Squatting with all my gear.

[adventur]

On a dive boat I had to squat rather low to get my gear on. At that same awkward height my challenge was to stand up. My tank was in a rather deep hole with little wiggle room at the top.

There was no room to put my gear elsewhere to put it on. Fortunately, staff pulled the tank straight up so that I was standing.

What exercise could I do to be able to accomplish this feat on my own.

 

[lowwall]

Squats.

Body weight is enough to start with. You can add a backpack with weights to go beyond that or any kind of gym will have some sort of squat machine.

Check YouTube for proper form and workout suggestions.

 

[adventur]

Squats.

Body weight is enough to start with. You can add a backpack with weights to go beyond that or any kind of gym will have some sort of squat machine.

Check YouTube for proper form and workout suggestions.

I do squats, but I found pulling the tank straight up to be very hard. I would have liked to be closer to the tank.

I'll keep up with the squats.

 

[lowwall]

I do squats, but I found pulling the tank straight up to be very hard. I would have liked to be closer to the tank.

Avoid the problem in the first place. Put the BC on the tank. Ask someone to help you keep it steady when you pull it out. Pull it up and set it on the edge of the bench or at least the top of the bottom tank support. Get your helper to steady it. Sit down and strap in.

Or just tell the boat staff ahead of time that you want help. I'm big and strong, but I have back issues and have no problem asking for help to avoid straining it.

 

[adventur]

Avoid the problem in the first place. Put the BC on the tank. Ask someone to help you keep it steady when you pull it out. Pull it up and set it on the edge of the bench or at least the top of the bottom tank support. Get your helper to steady it. Sit down and strap in.

Or just tell the boat staff ahead of time that you want help. I'm big and strong, but I have back issues and have no problem asking for help to avoid straining it.

All the gear was on the tank and there was no edge to sit on. My rear was lower than the edge in order to put the BC on. As I said I did have staff pull up on the tank to get it out of the well while I was geared up.

I had never need such a narrow plank if you will with holes so close together you could not even teeter the tank between others. Hope I do not get another boat like that.

I just felt a bit embarrassed. If I could do it myself I would like.

 

[lowwall]

All the gear was on the tank and there was no edge to sit on. My rear was lower than the edge in order to put the BC on. As I said I did have staff pull up on the tank to get it out of the well while I was geared up.

I had never need such a narrow plank if you will with holes so close together you could not even teeter the tank between others. Hope I do not get another boat like that.

I just felt a bit embarrassed. If I could do it myself I would like.

Yuck. You shouldn't be embarrassed. The fault was with the designer of the gearing up area, not you.

But squats are good for you anyway . I'm going to put the phone down and do some right now.

 

[Rick Brant]

Some boats are better than others, and some really suck. Your dive pros should be more than happy to put the gear wherever you need it to be in order to get it on, even if that means putting it on in the water. Use them and then tip them later.

 

[Endler's]

even if that means putting it on in the water.

This works! Just make sure you personally inflate bladder, before handing BC over to boat crew.

 

[elvenhome21]

I've almost gotten to the point of just throwing my bc in the water and getting into it there. The dive boat we use is to cramped and when I'm suited up in summer I got like 2 min to get in the water before I'm overheating. The instructor I go out with does that semi regularly just to get the boat deck clear for other people. But this is also calm inland lakes he does this on.

 

[chillyinCanada]

All the gear was on the tank and there was no edge to sit on. My rear was lower than the edge in order to put the BC on. As I said I did have staff pull up on the tank to get it out of the well while I was geared up.

I had never need such a narrow plank if you will with holes so close together you could not even teeter the tank between others. Hope I do not get another boat like that.

I just felt a bit embarrassed. If I could do it myself I would like.

You shouldn't be embarrassed! I hope that you never end up on a boat like that again.

I've been on some that are more difficult than others but none so difficult as you describe.

Also, nowadays I have back problems and no quads . The crews have always been happy to help when I've required it or at least, they've pretended not to mind and that's good enough for me.