Monofin diving technique

[MP4/4]

Hi!

I as many use kick&glide technique while diving in pool and lately i've been speaking with a friend finswimmer. he says that continuous kicking technique would be more efficient because you just keep you speed constant and it takes less energy than k&g because in k&g you've got to accelerate after a glide(you lose speed).

I know that continuous kicking arguments are applicable in swimming and finswimming where speed is important, but is it the same for apnea? Would you conserve oxygen using continuous kicking?
Kicks in continuous kicking are weaker and in aerobic zone.
in K&G I think that by having to accelerate after a glide you put in a stronger kick which is in anaerobic zone, and the other kick is bit weaker, yet bit stronger than those in continuous kicking. Glide is great for small relaxation as well as ATP reproduction(CP) and gives opportunity to rest muscle by taking away some of lactic acid.

I'd like any opinions on the subject...

 

[trux]

Personally, I think that even from purely physical / hydrodynamic point of view (aside from the positive effects of the relaxation between the kicks that you already mentioned), the K&G technique is in fact more energy efficient. With this technique, the amount of energy you have to put in, at each kick cycle, is the energy consumed by the passive drag. And because during steady kicking style the (active) drag is actually much higher, the continually swimming diver has to compensate it with more energy input. During K&G technique you spend bigger part of the time in a relatively good hydrodynamic position with much lower drag than an actively swimming diver. The drag at continuous swimming is bigger because of the much bigger profile you have during the kicking (pressure drag), because of much higher wave drag at the fin (turbulences during the kick), and also generally higher drag (pressure, friction, and wave) because of (usually) higher average speed.

On the other side, the lower speed means also longer dive time, which limits the advantage of the slower swim and lower drag.

 

[jome]

Back when I started, we figured that kick and the longest possible glide would be the ideal. We all did that for a couple of years and achieved decent results (at the time around 100m in dyn was a big deal). My world was revolutionized when attending a clinic by Peter Pedersen who at the time was the DYN wr holder and he told us the exact same argument about "continuous kicking".

Some of us adopted that style and made great progress, others didn't find it comfortable, and they too made progress. We all benchmarked ourselves against the still incredible sounding 200m in 2 minutes, which makes about 30s per 50m pool length. The key seemed to be that you needed to be able to swim much faster to have a relaxed dive at 30s/50m and the reason a lot did not adopt the style was simply that they hated swimming fast

Then we had divers like Ant Williams, Dave Mullins, Stig Severinsen and Alex Molchanov starting to do the kick and glide again, and I think even Peter changed his style more to this direction the last time I saw him dive. All achieving really great results, almost doubling the duration of the dive for similar distances.

So in conclusion, I think there is no conclusion. But what's important is that which ever style you choose you adapt your dive strategy to suit it. Although I cannot think of any diver going to significantly over 200m distances with the continuous style these days, but that doesn't mean there aren't any (anyone have better info?)

I'm not an expert on the kick and glide, but it seems that the now popular "dual kick & glide" as a compromise gives the benefit of both. Momentum is nicely maintained, but there is a clear rest & glide stage in between. The problem with "single powerful kick & glide to halt" is besides the acceleration, the fact that the kick becomes quite hard to control and stabilize and a lot of effort is wasted on just trying not to "slip".

Personally I still favor the continuous style simply because it supports cw diving better at least in my case. I haven't found kick & glide useful in the ascent but there are divers that do that as well. But I do think I could do better dynamics with k&g. Certainly I find k&G more enjoyable and relaxing.

Continuous (and usually a bit faster) style seems to suit people that are more, have to choose my words carefully, speed-oriented. Ie ex swimmers, finswimmers etc. Usually excellent in DYN but horrible in static. Can tolerate muscle fatigue and lactics, but hate holding breath so they just sort of crunch through it. Where as kick and glide seems to be the choice for apnea & relaxation oriented, good in static, not in a hurry, patient kind of divers.

But that's just rough stereotyping, there exceptions (for example: me)

 

[Fondueset]

It's a trade off, of course. You find the balance between speed/endurance. The ability to relax deeply during the glide phase is critical.

 

[H.Balázs]

Although I cannot think of any diver going to significantly over 200m distances with the continuous style these days, but that doesn't mean there aren't any (anyone have better info?)

Hi,

220m+ DYN with continuous kicking by Fred Seesa (if I remember well, Dave Mullins can do significantly over 200m with continuous kicking as well):

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gl4BATgh_-8]YouTube - Apnée, sessa frederic nouveau record de france, record du monde CMAS[/ame]

Regards,
Balázs

 

[MP4/4]

Hi,

220m+ DYN with continuous kicking by Fred Sessa (if I remember well, Dave Mullins can do significantly over 200m with continuous kicking as well):

Didn't Dave Mullins use kick&glide in his world records?(at least in 244m DYN i saw)

 

[Fondueset]

Yes. But he also swims other ways

 

[efattah]

Keep in mind that seals and dolphins ascend from deep dives using kick & glide. They use kick & glide in any situation of extreme efficiency. One difference is they do have much lower drag than we do. But still, it proves a point.

 

[Fondueset]

Elizabeth Kristoffersen's awesome kick and glide technique.

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uAngAACjWjc]YouTube - DYN kick and glide technique[/ame]

 

[azapa]

regarding K&G advantages, one obvious tip that was so obvious it took me a year to get: on the glide part the whole back half must be really relaxed (the front half: arms, will be working a little to maintain a good hydrodynamic shape). Prior to realizing this my back half would be tense, fighting for a good hydro position, but consuming 2x any o2 savings in the process.

 

[vali]

i don-t know what is the better technique in pool sweeming, but in descending and ascending i had better result when i let the flotability work for me
when i went at 20m i remember well that the last 5 m i let myself go down only because the inertia and negative flotability...this meant more air for me

 

[martin_gk]

Elizabeth Kristoffersen's awesome kick and glide technique.

Well, she is actually not too happy with it and preferes to do continuous kicks. I would be surprised if we see her do Kick'n'glide in competition.

 

[Fondueset]

What amazes me is that Elizabeth is able to swim with very little knee bend, yet she appears to be quite relaxed.

I also find it easier to kick more or less continuously - but I do not have her perfection of technique.