Results 1 to 5 of 5

Thread: Ankle weights

  1. #1
    Senior Member Euro Pod Echidna's Avatar
    Join Date
    Apr 2013
    Location
    Europe
    Posts
    3,574
    Add Echidna on Facebook
    Visit Echidna's Youtube Channel

    Ankle weights

    anyone versed in using some? How much weight is feasible to use on each foot before it's harmful?

    ps. it's for dancing on the bottom, not tail swimming.

  2. #2
    Senior Member Euro Pod MermanOliver's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2014
    Location
    Germany, Lower Saxony
    Posts
    395
    Define harmful? Harmful to the joints, muscles and bones? Dangerous because you can't surface quick enough? And what kind of dance moves do you plan?

    It depends, mostly how long you'll wear them and what movements you plan to do when dancing. Kickups with the legs will be more strenuous than just shuffling around. For short periods the human skeleton is quite capable of enduring and lifting big loads, but I wouldn't suggest running around with a backpack of 20kg all day. It also depends on the kind of performance, for example if you get air from a safety diver while staying at the bottom or if you have to swim up with weighed feet.

    In an interview for example Hannah Fraser said that she was weighted down with 50lbs on the feet for certain shoots, but then she got a huge safety crew around and did no kicks. And ankle weights for scuba used during swimming are usually 1.5kg max, but they are mostly used to adjust the trim, not primarily for weighting.

    As for freediving the required weights are mostly in the range of 5kg to 7kg in total, the effect of this split on two ankle weights would be of lesser concern to the joints and bones, even if you end up being really overweighted and having 5kg on each foot for quite a short performance (you won't be running around in them all day) unless you need to kick them up quickly, but would have quite serious implications when not being able to ditch them easily in an emergency.

    Sent from my H3311 using MerNetwork mobile app

  3. #3
    Senior Member Euro Pod Echidna's Avatar
    Join Date
    Apr 2013
    Location
    Europe
    Posts
    3,574
    Add Echidna on Facebook
    Visit Echidna's Youtube Channel
    Quote Originally Posted by MermanOliver View Post
    Define harmful? Harmful to the joints, muscles and bones?
    yes, that's what I meant.
    From the looks of it, 500-1000g seem to be the only weights sold for ankles anyway.
    Guess I'll go with that and combine it with a weight belt for now.

    They're just all horribly expensive, that's probably why many people make their own.
    Thanks for the reply!

  4. #4
    Hi Echidna,

    as a scuba diver I can recommend you not to use them for freediving / mermaiding. The main purpose is for dry suite diving where the gas may get into the boot and the diver will get a buoyancy problem. I do have 2x0.5kg and they are even to heavy with neoprene boots. Normally you don't feel a big impact but when you are going into the water with a lot of diving gear, every not needed kg is too much

  5. #5
    Senior Member Euro Pod Echidna's Avatar
    Join Date
    Apr 2013
    Location
    Europe
    Posts
    3,574
    Add Echidna on Facebook
    Visit Echidna's Youtube Channel
    Quote Originally Posted by fabianfrz View Post
    Hi Echidna,

    as a scuba diver I can recommend you not to use them for freediving / mermaiding. The main purpose is for dry suite diving where the gas may get into the boot and the diver will get a buoyancy problem. I do have 2x0.5kg and they are even to heavy with neoprene boots. Normally you don't feel a big impact but when you are going into the water with a lot of diving gear, every not needed kg is too much
    good to know, thanks!
    I'll just stick to weight belt, then. It's a bit harder to balance, but probably safer in the long run.

Bookmarks

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •