apparently im to fing fat to jump

[phoenix1 0]

ok so apparently im to F***ing fat to go skydiving. no one in my state carries gear that my fat ass can wear. I have been told by almost half of clubs here that if im serious about jumping i could always buy my own gear and just start jumping. thats expensive as hell and i didnt want to have to do that till I at least got my class A licence. no idea what to do. i am not ready to give up yet. thoughts???

To those who can't and to those who never can again!

[JohnnyMarko 1]

You wanna skydive and your overweight? Fat chance....

[ihazkittehz 0]

How heavy are you? Have you made efforts to lose weight?

[phoenix1 0]

262lbs loosing weight is possible for me but i have a medical problem makes it near to impossible but it can be done.

To those who can't and to those who never can again!

[BillyVance 34]

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262lbs loosing weight is possible for me but i have a medical problem makes it near to impossible but it can be done.

If you can afford the cost of skydive training, you can afford a trainer to help you lose weight and work around whatever medical problem you have, I would think... That should be a priority, and you will feel a lot better once the weight comes down. At least 30 lbs should get you where you need to be, and still have a safety margin with regards to gear loading limits.

"Mediocre people don't like high achievers, and high achievers don't like mediocre people." - SIX TIME National Champion coach Nick Saban

[Halfpastniner 0]

Have you tried the shake weight?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4S3C4AC908w

BASE 1384

[jim_32766 0]

Wow - sorry to hear the news. It's no fun getting excited about a new adventure only to be rejected.

I have heard that Deland has, in the past at least, done some training of pretty heavy people. You might have to do combine AFF and a vacation to stay long enough to accomplish it all, but that might be worth looking into.

The meaning of life . . . is to make life have meaning.

[Amazon 7]

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ok so apparently im to F***ing fat to go skydiving. no one in my state carries gear that my fat ass can wear. I have been told by almost half of clubs here that if im serious about jumping i could always buy my own gear and just start jumping. thats expensive as hell and i didnt want to have to do that till I at least got my class A licence. no idea what to do. i am not ready to give up yet. thoughts???

You might want to check out these threads... you are just a little guy compared to Aubrey and the stuff he went thru might help

He has other threads too.

http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=569196#569196

http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=648670#648670

http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=683478#683478

http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=689484#689484

http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=741127#741127

[Andy9o8 0]

There's a 300-lb jumper who posts here under the name ATSAUBREY. He went through the same issues. Do a search for his earliest posts. From a quick scan of his early posting history, he apparently found a DZ in Moss Point, MS that gave him AFF training with military gear. Note, he was willing to travel from his home in California to MS to get that training. You may wish to PM him.

Edit: oops, I didn't see Amazon's post, which she made a few minutes before mine. Oh, well.

[Cutaway68 4]

It would help to know which state you are in so others might make recommendations for close DZ's, if any.

Don't Pull Low... Unless You ARE!!!
The pessimist says, "It can't get any worse than this." The optimist says, "Sure, it can."
Be fun, have safe.

[phoenix1 0]

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It would help to know which state you are in so others might make recommendations for close DZ's, if any.

I live in Illinois near Kewanee. Sorry should have thought of that.

To those who can't and to those who never can again!

[Cutaway68 4]

While still a fair distance, Tom Dolphin at Missouri River Valley Skydivers near Kansas City has a couple "big boy" rigs. If you go to www.skydivemrvs.com you can find contact info and confirm this with him.

Don't Pull Low... Unless You ARE!!!
The pessimist says, "It can't get any worse than this." The optimist says, "Sure, it can."
Be fun, have safe.

[tdog 0]

You have not mentioned your height or body mass...

If you are a BIG ATHLETIC guy, who plays football and/or other sports, you should do fine when you find one of the DZs with "big boy rigs". The reason why your weight is a problem is because you will need a real large reserve parachute and harness rated for your weight... Not because gravity won't work for you.

If a lot of your weight is not in muscle and bone (or less politically correct, you have a lot of fat) then any bad landings will just be worse for you, and you could get injured when someone else would walk away because your bones will snap under the load... Thus, you need to consider these risks and, even if, as you claim, you have medical conditions causing weight loss to be hard, then go to the gym anyway and build muscle and stength to help prevent injuries....

