Will my wetsuit be too tight??

Why are you trying to gain weight? My goal is always to go in the other direction and I surf way better the lighter I am. If you gain the extra 10 - 20 lbs say goodbye to comfort. I have a friend who insists that his old suit still fits and he looks like a blackberry in it.

 

why is there a wetsuit thread at the end of august in the heart of hurricane season???? but to answer your question there is no way that thing is gonna fit you if you put on another 10 or 20 pounds. im around 185 to 190 and i wear a large or a large tall. if i were up by 200 id be rocking an XL

 

i agree w/ zippy...i've always surfed better at a lighter weight. that said, i'm a big guy, 6'1" & 190lbs, & i wear a large. i could prob. go w/ a LT, but they're a bit hard to find & the larges fit me fine. when i was in college & running competitively, i was 40lbs lighter & wore a MT. i'd be shocked if you gain another 10-20lbs & can still get into that suit.

 

Njsurfer you are almost exactly my size 6'1" 190 lbs at best 195 lbs now after a summer of bad habits (on my way back down though). Just got 2 new excel suits and got the LT. The 3/2 fits like a second skin haven't tried on the 5/4 yet. I would stay away from bulking up if you want to surf well. I was at 205 + last year and I was tired, slow and surfing like crap. I surf better now than ever in my 30 years on the water and being in shape without the extra weight is a huge part of it.

 

i'm not trying to bulk up. the OP is. i'm hoping to get down to 185ish in the near future.

 

Zippy & NJSurfer are right on the mark. If you're bulking up, surfing is going to suffer far beyond the wetsuit. Not only that, but once you gain that kind of mass, it gets hard to lose it all. I bulked up from 195 to 225 between the ages of 36 & 39. I'm now 42 and struggling like hell to get back below 200 so I can surf small waves with less than log. Between slinging heavier arms, balancing additional weight and the tightness of your old suit, your sessions will be much shorter and in a lot of cases, very frustrating. You may be able to fit in the suit for 10 to 15 lbs above the recommended weight, but it will definately work against you. Just my 2 cents. Good luck.

 

Bulking up is so 2004. Get with the times bro. Thin is in!

 

what, are you doing 'roids? I'm no physical trainer, but jumping up 30 lbs in a year seems a little severe, slow down, man...that's not going to make you a better surfer. just my 2 cents, don't take offense...just seems crazy to me.

 

njsurfer, I was referring to the op about bulking up not you.

 

I tend to be bulky kinda muscular and I wish I was less so. Even at my most lean I have big arms, big chest etc and it does me no good in most conditions other than when it's big I can paddle more strongly than a lot of guys I see. If it were possible for me to loose some of this muscle I would just to be lighter and faster. Genetics play a part though, I'm pretty sure i could starve myself and still be more muscular than most surfers.

 

I dunno maybe its just me but I never got the whole gaining muscle mass thing. I work out a lot but do mostly cardio and muscle toning/endurance. Bulking up just makes you slower, less flexible and heavier which, in my opinion, is a bad thing. I had a few friends in college who lifted like crazy and bulked up about 20-30lbs of muscle and now that they have full time jobs and dont workout as much they just look overweight. I dunno, its your life so I'm not telling you what to do or anything I just dont get it...

 

RobG, that is exactly what happens. I worked out hard in the 80's when muscle was king, lol. All that bulk has never left me and when I gain any weight all the cuts in my muscles get filled in with fat and the muscle itself gets marbled like a good piece of steak. Unless I am cut I look bulky and soft and feel sluggish and slow. I wish I had never worked out so hard as a kid but for me it's as much genetics as anything. I can see my 12 year old sons shoulders getting wider by the day and is bicepts growing. He said he wanted to work out with weights and I talked him out of it. If you are working out to stay strong and healthy for surfing it's a good thing but avoid working out to gain size. Small, wiry and fast is just as impressive as big and bulky maybe more so. For me it's better to surf good than to look "good".

 

You can push the newer suits pretty far, but the seams may eventually give. Usually around the stomach chest panel first....don\'t ask how I know.\r\n\r\nI\'m 5\'11\" 220lbs and can surf small waves for hours on a small board. I don\'t move around paddling as good as I used to, but once up my actual surfing hasn\'t suffered due to the weight....I used to be 170lbs in my best shape. For my frame that was very lean.

 

When your metabolism slows down, it will be (for reasons that Zippy's already mentioned). You may see big guys during wetsuit season. You may older guys during wetsuit season. But you will seldom see older, big guys. There's a reason for that.

As far as fat versus muscle, my personal opinion is that they both have drawbacks, but for your concerns, the drawbacks to muscle bulk (even in younger guys) includes reduced range of motion, which means more effort in everything & slower movement. As Zippy pointed out, it has a lot to do with genetics, but usually, workouts that bring beef do so through relatively slow reps. The muscle does what you train it to do, so you'll be able to benchpress a small Buick, but you'll peter out on paddling and pop-up. While certain atheletes cross train to bring strength and speed, it's easy to see what atheletes gravitate towards gaining mass. A football team is a good example. Of course, there's caveats to everything, but the point remains valid.

All this being said, if surfing isn't as important to you, none of this matters. When you outgrow your wetsuit, look at the O'neill PsychoFreak. It's got a lot of elasticity. You'll need that.

 

For real? Heaven help us all...

 

the faster you go, the rounder you get.....

i am sure any old guy here will tell you that any weight/size gain is harder to maintain as useful and harder to lose as you get older. any activity that requires agility over brute strength favors a leaner mass. as a skinny guy (well useta be, anyway... ) i notice the bigger guys do enjoy the advantage of built-in insulation....gain enough and you won't need a wetsuit....

 

DUDE, GET A NEW F N SUIT OR DROP THE WEIGHT, END OF STORY!
THERE'S NO OTHER WAY AROUND IT.

check out HYPERFLEX if your on a budget. I got my 6/5/4 from them. It's official!