scubarn0203
Guest
Ok,I seem to be having trouble(no, I am having a heck of a time) trying to keep my legs str8 when I'm kicking my feet....and yes I have the fins on.I keeping kicking like I am riding a bike,help would be greatly appreciated. 
Kicking my feet......and going nowhere....
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Are your feet pointed or are they dorsiflexed (flat, as if you were standing on them)?
-=* Mikki *=-
-=* Mikki *=-
SueMermaid
Guest
Move your legs from the hips, and don't bend your knees.
H2Andy
Contributor
easier said than done but to do a straight-leg kick:
1. keep your knees straight
2. kick from your thighs/hips
practice this while lying on your tummy on a table or some such, with your legs dangling free. ideally,
you'd have a mirror to look at yourself and see what you are doing.
personally, i prefrer the frog kick for a power kick (works
great even while swimming on the surface) and the modified
flutter kick for delicate work, such as taking pictures or
swimming close to wrecks/reefs. anyways...
what you are doing is a bycicle kick, which is less efficient in the long run that other available kicks (i think) even when done properly. more on the subject from http://www.freediver.net/freedivelist/faqstuff/faq_finning.html
Straight Leg
The most common technique has been used since the mid-50s, the straight leg kick. It's very simple to use. Just keep your legs straight and kick from the hip. It uses the large muscles in your thigh and hip for power. With this kick, the more you bend your knees, the less power you develop. This kick developed when very stiff fins were the norm. They bent very little, and easily overpowered your calf muscles if your tried a flutter kick, although almost no one could really keep their legs straight. Variations on the straight leg kick are the most common technique seen today among divers. In the "good old days", standard training of a new diver included constant reminders to "keep your legs straight".
Fins have changed, and the kick was never very good for surface swims to begin with. Advances in materials and design both help to allow alternative kicking. And, as you push down on the fin while doing a surface swim, your butt comes up, and you make a lot of noise. It makes surface swims of any length suck!! Also, only a small percentage of the downward motion translates to forward propulsion for the diver.
The Bicycle Kick
The alternative is called the bicycle kick (see the end of this section for a description of the "old" bicycle kick). Start with a deep bend in your knee. Start the kick by straightening your knee until the blade bends. With the blade vertical in the water, push straight back. It is like riding a bicycle, where you start with a bent knee at the top of each cycle. The real power, when riding a bicycle, is applied when you are pushing down toward the ground as your hip and upper leg muscles come into play. It's the same with the bicycle kick. The real power is when you are pushing the water backwards to move forward. What you get is a much easier kick. You are using more hip and thigh, and less calf. Using these well developed muscles is, despite old wives tales, more efficient and effective than using smaller, less efficient ones, like the calf. The efficient use of big muscles uses less oxygen on a dive and allows you to spend more time in the water before tiring. The kick works particularly well on the surface. Your butt stays in the water, you more forward more easily, and you're quieter as you do it.
To get a feel for the bicycle kick, try lying on your back with your knees bent and your feet against the wall. Feel how much power you have when you push away from the wall. The rest of the technique is in getting your fins bent so you can use them to push against the water.
So, back on your back on the floor, knees bent, feet flat on the floor, wearing fins, and with the fin tips touching the wall (OK, hokey, but just try it). Straighten your knees and push toward the wall, keeping your ankles pointed toward the wall. If you left the tips of your fins touching the wall at the floor, the blade of your fin should be flattening vertically against the wall. This gets the blade bent so you can push against (when you are in the water). Now all you have to do is roll over, jump in the nearest body of (liquid) water and do the same thing : ))
Physics play a role in this kick. With the straight leg kick, you are pushing down and back. There is a large vertical vector (down push), and a smaller horizontal one (moving forward). If you can maximize energy transmission in the horizontal plane, you increase your efficiency, and you move ahead more easily. The problem of lifting your butt out of the water with a straight leg kick is a result of the large downward force vector. It takes energy to do the lifting. Keep your butt down, and use your energy to move ahead.
Historical note: The bicycle kick couldn't be done with the old rigid fins. They didn't bend enough to allow a diver to push forward. The more flexible fins made today have allowed the change. Long fins bend easily enough to allow the bicycle kick to be effective. One fin deliberately designed for the bicycle kick was the Scubapro Seawing. The little notches at the base of the blade allowed the blade to bend easily, but only to the vertical. It was then positioned for the backward push. the fin was sabotaged by the marketing "pros", who decided to sexier to talk about "lift" and airplane wings, which have no place underwater, and they allowed the Seawing to be buried, because they never let divers know how to use it (according to Dick Bonnin, the founder of Scubapro).
The "Old" Bicycle Kick
There are two "bicycle" kicks. The "new" one is what is described above. The other, the "old" bicycle kick, has always been common among new bubble blowers. The "old" version requires a diver to keep their fins still but pump like hell with their knees. They are trying to use the flutter kick with a fin that overpowers their calf muscles. Its a matter of the fins being the stronger force, and consequently is not very effective.