[phoenix1 0]

ok so as to shed a little more light on things here is all of my stats and some of my past. i am 5' 10" and 262lbs. i am also an iraqi combat vet and that is the source of my "medical problems" i was blown up in a mortar attack at which point my pituitary gland shut down. which mean i no longer produce any testosterone, and a few other things that are well a little more personal. yes i can take testosterone injections to help this but well lots of red tape and all. i have widened my search area. and am also looking into used rigs as a possibility. if this helps any of you with ideas let me know and i will be calling any one with in driving distace that you all think may have rigs i can jump thank you for all the imput so far.

To those who can't and to those who never can again!

[peek 20]

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i am also an iraqi combat vet and that is the source of my "medical problems" i was blown up in a mortar attack at which point my pituitary gland shut down.

First of all:

Thank you for your service to our country!

I can't say that I have any particularly good advice on how you can make a skydive, because weight affects safety, and most dropzones do not have gear for heavier jumpers.

Unfortunately, skydiving favors the average sized jumper. Anyone that is large or small needs to work much harder to succeed in the sport.

You might need to purchase your own gear that is compatible with student training, but it will be worth it.

[keithbar 1]

I feel your pain dude. I run a few pounds either side of 250 myself. but i am over 6'3". on the up side if you get in the air and learn to arch you can belly fly with the freefly guys

i have on occasion been accused of pulling low . My response. Naw I wasn't low I'm just such a big guy I look closer than I really am .

[apt3studiodiver 0]

wow, nothing about weight, or losing it... but damn at 0:19 of that video that halfpastniner posted, if i could get my girl to lose weight doing that every night... i would be one happy man!!

www.apt3studios.com
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D.S. # 4321

[jtval 0]

Does your war injury include anything that you preclude you from skydiving?
If you were blown up, surely more than just your pituitary gland shut down.

If you can not exercise to lose the weight due to your injury I would ask you to give yourself an honest evaluation of your current physicasl health. Can you jump from the first step (of a staircase) and land without being in pain? How about the 5th? the 10th? Not every landing is very soft, A tandem instructor tries but depending on wind conditions, their experience level, the landing area etc you may have a hard landing on your first jump.

When you are an AFF student I can gaurantee you'll have some hard landings. That's one reason why they'll put you on a large canopy; to absorb some of the mistakes you may make. However, if you're 262lbs there aren't many student rigs that will be big on you compared to your wing loading. (your weight while you are fully geared up compared to your canopy size.)


Good luck in your effort to skydive. I hope you find a safe way to do it. This is just one issue that wasn't mentioned in this thread yet that I think you should be aware of.

Until you figure out a way to get in the air you can check out a wind tunnel. You can use that toward your AFF progression. Wind tunnels are a good tool to learn how to skydive without being in the sky. Or as Skyventure Orlando used to say "it's all the fun without the splat."

Good luck in your endeavor. Judging by the info you gave us, I personally think the best and safest way for you to get high is to lose weight.

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[thrillstalker 0]

i weigh 240 and have never had a problem with rented gear that fits.

"Never grow a wishbone, where your backbone ought to be."

[jtval 0]

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i weigh 240 and have never had a problem with rented gear that fits.

I THINK Phoenix1 was referring to starting out with a tandem. With a max wingloading on the reserve(and main) canopy being pushed, doing a tandem would be hard.


Edit to add:
Apparently, He never suggest tandem. I just assumed...
Still, the other post I made has merit in regards to hard landings and possible existing injury.

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[thrillstalker 0]

ok, that makes sense. probably cant find a little guy thats willing to take him?

"Never grow a wishbone, where your backbone ought to be."

[BMichaeli 1]

i'm not 100% sure that this is true but i have heard a story of an AFF guy being put on a tandem rig for their AFF jumps. but that could be a funny story someone made up. but if so maybe you can use a tandem rig they have a lot of fabric above their heads.

[Halfpastniner 0]

There is a lot bigger differences between sport and tandem rigs than the amount of "fabric above their heads".

BASE 1384

[Harmless 0]

But a tandem (Vector for sure, never looked into any others) can be converted for student use. It has been done and there are procedures in place.

"Damn you Gravity, you win again"

[Amazon 7]

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But a tandem (Vector for sure, never looked into any others) can be converted for student use. It has been done and there are procedures in place.

Yeah but there is a point of diminishing returns when you have to get the AN-225 for the jump plane for the student.