My new mono

[oferdegi]

Just got my new Waterway 2 middle D monofin (my first one ever! :inlove ) and I feel like sharing a bit of my learning process. You are all welcome to respond, tip, sympathise, criticise or draw inspiration from my humble process of trial-and-error (hope I don't bore you to BO & subsequent death).
First session, three days ago, was like a novice rider being "treated" by a clever horse - the thing was pulling me around this way and that, and I slapped the pool's sides, bottom & lane floats endless times. I guess this particular animal likes the open expanses of the sea & hates the confines of the pool (at least here we share the same taste). Anyway, I had no muscle problems - I did quite a bit of dolphin-kick practice beforehand - but didn't feel I could generate that much power either - a bit of a disappoinment.
A strange thing I noticed was sort of a snap at a certain point of the stroke - first I thought that I was hitting the pool side again, but then I noticed it was at the point of up/down movement change - does anybody know whether this is common to monofins, or caused by poor technique or maybe a blade too stiff?
Today's session was a little better - I minded the upper torso & hands outstreched, and generated movement from upper abdominals - some short moments, I got to feel just a little of what is possible. I'm still not 100% with correct & even legwork - playing around with it, not sure whether it's best to try and keep knees together to generate movement along a single axis, or what? I do front, back, sides & underwater laps - at the moment, back is most difficult, UW easiest & most fun, & sides are very beneficial to balance, strength & flexibility, but not easy rythm wise - I tend to speed up & run out of breath. All in all, I came out of tonight's session tired, but full of adrenalin - will probably take until wee hours to work it off!

As I said - responses are most welcome - many thanks for your attention!
Ofer

 

[Yidaki]

hey buddy, congrats on your new mono.. All I can say is u r on the right way..Don't worry too much about your technique, it will be be ok by the time just more practice.,like u said, your second sesion was better and it's gonna be better with every new session.
For the stifness, I believe u r gonna use that puppy in the sea too, so, it is good..Snapping is normal, don't forget now u have much wider surface on your foot.....
cheers,
Burak

 

[oferdegi]

Session #3: Still find it hard to settle into a sustainable rythm on the surface, guess I'm stressed by all this 'newness' & thinking about technique & difficulties in steering, so I speed up. Also, sometimes I start out on the surface, but when it's time to breath I find I'm about 0.5 m deep, so that ruins my rythm too. In good moments, coming up for air every 4-5 strokes feels sort of 'marine mammal' in a fun way - surface, burst exhale-inhale, down and on. It's much easier to settle into a calm rythm down below: today I managed to reduce it to 13 strokes for 25 m dynamic lap - will probably be easy to relax more and do 10 (at least this part is becoming real fun! ).
The only challenge I've given up on (for now) is the front-mounted snorkel - can't do much with it - its angle seems all wrong for me, and I dip too deep anyway.
Fun training to all,
Ofer

 

[Kars]

Hehe Ofer!

Nice to hear your having fun discovering your new you!

Most people have trouble having their arm stretched forwards, OVER their head and having enough flexibility to make A stroke. the key is here to devellop flexibility in the lower-, middle- upperback as well as in the shoulders. A 70cm inflateble ball is a very nice and cheap tool to stretch these. Appart from that yoga is good. I like to swing my arms in synchone way. I suggest you try for the next time a warm up -can be on the shore-, than stretching and than the swimming, after the swimming a bit of cooling down, and than -most important- stretching again. There is very much to know about stretching, be sure to become knowledgeble about the do's and don'ts, whatever it is you you do, listen carfully to your body and do what it tells you to.

About the right movement, study the Peter Pedersen's 200m dynamic WR.
I've tried to learn the right stroke and finally learn it, and a few months ago I sort of managed to put it into words. It's very frustrating to see some newbe swim like he or she does it for years... Anyway here's a golden tip: When your standing straid, arms over head: rotate you hips forward, fluidly followed by moving you hips upward toward the upper body, effectively arching you back. Second golden tip, for puutting the arms in the right position and having ennough room (flexibility left) to have movement in upper body. Stand straid, put your arms over your head, place hans on top of each other, straiten your armes*, and now maintaning this tight triagle let the shoulders relax and sink in. There is a huge difference between stretching out your triagle as far as you can, or have the shoulders sink back into you body.
Golden tip 3*: you head should be looking downward, leaving space between chin and chest of the 4 fingers of your hand.

