/16” neoprene. Positive 7 pounds.
BC: cumberbund style: slightly negative with all air purged from blow molded back pack.

Water Test:
Human test subject with mask and snorkel only:
Defiantly negative. Normal breathing caused subject to submerge below snorkel depth.

Human test subject with mask, snorkel and farmer john:
At rest, the subject was able to maintain snorkel depth. With arms comfortably extended and legs straight the body assumed a feet down angle approximately 45 degrees from the surface.

Human test subject with mask, snorkel, farmer john and booties:
At rest, the subject was able to maintain snorkel depth. With arms comfortably extended and the legs straight the body assumed a horizontal floating position.

Human test subject with mask, snorkel and shortie:
At rest, the subject was able to maintain snorkel depth. With arms comfortably extended and the legs straight the body assumed a vertical position with the legs down.

Human test subject with mask, snorkel, shortie and booties:
At rest, the subject was able to maintain snorkel depth. With arms comfortably extended and the legs comfortably bent at the knee the body assumed a horizontal position with the soles of the feet slightly horizontal and below the horizontal plane of the subjects back.
This was the most comfortable position of all the above mentioned and the subjects standard diving configuration, less booties. I normally dive with water shoes.

The conclusions drawn from the above test prove that body fat to muscle ratio DOES have a direct bearing on overall buoyancy and that the distribution of the fat and muscle will affect the overall trim.
With this information divers bodies can be placed into three categories in regard to trim.

Triangle: Wide at the top, point at the bottom.
The wide line at the top symbolizes the upper body that coincides with the area where the available buoyancy has the most adjustability. Via a BC and weight. The narrow point at the bottom symbolizes the feet and the area that has the least amount of natural buoyancy and very few options to adjust. People like dump and I fall into this category.

The Square: Uniform distribution of natural buoyancy and larger envelope of adjustability. These people naturally float, a few border on triangles if their feet sink but the thighs float.

The Pear. The center of buoyancy is located in the hips. May have sinking feet but they are closer to the center of buoyancy and will require less to compensate. If the torso is heavy it is compensated by the BC.

Current equipment technology is designed for the majority of the diving consumers of whom most have a fat distribution condusive to a horizontal floating position. The Squares. Divers that don’t fit into that mold and continue in the sport learn to compensate by the many aforementioned means or just learning to accept a feet lower position and dive accordingly.
Copyright2006 Frog Dude

Further testing was performed with BC and weights and some interesting results gleaned. At this point I will keep them to myself pending another patent application.

To address jdb,
I do agree with your suggested kicking technique however until the feet and legs are ballasted to be more positive they will sink at rest. Moving them closer to the torso will cause the hips to sink.

My first post to this thread was on 8-17-06 at 9:50 AM
“The good news is that you’re evidently in good physical shape.
Fat floats muscle sinks.”

Dump’s revelation of his physical condition was posted on 08-17-2006, 07:43 PM
Almost 12 hours later.
“I dont use weight or a weight belt. iam 5 ft 7in weight 235 lbs powerlifter. so i sink with no problems. i will try to add a little to the top of the tank.”
I have first hand experience with the problem he is having and saw right off what the issue was. Most of the guys I dove with overseas all had the same problem. They were all RECON, Ranger and other Special Ops types. We are talking single digit body fat.

Adding weight to the tank was Spectrum’s contribution.
I don’t pray at the altar of HOG or DIR but I work at bringing only the equipment needed for the dive and emergencies. I don’t want a lot of *** hanging off me that can snag.

That was a drill we used when I got the Scubapro STAB jacket about 25 years ago. I had the heavy feet problem then also. I would have hoped better methods would have evolved. This example was what I first used.
BTW I dove with an AIR 2 for a long time and didn’t die.

Frog Dude