Training Routine Questions

[Wreck(ed)Diver]

Hello all!

I am about to take my Into tech course and I want to come up with a training schedule to practice a variety of semi technical skills over the course of the summer (15 weeks). I live in New England and my main trining site will be a local pond that goes down to around 60ft and has a sunken rowboat at 30ft. There are other sites I can use if I need more depth or different conditions, this one is just a 1 min drive from my house.

Skills I want to improve:
- Buoyancy and trim (hover perfectly still)
- Fin kicks
- Deploying an emergency up line
- Mounting a 40cf stage/pony bottle and deploying it
- Drysuit Skills
- S-Drill
- Clipping and unclipping gear from a buttplate
- Navigation via compass
- gas switches (usiun only gasses with MODs within my max planned depth)
- Simulated deco stops
- Handeling a siltout

In addition to these, I will be adding on the Sidemount and Intro tech skills I will be learing in a few weeks.

Are there any essential skills I'm missing? Or are any of the listed skills not useful/beyon what I should be practicing?


If its not too much trouble, I would like criticism/advice on my formatting and plan for the first set of dives I plan to do since this is my first time trying to come up with somethign liek this. (these will be with a less experienced friend and focus on basic skills)

Some specific points I'm looking for are what should be included in a good dive plan? Do I have too mant goals or too few for the dives? Should I include info on the post dive breifing? etc.

Dive Training Plan:

Pre-dive 1: gear refresher and briefing on gear configuration.
Dive 1: Weighting and Trim
Goals:
- get gear dialed in
- get weighting correct
- practice adjusting weights until trim is good. (butt weights?)
Plan: Start from shore and swim out to 7-10ft water. Do weight check and descend. Practice hovering and assess trim. Adjust on bottom or on surface then repeat. Stay in shallows.


Pre-Dive 2: Teach Lizzy basics of fin kicks
Dive 2: Buoyancy and Trim
Goals:
- practice buoyancy skills while hovering
- begin practice with different kicks
Plan: Enter water and swim out till we can't touch. Descend and hover to practice buoyancy. Swim out in a straight line and descend to 25-30ft. return in a straight line.

Pre-Dive 3: Brief on navigation and dive plan
Dive 3: Practice Applied
Goals:
-Reach sunken rowboat
-Tie off flag
-Practice buoyancy
-Deploy DSMB while neutral
Plan: Swim out with flag and navigate to the sunken rowboat using good trim and buoyancy. Tie off the flag to the boat while staying neutral. Practice deploying DSMB while neutral.

Pre-Dive 4: Brief on plan
Dive 4: Last skill test
Goals:
-maintain neutral on reference line
-maintain good trim
-enjoy dive
-retrieve flag
-general navigation
Plan: Navigate back to boat underwater. Explore the surrounding area and descend deeper (40-50ft?) return and follow line up. Hover along the line and then descend back down. Untie flag and surface.


Thank you all! I appreciate any advice you can give me!

 

[VikingDives]

It isn't a bad plan, but I'd suggest that you should (if you aren't planning to) take ITT/tech sidemount before you start doing these things to avoid reinforcing bad habits.

Gas switches aren't included in intro classes (generally), and a lot is going to depend on your instructor's philosophy. I've worked with folks who I'd say are in the "just do it" camp of gas switches, and others who have a very detailed procedure. When I was teaching gas switches for AN/DP instructor, my "just do it" IT saw my procedure and said, "You must have a little gooey in you."

It is much harder to break bad habits than it is to learn good habits. I can usually get a brand new diver into a horizontal hover in their first pool session, but teaching certified seahorse divers to do the same thing takes on average twice as long.

 

[Wreck(ed)Diver]

It isn't a bad plan, but I'd suggest that you should (if you aren't planning to) take ITT/tech sidemount before you start doing these things to avoid reinforcing bad habits.

Gas switches aren't included in intro classes (generally), and a lot is going to depend on your instructor's philosophy. I've worked with folks who I'd say are in the "just do it" camp of gas switches, and others who have a very detailed procedure. When I was teaching gas switches for AN/DP instructor, my "just do it" IT saw my procedure and said, "You must have a little gooey in you."

It is much harder to break bad habits than it is to learn good habits. I can usually get a brand new diver into a horizontal hover in their first pool session, but teaching certified seahorse divers to do the same thing takes on average twice as long.

Yeah, thats a very good point. My intro tech instructor said the same about reinforcing bad habits "Practice doesnt make perfect, perfect practice makes perfect." What skills in particular do you think I should work on before the class (starts may 25th) vs after?

