Back kick issue

[TSandM]

Oh, Dan has a good point -- if you drop your head, your feet WILL go up!

The back kick is the kick most dependent on posture, at least for me it is.

 

[phoenix31tt]

i know for sure my head is almost always down when i attempt the backkick, also attempting to "power" kick.. i know i do that as well.. so those are two things i will definitely be more conscious of during my next dive


thanks again all.. great advice

 

[BabyDuck]

have you tried it in just your bathing suit without fins at the surface? if you need a kickboard or something to not have your front sink, use one, but just try to move yourself backwards. maybe try some frog kicks slowly forwards, then try to do the same movement in reverse. that might help you get the movement sequence down. then when you're in your gear, keep your head up and drop your knees some. that helps prevent baby shrimp dance action.

 

[phoenix31tt]

Just wanted to say thanks for all the tips and feedback, i finally got some time (in a pool) to put them into practice today... doing it on the surface without gear was much easier than i thought and i've managed to get going underwater without my legs going up... based on a short video what i need most now is to keep my feet flat when going back.. but i believe with continued practice i'll get this down as well

 

[TSandM]

Glad we were able to help!

 

[jmasin]

Whenever I teach the back kick the most important thing I emphasize is slow and deliberate motions. Do not try to power through it or cover a lot of distance when just starting out. It takes time and patience. If you manage to get four good kicks in that's really doing something. If on the fifth you find the going up thing happening, stop. Come to a complete stop and don't try a sixth. Swim around and try to think about what changed. Something did. Often it's cockiness. It happens and you lose focus. I have been teaching it for going on five years now and am the first to admit that some dives mine goes to crap. It just won't work. And dammit it should!

Some wise words there!

I'm no expert, but as a photog I work on this constantly because it allows me to head-in to some areas to get a shot where I have no forward way out of the situation (I mean avoiding reef/critters, not safety issues).

If you think about your foot/fin's normal motion when trying to back kick, some upward force is inevitable (picture how the fin exerting pressure against the water and in what direction). So it's about balancing all the forces to achieve movement in the direction you wish to go. Normal swimming is the same thing... there's rearward force when you bring arms forward, but you achieve forward motion my minimizing this and maximizing rearward force.

If you're too vigorous, you apply too much force in directions you don't wish to go!

I'm like Jim, some days I think I can go backwards like a champion! LOL and others I feel like a fish out of water, and it's almost always a case of "I'm a bad-a-itis" LOL

 

[tracydr]

Two things I've seen contribute to this outcome are 1. trying to put too much power into the kick and 2. having your weight too high up on your body/rig

You should be able to execute an effective backkick in the pool with no fins/gear; good way to practice/perfect your technique. Once you've got yourself moving backwards well like that, try it in scuba.

Maybe be stating the obvious but if there is any sort of current at all, practice facing into it.

okay, so I can do it in the pool on snorkel with no fins but I'm having trouble doing it in full gear. How do I get to the next step? I'm using Hollis F2 fins.

 

[danvolker]

okay, so I can do it in the pool on snorkel with no fins but I'm having trouble doing it in full gear. How do I get to the next step? I'm using Hollis F2 fins.

You need a friend to video you doing it in the pool, then you need to watch yourself, and also watch someone like Errol doing it....gue-reversekick1 - YouTube just go back and forth between videos till you see what you are doing wrong...whether it is back posture, head and neck posture, the way your feet move...you need to see it...

Errol teaches this to people sometimes with the aid of an out of water version, where he has you lie on a picnic table, and with fins on, pretend to frog kick, then reverse kick---when your motions are way off with leg control, he can fix this easily here....but this won't help alot with the back or head posture.

 

[flots am]

Hi all,

When i attempt the backfin, it seems to work to some extent, as in, on the first one i stop moving forward, but the second and third only marginally propels me backward and i feel like my legs are going skyward then i stop for fear of doing a nose dive :depressed:.

It partially depends on your fins. If you dive in split fins, a back kick isn't very effective.

flots.

 

[phoenix31tt]

It partially depends on your fins. If you dive in split fins, a back kick isn't very effective.

flots.

diving "jets" flots... oms slipstreams to be exact...

i have a few dives tomorrow and saturday to try it out again after my pool session... i achievde backward propulsion now but still slightly tilting feet up... i have video and see that its my fin positioning now so i just need to make sure the fins a straight


Videos help ALOT!! it helped with my frog kick and now is helping with the backfin... sometimes how u feel in the water is certainly not how u look lol