xdeep manual did not really give that much hints and tips on the adjustments. This video is excellent and I was able to have a clear improvement in my setup with this video. Thanks for the video.
Ryan great video for illustrating the proper way to set up a DIR BPW! Can you show a photo or do a short video, or direct viewers to a page on your website, where you show the BPW attached to a tank? Showing the proper height for the tank would be helpful to new BPW users who are either setting their tank too high and hitting their head on the valve or too low which can adversely affect their trim. Love my XDEEP by the way!
This video helped me a great deal. Thank you very much. What's your recommendation for cleaning the outside fabric of a white XDeep wing? I love the color, but want to make sure it doesn't look too dirty over time.
Thanks for the helpful video! Do you have any recommendations for the placement of the two rear D-rings on the Y crotch strap? Does the left rear D-ring ever get in the way of the dump valve pull string?
I think it would depend on your drysuit. If it's a thicker neoprene + insulation layers underneath then it will be a lot thicker than a regular t-shirt and need more space.
Ryan you mention the waist strap should sit below the iliac crest and above the hip joint. Seems like for some of us taller folks the plate dimensions don’t allow for this. Any recommendations?
Yes, get a proper plate that fits. A standard plate is roughly 15 inches tall. Sure, you can dive it; however it's not optimal. But, if that's all you have, then you need to position the plate to where you can still touch the top of it with your fingers keep your elbow closer to your face when reaching back, and then angle the waist down. Control the height with the crotch strap.
Great tips. I like my alternate hose to be folded through the right d-ring with the result that the bend of the hose touches and is sometimes in the way of my regular hose. Therefore I've put my right d-ring lower than the left. A no-go/Any better suggestions?
Under the right d-ring, secure the folded hose in the Rubber Retaining Ring and then you can send excess through d-ring. This keeps the hose a touch lower, and can't get stuck as you can always break away if needed. Make sure hose is routed under the arm and not over the shoulder.
Great vid Ryan. Is there a specific reason you've flipped the typical DIR setup? ie you have the single hip D ring on the right hip and pull the buckle to the left hip. Or did the video itself just flip?
Ryan, you state the harness does not need to be tight. Does this apply to Doubles? My gear is setup as you have demonstrated. In double HP100's, I do feel the tanks shifting. My cavern instructor suggested last weekend I may want to tighten things up. Hope to stop by your shop next trip down, I have had great conversations with Landon.
That is correct. A tight harness leads to a person arching their back. It pulls the shoulders backward causing your shoulder blades to drop. Imagine doing a 2 hr long dive being stiff. Try walking for 10 minutes with your arms behind your back like you are pacing. If you cross your arms, you want the straps to fit nice across your ribs, if they are flopping in this position, tighten slightly. however, if you cross your arms and feel 'digging' in, its too tight. basically, give yourself a big hug, it should feel comfy.
Some will say yes, but I would absolutely say NO. Standard back plate height is 15 in tall. Your torso at that height will be around 22 to 25 inches. Secondly, the width of a standard plate is typically no more than 11 and 1/2 to 12 in compared to 14.5 in width. I Recommend the Xdeep NX large plate as it's 17 and 3/4 in tall; it's what I dive at 6'1. The issue with smaller plates is that it will sit just above your kidneys-- it will dig in. The only two adjustments you can make is to lengthen the shoulders, and have an elongated crotch as well. This would be the same equivalent to you wearing a small "hello Kitty" backpack and trying to remain comfortable. Our online store will have the specifications of each.
Typically, we rethread the way the top goes through to the webbing instead of crossing back under the d-ring. You can add a tri glide further up the webbing to allow for adjustability. Your buckle should sit around the top of your ribs to allow for ease of access, and not impede the straps. You can send us an email to info@getaqui.com and I can reply back with photos to show you how we set them up
No, it's literally not. Understanding anatomy is key in being a top instructor and professional. By extending your arms, you are creating an unnatural pose that requires tension to hold it. The result of such pose is arching your back (no, no), and your knees coming to a 90 degree bend (also a no, no). Your shoulder blades are where stability in a system is at. By extending your arms, you are moving your blades away fromt heir natural relaxed position. Secondly, understanding upper vertebrae column will also show how you restrict your head movement when 'superman' posing vs keeping arms relaxed and hanging naturally. People arch and extend to compensate for not being properly balanced (trimmed out).
