One thing that you didn't mention when determining trim characteristics is how you need to get motionless to really determine trim. Finning along can cover up a lot of trim issues. Stop completely (no body motion), relax and hold. Let your body spin. This is very disconcerting for many new divers, but is necessary to really determine head up, fins up or roll conditions.
I'm a new diver. My feet down most of the time not sure why or how. And tend to roll to the to the side too.. I think my jacket is too loose or something.
After my first dive i felt very frustrated because i was over weighted and head down and most of the feedback i got was "you just have to practice" thanks for the tips, i will implement this next week on an upcoming dive
The best way for me to find my trim was to go fully slack underwater, and see what floated up and what floated down. Then adjusting weights and doing that again, until I was in trim. Find some shallow water (in a pool or in somewhere close to shore where you can keep weights handy) and spend some time going through the exercise and changing your weights. Even if it's the same amount of weight, having a 4lb lead on each pocket and a 2lb lead on each shoulder is very different than the reverse.
Every OW student needs to watch this video and every AOW student needs to watch it 5 times. Bad habits start early and are very hard to break. As you proceed from OW to the overhead environment (and especially tight spots like caves), poor trim can get you killed. Excellent communication skills, Josh! Excellent training aids, too.
Hi Josh, you nicely mentioned that the arms counterbalance your legs, but it seems to me you missed to mention a crucial point regarding trim. By moving your arms further out or in, you can adjust how much torque they produce. Similarly with the leg position. 90 degree angle is fine, but if you vary it to a bit more or less, you also adjust the torque of your legs. So the combination of torque from your arms trimming your head down and the torque from your legs trimming your head up, allows you to not only trim yourself out in horizontal trim but also rotate depending on what you need to do. If you are diving on an incline, you can trim yourself parallel to the bottom like this. Hence, the best thing to learn to get good trim is the frog kick, so that you can get your arms and legs into that position which you can then use to properly adjust your trim. Of course this requires your kit config and weight distribution to be fairly good to begin with. While a little off-trim can be handled like this, if you are just way off, there is nothing much you can do (except maybe wearing a dry suit and migrating the air where it needs to go to counterbalance the weight placement).
Thanks for the tip at 5:52 . Had my first owd lesson in a pool 2 saturday and I had this issues with my fins + boots (positive buoancy) and hopefully your tip with lowering the tank will help me out fixing that problem in 2 weeks when i have my second dive in the pool for my owd. Thanks for helping out.
Great video, but I would appreciate more details about weight distribution. I use neutral boyant fins, 15l/300bar tank (heavier than regular 232bar) positioned upwards a lot and 8kg on my belt. I'm a big (104kg) guy with very thick lover legs. Use frog-kicks mostly (with legs bent in the knees), ensuring that most of the air is at the lower part of my BCD (jacket-style), doing back-arch as far as I can, keeping arms in front of me, and I'm still a little leg-heavy when stop moving. I can hold horizontal position on safety stops without kicking or holding on something for some 15-20 seconds, but then I slowly start to rotate upwards. I don't like integrated weigthing system, because whole aparatus becomes too heavy for donning and moving around (with 15L/300bar tank attached). Maybe moving some weight to bottle-strap trim pockets? Or some other advice?
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HI Josh, Question about weight distribution for LARGE divers that require a lot of weight. I was on a dive trip and the dive master insisted I wear 1 pound ankle weights to help distribute my weight. I still had fun, but I can't help but think it likely affected my trim. What are your thoughts on ankle weights and do you have any suggestions for dealing with diver masters that don't want to listen to me when I tell them my weight requirements? (this happens often and it is very frustrating). I don't want to be the "seahorse" in the bunch. Thanks!
Please, please, please, stop touching, uncoated, lead weights. Lead is toxic and it shouldn’t be handled. I use coated lead weights and therefore I actually never touch the bear lead that is covered by the coating. Also, the Diver that demonstrated the “flutter kit“was absolutely bicycling. It wasn’t much different than the example you shared of him cycling. Very common mistake New and even some experience divers. Use a very inefficient bicycle kick. The entire video was well done and the vocals were very clear. Well done!
Weight ditching is a myth ,aside from the times of your first learning dives and training before obtaining your certification if you have to ditch weight to acheive positive buoyancy , you should not be a diver at all , or your instructor is garbage and you should seek proper training
One thing that you didn't mention when determining trim characteristics is how you need to get motionless to really determine trim. Finning along can cover up a lot of trim issues. Stop completely (no body motion), relax and hold. Let your body spin. This is very disconcerting for many new divers, but is necessary to really determine head up, fins up or roll conditions.
Thanks Mitch! Great points......remaining stationary allows you to really dial things in!
Spot on! Excellent point, Mitch.
THIS! i got my trim right by not moving. i am a swimmer and i find it hard to not move..
yup ... hovering is the alpha test
I'm a new diver. My feet down most of the time not sure why or how.
And tend to roll to the to the side too.. I think my jacket is too loose or something.
This series are the most comprehensive videos I've even seen regarding proper weighting, thanks for the fantastic work!!
After my first dive i felt very frustrated because i was over weighted and head down and most of the feedback i got was "you just have to practice" thanks for the tips, i will implement this next week on an upcoming dive
Thanks for sharing!
The best way for me to find my trim was to go fully slack underwater, and see what floated up and what floated down. Then adjusting weights and doing that again, until I was in trim. Find some shallow water (in a pool or in somewhere close to shore where you can keep weights handy) and spend some time going through the exercise and changing your weights. Even if it's the same amount of weight, having a 4lb lead on each pocket and a 2lb lead on each shoulder is very different than the reverse.
