THE "PERFECT ( being horizontal ) TRIM" HOAX

[Rusty Shackleford]

Trim evolution.

View attachment 637226

Diver Three needs to mount that cylinder lower.

 

[dmaziuk]

Can you elaborate?
Just being curious here.

In breastroke and bat, in particular, you tend to lift your face up for inhale, like the "most evolved" diver in the picture. Less so in front crawl, but still: I was taught to look at about 45 degrees down, but apparently now some advocate looking straight down. See e.g. Preventing Neck Injuries By Using Correct Swimming Technique

 

[Ayisha]

In breastroke and bat, in particular, you tend to lift your face up for inhale, like the "most evolved" diver in the picture. Less so in front crawl, but still: I was taught to look at about 45 degrees down, but apparently now some advocate looking straight down. See e.g. Preventing Neck Injuries By Using Correct Swimming Technique

I don't know if it makes any difference to strain on the neck, but Bob Sherwood taught us to duck the chin forward and then put our head back (so we're looking straight ahead), instead of just putting the head straight back. He calls it articulating the neck.

That tip was in response to me saying it was straining my neck to look forward all the time. We all tried it and either we got used to it or it just wasn't an issue anymore.

I was surprised that the next time I went diving with my face forward, it just became an easy natural position. Ditto for all these years after.

 

[dmaziuk]

That was my point: a trained swimmer would come into OW class already aware of the neck strain and how deal with it. Neck stretching is about the first thing they teach you, for a casual (compared to the the amount of time a pro swimmer spends in the pool) diver, they may well be enough,

 

[CAPTAIN SINBAD]

If you are straining your neck then it means your back is not arched. Arching your back while standing on the ground is a very uncomfortable position because your gravity demands that the center of your gravity forms a straight line. Arch puts pressure on your back. In zero gravity environment, this posture is not at all difficult because all you have to do is relax your spine and let is collapse into a relaxed arch.The deeper the arch the more relaxed you feel and the less you have to pull your head back. Give it a shot ..

 

[scrane]

Everyone needs to be able to achieve horizontal trim. It can be useful in some situations.
Horizontal trim can be a means to an end, but is not an end in itself.

 

[Atlantic Explorer]

Try to imagine what it is like to open a 3-day old thread you have not seen before and find you are mostly responsible for the opening post.

In retrospect, my early training may have been extreme. I was taking my tech training from an instructor employed by the shop that employed me, and they were making their first foray into the tech world with that instructor, so I had no choice in instruction if I wanted to stay employed. The course was technically TDI, but the instructor told us from the start that he was going to ignore the TDI curriculum and follow GUE's instead. (I later found that TDI had no problem with that.) He had taken GUE Fundamentals and some other courses from Andrew Georgitis when he was Director of training for GUE, and he fairly worshipped the guy. By then Georgitsis had been fired by both GUE and then NAUI. When he then formed UTD, our instructor crossed over to UTD and the Georgitis version of DIR, and all the students had to cross over, too.

For my instructor, being in perfect trim was an article of faith that was drummed into us over and over and over and over and over. As one of the most advanced students in our group, I was once given the task of videotaping students working at a lower level course. I took that job very seriously, and I twisted, turned, swam upside down, and did everything I could to get the best possible camera angle on the students throughout the dive. I was pretty proud of what I had accomplished. That evening we reviewed the video together, and the instructor reserved his harshest criticism for me. He could not help but notice during the dive that I had frequently been out of trim. He was very disappointed in me. I could tell a number of stories like that, but I hope that will deliver a sense of that training.

After a while I became so disenchanted with UTD training that I decided that if I wanted to progress through Tech, I would do it on vacations in Florida through TDI. Since I had earlier on gotten TDI certifications from that instructor, I could jump right into the TDI program at that level. I knew that would end my employment with the shop, but it was worth it. While doing my deco dives in South Florida, I was surprised by the number of people I saw doing their deco stops in reasonably horizontal (but not close to perfect) trim. I saw how much easier it was for them to communicate with each other during the stops. Their ability to swivel their heads to keep visual contact was an enticing revelation, but I could not escape my earlier training to allow myself to do that. It seemed sinful. I continued as I had been trained before.

Years later I was diving in Cozumel, and I joined a trimix class as an add-on diver. That instructor was as much a fanatic for horizontal trim as my original DIR instructor, and he was PADI. His students had to be perfectly still and in perfect trim during deco stops or they absolutely heard about it afterward.

Now that I am a tech instructor, I make sure students CAN achieve and hold nice horizontal trim, but I am not anal about it, and I tell them why. During those last long deco stops, in fact, we move continually but gently with the goal of keeping the blood flowing to improve perfusion and off-gassing, something that would not have been allowed in my earlier training. (We had to be perfectly still.) Last year on one dive we started the ascent, going up along a cliff by which I had ascended and descended in horizontal trim countless times over the years, I did much of the ascent nearly vertical. As a result, I was thus able to get a really good look at that cliff for the first time ever. I saw interesting features I had never seen before and which I resolved to visit again.

All of this is because the harness shoulder straps weren’t loose enough, and the crotch strap wasn’t tight enough. When your equipment is set up properly, being in “perfect” trim is an effortless joy which there are many divers that can vouch for. Nothing wrong with being out of trim if the situation warrants it but being in trim generally makes diving easier (as long as equipment is properly set up for your body). I could state the countless reasons for being in trim and the benefits it provides but I’m sure they have been stated previously in this thread by now.
That said, you shouldn’t **** on the way other people are having fun, unless they’re causing a problem in some way.

 

[Blackcrusader]

Everyone needs to be able to achieve horizontal trim. It can be useful in some situations. Horizontal trim can be a means to an end, but is not an end in itself.

Sure I dive in horizontal trim when needing to swim against a current to get somewhere for path of least resistance. On the other hand if I am going with the current I will switch to a vertical position using my body as a sail and getting a nice free push, often in my sitting buddha position. If I am in a strong down current then I get to 45 degrees and swim away from the reef walls to the open ocean to break free. I like to have fun on my dives and not be bothered too much about what position others think I should be in when I am comfortable with whatever position I am in at the time.

 

[Ayisha]

These bloopers from GUE just came out and go well with this thread. If you watch them, you'll see part of a lesson on adjusting trim to match the environment, contrary to the impression that seems to be out there.

This is on the Global Underwater Explorers FB page. If I see it on their YouTube, I'll update it with a more accessible link.

Cave Diving Basics With Kirill Egerov:

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[Blackcrusader]

These bloopers from GUE just came out and go well with this thread. If you watch them, you'll see part of a lesson on adjusting trim to match the environment, contrary to the impression that seems to be out there.

This is on the Global Underwater Explorers FB page. If I see it on their YouTube, I'll update it with a more accessible link.

Log In or Sign Up to View

Let us know when you find it on you tube. I've enjoyed re-reading this thread. I've been too long out of the water.