Typical new guy questions

[Seawalker]

Hello. Been reading alot of these posts carefully the past few days. I just started snorkeling and have found the board very helpful, so thank you all for that. Today was my third dive and I saw some amazing things out there. The newb reef off Commercial Blvd. in Ft.Lauderdale, FL. It's only out 100ft or so, but it was my fist time out in OW and had to swim it with no fins =(

Which brings me to my question(s). Can someone describe some basic/intermediate fin technique I should be using. Whats the most effecient movements above and under water? It seems I have week ankles, any excersises I should be doing specifically for leg and foot musciles used for fin swimming?

 

[DivingCRNA]

Hello. Been reading alot of these posts carefully the past few days. I just started snorkeling and have found the board very helpful, so thank you all for that. Today was my third dive and I saw some amazing things out there. The newb reef off Commercial Blvd. in Ft.Lauderdale, FL. It's only out 100ft or so, but it was my fist time out in OW and had to swim it with no fins =(

Which brings me to my question(s). Can someone describe some basic/intermediate fin technique I should be using. Whats the most effecient movements above and under water? It seems I have week ankles, any excersises I should be doing specifically for leg and foot musciles used for fin swimming?

Why did you have to swim it with no fins?

 

[Daylonious]

Well.. technique CAN be related to equipment. For example, when snorkling you could use some "split" type fins (Like the TUSA splits or Apollo BioFin) that would serve you well. There's also a few long-bladed freedive type fins especially made for that kinda activity.

I'd say get a good pair of fins, and the rest should take care of itself snorkling wise.. (oh, and get a good snorkle that doesn't take a lot of effort to clear the water out of, you'll be thankfull for that as well)

D.

 

[Seawalker]

Why did you have to swim it with no fins?

I forgot my booties at home. :shakehead

 

[jbichsel]

Swimming in and of itself is great exercise. It will tighten, tone and shape muscles without adding a lot of bulk.

Standard flutter kick is probably the most commonly used kick. This is the stroke from the hip, keep the knees fairly rigid, typical kick you use in standard swimming. The difference comes when you add fins which create greater resistance so you can stroke more slowly. This gives you a greater ability to work on form. You also get a lot of power since you're using the largest muscle groups of your body, glutes and quads.

Modified flutter keeps the upper legs (thighs) stiff and moves the lowere legs in the same up-down motion. See this http://www.divetekadventures.com/Videos/VideoModflutter.htm

Frog kick - very useful in tight confines or when you don't want to stir up the bottom like a flutter kick will. See this http://www.divetekadventures.com/Videos/Videofrogkick1.htm

Frog Modified - again a variant. See this http://www.divetekadventures.com/Videos/VideoModfog.htm

You can also use a further modified frog kick while at the surface, keeping your legs straight and just using your ankles. This works quite well while snorkeling.

Backwards kick - takes some practice but good to have in your bag of kicks (pun). See this http://www.divetekadventures.com/Videos/Videobackkick1htm.htm

Not pushing DIR (although it does have some merits) but these are good videos to see examples of kicks.

Hope this helps.

 

[Seawalker]

Excellent! Thank you Jbichsel, that's exactly what I was looking for.

Those videos should be stickied atop this forum imo.

 

[Hammerhead]

Well, just discovered that if I type the last 6 letters of your user name I get ******. But somehow your name appears sans asterisks as it were above where your avatar would be.

I'm going to re-regester as S e a s h i t

Cool.