@@precisiondivers That seems to be an interesting but, best case, controversial claim. If the hands are not extended in front of you (superman position), I am not sure how: 1) You can hold a light reliably with stability and communicate with it properly with minimal latency. 2) You can have your hands always in view to make sure that you don't entagle or silt anything during cave or shipwreck penetration. 3) You can have at any moment effortless access to your computer(s) and compass. 4) You can minimize delays due to risk of entaglement when donating your primary during an OOA incident. 5) You can minimize your vertical profile, thus improving swimming effort and minimizing risk of entaglements with the suroundings. 6) You can maximize your horizontal profile to improve buoyancy control, especially due to deco stops (check also point (3)). ... and potentially many other points that I don't have the experience yet to list here. The position instead seems unatural initially and will hurt your back, but this lasts for the first 10 dives at worst. Afrer some point, your muscles get used to and assume this position naturally. Speaking from my personal experience, I have performed dives close to 3 hours, and at no point I felt even an idea of pain or discomfort. I would say, that it even fixed my posture outside the water. I know personally elite cave explorers (WKPP, CINDAQ, etc.) with deco times of 14-15 hours on a single dive, diving without issue and non-stop on the superman position, a position that drysuits seem to favor. I am not sure exactly what they are doing in a "stupid" way... on the other hand I can imagine that the ones keeping their arms "relaxed and hanging" during a shipwreck or cave penetration might very well spent their first and only deco in a body bag. P/S: My goal is to just start a conversation and understand better your point. My intent is not to be confrontational, but just to investigagte further the reasoning behind calling experienced divers (performing the most demanding dives in the world) and entire communities (producing the some of the most competent divers in the world) fundamentally "stupid" and less competent than "top instructors and professionals" performing shipwreck penetration with their arms hanging naturally.
@@mariosx12 Good day, I'll address each concern and provide references to better explain. BOTTOM LINE FIRST: Environment dictates positioning, at the moment. We should all strive to learn. For context: I am a technical instructor. I specialize in perfecting trim, buoyancy, failures/failure-based training, compounding skills, + isometrics. It isn't my opinion to know that a person holding tension is under more 'stress' than a person relaxed. Body fatigue exists and is factual; not theoretical. With that said, let's dive in. Feel free to add me on Facebook and you can see plenty of additional videos further addressing comments: Ryan Custureri 1) The focus is on your shoulders, NOT your hands. You can keep your hands in front and still comfortably hold a light WITHOUT arching your back. It is as simple as keeping elbows down and in. If you raise your shoulders (exactly what happens in a "superman" pose), you restrict head movement. This is fact, not opinion. See upper vertebral column muscles and diagram on any anatomy site. 2) I teach Wreck classes and spend more time in rust buckets than the open ocean. If you continue to hold that superman, you are physically tensioning your lower half and creating a parabola effect with your body by forcing you to contract your hamstrings. Try extending your feet out, and not in an upward direction, with tension. 3) Based on this, your assumption is that arms are hanging down like an ape? Your hands are still in easy access, and you isolate your forearms, elbows, hands from raising/lowering shoulders. 4) Entanglement has nothing to do with whether your body is relaxed or not. It is an awareness. Now, assuming you become entangled... If you are tense, you are going to make matters worse. This increases CO2 levels; causes a person to pull their feet toward their butt instead of away, hyperextend through the torso, etc. 5) This also does not make sense? Can you elaborate on 'vertical profile?' If you are arching, shoulders are elevated, restricting your body's natural motion, you will simply not be more efficient. Your physical output is going to be higher. 