Unassisted diving (dyn.)

[clogz]

I'm not sure if this has been already discussed, but I didn't found any thread about it. So..

Are there any special little (or huge) tips about diving without fins, rope etc., just mask on your face? Common tips I've heard are long slides, and mostly working with hands, just little kicks. But I've been wondering that there must be something else?

First I hit 25m dynamic without fins, then I changed my style to pushing water (by hands) under me instead pushing that to both sides of me, and hit 50m.

Or is it more about muscles, movement is a little bit harder than with fins?

I've seen video about -45m unassisted constant weight, but that seemed quite 'standard', so maybe few words would help more?

Thanks in advance,

Juha

 

[Tom Lightfoot]

I hold the Canadian record for dynamic without fins at 75m, which is a little more than half of Herbert Nitch's world record.

My own method is to use the underwater stroke one would use in racing breaststroke. The pull is full length and the kick is quite strong as well, with a long glide between each. I can get almost 5m per pull-glide-kick-glide cycle.

Eric Fattah told me that Herbert used a neck weight for his world record. It makes perfect sense to use a neck weight because it allows you to glide for longer without floating to the surface. The weight on the neck counters the buoyancy of the lungs and allows you to keep level at the end of the glide when control surfaces like hands and feet have little effect.

My own feelings are purely theoretical though because I've never spent much time using a neck weight. I tried it once and found it quite distracting because the body is constantly accelerating and decellerating against the weight. I'm quite sure though that if I'm to go further at this, I'll have to get used to the neck weight.

Tom

 

[clogz]

Thanks about these. Have you checked how fast you're diving without fins? Is it the same 1m/s or slower? What would be optimal?

 

[Tom Lightfoot]

I've done 75m in about 84 seconds, so I go a bit less than 1m/s. I think that the glide is very important for no-fins so I think that even slower would be better.

By comparison I've done 100m in 82 seconds with fins: significantly faster. I also remember being quite surprised at how fast Herbert's world record dynamic with fins time was. Unfortunately I don't remember the time, just my reaction. It would be interesting to see what time Herbert did for his no-fins record; that would set the benchmark for 'optimal'.

Tom

 

[clogz]

Times sound quite easy, I think my problem is a bit psychological. I'm not sure how it feels when pushing too much, and usually I have no watch when diving, so it's impossible to check up speed. But when checked, those kind of times can easily be achieved underwater. Just got to get further So I think I can hit 75m when learning better tech.

I remember I've heard Herbert's record dive time was around 2min with fins, but I'm not 100% sure. Anyway quite fast, maybe someone has excactly information to share.

 

[bruno]

This is a site on breaststroke. check out "push off" and "underwater pull-down" specific for uw swimming

http://members.tripod.com/~breastroker/newturn.htm

more general info

http://members.tripod.com/~breastroker/BRST6.htm

hope this helps
bruno

 

[clogz]

Thanks about these. I've also found lots of good breaststroke links and tech pages. It seems quite hard to learn technique where you can move fast enough with maximum slide.

But I keep on trying, hope it some day makes results

One friend of mine has made ~110m, and he said he needs 3-4 'series' kick-glide-pull... etc in 25m. 50m goes in ~45 sec.