SparticleBrane
Contributor
The problem with swimming close to the bottom is that you have to do arm pulls way out to the side (not efficient) instead of doing an S-pull close to your body...if you're an inch or two off the bottom.
tips for swimming underwater
- Thread starter crab_girl
- Start date
Please register or login
Welcome to ScubaBoard, the world's largest scuba diving community. Registration is not required to read the forums, but we encourage you to join. Joining has its benefits and enables you to participate in the discussions.
Benefits of registering include
- Ability to post and comment on topics and discussions.
- A Free photo gallery to share your dive photos with the world.
- You can make this box go away
SparticleBrane:*sigh*
Once again...does anyone read prior posts before posting? Just as above...everything you mentioned was already addressed.
Shallow water blackout probably wouldn't be an issue for a 25 yard swim. HOWEVER, hyperventilating for something that doesn't need it just builds bad habits! You have to nip bad habits in the butt from the start, lest they become big problems later. Law of Primacy--if someone learns something and does something incorrectly first, it's quite difficult to break them of that habit later on down the road when it's an issue. Attention to detail is quite important--if you can't get the small stuff, you won't be able to get the big stuff later.
Who cares which agency or certification this is for? She asked a question, she had it answered.
Sigh all you want. I simply read all the posts in the thread, and offered up my own experience, since I swim this almost every single night. Yes everything I said had been covered, but I felt like adding my 2 cents. And I was curius as to what agency required this. Do you have a problem with that?
SparticleBrane...You have to nip bad habits in the butt [I:
You got this part right, but according to the "Law of Dave"
Practice does NOT make perfect Practice makes Permanent!
Learn it right the first time. See sig line.
Dave
SparticleBrane
Contributor
Not a problem. I work with 20-40 new students every semester so I see lots of underwater swims...you're not the first to be dense.limeyx:Sorry to be so dense here, but I am trying to work on this also.
So hyperventilation is bad, OK. So I should "relaxation breathe" first, and then just take in one huge breath before starting the swim?
For my swimtests (all of which I have somehow passed so far), a pushoff is not allowed. Doing this in a cenote where you can just about touch ground helps ensure that
Personally I prefer being dense, I wear less weight that way. I'll assume this is for your GUE courses?
Without the pushoff, you lose the momentum, but you gain a bit of realism. There are no sides in the ocean...
To do it without the pushoff, personally I'd drop down, do an arm pull to get a bit of momentum going, and do exactly what I said above.
As to exhalation drills--I'd do them first, even in the cenote. Helps get you nice and relaxed in the water...I'll be honest, I didn't believe in them when I took my basic scuba course. Then as I started volunteering, it was expected that all the volunteers would do the whenever we go in the water as a good example for new students. I did them out at the quarry in cool water while helping with new student checkouts, and only then did I realize how well they work. At first it's hard to breathe (especially if the water is chilly), but after a few forced breaths off your regs with your face in cool water, you feel completely relaxed and breathing is now totally natural...it probably means a lower SAC rate as well, although I haven't conclusively proved that.
This would also probably be a good thing to do before your Tech 1/2/3 courses since they apparently do lots of maskless ascents/mask-off drills...
Teamcasa, you're correct--practice makes permanent. That's why perfect practice is so important.
hlsooner--nope, no problems asking which agency. My point was that it doesn't matter. She wants to know how to do an underwater swim, now she knows. Hopefully she'll practice.
Hopefully you didn't take anything I said the wrong way....no harm intended.limeyx:Sorry to be so dense here, but I am trying to work on this also.
So hyperventilation is bad, OK. So I should "relaxation breathe" first, and then just take in one huge breath before starting the swim?
For my swimtests (all of which I have somehow passed so far), a pushoff is not allowed. Doing this in a cenote where you can just about touch ground helps ensure that
Yeah I'm not allowed to push off either. blah!
SparticleBrane
Contributor
In that case, ignore the parts about the pushoff, drop down and do an arm pull to get moving, and go from there. If you ever managed to watch the videos, do your best to look like the model.
If you ever managed to watch the videos, do your best to look like the model.ZenSquirrel
Guest
No worries SparticleBrane, at least one person has read your posts. SparticleBrane is correct in everything that he said.
Improved technique will make all the difference in the world. The very best swimmers in the world can turn about 3% of their effort into forward motion. That means that even if they could take a pill that made their muscles twice as big over night, they would only go 1.5% faster. To you that means that if you can make it 16.666 yards underwater, the pill would let you go 16.9 yards underwater. Not very effective.
The good news is that correct body position and streamlining (re-read SparticleBrane's post and pay attention to how he says to hold your hands, where to put your head, and when to kick and recover your arms) makes all the world of difference. The following numbers are from my own personal experience.
My wife is just learning how to swim laps in a pool. It takes her 2 minutes to swim 100 yards. She cannot make that distance without stopping and she is out of breath when she is done. She has to rest for 30-60 seconds before she can go again.
I can swim 100 yards every 1:12 seconds for at least 40-60 minutes straight. If I only have to go 100 yards I can do it in 54 seconds. If I'm going for 500 yards I can do each 100 in 1:08.
The point is, if we each went 100 yards, after 2 minutes I would have been sitting on the wall for 45 seconds resting when I was not even tired and she would be exhausted. This is almost entirely the result of proper technique. Technique allows exponential improvements in speed. With proper technique I do 1/10 the work and still go twice as fast.
The other good news is that because technique is exponential, a little technique goes a long, long way. So if you can get the most important basics of streamlining and body position down, then you should be able to make the 25 yard swim easily.
