Trouble with the back kick manoeuvre Help!

[SparticleBrane]

It's unfortunate that people have the urge to practice the skills that are to be taught in class before the actual class...

How long until we have a Intro to Fundies class?

Ben I have to disagree, at least for some people.
I don't see any problems with practicing skills for the class as long as you're doing them correctly. If you look like a monkey gettin' busy with a football, that's another matter.

For example -- we have several of people in the OW class I've been working with back kicking just fine. They've seen videos of it and attempt to emulate it in the pool. They watch me do it during class and do their best to copy. This is an open water class...not Fundies. If they can do it (even before going to open water), I'd say that people can do it before taking Fundies.

If you need to, find a mentor or buy the 5thd-x Intro to Tech DVD (preferably both). Great demonstrations on basic skills plus someone to critique you.

 

[jeckyll]

Sparticle:

Personally, the biggest "breakthrough" in my back kick was having someone physically take my fins and move my legs through the correct motion. That helped me know what it _should_ feel like.

I couldn't get that from a video. Or even watching someone in the water. Even after posting about it and getting good advice (keep your fin tips down etc etc).



Course, I might just be a slow learner. And it's still probably ugly to watch. But fundies did help me significantly with that kick.

YMMV.

Bjorn

 

[SparticleBrane]

For me, it was performing the kick without fins. After a little bit I could race across the pool backwards. Toss some fins on, work a little technique, and voila!

 

[Whale Whisperer]

It's unfortunate that people have the urge to practice the skills that are to be taught in class before the actual class...

How long until we have a Intro to Fundies class?

I'd like to be a bit prepared before i jump into fundies. This is a class that I want to pass with great enthusiam! I know I'm a lol. I just feel that if I don't get the basics down, I'll be ill prepared.

There is always knowlege and wisdom to gain and room to improve skills. That's the attitude I've learned through people I've met in the DIR world and this fourm.

So I hope there won't be any "unlearning" and then "relearning" when I go through class.

 

[TSandM]

I watched my husband learn the back kick in truly record time. He did it by starting in a pool without any gear -- just a bathing suit. He worked on back kicking on the surface until he could swim laps that way. Then he added fins (still no gear) and worked on getting the same sequence of motions. Only after that was solid did he add gear and being underwater. His back kick wasn't perfect, but it was effective after just a couple of days. It certainly took me MUCH longer to have an effective back kick, but I tried to learn it underwater from the get-go (and starting with the instruction in Fundies).

The "backwards shrimp kick" which goes upwards is almost always due to a combination of incorrect trim and having the fin tips aimed upwards. I consciously think about turning the fin soles toward one another and extending slowly out and DOWN, then turning the fin and "scooping" water outwards. That has worked pretty well for me. My back kick is one of the only things my instructor has ever complimented me on

 

[SparticleBrane]

Being able to see yourself in a mirror really helps for instantaneous feedback.

 

[Scubakevdm]

I don't know how near to me you are, but I'd be happy to help you with your reverse frog and F-prep to the extent that I am able. Are you pointed towards a tech pass, or a rec pass?

 

[Whale Whisperer]

I don't know how near to me you are, but I'd be happy to help you with your reverse frog and F-prep to the extent that I am able. Are you pointed towards a tech pass, or a rec pass?

That be great if I could have a mentor/dive buddy! I'm over in the Lantana area right next to the "Palm Beach County Park Airport", so let's link up sometime!

What's the biggest difference for tech pass or rec pass? I've taken "Tech" classes up to Trimix from TDI, and the instructor I had made me read and reviewed "Getting Clear on the Basics: The Fundamentals of Technical Diving" and that was a good while ago. He was Fundified and Cave I Certified so he taught me S-Drills and valve drills. I'd love to go Tech, but my pocket book limits my horizons for now.

TSandM, I'll definitly try your husband's method as well. Did he do it with mask, weights, and bathing suit? I'm not a strong free diver but I just managed to free dive 75' in the pool the other day. A very big accompishment on my part, and I think 50' is the minimum prerequsite to take fundies! By the way are you and PerroneFord from the same cube?

Hopefully I can get something lined up with Dean here in West Palm Beach. We'll see!

EDIT: TSandM, I can't even imagine performing a backward kick on the surface, but I'd like to give it a try next trip to the pool. I thought he practiced underwater at first.

 

[SparticleBrane]

I believe TSandM is from the transwarp hub...

All I did in the pool:
Mask or pair of goggles, bathing suit, booties (did it right after helping with an OW class). Hop in, kick backwards.
"Sweet that works."
Put on fins -- hop in, kick backwards.

Once you get the stroke correct you should be able to kick faster backwards without fins than you can with fins.

 

[Whale Whisperer]

I believe TSandM is from the transwarp hub...

All I did in the pool:
Mask or pair of goggles, bathing suit, booties (did it right after helping with an OW class). Hop in, kick backwards.
"Sweet that works."
Put on fins -- hop in, kick backwards.

Once you get the stroke correct you should be able to kick faster backwards without fins than you can with fins.

is this all done with a kick board?
I'll hit the pool tomorrow after my dive.