Get in shape folks

[Fireflyer 0]

my liver and kidneys are 42 if that makes you feel better (but i am 28 on the outside )

[wmw999 2,447]

That's 42 in hex, right?

Wendy W.

There is nothing more dangerous than breaking a basic safety rule and getting away with it. It removes fear of the consequences and builds false confidence. (tbrown)

[D22369 0]

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Heck, I am only 42 years old, it has just been a real hard 42 years.

Hell, it aint the age.....its the milage!!!!!

Roy

They say I suffer from insanity.... But I actually enjoy it.

[mjosparky 4]

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my liver and kidneys are 42 if that makes you feel better (but i am 28 on the outside )

I am only 20 on the inside, I just can't get out.

My idea of a fair fight is clubbing baby seals

[cdragon 0]

Fitness... aww yes. Interesting thread.
I am also juvenile in attitude but middle in age.
As a 'veteran' of 35 wonderful jumps I’m not sure how much my advice counts but here goes anyway.
Last year I experienced some hard/ twisting openings that REALLY wrenched my neck and lower back around.
I didn't really notice the stiffness until after the adrenaline had worn off but let me tell you the chickens came home to roost. So I decided to experiment with different 'core' strengthening routines and I believe I have found the answer, at least for my body type, which is quite lanky. On top of my regular daily weight lifting and running routine I do stability ball workouts. I cannot recommend these exercises enough! They were great for strengthening my abdominal and core muscles and I believe have made my overall fitness and flexibility much better. just my two cents.

BTW... 2F hex!

[SkydiveNFlorida 0]

I agree with the balance ball routines. I love the balance ball and it definitely makes me feel more in shape when i'm doing routines regularly! Funny, looks like a joke at first glance, but do a day or two and you'll see it isn't as easy as it looks.

Angela.

[cdragon 0]

Yeah these routines are no joke.
We have an hour long class at the gym... entirely balance ball stuff. I did one on Monday and I could barely get out of bed on Tuesday morning...
I seem to be better today... it only hurts when I laugh.

Scot.

[airtwardo 7]

...And people thought we were wasting time
playing "Hackey"

~ If you choke a Smurf, what color does it turn? ~

[sssbc99 0]

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All,
I have seen numerous people that regularly participate in this activity for whom the ONLY exercise they get is humping their gear back to the packing area and lifting a bottle of suds.

Wouldnt you want to do everything you could to increase your level of safety?

Hey bud, I am sure that there was a time in your life when you were not in shape and there is always someone in better shape than you. No need to criticize. I dont mean to be rude, I just think that you can only make comments like that if you have been in great shape your ENTIRE life, which I am positive is not true.

[cdragon 0]

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Methinks you mistake criticism for what he is really expressing here which, I believe, is concern.
I myself have seen several examples of a failed flare because the individual was unable to muster the required arm strength to complete the maneuver. Mental preparation begins on the ground and if you are so out of shape that you KNOW you can’t make that flare, then we have a legitimate safety concern. I believe his key statement was…

“Wouldnt you want to do everything you could to increase your level of safety?”

Well? Wouldn’t you?
Just my two cents.

[AndyMan 7]

There are few people on my DZ in worse shape then me. Not only am I a fatass, but I also jump a highly loaded eliptical canopy. The worst injury I've ever had skydiving was a sprained ankle, which in hindsight I clearly deserved given how it happened.

If I can skydive safely, then being out of shape is not a hinderance in this sport.

I entirely reject the notion that people who aren't in prime shape are a danger to themselves, or others. The suggestion is cenetered in misguided arogance, and is quite frankly, offensive.

I guarantee that you're in better shape then I, and I also guarantee when I swoop my stileto, my landings are a hell of a lot better then yours, mr. 35 jump wonder.

_Am

__

You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

[cdragon 0]

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There are few people on my DZ in worse shape then me. Not only am I a fatass, but I also jump a highly loaded eliptical canopy. The worst injury I've ever had skydiving was a sprained ankle, which in hindsight I clearly deserved given how it happened.