Swimming with smaller fins is great for building the right technique, posture and working on the flexibility.
Swimming slow and fast pace can be a very much helpfullway in discovering the right technique, as wel as determening the Ideal speed for your particular monofin.

Have fun exploring!

Love, Peace and Water!

Kars

ps: * (I'm hearby addressing errors exposed in 'The War on Error' )

 

[oferdegi]

Hi Kars, thanks for very valuable input! I've watched Peter P's WR video many, many times, as well as many other videos, and learn a lot from them. Best is to get a video of yourself moving, then learn from your own mistakes - I've done that too, but a long time ago - I should do it again with the mono, if I can get a friend with a camera to join me at the pool.
You know, I'm quite flexible, been doing tai chi for many years and still use it a a warmup. But I can't seem (yet) to put this into practice with loosening my upper body in the right way. maybe your 'sink shoulders' tip will help in that - I'm sure Im still missing some clues...I've noticed that the more I draw the movement from my upper body, and the less I think about legs/feet pushing, the better the movement comes out. Anyway, it is a lot of fun to explore!
Many, many thanks & great diving,
Ofer

 

[island_sands]

Thanks for all your input oferdegi. i felt like a prize idiot when i first got mine.. my behind seemed to be continuously out of the water and i was moving like a zigzag. thanks for those other links too on Peter P.

the trouble with training alone is that you can never get someone to look at your technique wish there were more girls here who enjoyed diving

 

[Kars]

For seeing one's own stroke, consider the UW lightes, have them on on one site of the pool, swim, on the lighted side, and see your shadow. Cressi Sphera mask has a nice bent allowing a great field of vision, and easy peaks sideways.

Thanks for your appreciation and tips, spent qiuet a few years swimming for part of them, and many are from some wonderfull generous people, like Natalia Avcheenco!

For the upperback flexibility, swinging arms synchroniously in several ways. One key one is this one: Stand straid, breath in, stretch arms horizontal forward, handpalms together. Than start swinging by bringing the arms down and completing the circle in this direction. When you get familiar with this move you can add a monofin hip and back movement into the mix. For variations, do this while breathed out, while half full, and full breath. A warning though, this stretch is while ding movement, please pay much attention to your bodies signals, and try not to overstress certain parts of the spine. Feel and Think critically!

I hope you find these ones usefull to
I completely agree with Island Sands, I whish to have more girls freediving to!
I think the macho-number-super athletes-mad-deathdefying- image is putting off a lot of people, not to forget the passed thrue and genetic fear of water and suffication. Perhaps a approach like this is better: Make fun, do goovy things, just have no obvious training plan which may look professional and too serious! Ladies, it's great to fly underwater in a silent harmonius way, free to go and do as you please! Awnser the questioning surpriced faces like: You want to try? Com'on in and try out my monofin! It's the oldest dance Human's have learned OK, the latter may be very well taken wrong, a brute way to select the humerous people

Love, Peace and Water!

Kars

 

[oferdegi]

Hi Kars!
I didn't quite get the exercise: do you hold hands together, or are they separate? In which direction do they turn? sorry for being such a dummy (a picture or two would have bee sooo helpful!). Maybe you can break the arm movement down into several steps, giving the arm position in each?

I agree very much about how good it is to maintain a playful attitude towards all this - but it is also very personal - some very serious, dedicated athletes do ground-breaking discoveries for all of us, and I'm very thankful & admiring for that as well. Me, I do try to stay with the childish curiosity playful part, and can't believe what a huge feeling of wellbeing & happiness I get out of it!