6) You are still implying a person can not be extremely streamlined and relaxed at the same time. This is simply false. I care about efficiency. Try walking around for an hour with your shoulders shrugged, tighten your hamstrings (which happens when you arch), and compare that against walking normally. This is the same effect trying to streamline with tension behind held; especially throughout the duration of a dive. You should never have to feel tension when diving; ever. This is a horrible approach. When instructors teach a person to arch or superman, it is because they are not properly balanced (whether they actually realize that or not). Most often if you tell the student to relax, you will see how they shift toward head or feet. It's about as bad as telling divers in a 3mm or 5mm wetsuit to use negative fins instead of neutral ones; a high majority of people are leg heavy, not balanced/head heavy naturally. Can some get away with it? Sure, but the majority will have to pull their feet in and arch to overcome the leverage created. I can literally dive any system you give me, make it look picture perfect, that doesn't mean it's what is actually best. Sure, you can extend your arms to go through a restriction, nobody said not to, but to make it a way of life when diving all the time; is stupid and unnecessary. To your comment, calling communities stupid and less competent... is not what I said. I said those teaching a person to hold tension in order to dive is stupid and unnecessary. The goal is always to be as relaxed as possible. As I said above, the environment (in the moment) dictates a person's position/trim/buoyancy. As an FYI, my background was in a DIR agency. I know many DIR Tech-level instructors that I have also trained to work on improving fundamentals and getting away from 'body tensioning' so they can have more frequent dives without the fatigue to follow (skeletal, muscle, etc). I also know plenty of explorers, legends in diving, those set in their ways; but what we also routinely learn and have to accept is that what was done/taught 30 years ago doesn't fully work today. We have a more solid understanding of the body and need to stop treating diving like it is something so special that only this industry can do something one or two ways. The human body will still function and behave all the same whether on land, or underwater. Cheers for the dialogue.
@@precisiondivers I truly appreciate your response. For context, I am an uber rec newbie with less than 70 dives, that I was lucky enough to just make a bunch of friends from GUE, and get a rec pass at GUE-F early on. Currently working on my tec upgrade to continue further. So indeed, the only purpose of my comment was to just get a better understanding on your critique, which as mentioned before is very different that what I have heard up to this point. 1) This might be a bit difficult to discuss without being face to face, but what do you mean arching? From my limited experience, as said, intiially arching was causing indeed fatigue, but after the first few dives I currently assume a nice position and I don't feel any stress. To me it feels like that I just needed some streching to get into that position. Currently, I can comfortably say that after every dive I feel my back and shoulders more relaxed than before I step in the water, and indeed it has fixed a bit my posture outside the water. Regarding my weighting, on my setup I can currently hover motionless without puting any tension on that position. I am not sure how you can keep your arms in the front and holding properly a light without a minimal tension on your shoulders. Indeed the head is restricted, I think nobody argues against that, but I am not sure about the alternative? Is it possible to not restrict the motion of your head (a mechanism optimised to work when we are standing vertically) and at the same time keeping horizontal or slightly positive trim? 2) I am not advocating an exactly 0 degrees trim, rather a 10-15 degrees, which indeed do not include forcefully extending your legs upwards. But indeed I expect that I am still arching my back, because otherwise my legs would made my trim 45 degrees otherwise. Not sure if we are arguing semantics here from the first comment. 3) Yes, based on your comment "keeping arms relaxed and hanging naturally". Not trying to score a "gotcha" point here. Just explaining my understanding. Raising or lowering shoulders doesn't entail that you are stressing them? Especially if somebody is carrying a light, wouldn't the natural hanging position be the light facing vertically the bottom? Unless you try to make it buoyand which this might bring other issues on the table. 4) If you primary donate your long hose in an OOA and your arms are in front of you, to my understanding it's a single motion with your right arm to donate your reg in less than 1 sec. if your arm is hanging downwards (which might be my false assumption) then you need to bring it to the front before you donate. Such extra motion where your arm is not visible, it seems to adds a risk of entaglement with the environment, and even if you can avoid such issues by bringing your arm close to your body, you might hit your light cord, equipment hanging at your D-ring etc. I get that with perfect awareness the risk is zero, but most training seem to focus on addressing issues even with imperfect real time actions. Especially in a cave environment, I can imagine such fast motion (since your buddy is few seconds from dying), could even cause silting. 