Most athletic skydiving discipline?

[i_like_ceviche 0]

New skydiver here. Since I'm new to the sport, I'm spending a lot of time thinking about where I might go with it and where it might take me. I'm wondering what's the most athletically-demanding discipline in skydiving? Is there anything that especially works certain muscle groups or is more of a workout than other things I might focus on. Didn't get into this to work out at all but just curious.

Joined the sport in September 2017 at Skydive Diani. Lives and work in Rwanda. Write about skydiving on https://wtaff.com.

[unkulunkulu 0]

Your profile shows russian flag. There's this thing called parachute-athletic triathlon or something. But it's a bit old fashioned i would say, gets accuracy from skydiving. I can say that vfs can get quite demanding physically.. But that's mostly training/technique issue, gets better over time.
Freeflying in general gives a strong incentive to stay in shape including stretching.

[headcase 0]

Packing

[unkulunkulu 0]

headcase

Packing

oh, forget what i just said. This ^^

[countzero 7]

4 way canopy formation sequential- actively flying (pulling on risers, toggles) for upwards of 10 minutes. Works out upper body and arms.

Wing suiting- last longer than normal free fall, works out your core and arms keeping things extended to keep flying efficiently.

diamonds are a dawgs best friend

[councilman24 37]

We don't do this to be athletes. We do it because the earth sucks and the airplane engines do all the work.

I'm old for my age.
Terry Urban
D-8631
FAA DPRE

[pterodactyl1986 0]

I have not done it yet, but I imagine it would be wingsuiting.

4-7 Minutes of holding your core and your arms can be grueling on the body. Hell I know a few rounds of Muay Thai whoops my ass, so I can only imagine the kind of conditioning you need to fight shoulder fatigue at the more extreme end of the spectrum

[i_like_ceviche 0]

Haha, no we definitely don't. But as long as we're calling it a sport, it just got me thinking about what are the most athletic aspects about it, if any. After my 2nd jump, I had all kinds of neck stiffness and minor whiplash. Could be from deployment shock and my musculature just not being accustomed to the G forces, or from being in a crap body position when I pulled, or from a rough landing on that second jump (1st flare all the way down at 3 meters, oops, unflare all the way back up again, 2nd flare all the way down at 1 meter, oops, this looks wrong, unflare!). Whatever the case, I took the entire next day off to sip margaritas and enjoy massage. I really couldn't lift my head unless I used my hands to assist my neck. So yeah, like in any sport, you can get hurt, but does any of it actually work the body? I'd imagine tunnel is also a bit of a workout? I remember from my first (and only, so far) 10-minute session, my arms were sort of feeling it the next day...

Joined the sport in September 2017 at Skydive Diani. Lives and work in Rwanda. Write about skydiving on https://wtaff.com.

[Lightning126 0]

countzero

4 way canopy formation sequential- actively flying (pulling on risers, toggles) for upwards of 10 minutes. Works out upper body and arms.

Wing suiting- last longer than normal free fall, works out your core and arms keeping things extended to keep flying efficiently.

Having done both, I second the post.

[pamrussell 0]

Static line instruction at a Cessna dz

[councilman24 37]

pamrussell

Static line instruction at a Cessna dz

Static line training with rounds doing PLF's backwards off the roof of a pickup cab. Both ways.

I'm old for my age.
Terry Urban
D-8631
FAA DPRE

[i_like_ceviche 0]

Why is static line physically demanding?

Joined the sport in September 2017 at Skydive Diani. Lives and work in Rwanda. Write about skydiving on https://wtaff.com.

[riggerrob 598]

A dozen tandems a day challenges Many muscle groups, endurance, situational awareness, balance, coordination, etc.

[Baksteen 84]

You'd might like to look into Freestyle. Unlike any other discipline it's purely about the aerobatics themselves. Teams typically consisted of one performer and one cameraperson.

"That formation-stuff in freefall is just fun and games but with an open parachute it's starting to sound like, you know, an extreme sport."
~mom

[the_raven 0]

riggerrob

A dozen tandems a day challenges Many muscle groups, endurance, situational awareness, balance, coordination, etc.

I will 2nd this. My body is pretty destroyed after 20 tandems on the weekend.

[topdocker 0]

the_raven

***A dozen tandems a day challenges Many muscle groups, endurance, situational awareness, balance, coordination, etc.

I will 2nd this. My body is pretty destroyed after 20 tandems on the weekend.

Hmmm. I've done 17 competition CRW jumps in two days at Nationals (8 rotation, 8 sequential with a rejump thrown in). Pretty beat up and sore for several days after. But that might have been the 17 pack jobs as well. Unlike other disciplines, CRW jumpers don't routinely have packers.

top

Jump more, post less!

[i_like_ceviche 0]

Gah, the answers here are generating more questions!

Love the comment about freestyle. That is most likely the discipline I will target, since that's what got me into this in the first place.

But don't understand why SL is physically demanding? Because of PLFing rounds? That's just painful but doesn't sound like a workout?

CRW: why don't you have packers? Do you have to pack the parachute a very specific way?

Dozens of tandems: Is it the stress that deployment puts on the body with all that weight? Or steering the toggles? I've noticed on tandems that the toggles seem "heavier" when I try to steer than when I'm flying my own canopy.

Joined the sport in September 2017 at Skydive Diani. Lives and work in Rwanda. Write about skydiving on https://wtaff.com.

[Baksteen 84]

The SL/round-comment was not intended as an answer to your question. It came from an....experienced....jumper trying to indicate how much easier kids have it today when compared to Ye Olde Days when they themselves were starting out. . However SL-instruction can be both physically and mentally demanding if there are a lot of students and too few jumpmasters.

CREW-dogs usually pack for themselves because, yes the way you pack a CREW-canopy is different. How different depends on the setup of the canopy. In general, you have to be extra careful with a few of the packing steps, as the so-called 'retractable bridle'-system is prone to damaging the canopy if you pack it incorrectly.

I am not a TI, so I leave it up to one of them to answer that part of your question.

"That formation-stuff in freefall is just fun and games but with an open parachute it's starting to sound like, you know, an extreme sport."
~mom

[riggerrob 598]

....... Dozens of tandems: Is it the stress that deployment puts on the body with all that weight? Or steering the toggles? I've noticed on tandems that the toggles seem "heavier" when I try to steer than when I'm flying my own canopy.

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All of the above ..... plus carrying a 50 pound rig, plus carrying 200 pound students out of the airplane, plus all of the psychology of couxing first-timers out of the airplane, maintaining professional decorum even when you are exhausted, plus ..........