Every OW student needs to watch this video and every AOW student needs to watch it 5 times. Bad habits start early and are very hard to break. As you proceed from OW to the overhead environment (and especially tight spots like caves), poor trim can get you killed. Excellent communication skills, Josh! Excellent training aids, too.
Excellent! I believe trim is very important and sometimes overlooked. Great trim and buoyancy control is the mark of a good diver.
Hi Lyell and Josh, thanks for the series, I can't wait to see the following video.
Nice job explaining proper positioning, weight distribution and use of arms and kicking (finning). Regards Bob C
Hi Josh, you nicely mentioned that the arms counterbalance your legs, but it seems to me you missed to mention a crucial point regarding trim. By moving your arms further out or in, you can adjust how much torque they produce. Similarly with the leg position. 90 degree angle is fine, but if you vary it to a bit more or less, you also adjust the torque of your legs. So the combination of torque from your arms trimming your head down and the torque from your legs trimming your head up, allows you to not only trim yourself out in horizontal trim but also rotate depending on what you need to do. If you are diving on an incline, you can trim yourself parallel to the bottom like this. Hence, the best thing to learn to get good trim is the frog kick, so that you can get your arms and legs into that position which you can then use to properly adjust your trim.
Of course this requires your kit config and weight distribution to be fairly good to begin with. While a little off-trim can be handled like this, if you are just way off, there is nothing much you can do (except maybe wearing a dry suit and migrating the air where it needs to go to counterbalance the weight placement).
+Tobias Hartung as always, we love your comments. You are such a great addition to our Everything Scuba community. Thank you for your insights!
@@everythingscuba Aww thanks, happy to hear that :)
Very helpful.
Thank you!
Thanks for the tip at 5:52 . Had my first owd lesson in a pool 2 saturday and I had this issues with my fins + boots (positive buoancy) and hopefully your tip with lowering the tank will help me out fixing that problem in 2 weeks when i have my second dive in the pool for my owd. Thanks for helping out.
Thank you so much !
great series .. keep it up ..
Nice informative video. Thank you.
I used to take a 1 lb ankle weight and mount it near my valve on the tank to keep me from being feet down.
Thank you
Another Great Explanation. 👏👏👏🥇🥇🥇🥇👏👏👏❤️
Glad you liked it
Nice video!
Great video, love the little figure as a visual aid.
Trim pockets on the aqualung axiom are on the same level like the weigth system^^
Great video, but I would appreciate more details about weight distribution. I use neutral boyant fins, 15l/300bar tank (heavier than regular 232bar) positioned upwards a lot and 8kg on my belt. I'm a big (104kg) guy with very thick lover legs. Use frog-kicks mostly (with legs bent in the knees), ensuring that most of the air is at the lower part of my BCD (jacket-style), doing back-arch as far as I can, keeping arms in front of me, and I'm still a little leg-heavy when stop moving. I can hold horizontal position on safety stops without kicking or holding on something for some 15-20 seconds, but then I slowly start to rotate upwards. I don't like integrated weigthing system, because whole aparatus becomes too heavy for donning and moving around (with 15L/300bar tank attached). Maybe moving some weight to bottle-strap trim pockets? Or some other advice?
If you'd like to support our channel and help us continue to provide great RUclips scuba content, consider visiting our "Merch" store and order some great Everything Scuba clothing or accessories at this link: (New items being added regularly):
everything-scuba-merch-store.creator-spring.com
Subscribe to Everything Scuba (If you're already subscribed, thanks! We appreciate your support!)
ruclips.net/channel/UCqkYj52oqx4kie11AMtdRDw
I have the problem of rolling. Even with equal weights on each side, I list to the left.
HI Josh, Question about weight distribution for LARGE divers that require a lot of weight. I was on a dive trip and the dive master insisted I wear 1 pound ankle weights to help distribute my weight. I still had fun, but I can't help but think it likely affected my trim. What are your thoughts on ankle weights and do you have any suggestions for dealing with diver masters that don't want to listen to me when I tell them my weight requirements? (this happens often and it is very frustrating). I don't want to be the "seahorse" in the bunch. Thanks!
I’m a 24 pound weight guy in a 5 mil wetsuit. Dive instructors need to remember what works for them doesn’t work for other body types.
Im leg put down diver.
So I will try your suggestion, tank up to head.
after try, comment again.
thanks.
Where did you get your Dan kit!!!
Funny you should ask Brock. In an upcoming video we will review exactly what is in that kit and let you know how to own your own DAN kit.
Si
Please, please, please, stop touching, uncoated, lead weights. Lead is toxic and it shouldn’t be handled. I use coated lead weights and therefore I actually never touch the bear lead that is covered by the coating. Also, the Diver that demonstrated the “flutter kit“was absolutely bicycling. It wasn’t much different than the example you shared of him cycling. Very common mistake New and even some experience divers. Use a very inefficient bicycle kick. The entire video was well done and the vocals were very clear. Well done!
The diver in the video was *demonstrating* a bicycle kick…
"Is this you when you're scuba diving?"
No, not vertical enough. Try make the figure even more vertical. 😅
Katie, lol. Sad but true. :)
Lol😂
Weight ditching is a myth ,aside from the times of your first learning dives and training before obtaining your certification if you have to ditch weight to acheive positive buoyancy , you should not be a diver at all , or your instructor is garbage and you should seek proper training