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This article was originally published on DeeperBlue.net
A few years ago, a Mermaid told me the secret of diving
with a dolphin's tail.
"Move as if you want all the creatures in the sea to
fall in love with you," she sang in musical siren
tones.
With a flash of her tail, she headed for the abyss. Each
undulation flowed into the next; her back arched as ripples
of pure fun traveled through her body. Her long hair streaming
behind her, she wound her way around currents and fish and
me in widening arcs of golden skin and cerulean scales. And
before I could follow, she was gone.
As you begin your monofin adventure, don't think of it as
a new freediving skill to add to your repertoire. Think of
it as pure fun.
Two Legs Stuck Together and Nowhere to Go
Anything new requires you to move beyond your comfort zone.
At first, a monofin can feel clumsy and stupid. Stick with
it. The rewards are well worth the goofy-fin stage.
The goal is to learn how to coordinate your entire body
into a single swimming muscle. When you do, you will feel
like you can move around the water, not just through
it. Learning how to undulate properly is the secret and joy
of monofin freediving.
Body-Movin'
A good monofin stroke comes from core body flexibility,
strength and solid mechanics.
It is hard to undulate with a stiff back, tight hamstrings
and poor muscle conditioning.
When you undulate, you should feel your body ripple from
just under your clavicle, through your ribcage to your abdomen
and lower back, and then to the hips, where the motion is
magnified to deliver power to the fin. Your legs and fin
are like receptors of a wave, translating the body's core
signal into a propulsive force. If your upper body is stiff-where
the undulation is born-the power will be dampened or completely
disrupted.
There are many drills to learn the timing of the monofin
stroke but it is vital that you do your best to make your
body a conduit for the undulation by improving your overall
strength and flexibility. Exercises like Yoga and Pilates
that use slow dynamic stretches and body-weight exercises
are perfect for cross-training. An underwater video camera
is also a great tool for evaluating your own stroke. Use
one if you can.
The Dry-Land Exercise
Most people have trouble undulating properly. Instead, they
use their legs to push themselves forward, pushing down against
the water with their feet. A dolphin does not really use
its tail to swim. The tail anchors the power generated by
the dolphin's core muscles and translates it into speed.
Remember that the relative size of a dolphin's fin is quite
small compared to a monofin on a human.
Dolphins reach
incredible speeds with a powerful undulation and active
streamlining.
Since the mechanics of the undulation are so important,
I devised the following drill to help isolate each muscle
and body part involved in the motion.
"The Wall-Worm:"
1. Stand against a wall with your shoulder blades lightly
touching the wall, feet shoulder width apart, arms by your
sides.
2. Keeping your shoulders still and head looking straight
ahead, raise your shoulders and curve them forward very slightly
to initiate the stroke. This is a subtle movement. A rounding
of the back toward the head.
3. Keeping your head and neck straight and vertical, now
tilt and lift your chest towards the ceiling.
3. As your spine stretches forward and up, allow your hips
and pelvis slide forward-your knees should bend slightly.
4. Let your chest tilt downward and fall back toward the
neutral position.
5. Engage your stomach muscles to bring your chest down
slightly and bring your hips back.
6. Allow your legs to straighten, as your hips, spine and
chest all return to the starting position.
The amplitude of this undulation should be small - all within
three or four inches. Your shoulder blades should stay fairly
close to the wall. If they bang against it, you are bending
too much at the waist. Your shoulder blades and head should
be still.
This drill represents the basic form you should have when
ascending from a dive. A descent would use a slightly greater
amplitude with. Notice how your legs barely move and bend
slightly at the biggest part of the motion.
Once you feel a good undulation, link together each step
to make a fluid motion. Pretend it's a new dance craze and
invite all your friends over! Practice this often, at the
office, before bed, on the beach before you go in the water-focus
on the rippling sensation.
A Note on the Streamline Position : You may have seen other
freedivers with their arms over their heads on constant weight
dives. You may try this, of course. But please keep in mind
that often they are former swimmers or finswimmers and have
the shoulder flexibility to keep them there with little effort.
For most freedivers, the effort of holding your arms over
your head is not worth the gain in streamlining. Especially,
if your ascent speed is around 1.0 metres per second.
Your New Best Friend
Chose your monofin as you would choose a pair of running
shoes. The perfect monofin gives you a snug fit for power
transfer and just enough room for blood circulation. The
footpocket must be stiff enough to prevent the force of the
undulation from bending your foot instead of the fin.
A Fiberglas monofin is recommended for starting out. With
your hand you should be able to bend the fin's edge ninety
degrees toward the footpocket with ease. Stiffer fins-used
for finswimming sprints-require better conditioning, a higher
undulation frequency and not suitable for the slower pace
of freediving.
Spend time to put your fin on properly. Wear neoprene sock
to prevent chafing. Lubricant helps slide your foot deep
into the footpocket for optimal control.
Swimming Out to Sea
Imagine you are a shark. Turn on your side, extend your
lower arm above your head and let your surface arm trail
by your hip. Now you can cheat a little and let your lead
arm sweep from side to side to initiate the undulation. Let
your body follow through like a whip. Hold your snorkel in
your surface hand and breathe to the side in mid-stroke.
The side-stroke is a relaxing way to swim on the surface.
Long surface swims are a great way to build your monofinning
muscles.
In the Water at Last
The easiest and most natural undulation is ascending from
a dive. The body is balanced, the lungs are full and pull
you toward the surface. And it is always easier to concentrate
on a new skill when you are heading towards air.
Find shallow water no more than 20m deep and drop a depth
line down that is highly visible to you underwater. Putting
a marker at -10m and -15m is a good idea. With a buddy to
supervise and offer feedback, you can teach yourself a monofin
stroke that even mermaids will admire. The shallow depth
allows you to dive in a relaxed state of mind and concentrate
fully on each technique.