5) If you have your arms hanging downwards then your vertical profile (the 2 area your body occupies if you take a photo from the front) is increased, thus you should expect more resistance. I am not a physician so I cannot understand fully what's the "body's natural motion". You mean posture? When it comes to motion, only the legs shouldn't be the ones providing you with all the mobility your need? 6) As pointed also in this comment, ofc I believe that someone could be both streamlined and relaxed, by relaxed meaning keepin a minimum tension in certain places to assist positioning. It will be hard for me to agree or understand your point if by relaxed you mean NO TENSION AT ALL, meaning that you can fully relax like a dead body, and still maintain a posture that is horizontal and allows you to hold a light, communicate easily, etc. If I try to fully relax underwater, and I think that goes naturally for most people, I assume a baby-like position (head down, arms down, elboes close to chest, knees down towards to stomach). ----- Regarding the rest, I am afraid I have zero credentials and still a very small taste of the community to comment, agree, or disagree, but I truly appreciate getting your take. Granted I am not diving (yet) every day... or even every week, to pontetially run in to such issues that other diving professionals do. As you can imagine when legendary explorers going for ordinary 15+ hours expeditions advise me to keep a certain posture this has an strong effect on the way I dive. Especially, given that in the beginning I had issues such as some back pain on the first dives, and I quickly started feeling better and I can see my posture getting fixed on land. Though, I will keep your words in mind for when and if I encounter fatigue issues in the future. One last question that seem a bit related, just to get a better understanding on what you mean by "stressing". If I am walking and I don't put any stress my back at all, practically I will be slouching due to my slight above average height, upper body mass, etc. This is long-term a bad habit that increases fatigue, even in the first 5 minutes of a walk. Just stressing slightly my shoulders to straighten my back I can walk with no issue for hours. I am confident that this applies to many other people I know. Using your analogy, why it should be different underwater? Intuitively, to me, it make sense to put a slight stress in my back and shoulders to minimize fatigue, which would be far worse if I totally relax. Are you advocating for no stressing at all, or for less minimum stressing to a necessary minimum degree?
Maybe next time don't film your videos in the mirror. Everything appears that you have it on the wrong side which may confuse anyone who is not already familiar with which side the buckle and D ring go on, which side you will be wearing stages, etc. Also, it appears you have the crotch strap too long which puts the belt buckle up too high where it will not be keeping the plate down and stabilized as well as it should (maybe it will be OK once you get into a dry suit, but that should be explained so as not to confuse people).
First, it was set up on a tripod and I didn't catch mirrored-- which you can clearly see in the description and has already been addressed over a year ago. The crotch strap is also not too long as it allows for proper adjustment. On These specific systems the waist strap is higher than your typical stamped backplate, so the tighter you make the waist the more it cinches up on the crotch, or you can loosen the waist and loosen the crotch. Seeing us out each person may have their own unique requirement, this gets a person where they need to be prior to getting into the water based on their own comfort. I have never had a student, client, or a person have their gear ride up away. I configure over a hundred systems a year for recreational and technical divers; including carrying up to 2 to 3 stages. At some point I will reshoot it when I complete the video addressing why the traditional backplate design is due for a major overhaul. Cheers for the dialogue and comment.
xdeep manual did not really give that much hints and tips on the adjustments. This video is excellent and I was able to have a clear improvement in my setup with this video. Thanks for the video.
Been diving plates for 25 years. Best set up vid ever!
Ryan great video for illustrating the proper way to set up a DIR BPW! Can you show a photo or do a short video, or direct viewers to a page on your website, where you show the BPW attached to a tank? Showing the proper height for the tank would be helpful to new BPW users who are either setting their tank too high and hitting their head on the valve or too low which can adversely affect their trim. Love my XDEEP by the way!
The only video that actually helped me setting up my DIR harnass. This fixed everything I had troubles with. Thank you.
Thank you so much for the kind words. We do several hundred harnesses a year, and want to ensure people are comfortable and their gear.
Excellent video and straight to the point and clearly explained!
