Swimming instead of Diving

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Location
San Antonio, TX
# of dives
0 - 24
I have this terrible habit while diving I swim (using arms) instead of diving. It is very frustrating to me and my dive buddy (my husband). Does anybody have any suggestions that I can try to help with this horrible habit. :(
 
Interlock your fingers.

Remember that scuba diving has much more in common with floating than with swimming.



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I have tried that, but inevitably there goes my arms in swim mode.....maybe I should try tweaking my bouyancy; when you mentioned floating that just clicked. thanks for your response. I know this is not a good excuse, I only have 17 dives to date.
 
Have you done a peak performance buoyancy class with good instructor?

When your weighting and trim is proper, you can (and will) just float at a constant depth, laying horizontal when you stop finning and keep your arms still. Then, all you need to move forward is a gentle kick, followed by a glide. Nothing frantic. Nothing hurried. Very relaxed and using very little air. Not to mention that it doesn't scare off the fish.

If you can't "just lie there" in midwater, you'll be kicking and clawing your entire dive.


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Try holding something in your hands..such as your console, that will keep your hands occupied. It will also take time...It is not uncommon with a new diver to use their hands..
 
holding a light and keeping the light beam synched with where you are looking will make you much more aware of your hand movements.
 
One of my student divers joked that she was going to sew velcro onto the tips of dive gloves and hug herself during the dive. The velcro would make it hard to pull her hands away once the gloves were stuck to the wetsuit. Of course she didn't do that, but once she started taking pictures all sorts of good things happened--she had a camera in her hands, so she couldn't wave her arms around, and since her hands were busy, she had to really learn to control her movements with her legs and fins rather than using her hands for position adjustments. I'm not suggesting you take up photo, but you could take a slate down and jot down reminders of stuff you see, draw sketches, write love notes to your hubby, etc. Anything to keep your hands busy so you are forced to use more efficient means of propulsion and movement than your arms.
 
I would consider looking at your weighting and distribution of that weight. If you stop moving and try and just hover, and find yourself rolling to one side you will instinctively use your hands to remain stable.

Get those two things sorted out and you may find you feel the need to use your hands a lot less. Then try focusing on other stuff or interlocking your fingers etc.

Good luck!
 
I second the comments already wrote. Use a light though you dive during the day. Add a camera to your rig. This would be a wonderfull thing for you since UW photo or video is a way to improve your diving experience.
 
Nothing new..just agreeing with everyone else. The constant hand movement thing is probably not swimming habit but compensating for you feeling off balance. Once your trim is correct, it will stop. Trim, by the way, takes a lot of patience to get. I had all my weight in my BCD and I had absolutely perfect trim. A guy from the club convinced me I should use a weight belt for safety purposes (don't want to be floating away if I ever have to take off my BC to untangle it). Now, I am bottom heavy, and I can't stay horizontal without finning. Going to have to strap a bit of weight to the top of my tank.

One thing about trim. You aren't adding or taking away weight when you adjust your trim. You are just moving the weights around. It is OK to have non-dumpable weights providing that the majority of your weight is dumpable.
 
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