Wondering if your extra body weight will inhibit your ability to bodysurf? I decided to investigate this question and you will be surprised by the research I found.
So are you too fat to bodysurf? Obese people with a high percentage of body fat are definitely still able to bodysurf because fat is less dense than water.
Still not convinced? It all comes down to simple physics. Let’s take
Factors that affect your ability to float
Have you ever noticed that some people float better than others? Maybe you struggle keeping your head above water while your friend seems to float effortlessly? Your body’s ability to float is impacted by a few different factors in your physical makeup.
- bone density
- muscle mass
- organs
- lung capacity
- fat tissue
People are made up of all different shapes and sizes. Some have exceptional muscle mass while others tend to store more fat.
Others have larger lungs to fill with air in while some have denser bones. All of these different factors cause varying degrees of buoyancy in each individual.
Fat-to-muscle ratio
One of the key factors to consider regarding your ability to float is your fat-to-muscle ratio. Have you ever noticed how oil floats on top of water? This is because oil is fat, which is “less dense” or “lighter” than water.
The density of mammalian skeletal muscle tissue is about 1.06 kg/liter. This can be contrasted with the density of adipose tissue (fat), which is 0.9196 kg/liter. This makes muscle tissue approximately 15% denser than fat tissue.
WIKIPEDIA – The Free Encyclopedia
The more fat and less muscle you have, the easier it is for you
Therefore your ability to float is directly influenced by the amount of fat tissue in your body. Additionally, your ability to float is indirectly influenced by the amount of muscle in your body.
Why is fat less dense than water?
Fat is less dense than water because of its specific gravity. Here is what I found on the California State University Long Beach website stating the specific gravity of muscle, bone, and fat.
Adipose Tissue has a specific gravity of less than 1.0
California State University Long Beach | Hydrodynamics
Bone and muscle tissue have a specific gravity of greater than 1.O
This further supports how having a higher body fat percentage helps to increase your buoyancy.
What does this mean for bodysurfing?
What does this mean for your bodysurfing capability? If you have a higher percentage of body fat then you should be able to bodysurf because you have a better ability to float. As a more obese person, you generate a larger buoyant force to help you ride waves.
Conversely, people with a low proportion of fat can not float as easily thus actually making bodysurfing slightly more challenging. More muscle mass means your body is denser and therefore has higher specific gravity.
Does this mean skinny people can not float as well as obese people? Remember, the amount of muscle you have compared to the amount of fat is one key property that drives your ability to float. Therefore you can be skinny but have more fat than muscle, which would cause you to be buoyant. Plus, air cavities like your lungs would take up a larger piece of your overall body volume thus increasing buoyancy.
Archimede’s Principle
Archimede’s principle plays a role in floating. When you experience a buoyant force, you are experiencing Archimede’s principle in action.
For those of you not familiar with this famous mathematician, he was known for discovering the principle of buoyancy.
F = ρgV
WIKIPEDIA – The Free Encyclopedia
Simply, the upward force you experience in water is equal to the water your body displaces. Therefore, the more volume your body has the more upthrust you will experience. Since fatter people have more bodily volume, they are naturally more buoyant and thus more capable of planing for bodysurfing.
How does air capacity affect buoyancy?
Many people do not realize it but the amount of air you intake into your lungs can affect your ability to float. Try this:
Take a deep breath and hold it while floating in
Filling up your lungs with air increases your body’s volume thus creating more upward force.