Have a great day & many thanks for your help,
Ofer

BTW, the stupid old pool I swim in has no UW lights, so I can't use your other idea - but I will get a friend with an UW camera to shoot some short clips of me soon (any digital stills camera can do short video clips, and you don't need a really expensive professional housing to get it in the pool).

 

[Kars]

I thought I was pretty clear, but here's another try:

One key one is this one:

Stand straid, food straid forward together.
Breath in.
Stretch arms horizontal forward, the direction you're looking to the horison.
Touch handpalms together, not grabbing.
Start swinging by letting your arms fall down towards your hips.
Continou the movement in the same line as the first quarter circle you've just done, bringing the arms bhind the hips up to the vertical above head and than continou to the horisontal position you stated with.

It is likely that people have trouble keeping the distance between hand about the same as the hands come behind the hips and continou upwards, and there is where the initial flexibility training begins. Just rotate you arms and over time you'll find your the circles your hands ar discibing trough the are going to be more fluid and paralel. Paralel as viewed from above your head downwards, God-view is the tem used in film industry.

On the attitude, technique for attracting girls to try the monofin and freediving:
I'm sure there are some girls who like to do serious training, a scientific systematic approach, and would react to such divers. But my observation lead me to think these are the minority. But read well, I'm not saying what to do or not to, it's just an idea, a suggestion for people who like to have more freediving buddies, just by changeing the image they display once in a while

Greetings!

Kars

 

[oferdegi]

Thankyou very much, Kars! :thankyou :thankyou :thankyou Now your explanation is so good that even a dummy like me can understand it! I've tried it a moment ago and it is quite hard on the back-top quarter - hope to improve with time. Do you do it slowly, like stretching, or natural speed, like loosening up? I really like to do a lot of free movement loosening up: turn hips & rotate hands around the body, exaggerated hand movement like walking, then turn it into full circles, opposite directions, etc.
I totally agree with you about the girls: none would go for the serious scientific approach, and the more girls in freediving the better for us all, for sure! So good luck and good fun!

Ofer

 

[Kars]

It's hard to discribe movements accurately, hell try it yourself!
Thanks for the Thank You
About the speed, well just let gravity direct you for a start, add a little more speed when you get to know the movement and gain warmer. Just pay attention to your body as you go, the body will tell you. That's what makes a great freediver, knowing, listening and obaying their body.

Offcause it's good to do the alternative directions as well, I forgot to emphesise these variants, but as you indicated it's a good idea.

I give you another one, because you're such a gradefull student. :inlove
Have yourselve in the familliar push up position (the one you see in every militairy movies). you can use now the weight of your body by letting your body sink in between the shoulder(blades). Try to keep the back spine strait. Roling your shoulders when in this sinken in position you'll encounter you limits in flexibilty of your shoulders. Just roll them gently arround, mildly stretching. As always go easy on stretching. Drink enouth water and do enough resting.

Keep us posted, it's a nice read your experiences and others may get inspired to grab that old monofin out of the closet. Maybe more wise people will join and find my ideas are not that good and have additional or better ways.
I'm happy to learn too you know. With 2,5 years of monofinning I'm just a few breaths ahead of the beginner!

Many discoveries to you!

Kars

 

[laminar]

hi there,

You can check out my earlier article on monofin freediving. Some tips in there might help. http://deeperblue.net/article.php/124/18

For surface swimming and activating all your muscles, I'd also recommend surface swimming on your side like a shark. It's easier to exaggerate the undulation, stretch your back, you can have you lower arm straight overhead and the surface arm by your side... It's also a great way to practise the differences between using legs vs. back/abdominal muscles. While breathing once and a while you can fine tune your technique without worrying about apnea.

Otherwise, another great way to learn is to start diving recreationally in the ocean with you monofin. No need to go deep. Manoeuvering and doing lots of shallower dives will help you fine tune your underwater dexterity and pressure.

Have fun!

Pete

 

[oferdegi]

Thanks a lot, Kars and Pete, for great inputs!

Kars, now that I understood it, I added your arm rotation drill into my warmup, and tried the 'push-up' one also (not easy muscle wise, I'll do more experimenting). I think I may put a series of warmup examples as jpegs, so we can see and discuss the real thing.

