Frog Kick

[Lorenzoid]

Agree with all of you. I will stop practicing on my own and wait for the course.
Lessons learned: be patient and take the course then be taught correctly.

Seen this article? Secrets of Fundamentals: the top mistakes people make

Failure to prepare vs. over-preparing. Great advice.

 

[Compressor]

Agree and read the article "Practice appropriately. Do not try to and learn what you will be taught on the course. Just become familiar with your GUE compliant gear. Practice holding stops using your wing for buoyancy control. Practice descending under control, holding a stop, and ascending again. This is far and away the best preparation you can do and the course of action most likely to lead you to a pass. "
Its says it well.



---------- Post added May 18th, 2015 at 02:02 PM ----------

Also I am not taking the course for another card. My motives are purely educational: It nice to learn new things especially from my seasoned instructor to be. If I pass it would be great; if I don't I will practice more to improve my technique.

 

[TSandM]

That's the greatest attitude to take to the class. Depending on starting point, some people can master the material in the days allotted, but many cannot, and require more practice. It's all good, and the practice to get the skills nailed means . . . MORE DIVING!

 

[Compressor]

That's the greatest attitude to take to the class. Depending on starting point, some people can master the material in the days allotted, but many cannot, and require more practice. It's all good, and the practice to get the skills nailed means . . . MORE DIVING!

Thank you so much TSandM and others. I really have nothing to prove but to learn something new and prove to myself that after 31 years of diving I still have enough RAM up there to do things in a different way and learn new things. So its all good.

 

[ScubaSam]

Also I am not taking the course for another card. My motives are purely educational: It nice to learn new things especially from my seasoned instructor to be. If I pass it would be great; if I don't I will practice more to improve my technique.

Great motives and great attitude, Compressor.

During my Fundies class, I kept telling myself "I am here to learn, I am here to learn..." I repeated that in my head every time I got discouraged with myself (which happened often during my 5-day class)

Regardless of whether I pass or fail, I knew I would leave the class a more skilled diver than when I came into the class.

Good luck!

 

[Compressor]

Great motives and great attitude, Compressor.

"I am here to learn, I am here to learn..."
Good luck!

I'm going to do just the same.

 

[RJP]

Where are you in NY? Happy to help you work on frog kick, back kick, and any other "DIR" propulsion techniques if you want to hook up at Dutch Springs for a dive or two some time before July.

Sure you can learn the frog kick DURING your fundies class... but being proficient (or nearly so) going in will allow you to get much more out of the course.

 

[Ayisha]

Agree and read the article "Practice appropriately. Do not try to and learn what you will be taught on the course. Just become familiar with your GUE compliant gear. Practice holding stops using your wing for buoyancy control. Practice descending under control, holding a stop, and ascending again. This is far and away the best preparation you can do and the course of action most likely to lead you to a pass. "
Its says it well.

That is a great article and if you look through his website, he has a lot of really helpful articles.

Making timed descents and ascents, as he suggests, will be very helpful before the course. You'll be stopping at 10 feet, 20 feet, and 30 feet, and then the reverse coming back up, holding very steady at each depth. Then start working on the timing and making it smooth. During the course they'll start to task load you (S-drill, SMB deployment) during that timed descent/ascent, so it will need to be almost like second nature to be able to hold your stops.

There are lots of mentors in the GUE community in and around various parts of NY state, especially around the St Lawrence river, from what I've seen. Good luck!

 

[Compressor]

That is a great article and if you look through his website, he has a lot of really helpful articles.

Making timed descents and ascents, as he suggests, will be very helpful before the course. You'll be stopping at 10 feet, 20 feet, and 30 feet, and then the reverse coming back up, holding very steady at each depth. Then start working on the timing and making it smooth. During the course they'll start to task load you (S-drill, SMB deployment) during that timed descent/ascent, so it will need to be almost like second nature to be able to hold your stops.

There are lots of mentors in the GUE community in and around various parts of NY state, especially around the St Lawrence river, from what I've seen. Good luck!

Thank you. Great to know.

---------- Post added May 19th, 2015 at 02:36 PM ----------

Where are you in NY? Happy to help you work on frog kick, back kick, and any other "DIR" propulsion techniques if you want to hook up at Dutch Springs for a dive or two some time before July.

Sure you can learn the frog kick DURING your fundies class... but being proficient (or nearly so) going in will allow you to get much more out of the course.

I'm 4 hours away. Not practical. Will wait for my course. But thank you.

 

[nimoh]

If you want to do some pool practice before class, I would suggest practicing hovering in horizontal trim near the bottom of the pool without moving at all. Periodically, exhale and descend to the bottom of the pool noting that your knees should not hit the bottom first.

This is sort of the fundamentals of fundamentals. All other skills during the class will come much more naturally if you are able to stay in trim without moving...and even better, to stay in trim without moving and without thinking about it.

If you are quite proficient at doing this, then add some task loading such as writing things or drawing pictures in your wetnotes. Something I did in a pool prior to passing fundamentals (on my second try) was to tie a weight to a string about two feet long and attach it to my chest d-ring. Then I would see how long I could hover a foot off of the bottom of the pool with my eyes closed before either hitting the bottom or feeling the tug of the string. The weight and string were used just to prevent me from ascending too much before realizing it.

The danger of practicing the required skills is that (as others have mentioned) you may not be doing them exactly correctly. The skills have a very specific procedure and your instructor will explain the reasoning behind the exact procedure. If you are practicing them wrong, then you will have to unlearn the skills prior to learning them.