Thank YOU! Super helpful to set up my new BP/W. 😊😊
This video helped me a great deal. Thank you very much. What's your recommendation for cleaning the outside fabric of a white XDeep wing? I love the color, but want to make sure it doesn't look too dirty over time.
Thanks for the helpful video! Do you have any recommendations for the placement of the two rear D-rings on the Y crotch strap? Does the left rear D-ring ever get in the way of the dump valve pull string?
It’s better to adjust the fitting with the dry suit on? Or it’s the same size with the t-shirt?
I think it would depend on your drysuit. If it's a thicker neoprene + insulation layers underneath then it will be a lot thicker than a regular t-shirt and need more space.
Great video, very useful information. Thanks
Ryan you mention the waist strap should sit below the iliac crest and above the hip joint. Seems like for some of us taller folks the plate dimensions don’t allow for this. Any recommendations?
Yes, get a proper plate that fits. A standard plate is roughly 15 inches tall. Sure, you can dive it; however it's not optimal. But, if that's all you have, then you need to position the plate to where you can still touch the top of it with your fingers keep your elbow closer to your face when reaching back, and then angle the waist down. Control the height with the crotch strap.
Excellent video Ryan! It will be possible for us to see the assembly of the harness with this xdeep NX model? thank you very much!
Thank you. Check out this link:
bit.ly/3azAzRe
It's a full assembly guide with photos
You are the best!
Thanks you!
Just what I needed. Thanks!!
Very welcome.
Hi Ryan great video as I've just got xdeep zen backplate system do i need to take weight off my weight belt. Thanks
What setup are you currently using? Which plate and size did you go with--aluminum or steel?
Great tips. I like my alternate hose to be folded through the right d-ring with the result that the bend of the hose touches and is sometimes in the way of my regular hose. Therefore I've put my right d-ring lower than the left. A no-go/Any better suggestions?
Under the right d-ring, secure the folded hose in the Rubber Retaining Ring and then you can send excess through d-ring. This keeps the hose a touch lower, and can't get stuck as you can always break away if needed. Make sure hose is routed under the arm and not over the shoulder.
@@precisiondivers Perfect, that way I don't have to lower the d-ring :) Appreciate taking your time.
Great vid Ryan. Is there a specific reason you've flipped the typical DIR setup? ie you have the single hip D ring on the right hip and pull the buckle to the left hip. Or did the video itself just flip?
Forgot to flip the mirror
Ryan, you state the harness does not need to be tight. Does this apply to Doubles? My gear is setup as you have demonstrated. In double HP100's, I do feel the tanks shifting. My cavern instructor suggested last weekend I may want to tighten things up. Hope to stop by your shop next trip down, I have had great conversations with Landon.
That is correct. A tight harness leads to a person arching their back. It pulls the shoulders backward causing your shoulder blades to drop.
Imagine doing a 2 hr long dive being stiff. Try walking for 10 minutes with your arms behind your back like you are pacing.
If you cross your arms, you want the straps to fit nice across your ribs, if they are flopping in this position, tighten slightly. however, if you cross your arms and feel 'digging' in, its too tight. basically, give yourself a big hug, it should feel comfy.
What setup (BP/Wing) do you suggest for someone that 6'4'-6'5? Are the standard back plate long enough? Thank you in advance for your answer.
Some will say yes, but I would absolutely say NO. Standard back plate height is 15 in tall. Your torso at that height will be around 22 to 25 inches. Secondly, the width of a standard plate is typically no more than 11 and 1/2 to 12 in compared to 14.5 in width. I Recommend the Xdeep NX large plate as it's 17 and 3/4 in tall; it's what I dive at 6'1. The issue with smaller plates is that it will sit just above your kidneys-- it will dig in. The only two adjustments you can make is to lengthen the shoulders, and have an elongated crotch as well. This would be the same equivalent to you wearing a small "hello Kitty" backpack and trying to remain comfortable.
Our online store will have the specifications of each.
Ryan, shouldn't waist buckle be right hand release?
It is, video is mirrored
Excellent stuff.
Thank you Neil.
Thanks ,great vid
how do you setup the d-ring at the top with the deluxe padding?