If you want to "just pass" the test and never look back, then you can probably practice these techniques on your own and get to a point where you can make 25 yards. I really don't know how long it would take for you to figure out the correct pieces by yourself.
If you want to laugh at this test and never, ever doubt that you can do it again at any time, then you should look into a Masters swim program. "Masters" does not mean "really, really good". Most Masters programs are composed of people that are interested in being fit and learning how to swim. The team I'm on has all skill levels. From my coach that can whip my butt (even though he is 56 and my 28) down to people that cannot swim 25 yards on the surface while breathing as much as they want.
1 hour with a good coach is better than watching a video and reading messages boards for 40 hours. You need a coach because they can watch you and tell you when you are doing it right and wrong. They can give you drills to help you develop your weak areas. Without a coach you will be left wondering if your hands are in the right spot, is your head too high, and if you are getting faster. Coach is instant feedback. You will learn the techniques and streamlining will become so second nature that you don't even think about it. At this point, you will probably wonder how it could ever be hard to go 25 yards underwater. I have seen people go from not being able to swim 25 yards to racing 1633 yards in one year time.
I suspect that if you swam for one hour three times a week for a month or two that you could pass this test. Your heart, waist, and air consumption will thank you for it to. I like swimming but I realize that I'm in the significant minority and it is not for everybody. If all this sounds crazy to you, then it probably is.
Improved technique will make all the difference in the world. The very best swimmers in the world can turn about 3% of their effort into forward motion. That means that even if they could take a pill that made their muscles twice as big over night, they would only go 1.5% faster. To you that means that if you can make it 16.666 yards underwater, the pill would let you go 16.9 yards underwater. Not very effective.
The good news is that correct body position and streamlining (re-read SparticleBrane's post and pay attention to how he says to hold your hands, where to put your head, and when to kick and recover your arms) makes all the world of difference. The following numbers are from my own personal experience.
My wife is just learning how to swim laps in a pool. It takes her 2 minutes to swim 100 yards. She cannot make that distance without stopping and she is out of breath when she is done. She has to rest for 30-60 seconds before she can go again.
I can swim 100 yards every 1:12 seconds for at least 40-60 minutes straight. If I only have to go 100 yards I can do it in 54 seconds. If I'm going for 500 yards I can do each 100 in 1:08.
The point is, if we each went 100 yards, after 2 minutes I would have been sitting on the wall for 45 seconds resting when I was not even tired and she would be exhausted. This is almost entirely the result of proper technique. Technique allows exponential improvements in speed. With proper technique I do 1/10 the work and still go twice as fast.
The other good news is that because technique is exponential, a little technique goes a long, long way. So if you can get the most important basics of streamlining and body position down, then you should be able to make the 25 yard swim easily.
If you want to "just pass" the test and never look back, then you can probably practice these techniques on your own and get to a point where you can make 25 yards. I really don't know how long it would take for you to figure out the correct pieces by yourself.
If you want to laugh at this test and never, ever doubt that you can do it again at any time, then you should look into a Masters swim program. "Masters" does not mean "really, really good". Most Masters programs are composed of people that are interested in being fit and learning how to swim. The team I'm on has all skill levels. From my coach that can whip my butt (even though he is 56 and my 28) down to people that cannot swim 25 yards on the surface while breathing as much as they want.
1 hour with a good coach is better than watching a video and reading messages boards for 40 hours. You need a coach because they can watch you and tell you when you are doing it right and wrong. They can give you drills to help you develop your weak areas. Without a coach you will be left wondering if your hands are in the right spot, is your head too high, and if you are getting faster. Coach is instant feedback. You will learn the techniques and streamlining will become so second nature that you don't even think about it. At this point, you will probably wonder how it could ever be hard to go 25 yards underwater. I have seen people go from not being able to swim 25 yards to racing 1633 yards in one year time.
I suspect that if you swam for one hour three times a week for a month or two that you could pass this test. Your heart, waist, and air consumption will thank you for it to. I like swimming but I realize that I'm in the significant minority and it is not for everybody. If all this sounds crazy to you, then it probably is.
SparticleBrane
Contributor
Yay!ZenSquirrel:
As an example of what ZenSquirrel is saying about small changes in technique--I found out yesterday one of the main problems with my head first surface dives. The end result is that I don't go perfectly straight down...the cause being that I'm too busy looking where I'm going. Just like swimming, holding your head up in front of you while doing a surface dive causes drag.
I hadn't even thought about this until I saw a friend do a beautiful head first surface dive. Instead of looking at the bottom, he was looking at the side where he just came from and had his hands pointed out. Kinda hard to visualize, so imagine the swimmer in the video during a gliding cycle, except going down instead of sideways.
I tried this and the difference in speed was ridiculous. I almost crashed into the bottom; I wasn't expecting to descend so quickly! Oh...and it was perfectly vertical instead of at a slight angle.
Now to go practice everything else so I can do a perfect no-breaths mfs ditch and don...
fisherdvm
Contributor
- Messages
- 3,577
- Reaction score
- 52
- # of dives
- 200 - 499
SparticleBrane:...did either of you two read my post? Everything you addressed was already talked about.
He, he, he... I try to avoid reading no one's post... You got a nice video though. Who read all the posts anyhow??
If you really want to improve your swimming efficiency, do yourself a favor and pick up a copy of the book "Total Immersion: The Revolutionary Way To Swim Better, Faster, and Easier" by Terry Laughlin. This book is filled with drills and techniques that will make you much more efficient in everything you do in the water.
Similar threads
