aatif96

Thanks everyone for the input! Since I posed this I've already spoke to Scotty Burns and Wicked again and it looks like there is hope after all. I freaken love this community! I've been hitting the gym every day hard and am motivated to be able to fly. I feel like a girl but instead of a picture of a dress i want to fit into, I keep a pic of a wingsuit in front of the treadmill to keep me going. I was 280 lbs at my heaviest and dropped the weight just to get into this sport so I can do it again to keep me in the air. Thanks for all your help guys, you'll be seeing my sexy fat ass with wings at a DZ near you! "Chocolate Thunder"

OK folks! I've been waiting a few years to be able to post on this forum but I've finally accumulated enough jumps (200) to be able to start wingsuiting!! I plan on taking my FFC this year and realize my dream of flying. From when I first fell in love with this sport, I've faced a number of challenges due to my size. I'm 5'6" and weigh about 240lbs (lost 50 lbs just to get into the sport). I have the aerodynamics of a bowling ball and fall like a greased piano . Suffice to say I'm always the base in RW and why bother freeflying when my jumps would last 30 secs. I am athletic for my size so I do have muscles under my chub (picture a model trapped inside a fat person) So after talking with the folks over at Wicked, its safe to assume no one would have a rental entry level suit that would fit me. Plus I feel a Prodigy or I-bird would be a glorified camera suit for me. Since I'm going to have to drop the $ for a tailored suit and dont want to outgrow it in a year and still not be able to flock, what suit would be suggested for someone in my shoes? I know I'm not going to win any comps for hang time, I just want a suit that will allow me to flock with the more svelte birds. I've been leaning towards an R-bird or the Funk, would that be too risky as a beginner suit for a big bird? Also, just as in swooping (which I dont do), what areas in wingsuiting would someone with a large gravity engine excel at? Thanks for the help! Aatif "Chocolate Thunder"

Hey buddy, your symptoms sound very similar to what I've gone through in the past. It was the reason why I got into Skydiving in the first place. I figured I might as well try the most insane activities before I decide to off myself. Who knew I would find the answer to my problems in this sport. But I've also changed a number of areas in my life that have had a positive impact and got me out of the "darkness", most have been addressed above. 1. Meds. Try starting again with the bupropion products such as Wellbutrin. As a dopamine reuptake inhibitor they work differently from your typical SSRIs in that there is a lower chance of sexual side effects and no weight gain. Since it doesnt affect your serotonin, its more of an organic happiness rather then a dulling fuck it attitude like Zoloft. And it helps to quit if your a smoker. When my wellbutrin stopped working I switched to Aplezine and its been working wonders for me. 2. Diet. People have mentioned going Paleo above and I definitely recommend it. I would take it a step further and actually do the Whole30 Challenge. Check out whole9life.com 30 days no gluten, dairy, legumes, sugar, artificial sweeteners, or processed foods. Just meats, veggies, fruits, and nuts. You reset your body and after 30 days can start adding back certain foods one at a time to see how they affect you. After your first week of crash/detox I noticed a dramatic effect in my energy levels and my depression was noticeably controlled. I cant stress enough how much changing my diet has improved my life. 3. Sleep. I was suffering from sleep apnea. Would wake up feeling like i got hit by a mack truck and would willing turn down a suitcase filled with money for an extra hour in the sack. Once I got my CPAP machine I felt like a new person. CPAP will help you get a good nights rest when your asleep, but you have to develop good sleeping habits. No caffeine past noon if you can help it, stick to a bed time, remove distractions in your bedroom, maybe get a new mattress and spend some money on it. You spend 1/3 of your life in bed, its worth the investment. Go get a sleep study. 4. Exercise. No brainer on how this makes you feel better. Find something you like doing and do it. 5. Blood test. Get a full battery test for everything. Especially check for Vit D, Thyroid, A1C for diabetes, testosterone. 6. Lifestyle. Make some positive changes in your lifestyle. The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over expecting different results. Start setting small goals for the week and reward yourself when you accomplish them. Hang out with positive friends (plenty of hippies in the skydiving community :) Maybe take a small break from jumping and do other things. Learn how to ride a motorcycle, fly a plane, train for the tough mudder. plenty of other badass activities besides skydiving. I can almost guarantee you these changes will have a tremendous impact on you. Dont just pick one area, you can focus on all to make yourself better. You don't deserve to feel shitty and nothing worthwhile is easy. You gotta grab life by the haunches and hump it into submission!!! (Patches O'Houlahan)

Im surprised Luciano didnt touch your taint during free fall, Im still in therapy for what i had to do to get my A

Come to Pepperell! Its my home DZ. Yeah it def can feel like a business but the people are a blast. Its my family now and I cant wait to go "home" when the season starts. Reasons to come to Pepperell 1) you get to hang out with me the resident token Brown guy 2) right next to NH no sales tax ($cha-ching!$) 3) 10 min from the Tunnel in Nashua 4) lots to do in Nashua/manchester 5) landing zone is super big, flat, groomed with lots of outs (landed out at night in a backyard and was fine) 6) Private airstrip just for us skydivers 7) (please see reason #1)

Ha, i think he's got about 10 years and two kids before that happens. You basically summed up my experience so far. first season and i was fortunate enough to get 89 jumps in with my B license. This is probably the most dangerous time for guys like us in the 100 jump wonder category. I want to push myself just like you getting into BASE, wingsuit, and proxy flying but at the same time I know I need to develope my foundation skills in this sport. I know ill get 200 jumps by the end of next year but I made a promise to myself not to do my FFC until I've taken the flight 1 canopy course and a number of RW camps. Im chomping at the bit to progress but also trying to remind myself to take it one step at a time and enjoy the ride. Hope to fly with you sometime

IMHO id say one of the most effective ways to keep your hands and feet warm, is to make sure your core is warm. thin multiple layers maybe fleece. I recently jumped with a hoodie and long johns under my RW suit and it was about 8 degrees at altitude and i felt fine. Granted I'm a polar bear and pretty much fall like one a neck gator or balaklava under a full face is worth its weight in gold!