Hey, shit happens.

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If I can skydive safely, then being out of shape is not a hinderance in this sport.

I totally agree. I know many extremely competent ‘meat missles’.

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I entirely reject the notion that people who aren't in prime shape are a danger to themselves, or others. The suggestion is cenetered in misguided arogance, and is quite frankly, offensive.

I would agree with you if indeed this thread implied what you suggest, but it does not.
We are talking about having such a lack of physical ability as to be unable to do basic functions like breaking away and flaring.

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I guarantee that you're in better shape then I,

That I could not comment on and don’t really care about. Hey I can drink my share of beer and if it comes to it... yours too!

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and I also guarantee when I swoop my stileto, my landings are a hell of a lot better then yours, mr. 35 jump wonder.

LMAO
I should sincerely hope so! ;) BTW, I have tried but JUST can’t swoop my Manta!!

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I'm much more than a walking penis, I'm a flying penis!

Self-explanatory.

[Blahr 0]

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Hey bud, I am sure that there was a time in your life when you were not in shape and there is always someone in better shape than you. No need to criticize. I dont mean to be rude, I just think that you can only make comments like that if you have been in great shape your ENTIRE life, which I am positive is not true.

Hmmm. Strange thought.

So I must have been in good shape my entire life to advocate fitness eh?
I dont take your comment as rude cuz you didnt say it in a rude way.
I must disagree with you on that point though.

I am suggesting fitness as away to increase safety in skydiving. I dont believe I criticized anyone at all and I believe that my point is valid wether I've been working out for 40 years or 40 days.

Truth is truth, no matter how long I have been working out.

Better physical shape = faster reflexes and response time, greater flexibility.

[Blahr 0]

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There are few people on my DZ in worse shape then me. Not only am I a fatass, but I also jump a highly loaded eliptical canopy. The worst injury I've ever had skydiving was a sprained ankle, which in hindsight I clearly deserved given how it happened.

If I can skydive safely, then being out of shape is not a hinderance in this sport.

I entirely reject the notion that people who aren't in prime shape are a danger to themselves, or others. The suggestion is cenetered in misguided arogance, and is quite frankly, offensive.

I guarantee that you're in better shape then I, and I also guarantee when I swoop my stileto, my landings are a hell of a lot better then yours, mr. 35 jump wonder.

_Am

Actually I'm a 57 jump wonder and I'm sure that you swoop like a mofo.
I wasnt comparing my swooping or landing skills with yours or anyone elses.

My statements were not meant as a direct attack on you personally. I dont even know you. That does seem to be the way you have taken them. I'm sorry you chose to find offense in them.

I never said being out of shape makes you a bad or unsafe skydiver.
I didnt imply anything even remotely like it.

I said that being in good shape increases your level of safety and decreases the chance for injury. This refers to your OWN safety, not how safe you are to be around.

This is the sum total of my entire claim and its true. If you are stronger, there is less chance of a hard pull mal. If you are more flexible, you have less of a chance of getting hurt in a bad landing.

Except for you, of course. You are too good to ever have a bad landing.

You may agree or disagree as you like. I dont need to be a
badass swooper or have 10 thousand jumps to know this. Its not arrogant or misguided. If you find it offensive, its because you chose to interpret it as an attack. Frankly, I dont know why.

Cheers,

Mr. 57 Jump Wonder

[arlo 0]

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I guarantee that you're in better shape then I, and I also guarantee when I swoop my stileto, my landings are a hell of a lot better then yours, mr. 35 jump wonder.