1. keep your knees straight
2. kick from your thighs/hips
practice this while lying on your tummy on a table or some such, with your legs dangling free. ideally,
you'd have a mirror to look at yourself and see what you are doing.
personally, i prefrer the frog kick for a power kick (works
great even while swimming on the surface) and the modified
flutter kick for delicate work, such as taking pictures or
swimming close to wrecks/reefs. anyways...
what you are doing is a bycicle kick, which is less efficient in the long run that other available kicks (i think) even when done properly. more on the subject from http://www.freediver.net/freedivelist/faqstuff/faq_finning.html
Straight Leg
The most common technique has been used since the mid-50s, the straight leg kick. It's very simple to use. Just keep your legs straight and kick from the hip. It uses the large muscles in your thigh and hip for power. With this kick, the more you bend your knees, the less power you develop. This kick developed when very stiff fins were the norm. They bent very little, and easily overpowered your calf muscles if your tried a flutter kick, although almost no one could really keep their legs straight. Variations on the straight leg kick are the most common technique seen today among divers. In the "good old days", standard training of a new diver included constant reminders to "keep your legs straight".
Fins have changed, and the kick was never very good for surface swims to begin with. Advances in materials and design both help to allow alternative kicking. And, as you push down on the fin while doing a surface swim, your butt comes up, and you make a lot of noise. It makes surface swims of any length suck!! Also, only a small percentage of the downward motion translates to forward propulsion for the diver.
The Bicycle Kick
The alternative is called the bicycle kick (see the end of this section for a description of the "old" bicycle kick). Start with a deep bend in your knee. Start the kick by straightening your knee until the blade bends. With the blade vertical in the water, push straight back. It is like riding a bicycle, where you start with a bent knee at the top of each cycle. The real power, when riding a bicycle, is applied when you are pushing down toward the ground as your hip and upper leg muscles come into play. It's the same with the bicycle kick. The real power is when you are pushing the water backwards to move forward. What you get is a much easier kick. You are using more hip and thigh, and less calf. Using these well developed muscles is, despite old wives tales, more efficient and effective than using smaller, less efficient ones, like the calf. The efficient use of big muscles uses less oxygen on a dive and allows you to spend more time in the water before tiring. The kick works particularly well on the surface. Your butt stays in the water, you more forward more easily, and you're quieter as you do it.
To get a feel for the bicycle kick, try lying on your back with your knees bent and your feet against the wall. Feel how much power you have when you push away from the wall. The rest of the technique is in getting your fins bent so you can use them to push against the water.
So, back on your back on the floor, knees bent, feet flat on the floor, wearing fins, and with the fin tips touching the wall (OK, hokey, but just try it). Straighten your knees and push toward the wall, keeping your ankles pointed toward the wall. If you left the tips of your fins touching the wall at the floor, the blade of your fin should be flattening vertically against the wall. This gets the blade bent so you can push against (when you are in the water). Now all you have to do is roll over, jump in the nearest body of (liquid) water and do the same thing : ))
Physics play a role in this kick. With the straight leg kick, you are pushing down and back. There is a large vertical vector (down push), and a smaller horizontal one (moving forward). If you can maximize energy transmission in the horizontal plane, you increase your efficiency, and you move ahead more easily. The problem of lifting your butt out of the water with a straight leg kick is a result of the large downward force vector. It takes energy to do the lifting. Keep your butt down, and use your energy to move ahead.
Historical note: The bicycle kick couldn't be done with the old rigid fins. They didn't bend enough to allow a diver to push forward. The more flexible fins made today have allowed the change. Long fins bend easily enough to allow the bicycle kick to be effective. One fin deliberately designed for the bicycle kick was the Scubapro Seawing. The little notches at the base of the blade allowed the blade to bend easily, but only to the vertical. It was then positioned for the backward push. the fin was sabotaged by the marketing "pros", who decided to sexier to talk about "lift" and airplane wings, which have no place underwater, and they allowed the Seawing to be buried, because they never let divers know how to use it (according to Dick Bonnin, the founder of Scubapro).
The "Old" Bicycle Kick
There are two "bicycle" kicks. The "new" one is what is described above. The other, the "old" bicycle kick, has always been common among new bubble blowers. The "old" version requires a diver to keep their fins still but pump like hell with their knees. They are trying to use the flutter kick with a fin that overpowers their calf muscles. Its a matter of the fins being the stronger force, and consequently is not very effective.
ShakaZulu
Contributor
Split fins??? They tend to reduce kick resistance, but you'll have less forward propulsion.
H2Andy
Contributor
lots of people use them and swear they give them more power. i've never used
them so can't comment.
them so can't comment.
scubarn0203:Ok,I seem to be having trouble(no, I am having a heck of a time) trying to keep my legs str8 when I'm kicking my feet....and yes I have the fins on.I keeping kicking like I am riding a bike,help would be greatly appreciated.
Learn to do the frog kick mentioned by H2Andy. With this kick you execute the kick and then glide motionlessly through the water for several feet. The reduction in muscle activity helps with your air consumption and if you are diving near the bottom it reduces the probability of stirring up silt.
Check the DIR section for a link to fifthD (or something like that) They had video of the various finning techniques including going backwards. Might have to do a google search.
OP
scubarn0203
Guest
mikkilj:
They are pointed
and thank everyone for the much needed and appreciated info!!P.S. So glad that I found this site,its value is immeasurable(is that even a word......if not, it is now
I used to do the same thing. I found that flexing my ankles while gently kicking helped me get used to kicking straight-legged. Something about getting used to the way the fins felt throughout the kick.
Good luck,
Grier
Good luck,
Grier
ShakaZulu:
H2Andy:
I've never used them either, but we were diving this past weekend, I with my Avanti Quattros, a friend with Jets, and another guy with splits. The guy with splits could run off and leave us at will. They sure looked faster from our perspective, which was from the rear...LOL
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