Why newbies tend to over weight themselves?

[eelnoraa]

I am newbie. Everyone said newbies tent to over weight themselves. How would the increase in experience reduce weight if gears have NOT been changed. Can someone enlighten me?

 

[RJP]

I am newbie. Everyone said newbies tent to over weight themselves. How would the increase in experience reduce weight if gears have NOT been changed. Can someone enlighten me?

Newbies tend to be overweighted by instructors!



Plus they are also worried about not being able to stay down and corking. Once you calm down and relax it's easier to hold your depth and you can shed some lead.

 

[BettyRubble]

We newbies are anxiety prone in the beginning and tend to have a hard time relaxing before descending, so we don't think we can sink without the extra weight.

Plus, we haven't figured out how to maintain our buoyancy well and think it is easier when we are overweighted.

And a dozen more reasons. But I need a poptart before I exert that much energy. Sorry!

 

[Thalassamania]

Many Instructors don't get their students relaxed enough ... that means too much lead. Many Instructors are too lazy to go through proper weighting exercises, but dread the idea that their students will not be able to get down to the bottom ... that means too much lead. Many Instructors feel that the bottom must be rototilled ... that means too much lead.

 

[wedivebc]

New divers seem to be afraid to fully exhale. This leads them to be more buoyant at the surface just as they are about to submerge but once they get below the surface find they are overweighted.
This tendency also leads to poor air consumption due to CO2 retention from not fully exhaling. A few minutes with a knowledgeable and patient instructor can overcome these bad habits.

 

[AuburnFan]

My instructor for my check out dives suggested we carry extra weight so that when we had to sit on the bottom to do our skills it would be easier. He also suggested that we then ditch the extra weight after we got our C cards.

 

[BettyRubble]

Many Instructors feel that the bottom must be rototilled ... that means too much lead.

Exactly!

 

[MSilvia]

duplicate

 

[MSilvia]

I've seen new overweighted divers divers who had extra weight because:

• they didn't realize they were kicking/treading water while trying to descend
• they were breathing shallowly or quickly, and had 3/4 full lungs
• they didn't understand how to dump ALL the gas from their BC
• their instructor overwieghted them to make sure he wouldn't have runaway ascents during class, and the student believed it was what they SHOULD use.
• they're worried about uncontrolled ascents
• they don't know overweighting causes problems, and figure it's better to be too heavy than not heavy enough
• they were never taught/don't remember how to do a weight check
• etc...

 

[deadly_risk]

In my OW we never did any kind of weight check, and were never told how to do one. Each diver was given 8lbs (fresh water, steel tanks, and a 3/2) and sunk to the bottom.

After OW, and after learning allot more about it I did a proper weight check and was able to take off all but 4lbs.