Pete, I'm really honoured: your monofin article is one of my main sources of inspiration - in fact, on my first time ever, i just read it, got into the pool with my bi-fins, and was utterly surprized that this undulation thing works (and doesn't feel even remotely like anything else I ever did in the water) - I'll never forget that moment!
As you said, now it's time to take this baby out to sea - I feel I need a much larger expanse even to do the sideways undulations as wide as I like, & stick to one drill for a much longer stretch to really get into a rythm - not to mention experimenting with the vertical dimension, totally lacking in the pool.
I'm so happy that I started this thread, it's turning into something really useful - not only for me, I hope!
Many thanks :thankyou& good, fun training/diving to you all,

Ofer

 

[oferdegi]

Sessions 4 & 5: short ones, just not enough time. Surface swimming slightly improving (manage to stay more or less at the surface. I don't even attempt to use the snorkel, I just lift myself with a breathstroke every 4-5 undulations to get some air.

I'm beginning to have these footpocket problems monofinners always complain about: my big toes get squished and gradually become painful, especially on the downstroke. This makes me too 'foot conscious' with negative effect on my performance. I must put something in there above/around/in front of my toes to relieve the pressure, or find a way to get in there with some sort of tool to sand/cut away a bit of the footpocket upper lining (a real access problem). Creative ideas would be most welcome!

Ofer

I've posted these links on another thread, but I guess here they would be more useful - both are major sources of monofin inspiration:
1. Peter Pedersen's 200 m world record:
http://www.spearfishing.com.au/cgi-bin/php-cgiwrap/adrenaline/gallery/view_album.php?set_albumName=album13&page=1
2.Completely different style, high quality video of Teppo from Finland doing 153 m PB:
http://www.freedivingfinland.net/nuke/modules.php?op=modload&name=Downloads&file=index&req=getit&lid=24
Many, many thanks to whoever posted these links first at DB (promise to look for the source & name names if possible, tomorrow).

 

[H.Balázs]

Look at this perfect monofin style (the best I have ever seen):

http://www.freediving.sk/video/cz_brno040626/juka_150.avi

Balázs

 

[oferdegi]

Look at this perfect monofin style (the best I have ever seen):

http://www.freediving.sk/video/cz_brno040626/juka_150.avi

Balázs

Thanks, Balázs!
Great style indeed. Wish the closeup swim-by part was longer*! Also, I wish I had a pool this deep! :inlove :inlove

BTW, I had to download codec to view this one, it's free from:
http://www.divx.com/

Enjoy!
Ofer

*I find myself re-running the first 10 seconds again and again - well worth it for style!

 

[Kars]

About the Perfect monofinstyle.

Indeed it's a need stroke, I would sign up for it
Did you notice the difference between the start and the return lane's technique?

For your toes, there can be bought 'toe-socks' for the toes, arround 8 euro's a pair. Old 3mm neoprene socks will also do wel, and you can cut them down to only cover your toes if you like. The quick fix is using some plastic of a plastic bag, the ones with the thicker plastic that is.

Good fun!

Kars

 

[Panos Lianos]

My opinion is that Peter Pedersen has by far the best monofin style from all these videos.

 

[oferdegi]

I agree, Panos. I really like what Eric F. said about this:

The crazy thing is that Peter looks like he's using no energy, doing very little, and yet his split times (and total swim time) show that he's actually going very fast.

The original thread in which this appears,
http://forums.deeperblue.net/forum12/thread37848.html?highlight=200m+dynamic
is also worth reading for some nice exchanges with Peter P. himself.
Ofer

Thanks, Kars - I'll try out your suggestions.

 

[oferdegi]

Starting on my 7th day away from the pool ... Throat's sore, I lost my voice almost completely - and this at a time when I'm going for interviews all over the place, looking for a new job! Just when I need some 'water time' to balance out all this madness, I'm high and dry - except for my runny nose!
:waterwork Ofer