Foot exercises

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lord1234

Contributor
Messages
991
Reaction score
15
Location
St. Pete, FL
# of dives
500 - 999
So keeping my fins up is difficult if I'm not at least with my knees at a 90 degree angle, even then my fin tips sometimes end up nearly at the same height as my knees(pointed down). Can anyone suggest any foot/lower leg exercises to help force the tips of the fins up?
 
So keeping my fins up is difficult if I'm not at least with my knees at a 90 degree angle, even then my fin tips sometimes end up nearly at the same height as my knees(pointed down). Can anyone suggest any foot/lower leg exercises to help force the tips of the fins up?
Are you saying you can't point your toes....problems with plantar flexion ? I am having a hard time imagining this as a dive issue you could be having, but to PUSH your toes down more forcefully, exercises like calf raises and even bicycling where you purposely use your ankle in each rotation, would better develop your calf muscles....
 
If my legs angle is measured at the knee: lets say my legs are at a 90 degree angle(pointing straight up), I can point my fins up ~30-45*. If my legs are at a 135* angle(pointing back but an angle, I struggle to keep my fins horizontal with the floor. To do this I basically squeeze my toes against the top(bottom) of the fin pocket and can't maintain it for super long...
 
When you stretch your legs out you're moving your center of gravity and your feet are dipping probably. Play with your weighting.

Do you have weight on a belt?
 
Nope...4lbs in between the doubles...nothing below em
 
If my legs angle is measured at the knee: lets say my legs are at a 90 degree angle(pointing straight up), I can point my fins up ~30-45*. If my legs are at a 135* angle(pointing back but an angle, I struggle to keep my fins horizontal with the floor. To do this I basically squeeze my toes against the top(bottom) of the fin pocket and can't maintain it for super long...


I think I would have to see you in the water, or a video of you...whatever this postural issue is, assuming you are not in a high silt overhead environment, I think the first order of business is to be horizontal enough to be able to glide after kicking---as opposed to be swimming at a 45 degree angle like some beginners do, pushing a huge bow wave....

If you were freediving, you quickly feel a natural horizontal position, and gliding is easy enough to figure out how to achieve.....the addition of the double tanks has to be done in such a way that you get a similar body posture, even though you have the higher drag of the double tanks and wing. You still have to be able to glide.
The freediver is all about perfect body position, economy of motion, and total relaxation.....which is the direction I think you need to go in---it is a huge mistake for your body position to tire you out --- I see this sometimes in new tech divers trying for the GUE horizontal position--but they are doing so much wrong, and so un-connected to their streamlining( like the freediver), that they start cramping themselves up doing all the wrong things....
 
I think you're trying to hard to keep your legs at 90 degrees. You're tensing up too much and as such your feet look ridiculous. Relax and let your legs naturally sit where they want to sit. Your feet will follow and you'll look like a helicopter in no time.

You're body's probably unbalanced and you're not used to keeping neutrally bouyant to that degree. If you're unbalanced, fidgeting minutely, and trying to focus on keeping your legs in form, you get ugly feet such as you're describing. Forget about your legs and focus on bouyancy and kicks. You'll eventually click it all together.
 
who do you dive with.. there is a GUE crew in TX.. The reason i am asking is normally i find that its an ass over tea kettle thing... what i mean by that is that its you feel that when your in proper trim your going to go head first down and are uncounciously moving your legs out to balance (usually at 20-30+ degree angle where most people feel comfortable), larger tanks seem to magnify this as well (try AL80's or steel 85's until you get it figured out). It takes time and frankly feels weird at first but in time its really comfortable.

Don't arch your back, stick out your pelvis (this too me a long time to grok) and elevates the strain on your back while achieving the same thing or better.
Remember you should be flat from nose-nipples-knees..while pinning your head to the 1st stage :) Head up !!
Your legs will rest above naturally....
balance forward-back is from your knees extending them down raises your head, raising up them brings your head DOWN...

hope that helps...
 
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