Typically, we rethread the way the top goes through to the webbing instead of crossing back under the d-ring.
You can add a tri glide further up the webbing to allow for adjustability. Your buckle should sit around the top of your ribs to allow for ease of access, and not impede the straps. You can send us an email to info@getaqui.com and I can reply back with photos to show you how we set them up
There is only 1 problem with this video: it appears that you've mirrored the video horizontally.
Yes. It says that in description, and didn't realize until it was loaded.
Isn't that "stupid Superman pose" literally how you're supposed to dive for tech diving?
No, it's literally not. Understanding anatomy is key in being a top instructor and professional. By extending your arms, you are creating an unnatural pose that requires tension to hold it. The result of such pose is arching your back (no, no), and your knees coming to a 90 degree bend (also a no, no). Your shoulder blades are where stability in a system is at. By extending your arms, you are moving your blades away fromt heir natural relaxed position. Secondly, understanding upper vertebrae column will also show how you restrict your head movement when 'superman' posing vs keeping arms relaxed and hanging naturally.
People arch and extend to compensate for not being properly balanced (trimmed out).
@@precisiondivers That seems to be an interesting but, best case, controversial claim.
If the hands are not extended in front of you (superman position), I am not sure how:
1) You can hold a light reliably with stability and communicate with it properly with minimal latency.
2) You can have your hands always in view to make sure that you don't entagle or silt anything during cave or shipwreck penetration.
3) You can have at any moment effortless access to your computer(s) and compass.
4) You can minimize delays due to risk of entaglement when donating your primary during an OOA incident.
5) You can minimize your vertical profile, thus improving swimming effort and minimizing risk of entaglements with the suroundings.
6) You can maximize your horizontal profile to improve buoyancy control, especially due to deco stops (check also point (3)).
... and potentially many other points that I don't have the experience yet to list here.
The position instead seems unatural initially and will hurt your back, but this lasts for the first 10 dives at worst. Afrer some point, your muscles get used to and assume this position naturally. Speaking from my personal experience, I have performed dives close to 3 hours, and at no point I felt even an idea of pain or discomfort. I would say, that it even fixed my posture outside the water. I know personally elite cave explorers (WKPP, CINDAQ, etc.) with deco times of 14-15 hours on a single dive, diving without issue and non-stop on the superman position, a position that drysuits seem to favor. I am not sure exactly what they are doing in a "stupid" way... on the other hand I can imagine that the ones keeping their arms "relaxed and hanging" during a shipwreck or cave penetration might very well spent their first and only deco in a body bag.
P/S: My goal is to just start a conversation and understand better your point. My intent is not to be confrontational, but just to investigagte further the reasoning behind calling experienced divers (performing the most demanding dives in the world) and entire communities (producing the some of the most competent divers in the world) fundamentally "stupid" and less competent than "top instructors and professionals" performing shipwreck penetration with their arms hanging naturally.
@@mariosx12 Good day, I'll address each concern and provide references to better explain. BOTTOM LINE FIRST: Environment dictates positioning, at the moment. We should all strive to learn. For context: I am a technical instructor. I specialize in perfecting trim, buoyancy, failures/failure-based training, compounding skills, + isometrics. It isn't my opinion to know that a person holding tension is under more 'stress' than a person relaxed. Body fatigue exists and is factual; not theoretical. With that said, let's dive in. Feel free to add me on Facebook and you can see plenty of additional videos further addressing comments: Ryan Custureri
1) The focus is on your shoulders, NOT your hands. You can keep your hands in front and still comfortably hold a light WITHOUT arching your back. It is as simple as keeping elbows down and in. If you raise your shoulders (exactly what happens in a "superman" pose), you restrict head movement. This is fact, not opinion. See upper vertebral column muscles and diagram on any anatomy site.
2) I teach Wreck classes and spend more time in rust buckets than the open ocean. If you continue to hold that superman, you are physically tensioning your lower half and creating a parabola effect with your body by forcing you to contract your hamstrings. Try extending your feet out, and not in an upward direction, with tension.
