Need advice on fin types

[Hennie]

Fins for dynamic training

I think the best way to find out what works for you in the pool for dynamic swimming with fins(for those freedivers who are fortunate enough to have more than one pair of fins to play around with.) is to try the following.

Example: Fins Mares attack, distance 50m

Start by taking you heart rate before the immediately before the swim.Moderate speed, let's say it takes you 50 sec on 50m.

Count your fin strokes over the distance and at the end when you reach the other side take your heart rate.

Next pair of fins: Gara HF.

Heart rate must be the same than the first sprint, don't go until you can get the same reading as before.
Target time 50 sec over the distance, remember to count the strokes and your heart rate and the fininshing line.

After you have done this with all the fins available to you, you should get a basic idea what works for you.

I will look for my results file and post for everyone to see.

Fins used (Mares attack,Gara HF2000,Sporasub Cruise,C4 Falcon,Goldfin).

 

[thin_air]

hennie
your suggestion is a good one. if anyone has access to a polar heart rate monitor (almost all models are waterproof) that would probably be a good thing

and also do this on many consicutive days and in a different order of fins everytime.

i wish i had more then 1 pair of fins

 

[laminar]

Total Immersion and Dynamic Apnea

Thanks to cjborgert for posting about Terry Laughlin. Like many others, I've used his ideas about moving through the water to improve my swim strokes, and applied it to monofin freediving.

I recommend that everyone read up on the articles posted on his website. So many freedivers slow themselves down with bad body position and extra drag.

A good way to tell how your streamline is doing is to sprint as fast as you can over short distance (10-15m) with fin(s) and then try small changes in your body position. The most common error is head position. You should look at the bottom of the pool, not where you're going. The same holds true for constant ballast: look at the line, not at where you're going. If you watch videos of Nice and Sardinia, you'll see lots of freedivers looking down at their feet as they watch their expensive fins flexing. I call it the Frankenstein position. Poor head position throws everything else off, especially for the monofin stroke.

Since the monofin is my fin of choice, I've been training in the pool a lot recently. I've tried lots of drills without my fin, experimenting with technique. I've been doing dolphin kick lengths with no-fins.
It tough trying to find the best compromise between best streamline (head immobile between arms pressed together), relaxation, stroke technique to keep momentum, and speed.
With the monofin, it's a lot easier to cheat by kicking with your legs too much.

As far as the bi-fin vs. monofin debate, I think the best divers in the world are still not deep enough to make this kind of comparison. From my experience, monofin is easier. I would be afraid to depend on bi-fins below fifty metres (unless I could dolphin kick with them as Kirk Krack did to -71m with carbon bi-fins).

Great thread!

Pete

 

[cjborgert]

technique thread

I think the idea of getting everyone to experiment with kick technique and post the results is great. A small variation could make a huge difference.
[/B]

I posted a new thread on the Training Forum entitled "finning technique" with and eye toward continuing the discussion related to developing good technique.

As Pete L alluded to, the totalimmersion website has a discussion of training sets etc. We could do something similar here, with folks sharing their ideas for training sets and technique-building drills.

 

[subaquaticus]

I've made it to 100m three times in my life and that was with my Technisub Ala's, which are an all-rubber fin used primarily for underwater hockey.

I've also failed serious attempts to make 100m with Cressi 2000 HF (long blade plastic)

It does not surprise me in the least ! 2000 HF are well knowm to be the most stiff fins in the world ! they are especially adapted to deep diving because of their stiffness ; they are notoriously bad for surface swimming and painful for dynamic apnea...

Experiences like this really make me wonder if long blade fins are really all they're cracked up to be. However, it is also possible that my legs are 'tuned' to shorter rubber fins after 18 years of underwater hockey.

important is not only the LENGTH, but also the STIFFNESS...

in horizontal apnea, it is not ridiculous to use supple fins, even rubber fins...

it doesn't make such a difference ! of course, in deep diving, you would feel immediately the difference !

it is also true that your legs need some time to get "tuned" if you change fins... if you get stiffer fins, your muscles need to adapt, but also your technique has to be reassessed...

last year I took the instructor degree and trained in the pool with Cressi 2000 HF... it hurt my knees very much...

I keep my Cressi 2000 HF for deep diving, but I just bought Sporasub Variant Comp which are renowned for being more pleasant for horizontal swimming and apnea...