Hi Scuba_Noob,
So I’ve been thinking about this post for some time. First off I think that we need to address some fundamentals. First is Gear selection and the second is Trim. FYI this post is hyperlinked throughout.
1. So I read your profile and you indicate that you have a jacket style BC and split fins. BTW it’s good that you outlined your gear in your profile. This is not the ideal gear you want for advanced propulsion techniques. The jacket BC will tend to give you a head up & feet down trim position. You want to be horizontal in the water column, like the fish. A proper backplate with wing (BP/W) will fix this. See gear example here (
DGE). Though it will take time to get comfortable in.
And the split fins you have while excellent at what their designed for (essentially flutter kick) are not so good at what you’re trying to achieve here.
They need to be stiff, but not necessarily heavy. It works like a charm with OMS Slipstreams or the Dive Rite fins.
As Ron mentioned you may want to invest in a stiffer blade, non split-fin type. See here (
DGE). Many fin designs are poor if you wish to frog kick or use almost any of the adv. techniques preferred by experienced divers (e.g. Cave, photography).
2. Trim: Now with the correct gear what you should focus on is the fundamentals of proper trim. Once you have this down pat then everything else will be easier to achieve. What I’m also alluding to is that there are no short cuts.
[video=youtube;JlUjnXBzNlc]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JlUjnXBzNlc&feature=player_detailpage[/video]
It is vital to keep in trim. Head up, Back arched, Knees up, Feet flat. Poor trim will kill an effective back kick or drag you up or down rather than backwards. Too many people drop their head when concentrating which puts them out of trim. If you find it difficult to remember to do this; face a wall or a piece of wreck and keep it in view as you try to move backwards away from it. (
This tip from UK DIR guys)
I've been slightly confused about which way to have my feet on the propulsion part of the stroke, and reading this I'm still unclear. For example, TSandM mentions using the tops of your feet like a scoop. The way I visualize that, it would be the tops of my fins that would be pushing the water, i.e. the flat part of my fin would be perpendicular to the bottom of the sea. On the other hand g1138 says the trick is to use the sidewalls of the fins for propulsion, for that I visualize my fins being oriented with the blade surface parallel to the bottom of the sea. Am I misunderstanding? Or are there two different ways to do it?
Yeah, just keep the fin blades flat, parallel with the bottom.
My instructor suggested focusing on a point on the wall of the pool and using that as a depth reference. It helped a lot, though I'm still pretty rubbish at back kicks.
It is essential to keep your head up. And looking at something in front of you helps to keep it up. When you drop your head you will tend to back up towards the surface. BTW g1138 has an excellent post above(
#5), if you notice in his first video (12 sec into it) the GUE instructor (Clare Gledhill) tips her head up in a motion that the observer should note.
I know many tech. divers that cannot back kick or care to. Proper technique is everything. For future training you may be interested in seeking out some technical DIR guys like were depicted in the vids (GUE, UTD), since you’re getting into advance skill sets.
best, Michael T.