3) Based on this, your assumption is that arms are hanging down like an ape? Your hands are still in easy access, and you isolate your forearms, elbows, hands from raising/lowering shoulders.
4) Entanglement has nothing to do with whether your body is relaxed or not. It is an awareness. Now, assuming you become entangled... If you are tense, you are going to make matters worse. This increases CO2 levels; causes a person to pull their feet toward their butt instead of away, hyperextend through the torso, etc.
5) This also does not make sense? Can you elaborate on 'vertical profile?' If you are arching, shoulders are elevated, restricting your body's natural motion, you will simply not be more efficient. Your physical output is going to be higher.
6) You are still implying a person can not be extremely streamlined and relaxed at the same time. This is simply false. I care about efficiency. Try walking around for an hour with your shoulders shrugged, tighten your hamstrings (which happens when you arch), and compare that against walking normally. This is the same effect trying to streamline with tension behind held; especially throughout the duration of a dive.
You should never have to feel tension when diving; ever. This is a horrible approach. When instructors teach a person to arch or superman, it is because they are not properly balanced (whether they actually realize that or not). Most often if you tell the student to relax, you will see how they shift toward head or feet. It's about as bad as telling divers in a 3mm or 5mm wetsuit to use negative fins instead of neutral ones; a high majority of people are leg heavy, not balanced/head heavy naturally. Can some get away with it? Sure, but the majority will have to pull their feet in and arch to overcome the leverage created. I can literally dive any system you give me, make it look picture perfect, that doesn't mean it's what is actually best.
Sure, you can extend your arms to go through a restriction, nobody said not to, but to make it a way of life when diving all the time; is stupid and unnecessary.
To your comment, calling communities stupid and less competent... is not what I said. I said those teaching a person to hold tension in order to dive is stupid and unnecessary. The goal is always to be as relaxed as possible. As I said above, the environment (in the moment) dictates a person's position/trim/buoyancy. As an FYI, my background was in a DIR agency. I know many DIR Tech-level instructors that I have also trained to work on improving fundamentals and getting away from 'body tensioning' so they can have more frequent dives without the fatigue to follow (skeletal, muscle, etc).
I also know plenty of explorers, legends in diving, those set in their ways; but what we also routinely learn and have to accept is that what was done/taught 30 years ago doesn't fully work today. We have a more solid understanding of the body and need to stop treating diving like it is something so special that only this industry can do something one or two ways. The human body will still function and behave all the same whether on land, or underwater.
Cheers for the dialogue.
@@precisiondivers I truly appreciate your response. For context, I am an uber rec newbie with less than 70 dives, that I was lucky enough to just make a bunch of friends from GUE, and get a rec pass at GUE-F early on. Currently working on my tec upgrade to continue further. So indeed, the only purpose of my comment was to just get a better understanding on your critique, which as mentioned before is very different that what I have heard up to this point.
1) This might be a bit difficult to discuss without being face to face, but what do you mean arching? From my limited experience, as said, intiially arching was causing indeed fatigue, but after the first few dives I currently assume a nice position and I don't feel any stress. To me it feels like that I just needed some streching to get into that position. Currently, I can comfortably say that after every dive I feel my back and shoulders more relaxed than before I step in the water, and indeed it has fixed a bit my posture outside the water. Regarding my weighting, on my setup I can currently hover motionless without puting any tension on that position. I am not sure how you can keep your arms in the front and holding properly a light without a minimal tension on your shoulders. Indeed the head is restricted, I think nobody argues against that, but I am not sure about the alternative? Is it possible to not restrict the motion of your head (a mechanism optimised to work when we are standing vertically) and at the same time keeping horizontal or slightly positive trim?
2) I am not advocating an exactly 0 degrees trim, rather a 10-15 degrees, which indeed do not include forcefully extending your legs upwards. But indeed I expect that I am still arching my back, because otherwise my legs would made my trim 45 degrees otherwise. Not sure if we are arguing semantics here from the first comment.
