> Personally, I had a weighting issue. As in I was too heavy. the instructor told me to use 10% bodyweight + 6 lbs. as the weight. 175 lbs, head to toe 7mm wets

> Personally, I had a weighting issue. As in I was too heavy. the instructor told me to use 10% bodyweight + 6 lbs. as the weight. 175 lbs, head to toe 7mm wetsuit, one AL80 tank @ 2500 psi, fresh water - anyone know the algo for figuring weight with these variables? This was a total failure from your instructor. You do not try to calculate the correct weighting -- there is too much of individual variance. Instead you just measure. Get in shallow water and add weight until you are comfortable. (Make sure you are not either almost too heavy or almost too light, both can be problematic.). Even small things like differences in what you ate last night can have serious effect on the amount of weighting you need. (too much gas in intestines...)