DIR- Generic Modified flutter kick technique

[siuja472]

Dear my fellow divers,
i am currently doing the GUE fundie, and i have been having trouble getting my head around the movement of modified flutter kick. I am struggling to get the fins to “flick” , does anyone have any tips on getting this finning technique ? My instructor told me i just need to flick my ankles but i end up just moving the fins up and down…much appreciated

 

[Lorenzoid]

I struggled with the so-called modified flutter kick as well. One instructor described it as you do: the movement is almost entirely in the ankles. When I repeated that to another instructor, they said, "no, it's just like the regular (GUE-style) flutter, only smaller." I eventually followed the second instructor's description, and I haven't had any negative feedback since.

I assumed you have watched the video on gue.tv. Emulate what they do.

 

[ChrisMBC]

My instructor described it to me as trying to shake water off your toes, and that works well for me. I think most of the power comes from moving your legs at the knees (hips stay locked), and your ankles stay reasonably loose, letting the fin tips move. It's definitely a weird motion though - it doesn't make intuitive sense to me, but at some point it clicked underwater and it's a very useful kick!

 

[Lorenzoid]

My instructor described it to me as trying to shake water off your toes, and that works well for me. I think most of the power comes from moving your legs at the knees (hips stay locked), and your ankles stay reasonably loose, letting the fin tips move. It's definitely a weird motion though - it doesn't make intuitive sense to me, but at some point it clicked underwater and it's a very useful kick!

But how is that different from the full flutter?

 

[ChrisMBC]

But how is that different from the full flutter?

I don't really know...I guess because it's very small, very fast movements compared to the full flutter?

 

[steinbil]

Dear my fellow divers,
i am currently doing the GUE fundie, and i have been having trouble getting my head around the movement of modified flutter kick. I am struggling to get the fins to “flick” , does anyone have any tips on getting this finning technique ? My instructor told me i just need to flick my ankles but i end up just moving the fins up and down…much appreciated

For my Fundamentals class I practiced flutter kicks on land lying on a mat, or my bed, as a variation on a Pilates exercise called "Single leg kick". I would flex the ankle while bending the knee and at the end of the kick flick the ankle to a pointed position to extend the leg back down towards the floor. I found this to be a good way to practice the coordination and the ankle flicking (although my instructor still thinks I can flick more when I do the mod flutter!). You can adjust the size of the movement by how far you extend the leg. Another bonus of doing this on the mat is that the thighs are locked, so you avoid any shuffling of the knees/thighs.

Here's the pilates exercise. Just flex the ankle before you lift the leg rather than after lifting:

PS.
I suspect that different instructors might have different ideas about the size of the mod flutter and frog. But in the real world, I would think it's more of a sliding scale where you adapt the size to the environment, rather than having a "fixed" size that is the canonical mod flutter.

 

[Imla]

A full flutter usually gets power from a locked knee and use of thigh/hip musculature.
In a modified flutter, the hip is locked and the motion works exclusively on the "sunrise" side of the leg. Typically from 10-2 on the clock. Ankle is usually kept relatively loose on the upstroke and a slight tension on the down stroke. Motion is mostly from the knee and the intention is to keep the slipstream from getting downward trajectory.

 

[steinbil]

A full flutter usually gets power from a locked knee and use of thigh/hip musculature.
In a modified flutter, the hip is locked and the motion works exclusively on the "sunrise" side of the leg. Typically from 10-2 on the clock. Ankle is usually kept relatively loose on the upstroke and a slight tension on the down stroke. Motion is mostly from the knee and the intention is to keep the slipstream from getting downward trajectory.

Hmm, there might be some confusion with the terminology here? As I understand it there are 3 types of SCUBA flutter kicks, but only 2 of them are taught by GUE. What you describe as a "full flutter kick", with locked knees, is not taught, as it propels water downward. However, what you describe as a "modified flutter" is the GUE "flutter kick", and there is GUE "modified flutter kick" which is similar to the GUE flutter but smaller. How small is up for debate...

So:
1 - locked knee flutter (Not DIR/GUE)
2 - flutter with stationary thighs/knees, but articulating knees/ankles
3 - smaller version of 2 (called modified flutter in GUE training materials)

 

[siuja472]

For my Fundamentals class I practiced flutter kicks on land lying on a mat, or my bed, as a variation on a Pilates exercise called "Single leg kick". I would flex the ankle while bending the knee and at the end of the kick flick the ankle to a pointed position to extend the leg back down towards the floor. I found this to be a good way to practice the coordination and the ankle flicking (although my instructor still thinks I can flick more when I do the mod flutter!). You can adjust the size of the movement by how far you extend the leg. Another bonus of doing this on the mat is that the thighs are locked, so you avoid any shuffling of the knees/thighs.

Here's the pilates exercise. Just flex the ankle before you lift the leg rather than after lifting:

PS.
I suspect that different instructors might have different ideas about the size of the mod flutter and frog. But in the real world, I would think it's more of a sliding scale where you adapt the size to the environment, rather than having a "fixed" size that is the canonical mod flutter.

so it isnt possible to flick using the ankles exclusively without involving the lower legs? (i.e. no knee extension at all) ,thank you for your tips, i am really hoping to nail this one down before my final evaluation...i am aiming for a tech pass and spent hours practices the other skills( basic 5, v drill etc.) and never thought the modified flutter would present such a challenge..

 

[Lorenzoid]

To add to the confusion, someone once pointed out that what GUE calls a "flutter kick" is more similar to what some cave divers (perhaps more in Mexico) call a "shuffle kick" than to the rest of the diving world's "flutter kick." GUE's flutter is a bit of an oddball.

The nice thing about GUE is that what is taught is the same everywhere in the world, so if @Imla describes a flutter kick then I believe that is the same flutter kick the OP is trying to learn.