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New DNF Technique Video

Thread Status: Hello , There was no answer in this thread for more than 60 days.
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commonerg

Half Man, Half Chlorine
Jun 3, 2004
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A few weeks ago, freedivinmike asked me to make a technique video. Because of camera problems and a nice long spring break, Irian (Merlin) and I were finally able to record it this weekend.

My kicks weren't quite up to par :hmm but my pushes off the walls made up for it :p .

Use it for reference or critique, I am always open to constructive criticism. :girlie

DNF Technique Video
 
Looks good to me - it always amazes me when I see such long glides...a technique I need to master - my weighting is all wrong I think, I glide and float to the surface!!!

Donna
 
Thanks for the video Merlin. There should be more vids on this site. I just have to work out how to do it. How do you post the clip? Great technique mate very effortless. Do you find you keep it to 3-4 strokes though when you go for a big one? I find myself speeding up and doing more like 5 per 25m. How much weight do you use?
Cheers Nathan Watts :wave
 
Impressive! That will definitly help to improve my DNF-NT (Dynamic - no fins - no technique).
Can someone describe to a great detail the perfect leg stroke?
-When to start retracting legs, when to start kicking, how much the legs should be close/apart from each other at each phase, which parts of the legs gives you the propulsion etc...
 
watts said:
Do you find you keep it to 3-4 strokes though when you go for a big one? I find myself speeding up and doing more like 5 per 25m.

I know what you mean... It's tough when you get tired. I always concentrate very hard on my form for the last 50 meters or so. One trick I use is to count the seconds I spend in a glide. I say in my head "Pull...1...2...3...Kick...1...2...3..." Then I try to keep that rhythm throughout the dynamic. Try it out. It keeps my mind of the contractions.




DeepThought said:
Can someone describe to a great detail the perfect leg stroke? -When to start retracting legs, when to start kicking, how much the legs should be close/apart from each other at each phase, which parts of the legs gives you the propulsion etc...

It's so hard to describe this without actually demonstrating it. I'll try to describe the entire process.

-Start in streamline position after push-off or finishing previous cycle.
-Pull arms down to side starting with a wide sweeping motion of the whole arm and then snapping the hands and forearms to your side. Watch the video very carefully for this motion. It's like drawing question marks or a "S"s in the water with your hands.
-After a long glide, bring your knees out to 90 degrees from your hips with your knees bent and rotated slightly so that your feet are outside of your knees. At the same time bring your hands up to your chest.
-Snap the heels of your feet together as fast as possible as you lunge your hands and upper body forward. You should be in complete streamline position as you finish your kick.
Note: Think about the entire kick as drawing a large oval with the heels of your feet.
-Glide long and repeat.


Other Tips:

The No fin stroke is 75% arms and 25% legs. The kicks main purpose is to get your arms back in position for a pull. Save your leg power for the push off the wall. I can easily glide 1/3rd the length of the pool on a push-off.

Always keep your hands in a tight cup to push as much water as possible.

Really stretch out on the glides. Actively make yourself hydrodynamic by staying as long as possible. Don't cut your glides short. Get as much distance out of them as possible.

If your kick isn't getting you anywhere, practice with a kickboard. Think about snapping your heels together as quickly as possible.

The turn is also very important to set you up for a good push. I always bring one arm down to my side and use the other arm to turn on the wall (watch the video). I really get my knees bent and bounce off the wall like a spring releasing all its energy.

Try to keep your chin on your chest so that you are sort of looking behind you. This will get your body in good streamline position.

Use a neck-weight. I can't tell you how beneficial good balance is. You should not be floating up or sinking during your glides. I use a weight of around 2 -3 pounds. Mess around with different weights until you find what works best for you. The neckweight will cause your head to be deeper than your feet on most of your glides. As long as you are not sinking or floating up, this is nothing to worry about.

The key to good technique is muscle memory. When you are going for a new personal best, it's not going to be easy to think about every little aspect of your technique. You want it to be natural. I concentrate on my technique by counting my rhythm, not by focusing on every little thing I am doing. The rest just falls into place.

Good luck! :)
 
thanx i was looking for a video like this...

to bad its not under the water
and only 50m.

what is your record?
 
If only I had a underwater video cam. :mad:

I figured the 50m would be pleanty for the technique video. Get in a few strokes and a turn and keep the file size lower. I would be happy to do a longer one though.

My PB is 135 meters.
 
135 meters :king You da man. I managed 113 a couple of weeks ago .Do you find your dnf training is improving you dynamics with fins? Whats you pb with fins? Whats the national record over there?
Cheers Nathan
 
I don't work my finned dynamic very much. I just recently recieved a nice new waterway mono. I think 150 meters or more is well within reach, I just need to find a 50 meter pool that I can do some work in. I know of a local pool that converts to 50 meters in the summer. Perhaps I'll post some long dynamic videos when that opens up.
 
The USAA website says the DNF record is 81.9M by Glen Garrett. For some reason I feel like it has been broken since then.
 
Thanks :) I think that mark is well within my grasp. I just need to get myself to competition ;).
 
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Thx Greg, first the rubiks and now this :D You've got a great technique, what I need to do now is practice the leg kick which you very detailed described how to do, cause im doing a lousy scissor kick (bad habit which I need to get away from).
 
I know just the kick you are talking about. You start out by retracting the knees correctly but then your dominant leg tends to come above the other one and you finish the kick by moving your feet vertically past each other. Correct?

A little bit of kickboard work and you will have that smoothed out.
 
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Thats exactly what I do, but its kinda weird, cause when i jump, i jump with my left leg, but everything else (kicking) I do with my right. I guess this is what a kickboard looks like....so should I practice the "frogkick-thing" with it, I've heard that I should get rid of my current technique as soon as possible, and that it probably wont be easy:|
 

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Hi commonerg,
your technique looks indeed great... well done! :)
i was a competitiv swimmer for a few years and i think you could include a slight dolphin movement into the frog kick - so you can add a special kind of dolphin kick after the frog kick... no extra energie needed, but a little bit speed more and your level of freediving this makes maybe a difference!
(my english is not the best, but i hope you understand what i mean... :duh )
I will check it out how it works exactly, if you think i may help you...

And just one very, very small critic to make your technique quite perfect:
-stretch your feet during the gliding phase... :)

But anyway i am pretty sure, that you are anyway someone we could look up to... :)

greets
Mat
 
Thanks for the tips Matt. I have tried including a dolphin kick with my pull. I am still trying to decide if it is beneficial or detrimental. I was once even able to make it across the pool with 2 pulls and kicks using that method, but I found myself a bit more tired than with my normal method.

I noticed that Stig seems to have dealt the same conundrum. In one video, he incorporates the dolphin kick, and in the 166m video, he does not use it. I decided not to show the dolphin kick in the video because I was afraid it might throw off people who were trying to learn the basic technique. I would be happy to make another video demonstrating the dolphin kick though.

As for pointing my feet, I think you are correct. My feet are pointed well on the pushoffs, but I sort of get lazy as I am swimming. I find that the dolphin kick you mentioned before actually solves that problem for me most of the time.

Thanks for the comments, I will work on my feet, and perhaps one day, I can give Stig and Tom some competition. :cool:
 
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