Dude where do you WOD, me and a buddy opened a box in manchester NH. Granite state Crossfit, look us up if your in the area. As for Hobby ADD, you wont need to worry about it. sign up for AFF and its going to take over. You dont really think about other drugs when your addicted to heroine . bust your ass and get your A as quickly as possible. i did it in two months going every weekend and blowing sickdays at work. Once your licensed you can take your time jumping to stay current, but honely you are going to drop a few of those hobbies anywas when you expience the community behind skydiving. WOD like you normally do, wakeboard on windy days, ride the motorcycle at night, and snowboard in the winter. Either get your GF into skydiving or let her know about your other mistress, and your wuffo friends and family are going to be seeing a lot less of you. This is my first year jumping and i love it. i still WOD and ski and play soccer and ride my motorcycle, but every weekend im at the DZ. you make new friends, go to boogies across the country and never look back to when you were a wuffo. just be prepared to cut back on the hobbies when in AFF

yeah New England Drop zones are not forgiving when landing out. we were out last on the first pass behind a group of three at full alti. we gave them way too long of a separation and should have asked for another pass. I also fall like a greased piano and it was a windless night and i agreed to pull lower on our two way. he pulled at 4.5k and me at 4. my canopy also gives me a good 800ft snivle so i was about 3 when i got my bearings and realized i wasnt gonna make it. My partner landed in the trailers just short of the landing area, and i was over a mile away. We were the only ones on the load to not make it back. what i took away from this. spot better especially after giving 16 sec separation from the previous group. agree at a higher altitude to break formation and have enough time to track in the right direction.

So just got my B license and thought it would be a great idea to do a night jump. I'll have to admit i was nervous as hell going up to altitude. First solo jump went off without a hitch, kept the DZ in my sights and landed perfectly. Second jump i did a two way and agreed to pull lower at 4k. Jump went awesome tracked away and pulled...Oh Shit! drop zone is over a mile away and no way in hell im making it. All I can see is lights and trees everywhere. Looked all over until i spotted a darker patch that was different then trees. I grabbed my rears and curled into a ball the whole way praying i wasnt flying into a swamp. Just made it over the tree line into an open field with a nice soft landing. Only problem was i forgot to take my cell on the second jump. So i walked up to the nearest house with lights on and rang the doorbell at 10:00 pm before realizing that I'm a bald brown indian dude in a jumpsuit with glowsticks duct taped all over. luckily they were cool about it and let me use their phone. Quote of the day "what the hell are you people doing jumping out at night"...seemed like a good idea at the time. Cant wait to do more night jumps

Thanks guys, i got 8 weeks before it comes in so i guess i can rent a 230 and get used to it and be ready to downsize when it arrives. I went with wings cause i had a 50% off coupon which prevented me from having to turn tricks in back alleys but from what ive been reading they are great rigs, cant wait till it comes in. And i got hooked up with free cut in laterals for a promo they were doing this month.

Im getting a new wings container and had a ? about canopy sizing. Its been the general consensus at my DZ that if you get a container sized for a canopy you generally can go up and down one size. im getting it sized for a 210 so i can start with a 230 and eventually get down to a 190. Is there something about a wings container that prevents you from doing that? i was told from the manufacturer that i wouldnt be able to fit a 230 if i got it sized for a 210. Thoughts?

Dont you get me started on Beer. I just bought a keg to build up enough credit! I've learned to never use the work "first", "pre-second" works better

dude im sitting in my cubile as we speak doing practice touches! I dont sit on the couch anymore, i watch tv on the floor in my natural arch. i took up yoga just to get better at freefly. I get nervous when I put on a backpack cause its too light and i cant feel my pilot chute. I look at my watch in the afternoon and freakout for a second thinking its my altitude. Yeah my name is Aatif and I am an addict

So I'm fortunate enough to live about 10 min from my DZ and was able to get my A license in less then two months. Been hitting it every weekend 3 - 6 jumps average. I'm proud of the fact that i was able to get it within the 25 jumps without repeating. But what made it easy was i had a set goal everytime i came to the DZ, i studied my SIM like it was the SATs and knew what i had to do each jump. Now that i have my A license I'm kinda lost on what to do next. I'm assuming start working towards my B but what goals should i have specifically. The general consensus is work on RW before venturing into freefly. My ultimate goal is a wingsuit. Will people want to fly with a noob padawan jumper ? What should i work on to get better at RW? Second question...I'm not exactly built like a skydiver should be. I'm 5'7" 235 lbs with the aerodynamics of a crisco covered bowling ball Suffice to say I'm prob not jumping with cute little skydiving chicks. but with my build its next to impossible to find used gear. Been trolling the classifieds and have found nothing...why dont fat people jump out of planes!!! Anywho any idea on gear would be greatly appreciated...and where can i find a decent suit for around $250 budget that will slow my ass down. my relax belly is 145 mph! maybe ill wait on getting gear and just buy some running shoes to start out with Any advice on any areas would be greatly appreciated.