Back plate BCD vs. jacket style back inflation.

[Alzer]

If you wanted to build your shoulders, that would be time at the gym.....swimming would not be the ideal way to do this, and you don't swim with your arms in diving.
Fin swimming WOULD be good, as it is specific to what you need, and you can build up power and speed by doing in minute intervals at max sustainable speed for a minute, then 4 minutes poking along slow, then 1 minute full tilt again....start with a set of maybe 4 or 5 intervals, and see how you feel 2 days later before deciding you can do more intervals in a set..or before adding a second set in a workout day.... Of course, you know most divers are way to lazy to do any kind of conditioning anything like this !!! Most will say you don't need it. If we are talking about a person that has been very sedentary for many years--then yes, they really do need this.

I've stayed pretty active for the most part. I do a pretty decent amount of snorkeling every other week when I have my son. It's a pretty lazy work out, but I make a point to use my fins a bit to get my heart rate up and just focus on breathing and taking long slow breaths.

So for the routine you just mentioned Dan, on the poking along part will frog kicking work for the lazy side of the 4 minutes? I can do a full tilt lap to a lap and a half in a 30 ft long pool. I did notice that when I do free style swimming, my deltoids get a good burn going after about three laps at a slower pace, then I need to rest a bit. I'm heading out to the pool now. Two weeks to go to the start of my class. Woo hoo

 

[danvolker]

I've stayed pretty active for the most part. I do a pretty decent amount of snorkeling every other week when I have my son. It's a pretty lazy work out, but I make a point to use my fins a bit to get my heart rate up and just focus on breathing and taking long slow breaths.

So for the routine you just mentioned Dan, on the poking along part will frog kicking work for the lazy side of the 4 minutes? I can do a full tilt lap to a lap and a half in a 30 ft long pool. I did notice that when I do free style swimming, my deltoids get a good burn going after about three laps at a slower pace, then I need to rest a bit. I'm heading out to the pool now. Two weeks to go to the start of my class. Woo hoo

You could frog kick and still benefit, but part of the 4 minute rest is getting your leg muscles to utilize the pyruvate ( sugar from lactic acid production during the one minute interval) --- and the slow easy flutter kicking helps blood flow in those muscles to effectively recycle the pyruvate better, and should lead to better performance improvements when you train this way over a few months.

If your were doing the intervals with frog kick, then it would be optimal to do the rest intervals with frog kick.

Swimming is a very effective all-body aerobic workout. A masters swimmer could essentially fall into the top one percent of fit people in the US...along with cyclists and runners....the very small minority that actually trains for fitness at an effective /competitive level ( versus the nonsense joggers/waddlers often seen on sidewalks along A1A here in Fl....they might as well just walk fast--it would be as aerobic as what they are doing, and less likely to cause injuries.)

For scuba diving or freediving though, the best training is either going to be fin swimming or cycling ( like a competitive cyclist with clip on pedals and the correct pedal stroke for fin swimming). Running misses the major fin swimming muscle groups too much ( though good for cardio), and swimming concentrates the muscle fitness in the upper body where it is not used by a scuba diver or free diver. Evolve a swimmer in a SciFi lab for 1000 generations, and the torso would look like an ape with huge arms and shoulders....Evolve a scuba diver for 1000 generations and the result would have vestigial arms like a Tyrannosaurus Rex
Oh wait...they might look like a Tri-athalete or a cyclist

 

[Alzer]

Ok, so really, I don't want to look like a T rex (unless it will get me a date, LOL) So what stroke is best to use to pass the open water test? I know it's not a timed test, but the place i'm taking my open water at has a small pool that is like 20ft long. I guess as long as you make their 10 laps then it's all good.

 

[danvolker]

Ok, so really, I don't want to look like a T rex (unless it will get me a date, LOL) So what stroke is best to use to pass the open water test? I know it's not a timed test, but the place i'm taking my open water at has a small pool that is like 20ft long. I guess as long as you make their 10 laps then it's all good.

