Trim/Body position Practice Techniques

[MXGratefulDiver]

Do you guys have days like these? Where nothing seems to work....You just can't get your weighting right......Your fins are possessed......You feel like it was your first day with scuba gear on. Man, I hope tomorrow is a better day or I just might dig a hole and bury all my gear, six foot under. Maybe I should just go back to the flutter kick and standard rec hoses.

Yes ... lots of people have days like that. It usually comes about as a result of either ...

a) trying to "practice" for an upcoming Fundamentals class ... or ...
b) having just recently received a "Provisional" in one

Just keep practicing ... this, too, shall pass ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[TSandM]

Oh, man, THOSE days.

There's a lot of truth in what Snowbear says. Go diving and don't think about it. Suddenly you will find your helicopter turn is there -- as long as you don't THINK about it.

And as long as nobody is aiming a video camera at you and recording it.

And as long as nobody is going to give you a muscle twitch by muscle twitch debrief and critique of it.

And you do some fun dives and you surreptitiously practice your kicks and you go out to lunch with somebody and they say, "Wow, you look just like those divers on the 5th D videos." And you do the Doggy Daddy dog bone air dance because you are just so totally psyched about hearing that . . . And your husband sits at the table in the restaurant with his head in his hands, because you're sick

 

[onfloat]

One day my wife came home to find me on the back of the couch practicing my back kick while watching tv shortly after my fundamentals class. You should have seen her face. I still will lay on the floor and practice every so often when I'm bored and have been out of the water for a week.

 

[StSomewhere]

Thanks to everyone that has replied to this post. You guys are a wealth of information! Wish I was a little closer to a DIR-F instructor. You know a picture is worth 1,000 words. Well I think having an instructor like Joe critique and correct in an instructional setting is worth 1,000 hours of trying to figure it out on your own. Maybe I will have to make a trip to California this summer.

I'll say this much, I flew to California for an Essentials class with Joe and I have never regretted it for a second. The video is very good, but there is something about an instructor who can see what you are doing wrong and fix those issues. It really helps to fix the problems vs. fixing what you think might be wrong, but isn't. (Anyone who's taken golf lessons vs. reading those "tips" in the back of golf magazine has the same problem.) As you can see, perception of what is good trim isn't always good trim. Same thing with "knees up".

 

[dirthead]

I'll say this much, I flew to California for an Essentials class with Joe and I have never regretted it for a second. The video is very good, but there is something about an instructor who can see what you are doing wrong and fix those issues. It really helps to fix the problems vs. fixing what you think might be wrong, but isn't. (Anyone who's taken golf lessons vs. reading those "tips" in the back of golf magazine has the same problem.) As you can see, perception of what is good trim isn't always good trim. Same thing with "knees up".

I know what you mean. I played golf in college and know exactly what you mean about how your swing almost never looks like your vision of it. The video camera and/or a good instructor are worth everything. Trim, buoyancy, and finning techniques should be a part of basic open water instruction with all agencies just like OOA drills, learning how to use the NDL tables, etc. I feel like I'm learning to walk again, and at 38 years old, it seems a little harder than when I was 2. I guess it is just frustrating because I have always been very athletic, coordinated, and pick up on things very quickly. I was expecting to pick up the trim and finning techniques quickly as well. I might just get in the water one day and everything will click, but that sure didn't happen Saturday. The only thing clicking was the rocks in my head trying to figure out what was going wrong.

I talked to Joe at 5thd-x about some classes this summer. If the finances are in order, I might take a trip to see him. It will probably be the best $$ I ever spend on diving.

 

[SparticleBrane]

I'm going to make everyone envious and link you to where I'm currently taking my rescue course (NCSU). Specifically, note the use of mirrors...


http://152.1.201.180/video_pe_227_013/04/

Click on "hfsd.wmv"--(head first surface dive). It looks like crap but that's me doing a head first surface dive...I was having "one of those days" as I believe someone mentioned previously in the thread. In the first few seconds you should be able to see some of the mirrors on side. There are two groups of mirrors with about a 5ish-ft. separation between the two in the middle of the pool. Other than that they span the entire length of that wall. The mirrors are incredibly helpful whenever we're on scuba. As a side note--the video that we take is also quite helpful. Although, I will completely agree that you can do perfectly until the camera rolls and then everything goes to crap!


To see other divers in our class doing things--
http://courses.ncsu.edu/pe227/lec/013/class_videos.html

For more info on the class itself--
http://courses.ncsu.edu/pe227/lec/013

If any of you want to brush up on your basic skin diving/scuba skills, here you go! These are quite helpful and highly recommended.
http://courses.ncsu.edu/pe227/lec/013/videos.html



Note: I'm not sure of the legality of linking you guys to all this stuff, but it's on the internet so that might make it public domain? Either way I hope I don't get in trouble...


This is mainly a rescue course, but I believe that if we complete it correclty we also get our advanced cert, plus DAN advanced O2 provider, CPR, etc as well. I'm not 100% entirely sure which agencies we get the certs from but they're either from NAUI or IANTD. I believe what we do at NCSU satisfies the requirements for both. I do know, however, that it is NOT PADI.

btw--if you want to look at any of my other videos, hit me as hard as you can with the critiques. Remember, though, that I'm a new diver with only 12 open water dives under my belt (6 of which were for certification).

 

[MonkSeal]

I'm going to make everyone envious and link you to where I'm currently taking my rescue course (NCSU)
...
This is mainly a rescue course, but I believe that if we complete it correclty we also get our advanced cert, plus DAN advanced O2 provider, CPR, etc as well. I'm not 100% entirely sure which agencies we get the certs from but they're either from NAUI or IANTD. I believe what we do at NCSU satisfies the requirements for both. I do know, however, that it is NOT PADI.

I really see no connection between this post (and videos referred) and DIR and subject.

 

[DIR-Atlanta]

I really see no connection between this post (and videos referred) and DIR and subject.

I think he was referring to how valuable it is to have mirrors in the pool and videos to look at afterwards and critique. As StSomewhere pointed out, a person's perceptions of what they are doing is usually not that accurate, so having that "third eye" is a big help.

 

[MonkSeal]

I think he was referring to how valuable it is to have mirrors in the pool and videos to look at afterwards and critique. As StSomewhere pointed out, a person's perceptions of what they are doing is usually that not accurate, so having that "third eye" is a big help.

I've obviously missed his point.

 

[SparticleBrane]

I think he was referring to how valuable it is to have mirrors in the pool and videos to look at afterwards and critique. As StSomewhere pointed out, a person's perceptions of what they are doing is usually not that accurate, so having that "third eye" is a big help.

That is correct--everyone was talking about how great mirrors in pools and videos would be so I just threw this information out there, saying that YES they are a huge help. Towards the end I just tossed out some random information that no one really cares about.

Edit: I specifically linked to the videos so that you could see the mirrors in the pool. I believe that saying "Hey we have mirrors in the pool where I practice" is quite different from saying "We have mirrors in my pool and this is what they look like!" with a link to a picture or video. Specificially it might help someone with an idea of what size mirrors really help (and possibly putting mirrors in their own pool!)
In a previously linked picture on the BAUE website the mirror hanging down is, in my humble opinion, way too small to really be of any help. With large mirrors that span almost the entire length of the pool you can see yourself from almost all angles, which is quite helpful.

Edit 2: I'll remove the rest of the useless stuff on the end of my post if it makes everyone else happy. ...well I will if I can figure out how to edit old posts.