_Am

jesus, man. who pissed in YOUR cornflakes? Seems like you took "fitness may increase your safety" for "unfit is dangerous."
you're calling him arrogant, but you're boasting about having 500 jumps and outswooping someone with 50. well HELLO! that'd be like me saying i know someone with 5000 jumps that can outswoop a 500 jump wonder. why pull rank like that? common sense would dictate that statement.

i should be able to take offense to his statement (but i don't) since i have had a couple hard-pulls resulting in reserve rides. would being stronger have helped in my situations? maybe, but i doubt it. they were stuck...packing problem. I didn't pack 'em, but i take full responsibility for both. nature of the beast. but i think there's nothing wrong with saying that being in better shape can only help in all aspects of one's life...skydiving included. with that, i should get off my fat ass and do something.

can't we all just get along?

arlo

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[Tailgate 0]

I agree that the better shape you are in, coupled with good training and practice will result in fewer injuries.

My doctor says I have the body of a 23 year old and if the 23 year old sees what I have done to it He'll be pissed.

_________________________________________________
Let me live in my house by the side of the road and be a friend to man- Sam Walter Foss

[biggerthanjesus 0]

So lets get this straight

If your unfit your unsafe

and if your fit your Safe.

Just coz ive got a fuel tank for a sex machine hanging off the front of my body dosent mean im unsafe or out of shape.

at work i have no problems humping a 50kg Bergan around the battlefield. There are different forms of fitness, dont judge any1 when u see the size of their beer gut

[AndyMan 7]

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can't we all just get along?

Doubtful. this is dz.com, afterall. ;)

In the 4 years I've been around, I don't think I've ever seen people who were physically unfit to the degree they can't pull their toggles. I don't buy it, I don't think it exists. - We're not talking about tandems here, nor are we talking about special cases like the disabled.

I've seen lots of people that don't finish their flare, but I don't accept that fitness has anything to do with it. I attribute people who don't finish their flare to people learning on canopies where you didn't need to finish their flare, or lack of canopy training.

If I saw someone who physically couldn't flare, I would agree they should take up golfing. I've never seen this, though. To people who think they're seeing this?, Take another look, and try to imagine another reason why they might not be finishing their flare. Lack of landing skills never cease to amaze me. I've never seen a sport rig that takes more then a few pounds of force to flare completely.

Likewise, I've had hard pulls, and I've seen people chop because of them. I doubt very much that in any of these cases physical fitness had anything to do with it. A monkey-fisted pilot chute will be nearly imposible for anyone to pull, no matter how strong you are. Relying on strength to help you from a hard pull is not effective. I would much rather see someone cuttaway and pull their reserve then have them yanking on their handle until their BOC rips open. Strength is the wrong answer.

When Missy Nelson had a hard cuttaway that nearly killed her, I doubt very much it had anything to do with her physical shape. She's in excellent shape. You could argue that if she'd been a profesaional body builder, she might've been able to clear her spinning main through brute force. I would point out that gear is not designed for a few hundred pounds of force on the cuttaway system, and that putting hundreds of pounds on that handle puts you at risk for harness damage, or damage to the cuttaway system. I would much rather see riser inserts, so that a cuttaway can be done with under 5 pounds, even in a 5 g spin.

Most people still don't have riser inserts. I hope everyone posting in this thread, does, though...

If "strength" ever played an issue with how we skydive, then we screwed up long before that jump started.

__

You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

[Blahr 0]

Why does everyone keep misinterpreting this?

As the original poster, I can tell you beyond any other interpretation what it means.

Its simply this:

"If you are in better physical condition, your chances of injury are lower than if you are not fit."

Any qualified medical professional will agree with this statement 100%

This is not open to any other interpretation.

Based on some of the reactions I've seen and the hostility behind them, It looks like people read it and understand it to mean:

"If you are not an olympic calibre gymnast or bodybuilder, then you are a danger to yourself and to others in the air and on the ground. You suck as a skydiver and as a human being"

I'm not quite sure why people keep flying to this conclusion, but I cant really stop them or make my real point any clearer than I have.

I apologise if people found this to be offensive for some reason.
It was not my intent to anger anyone or make anyone feel bad about themselves.

I now realize that I am not qualified to comment on ANY subject, even ones I am an expert in, until I have at LEAST 500 jumps.

