Help with Doubles

[cool_hardware52]

This may seem a little odd, but it works. Get one of those large inflatable balls.


If you have a full length mirror use it. Lay face down on the ball. Use your hands to brace yourself. Now get in the correct "Skydiver position" You can check your self in the mirror. Are your legs actually in line with your torso? Are your knees bent so your lower legs are vertical?

Using the ball / mirror will allow you to determine what the correct position feels like. It also will allow you to develop the muscles needed to maintain it.

As an added bonus you can practice various kicks too, and again check yourself in the mirror.

It's even possible to practice reaching your valves, finding your right hip dring, etc. (One hand has to stay on the ground) The ball requires a bit of balance.

Not a total substitute for practice in the water, but it's something you can do at home once a day. Great way to condition those low back muscles to tolerate new and unfamiliar demands.

Tobin

 

[rx7diver]

Arch your spine:

Tilt your head back:

the other way to practice what ken said is the following

lay prone with your hands out in front of you, fingers laced together

bend your knees so your lower leg is vertical

arch your back so your knees and elbows come off of the floor. This is the position you should be in. Practice until it is somewhat less uncomfortable

This may seem a little odd, but it works. Get one of those large inflatable balls.View attachment 218699

If you have a full length mirror use it. Lay face down on the ball. Use your hands to brace yourself. Now get in the correct "Skydiver position" ...

My god! If I had had to do all this just to wear doubles safely and comfortably, I think I never would have worn them! Maybe this sort of thing is required for cave diving or wreck (penetration) diving, I really don't know. What I do know is that I happily wore doubles, for several years, without ever resorting to any of this! My diving at the time involved touring the outside of deep Great Lakes shipwrecks.

Choosing cylinders whose size is correct for your build is one of the most important decisions one can make for safely and comfortably wearing doubles, probably. And locating them, deliberately, on your back is another important decision. These were two biggies for me.

Beyond these two decisions, time spent diving was what really developed my level of comfort with doubles. It really didn't take long. Comfort came only after a couple of dives.

FWIW.

Safe Diving,

rx7diver

 

[tbone1004]

our open water students go through that before they ever get into scuba gear.... recreational single tank. if you don't have solid fundamentals from the beginning, you will always be fighting bad habits that develop. Whole Thorndike Learning Laws thing with Primacy being pretty darned important. If your primacy, recency, and intensity learning is all the same, you have nothing to revert back to. No hand motions, no flutter kicks, no kneeling on the bottom, no vertical trim, etc etc. If you only learn that once you get into tech diving, only recency and intensity are there so you are always at risk of reverting to primacy. Not good.

 

[cool_hardware52]

My god! If I had had to do all this just to wear doubles safely and comfortably, I think I never would have worn them! Maybe this sort of thing is required for cave diving or wreck (penetration) diving, I really don't know. What I do know is that I happily wore doubles, for several years, without ever resorting to any of this! My diving at the time involved touring the outside of deep Great Lakes shipwrecks.

Choosing cylinders whose size is correct for your build is one of the most important decisions one can make for safely and comfortably wearing doubles, probably. And locating them, deliberately, on your back is another important decision. These were two biggies for me.

Beyond these two decisions, time spent diving was what really developed my level of comfort with doubles. It really didn't take long. Comfort came only after a couple of dives.

FWIW.

Safe Diving,

rx7diver

Humm, Some people are naturals and others aren't. IME "naturals" typically make poor teachers because they never had to think much about how they achieved their level of proficiency. "Journeymen" OTOH, those that worked hard to earn their skills, can usually better articulate to others how they did it.

I discovered the benefits of the "ball" while rehabbing after back surgery. It's a great way to condition the erector spinae muscles of the low back, and it provides an easy means to practice when you can't get to the water.


Tobin