 

[VsubT]

Agree with @VikingDives, your plan risks building a bunch of bad habits. A couple of possible things to work on that are tough to get wrong are frog kicking and staying still.

For the frog kick, maybe focus on gliding to a stop after each kick. That will give you a good idea how efficient each one is.

Staying still is tougher than it sounds. Cross your wrists and ankles when you think you’re in trim and neutral. Hold the position and see what happens. This will give immediate feedback on both trim and buoyancy. Adjust accordingly.

Have fun with ITT. It’s a good course with the right instructor.

Lance

 

[VikingDives]

Yeah, thats a very good point. My intro tech instructor said the same about reinforcing bad habits "Practice doesnt make perfect, perfect practice makes perfect." What skills in particular do you think I should work on before the class (starts may 25th) vs after?

Get a camera, and hover in front of it. Swim past it while frog kicking. If you have a back kick, there's almost always room for improvement there.

Most divers want to swim this way -------> while looking:
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v

Work on looking ---> while swimming ----> (i.e. keep your chin up).

Hover about 6' off of a horizontal bottom (pools work really well for this). If your knees are bumping the bottom, you aren't horizontal. Adjust your weights and body position and try to bump your stomach first.

Now do it with your eyes closed.

If you've got a decent hover, take off your mask and replace it with your backup mask. Work on doing it while maintaining your hover. For fun, try to do it with your eyes closed in mid-water.

Ask your instructor what his/her pre-dive checks are like. If they are extensive (some of us use more than START or GUE-EDGE) start working on memorizing those now.

After the course, you should know what you need to work on, but the basics are probably the most important (Breathing, buoyancy, trim, valve drills, s-drills and propulsion).

 

[kensuf]

Yeah, thats a very good point. My intro tech instructor said the same about reinforcing bad habits "Practice doesnt make perfect, perfect practice makes perfect." What skills in particular do you think I should work on before the class (starts may 25th) vs after?

Skills you should master:

Listening to instructions from your instructor and making the changes he/she suggests without arguing.

Master that and you'll do well.

 

[happy-diver]

So you've got FIFTEEN WEEKS and a magnificent plan, to learn as much as you can and be prepared
and these instructor dudes, whose heads have obviously become bigger than the brain they contain
are suggesting you not take advantage of your time, sit on your hands in case you need some mods

 

[RIHappyDiver]

So you've got FIFTEEN WEEKS and a magnificent plan, to learn as much as you can and be prepared
and these instructor dudes, whose heads have obviously become bigger than the brain they contain
are suggesting you not take advantage of your time, sit on your hands in case you need some mods

No, he has 13 DAYS before his class begins, then 15 weeks to practice the things he has listed above, plus whatever he learns in the class. And, trust me, even with the additional days since he posted, our weather has not been so good for diving. Even in a drysuit.

 

[Wreck(ed)Diver]

Get a camera, and hover in front of it. Swim past it while frog kicking. If you have a back kick, there's almost always room for improvement there.

Most divers want to swim this way -------> while looking:
|
|
|
v

Work on looking ---> while swimming ----> (i.e. keep your chin up).

Hover about 6' off of a horizontal bottom (pools work really well for this). If your knees are bumping the bottom, you aren't horizontal. Adjust your weights and body position and try to bump your stomach first.

Now do it with your eyes closed.

If you've got a decent hover, take off your mask and replace it with your backup mask. Work on doing it while maintaining your hover. For fun, try to do it with your eyes closed in mid-water.

Ask your instructor what his/her pre-dive checks are like. If they are extensive (some of us use more than START or GUE-EDGE) start working on memorizing those now.

After the course, you should know what you need to work on, but the basics are probably the most important (Breathing, buoyancy, trim, valve drills, s-drills and propulsion).

This is perfect, thanks! I agree that it’s probably best to focus on this stuff. I’m just a bit nervous since my instructor is some of a personal hero and I worry my skills won’t be as good as they should be pre-class.

 

[happy-diver]

So you've got THIRTEEN DAYS and a magnificent plan, to learn as much as you can and be prepared
and these instructor dudes, whose heads have obviously become bigger than the brain they contain
are suggesting you not take advantage of your time, sit on your hands in case you need some mods

Learn Scuba Diving in a Weekend By Reg Vallintine | Used Book | 9780751302875 | Wob

Buy Learn Scuba Diving in a Weekend By Reg Vallintine. Available in used condition with free delivery in Australia. ISBN: 9780751302875. ISBN-10: 0751302872

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Negative weather predictor wishers excluded, THIRTEEN WEEKS to mess up all that amazing stuff you
didn't pick up in the be all class as most divers are crap until they have been set straight by you know