3) Yes, based on your comment "keeping arms relaxed and hanging naturally". Not trying to score a "gotcha" point here. Just explaining my understanding. Raising or lowering shoulders doesn't entail that you are stressing them? Especially if somebody is carrying a light, wouldn't the natural hanging position be the light facing vertically the bottom? Unless you try to make it buoyand which this might bring other issues on the table.
4) If you primary donate your long hose in an OOA and your arms are in front of you, to my understanding it's a single motion with your right arm to donate your reg in less than 1 sec. if your arm is hanging downwards (which might be my false assumption) then you need to bring it to the front before you donate. Such extra motion where your arm is not visible, it seems to adds a risk of entaglement with the environment, and even if you can avoid such issues by bringing your arm close to your body, you might hit your light cord, equipment hanging at your D-ring etc. I get that with perfect awareness the risk is zero, but most training seem to focus on addressing issues even with imperfect real time actions. Especially in a cave environment, I can imagine such fast motion (since your buddy is few seconds from dying), could even cause silting.
5) If you have your arms hanging downwards then your vertical profile (the 2 area your body occupies if you take a photo from the front) is increased, thus you should expect more resistance. I am not a physician so I cannot understand fully what's the "body's natural motion". You mean posture? When it comes to motion, only the legs shouldn't be the ones providing you with all the mobility your need?
6) As pointed also in this comment, ofc I believe that someone could be both streamlined and relaxed, by relaxed meaning keepin a minimum tension in certain places to assist positioning. It will be hard for me to agree or understand your point if by relaxed you mean NO TENSION AT ALL, meaning that you can fully relax like a dead body, and still maintain a posture that is horizontal and allows you to hold a light, communicate easily, etc. If I try to fully relax underwater, and I think that goes naturally for most people, I assume a baby-like position (head down, arms down, elboes close to chest, knees down towards to stomach).
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Regarding the rest, I am afraid I have zero credentials and still a very small taste of the community to comment, agree, or disagree, but I truly appreciate getting your take. Granted I am not diving (yet) every day... or even every week, to pontetially run in to such issues that other diving professionals do. As you can imagine when legendary explorers going for ordinary 15+ hours expeditions advise me to keep a certain posture this has an strong effect on the way I dive. Especially, given that in the beginning I had issues such as some back pain on the first dives, and I quickly started feeling better and I can see my posture getting fixed on land. Though, I will keep your words in mind for when and if I encounter fatigue issues in the future.
One last question that seem a bit related, just to get a better understanding on what you mean by "stressing". If I am walking and I don't put any stress my back at all, practically I will be slouching due to my slight above average height, upper body mass, etc. This is long-term a bad habit that increases fatigue, even in the first 5 minutes of a walk. Just stressing slightly my shoulders to straighten my back I can walk with no issue for hours. I am confident that this applies to many other people I know. Using your analogy, why it should be different underwater? Intuitively, to me, it make sense to put a slight stress in my back and shoulders to minimize fatigue, which would be far worse if I totally relax. Are you advocating for no stressing at all, or for less minimum stressing to a necessary minimum degree?
Maybe next time don't film your videos in the mirror. Everything appears that you have it on the wrong side which may confuse anyone who is not already familiar with which side the buckle and D ring go on, which side you will be wearing stages, etc. Also, it appears you have the crotch strap too long which puts the belt buckle up too high where it will not be keeping the plate down and stabilized as well as it should (maybe it will be OK once you get into a dry suit, but that should be explained so as not to confuse people).
First, it was set up on a tripod and I didn't catch mirrored-- which you can clearly see in the description and has already been addressed over a year ago.
The crotch strap is also not too long as it allows for proper adjustment. On These specific systems the waist strap is higher than your typical stamped backplate, so the tighter you make the waist the more it cinches up on the crotch, or you can loosen the waist and loosen the crotch. Seeing us out each person may have their own unique requirement, this gets a person where they need to be prior to getting into the water based on their own comfort. I have never had a student, client, or a person have their gear ride up away.
I configure over a hundred systems a year for recreational and technical divers; including carrying up to 2 to 3 stages. At some point I will reshoot it when I complete the video addressing why the traditional backplate design is due for a major overhaul.
Cheers for the dialogue and comment.