For each of the drills below, pull yourself down the line
to -10m or -15m below the surface-whatever is most comfortable-turn
around and undulate back to the surface with your arms by
your sides.
Repeat this simple drill several times, and then when it
feels good, try these ascent drill variations:
1. Keep the head still and look directly at the line. Your
line of sight should be perpendicular with the vertical line.
2. Concentrate on doing the Dry-Land drill on the ascent.
Focus on your chest, back and abdominals. Are they powering
the undulation? String together each step in a smooth motion.
3. Alternate between undulating with your core muscles and
moving only by kicking with your legs. Feel the difference.
Switch back and forth. This drill helps further isolate the
critical muscles for a smooth stroke.
4. Sprint on the ascent without using leg power. You should
feel your abdominal and back muscles work. Stop and correct
if you notice you are using your leg muscles.
5. Undulate with arms overhead. Not rigid like a competitive
swimmer, but relaxed. Keep your head still and feel your
body ripple like a sea snake. Notice how keeping a smooth
undulation is more challenging with your arms over your head.
Between each dive focus on how the undulation felt and try
to visualize how you can improve it on the next attempt.
Give each drill variation at least five repetitions before
moving on to the next. Over several months, these exercises
will improve your technique. When you feel it "click," focus
on the drill and try to recapture the sensation on every
subsequent drill.
The Descent
A graceful monofin stroke equals excellent technique. Unfortunately,
many novices start off by thrashing and flailing to get underwater.
Whales are the best example to follow: Watch a humpback ease
itself beneath the surface.
The descent can be broken into a few simple steps:
1. Take your last breath, pike the body from the waist,
raise the legs, allow your body weight to drive the fin below
the surface.
2. Make one or two sculls with the hands and equalize if
necessary between each scull.
3. Make your wake downward slowly using wide undulations
with a leg kick to conserve energy. Use your quads is necessary
for extra leverage to overcome high buoyancy (for all you
winter freedivers).
It's good to practice these steps on every dive. Ask your
buddy to watch from the surface and give you feedback. Your
descent should be relaxed.
Staying vertical on the descent is a challenge because the
buoyancy of the lungs destabilizes the body. Concentrate
on looking directly at the line. Looking down will throw
off the undulation, increase drag and make it more likely
that you will descend on an angle. Use your hands to adjust
your trim and if you get really messed up, grab the line
to correct your path. The more practice with descents, the
better.
Navigating the Bottom.
The monofin is a dangerous weapon when attached to a careless
diver. The blade can leave gashes in a reef, stir up silt,
and slice the skin of a fellow diver.
Use your hands to pull yourself along the bottom and scull
with your hands to keep a good metre or two between yourself
and your launch pad should you decide to return to the surface.
The Ascent
After doing so many ascent drills, this part should be automatic.
Remember that a good stroke works the core muscles. If you
ascend under leg power, it will seem as though you are flicking
at the water with little apparent effect in speed and momentum.
Or with a heavy leg kick on the ascent, your upper body with
lean forward and backward, creating lots of drag.
Troubleshooting Common Problems
"I undulate my body but I don't go anywhere."
Causes: Undulation stalls in upper body, poor follow-through
to hips, legs and fin.
Cure: Make huge amplitude undulations, over-exaggerate every
stroke. Imagine your body slipping over an imaginary hill.
Curve your back and hips over the hill and then arch your
body on the other side to drive power to your fin. You should
feel a rush of speed.
"My head moves around and my neck is sore after diving."
Causes: Stiff back, bending at the waist, head not in neutral
position, using legs to kick, poor undulation.
Cure: Proper stretching before diving, practice dry-land
drills and ascent drills, keep head in neutral position.
"My buddy says my stroke looks awkward."
Cause: Fatigue, lack of flexibility, timing is off.
Cure: Return to simple drills and dry-land exercise. Rest.
"I corkscrew and drift away from the line on the way
down."
Cause: Uneven leg and foot pressure. (Or one leg is longer
than the other!)
Cure: Try following drill: Pull down line with hand, keeping
the line almost against your mask. Make three undulations
and concentrate on maintaining even foot pressure. Correct
your position if necessary, pull on line again, try undulations
again. Repeat on ascent. Using your core muscles will minimize
this problem. Kicking will make it worse.
Mermaid Safety
Freediving with a monofin brings up some special safety
considerations. Adept monofinners find ascending from depth
to be much easier than with bi-fins. It is also much easier
to generate power to lift a person to the surface. But dexterity
and balance underwater and on the surface are a little more
challenging.
For these reasons, underwater rescues for blackouts and
other hazards should be practiced with a monofin. You should
familiar yourself with the modifications necessary to make
effective rescues.
The traditional underwater assist to bring a freediver in
trouble to the surface requires a tight undulation so that
you don't bump him with your body. Helping the victim on
the surface also requires practice. Whereas with bi-fins
you would sit straight up in the water and attend to the
diver, a monofin freediver has to lean back slightly and
let his upper body buoyancy keep him stable and above water
to assist the victim.
A trip of freedivers should be the minimum for any kind
of depth training. One diver, one spotter and a surface spotter
to assist if needed. A surface spotter in bi-fins is an added
safety precaution.
Final Remarks.
Developing a good monofin stroke does take time and patience.
Luckily for you, practice is fun and the benefits to your
fitness are considerable. Only monofin training can give
you a "twelve-pack."
And best of all, when diving with a monofin, you feel like
a mythical creature. You feel sleek like a seal, powerful
like an Orca, dangerous like a shark, playful like a dolphin,
and-if you're lucky-you might lure a human of your own to
the depths of the ocean.
Good luck!
Peter Scott
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