Perhaps I will just just stick with posting pictures of my own penis and other useful things like that.
Strange as it seems to me, nobody is annoyed by that type of thing.

[arlo 0]

i agree. having been one of those in the hard pull club, i don't think it would've helped. also, i concur regarding spinners. i have a friend that almost died because he couldn't cutaway. this was due partially to no riser inserts (several years ago when riser inserts weren't as available as they are now), but more so due to the rig design where the end of the cable housing had a blunt eyelet versus one that was rounded. it just fucking stuck and he almost died because of it. that was, root cause: bad design.

on the flip side, i do think that alot of injuries end up being less severe because the body was in better shape to handle the trauma (john matthews, chris colwell to think of a couple of friends right off the bat). just having the muscle mass that they did and the impact/injuries they sustained could've been even worse IMO, if their bodies weren't able to handle it.

anyhow, i love you man.

arlo

[Vallerina 2]

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"If you are in better physical condition, your chances of injury are lower than if you are not fit."

I can agree with that. Also, if you are in a better physical condition, you'll probably recover faster, too. However, you started this thread by saying that you've noticed cutaways due to hard pulls, and that you think that strength in one's arms could alleviate this problem. Basically, you're saying that the 100 pound girl who is in great shape is in danger because she doesn't have as much arm strength. The fact is, she shouldn't need that much arm strength to pull. (Try once, try twice, then go through your emergency procedures. No one ever says, "Try once. Your second time keep pulling at it for awhile, becuase your arm strength should help you.")

I'll agree that if you eat right and exercise, you'll do better in every aspect of life. You won't get fatigued as easily. If you started this thread by saying, "I noticed that a lot of people have cutaways after using packers. If you get in shape, you won't be so worn down after packing 7 times in a day, I may have been slightly more inclined to agree with you. I won't go to a gym and do bicep curls thinking it's ever going to help me in case of a hard pull. I go to a rigger and talk to them about how to prevent a hard pull.

There's a thin line between Saturday night and Sunday morning

[Blahr 0]

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However, you started this thread by saying that you've noticed cutaways due to hard pulls, and that you think that strength in one's arms could alleviate this problem. Basically, you're saying that the 100 pound girl who is in great shape is in danger because she doesn't have as much arm strength.

I agree, that IS how I started out my post. Thank you for pointing that out.
The comment IS open to various interpretations. I should have been more clear on that point.

Now Vallerina, I was not saying that a 100 pound girl in great shape is in danger. Thats just how you interpreted it. I guarantee you that I didnt mean that. I promise. I swear!

It was posts about hard pulls that got me thinking about the topic in the first place, thats why I lead off with that.

It expanded to be more of a general kind of overall fitness thing. (after a lively discussion about how many G's it would take to pin my arms)

I know that arm strength will not prevent all hard pull mals in the same way that I know an AAD or RSL is always gonna save the day.

It COULD help in some cases. It really could. No guarantee of it, but every little bit helps dont you think?

That was my only point with regard to hard pulls.
Andyman also rightly points out that being able to jam 100+ lbs of force against a handle or cable might not be the best solution to the problem of a hard pull.

I really didnt mean to sound inflamatory or piss anyone off.

I just commented on what I thought was a good way to enhance safety.

As a bodybuilder, I feel that I can comment with authority on the subject of fitness and the potential beneits of it. I can then apply that knowledge in a general way to the sport of skydiving and reasonably comment that enhanced fitness can increase your level of safety through faster reflexes, reaction time, greater flexibility, and overall durability.
Believe it or not, regularly lifting heavy weights and maintaining a good intake of calcuim will also increase bone density and strength, making them more able to withstand a hard blow.

Are these not areas that could potentially benefit a skydiver in some circumstances?

I would never presume to tell people how to skydive. Contrary to what some people have said, I'm not that arrogant. I have 57 jumps and all the vast knowledge that comes with so large a number

I just had a thought and shared it as a lot of others do