I think breast stroke is the easiest to go many miles with....you want a nice long glide phase with it, which also ties in to the way you will learn frog kick.

 

[rhwestfall]

Evolve a swimmer in a SciFi lab for 1000 generations, and the torso would look like an ape with huge arms and shoulders....

Dang DV you just described my 11 year old daughter......

 

[Alzer]

I can see how that would be a good stroke, you get your head out of the water and you make some distance.

 

[danvolker]

I can see how that would be a good stroke, you get your head out of the water and you make some distance.

And if you ever had to swim an insane distance with no fins or mask....many miles......you could do it as kind of a cross between a breast stroke and a survival float....making it an important skill for those that get miles from shore...
Of course, any time I am miles from shore I will have my fins and mask with me...with which I could swim to shore from any dive in South Florida.....Though not from the tech dive sites off of Fort Pierce( 25 miles out and the current is going OUT...those off of Ft Pierce would be pure survival float sites hoping someone would come along).

 

[tracydr]

I would add wreck if he plans penetration dives into it. I remember Devon posting a vid about blackouts and such and I know if it was me, I'd freak out and been a fatality (not know proper techniques, gaining confidence in my ability etc).

UTD headquarters is near San Diego and they seem to teach a pretty beefy wreck class.

---------- Post added June 28th, 2013 at 05:34 PM ----------

No worries about long posts, they are usually full of great info and I for one appreciate them. I will look up Edd's shop as soon as I can. Let me answer your thought about why I would want to buy gear. The way my life is currently, boat dives will be far and few in between, however shore dives will be most of what I do until I find a job that can afford me the ability to spend more time on boats. If I have my gear, I can use it. Tank refill, Gas, parking, and food is cheaper than adding another $75 for gear rental on top of the base costs to get into the water. That's my reasoning. My biggest hold up to even considering gear is probably the decision on BC style. I can get into a jacket style cheap enough, but I don't want to keep buying something because it's affordable. I hear a fair amount of divers praising back inflation units which is good info to have, but knowing that I am interested in wrecks and photography and at some point cave or cavern diving, I'm starting to think that If I put together a tech or side mount bc, i'll be just as happy as if I had purchased say a Zeagle Ranger. So for now, I plan on renting and trying as many different pieces of equipment as I can to see what I really like. My buddy has a Ranger that I can use to try it on for size and I can compare it to the jacket style bc's that I'm sure they will have us use in class.


Does that make sense?

Have you looked at HOG gear? They have some very reasonably priced gear. I have a HOG regulator that I love!
i bet you could get a HOG setup for a good price from SB member Jim Lapenta.
Also, check Dive Right in Scuba. They have some good packages, too.

And, DSS. If you buy the complete package from DSS rather than putting everything together bits by bit it's a good deal, too. I have a DSS BP/wing that is real nice.

---------- Post added June 28th, 2013 at 05:39 PM ----------

Ok, so really, I don't want to look like a T rex (unless it will get me a date, LOL) So what stroke is best to use to pass the open water test? I know it's not a timed test, but the place i'm taking my open water at has a small pool that is like 20ft long. I guess as long as you make their 10 laps then it's all good.

I mix up the breaststroke and crawl. I can breaststroke forever but my crawl is faster. Really depends on your ability.

 

[Alzer]

Well Doc, I haven't heard of HOG, but I will look them up. Dive right is one of the brands that my LDS carries and has suggested for a BP/W that could be used in place of the scuaba pro's nighthawk. I have been looking into UTD, I have seen some classes that I would be interested in taking, one of which was their wreck course.

 

[ams511]

Well Doc, I haven't heard of HOG, but I will look them up. Dive right is one of the brands that my LDS carries and has suggested for a BP/W that could be used in place of the scuaba pro's nighthawk. I have been looking into UTD, I have seen some classes that I would be interested in taking, one of which was their wreck course.

Check online you can get a Dive Rite package for around $300.