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Neely47

Is 5'11 and 200 pounds (male) too "fat" for skydiving and an automatic disqualification?

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Losing a bit of weight may help in general in the long run, not least with fall rate - i.e. how fast you fall in relation to others. You are not too big to jump and you can compensate with larger suits and canopies but in general it wouldn't hurt to lose a few pounds...

CJP

Gods don't kill people. People with Gods kill people

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Neely47

Planning on doing an AFF, but was wondering if I should lose some weight 1st before enrolling in.



Not even close. Tandems are generally limited to 235lb passengers, but there is some leeway depending on the TM's weight and the total suspended weight the gear is rated for.

However, since you're going for the AFF program, pfft... You're well under what might be construed as too fat.
"Mediocre people don't like high achievers, and high achievers don't like mediocre people." - SIX TIME National Champion coach Nick Saban

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BS
You are a healthy weight for your height.
In comparison: I stand 6 feet tall and weigh about 190 pounds and I have made more than 6,000 jumps. During my last medical, my doctor looked at those numbers and concluded "reasonable diet." Before he turned to other metrics, I asked him about my body mass index.
"27 percent"
When I asked what was considered ideal, he said "26 percent."

Bottom line, you are reasonable weight for your height. If you are worried about your fitness level, then start and exercise program that will improve flexibility, strength and aerobic capacity, but don't worry bout changing your weight.

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monkycndo

I think BIGUN should answer this one.

Short answer.

No.



Correct. As long as height & Weight are proportional and does not exceed the Max gear limit for beginners.
Nobody has time to listen; because they're desperately chasing the need of being heard.

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riggerrob

Fully dressed, he will weigh about 230-240 out the door, still within the 254 pound "maximum suspended weight" placards on most parachutes.



The recent acft incident in Poland:(Indicates that the MSW of the canopy may not be the only limiting factor for a safe jump.[:/][:/]

The skydiving industry needs more "little people" jumpers, to arrive at a average weight of 150#/jumper on the load.

The problem isn't the big people weighing to much, its the operator's using unrealistic average weights.
One Jump Wonder

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I'm 5'7 and 210 lbs. I have't had any problems. I went to one drop zone for aff and they said I was overweight. 220 lbs at the time. Their student rigs were rated for 215 lbs. I tried another drop zone and they said they had rigs that would fit me and handle my weight. However I have made it a point to get my weight back down to 190 lbs. I'm still new to the sport but check with the drop zone. Head down there ask questions, check out the vibe and see what they have say. One guy I jump with is 6'0 260 lbs. So I'd say your good bud, in my opinion anyways.

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Your fine as long as the DZO and instructors are happy for you to take their FJC, the problem lies in what we call wing loading. That is the amount of weight suspended under the canopy divided by the square footage of the canopy, each parachute manufacturer has its own set maximum weight and wing loading per parachute.
What you have to do is take your full exit weight (inc your parachute, jump suit, helmet, altimeter and what ever you had for breakfast) in pounds, divide that by the square footage of the canopy. For me i weight 190lbs, add on around 25lbs for equipment makes my exit weight 215lbs, i jump a 111 sq ft canopy so 215/111 = 1.936. So my wing loading is 1.94 on that sized canopy.
For students, you need to have a wing loading of 0.80 or less on your first jump, you can then have 0.85 wing loading from your second jump onwards (UK ruling). You'll have to forgive me i can t recall and find the info on the USPA ruling on wing loadings apart from this
http://sim.uspa.org/?clear=true&search=student+wing+loading#1=1|2=6|3=33|page=178

I hope this helps you understand a little bit more about why weight is important when put against the size of your canopy, and some DZ's only hold certain sized student parachutes.

Please bear in mind the above people when they say their weight and height now, against their jump numbers now. You need to look at what they weighed when they went through their ground school. And look on the bright side, the entire England rugby squad is classed as clinically obese/diabetes risk and all risk dropping dead according to the stupid BMI scale.

Good luck in what ever you do.

Andy
At long last the light at the end of the tunell isnt an on coming train!!!

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BillyVance

***Planning on doing an AFF, but was wondering if I should lose some weight 1st before enrolling in.



Not even close. Tandems are generally limited to 235lb passengers, but there is some leeway depending on the TM's weight and the total suspended weight the gear is rated for.

However, since you're going for the AFF program, pfft... You're well under what might be construed as too fat.
There was a jumper at my home DZ who was too large for a tandem. He really wanted to jump, so he signed up for AFF instead. :)
See the upside, and always wear your parachute! -- Christopher Titus

Shut Up & Jump!

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"... And look on the bright side, the entire England rugby squad is classed as clinically obese/diabetes risk and all risk dropping dead according to the stupid BMI scale. ..."

.....................................................................................


BMI is such a crude way to measure people.
While I score an almost perfect 27 percent, I have always thought of myself as slender compared with the rest of the population.
In comparison, General Swartzkopf was "obese" by the Canadian Army's standards. Swartzkopf was always a large lad, even when he was a young paratrooper. He would never be healthy at 26 percent BMI. The CF would never have Gen. Swartzkopf to deploy to the Middle East when he weighed as much as he did during the first Gulf War. As I recall, Gen. Swartzkopf did a pretty good job of leading a coalition army to victory.

I would like to see a new scale that compares body fat, with muscle mass with bone mass.

The heaviest tandem student I ever jumped with was a 260 pound, retired rugby player. Judging by the thickness of the guy's thighs, I was at ZERO risk of breaking his leg bones.
Hah!
Hah!
Hah!

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riggerrob

I would like to see a new scale that compares body fat, with muscle mass with bone mass.



The purpose of BMI is as a relative metric for populations, not an individual guide. Of course it's much nicer to have specific body composition data, but good luck getting a data set comparable to what we can get with height/weight.

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I did my Tandem at 248# and I'm 6'5"...

Not too sure how my Instructor felt, but we both made it. I'm starting my AFF on the 20th, and I'll hafta drop about 8 lbs to be at 250#'s, but I agree with the others: Lose the extra weight. For 3 reasons:

1 - You will feel better,
2 - You'll enjoy the jumps more,
3 - Less beer to catch a buzz.

Hell - Chicks will dig ya more anyway, right?

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