Buoyancy practice for beginners

[Marie13]

mostly a pool, all the local water is frozen in January.

Working on your buoyancy in shallow water is a good one. Is it a long public pool? If so, swim underwater laps in the shallow end aka before the drop off for the deep end. If you can keep yourself midwater - not on the bottom and not on the surface - in 3-4ft of water, you’re doing good.

 

[myself]

Working on your buoyancy in shallow water is a good one. Is it a long public pool? If so, swim underwater laps in the shallow end aka before the drop off for the deep end. If you can keep yourself midwater - not on the bottom and not on the surface - in 3-4ft of water, you’re doing good.

It's about 40 feet long and ranges from 3-5 ft deep. Thanks for the advice.

 

[boulderjohn]

Ginti asked you how you learned your skills, and your answer seemed to me to be talking about how you demonstrated the skills on the OW dives, not how you learned them in a pool. If you learned the skills in the pool while on the knees, that's too bad. If so, get in a pool and practice them all as they would have been done with a different instructor--while hovering in mid water. In doing so, you will find that you will want far less weight than you used on the knees, and that will be very helpful. By the time you are done, you will have improved immensely.

 

[ginti]

Ginti asked you how you learned your skills, and your answer seemed to me to be talking about how you demonstrated the skills on the OW dives, not how you learned them in a pool.

You got my point

But, frankly speaking, I am not sure if it's a good idea to practice without an instructor in the case of new divers (and, for sure, it is really a horrible idea to practice alone, at least in my opinion).

@myself, I would look for an instructor if I were you. Since taking a class isn't an option, just ask the instructor for a personal training session in the pool, if that's better for you. Just be sure that the instructor is a good one.

Another option is to look for a club, assuming there is a presence of BSAC or CMAS affiliated club in your area (I doubt it, they aren't common in the US)

 

[myself]

You got my point

But, frankly speaking, I am not sure if it's a good idea to practice without an instructor in the case of new divers (and, for sure, it is really a horrible idea to practice alone, at least in my opinion).

@myself, I would look for an instructor if I were you. Since taking a class isn't an option, just ask the instructor for a personal training session in the pool, if that's better for you. Just be sure that the instructor is a good one.

Another option is to look for a club, assuming there is a presence of BSAC or CMAS affiliated club in your area (I doubt it, they aren't common in the US)

THe issue that I'm having is that I live in a small town that's inland and the nearest instructor is in anther state. My brother has been certified for a few years now and so I would probably go with him.

 

[scrane]

Dive in a pool without your fins.
That way if you are subconsciously kicking to maintain depth or trim you'll know it.

 

[ginti]

THe issue that I'm having is that I live in a small town that's inland and the nearest instructor is in anther state. My brother has been certified for a few years now and so I would probably go with him.

Well, I have no idea of your brother's skills level, but here are my concerns:
{1} If your brother isn't very good, and you two practice together, you may get used to some bad habits; these habits will stay with you for a long time, and to overcome them you'll need a lot of effort.
{2} Since you mention that buoyancy is a problem for you, there is a significant risk of uncontrolled ascents; if, by mistake, you old your breath during the ascent... well, I don't even want to think about it.

The concern {1} is extremely likely to happen, and it will negatively affect your future diving.
The concern {2} is extremely UNlikely, but if it happens it's going to be bad; Usually, I wouldn't mention this option, but your profile says that you have 0-24 dives and you said you are a new diver... this is why I am a bit worried.

Now, I can see two options:
option 1 - you really love diving and you are ready to commit a lot to this activity: in this case, take a weekend and go to the closest good instructor; it's a holiday in the end, isn't it?
option 2 - you like diving, but not so much to commit a lot (at least, not yet ); in this case, don't waste your time in the swimming pool, just relax, plan a holiday in the beautiful Caribbean (or wherever you like), and take a course with a good instructor about basic skills, while enjoying the colours of the tropical sea (or whatever you want to look at)
A good instructor will help you avoid my previous concerns {1} and {2}.

Note: good instructor = one that doesn't teach on the knees; some people will talk about this way of teaching as evil. I am not going to do it, because you will not die due to that... but you will have buoyancy issues and you will probably damage the environment. Therefore, it's better to avoid it! In my opinion, there are other requirements to qualify as a good instructor, but that's another topic.

The two options that I proposed are a bit the black and the white; in reality, there is a bit of grey too (especially when adding some other considerations such as money), but it's up to you to decide the mix.

Whatever you end up doing, good luck and enjoy the depths!

 

[wetb4igetinthewater]

@myself

I think you have a number of good tips to work with. I just wanted to point out that now when you and I converse and my wife asks who I'm talking to, I get to say "I was just talking to myself."

I'm very curious what her reaction will be.

 

[myself]

@myself

I think you have a number of good tips to work with. I just wanted to point out that now when you and I converse and my wife asks who I'm talking to, I get to say "I was just talking to myself."

I'm very curious what her reaction will be.

That's really funny, I didn't think about that when I made the name up. thanks.

 

[BrackaFish]

THe issue that I'm having is that I live in a small town that's inland and the nearest instructor is in anther state. My brother has been certified for a few years now and so I would probably go with him.

The pool is a great place to practice buoyancy skills. There has been some wonderful advice here.
Proper amount of weight as mentioned by multiple people. Most divers are just
Too overweighted.
Practice buoyancy skills while being at rest. It is easy to cheat by changing your body trim while finning and believe yourself to be in good buoyancy.
Finally stick with it. My wife had issues until her 18 dive, she surfaced and yelled
“Yes, Yes it all makes sense now!” She was quite pleased with herself. So just keep practicing. Good luck and be safe