Backwards Finning

[MyronGanes]

It seems very inefficient to me, maybe I just need to practice more. As you can see in the video I don't move very much with each stroke. Tips?

 

[matt_w]

Really not too bad. You don't seem to be turning the fins much. You could probably be flatter on the way in and more turned on the way out. Even done perfectly you will not be particularly efficient.

 

[_Ralph]

You're moving!

Having said that, your fins, on your 'reset' are pushing you in the wrong direction. Keep your toes pointed up a bit more towards the surface, and reach back a little further.

Slow down just a little bit on the reset as well.


_R

 

[RandomGuy1]

Yep, Ralph has hit the nail on the head. Toes up will keep you from pulling yourself up when you back kick (something I struggle with) and slow down.

 

[Aquavelvet]

The back kick takes a lot of practice, and will come and go. I make a point of practicing it at least a little bit on every dive.

 

[diver0008]

I do it all from the ankle - thighs and calves hardly move.

 

[AJ]

First slow down, second slow down, and third....you get it. Relax, the only movement done faster is the back kick movement. The rest has to be done slow or else you will not move or even move forward. What helped me is to relax and just practice one kick at a time, no more. Feet back, load, back kick, feet in normal position, relax, then start a new cycle.

But it takes a lot of practice to get it right I must admit.

 

[Lorenzoid]

Looks pretty good. I'm envious, and I have been practicing this for two or three years. I mean, you DO make progress, albeit slow. Slow is usually good enough, as it's not like you'll actually have a need to swim backwards for any great distance or time. Swiveling the ankles more would help, which is something with which I have great difficulty. My ankles just don't want to flex. My wife, on the other hand, can just about swivel her ankle 90 degrees! How does your frog kick look? Both the frog and back kick involve the same ankle swivel, just in reverse order.

 

[tbone1004]

take your fins off. You have a very ineffective foot position where you are trying to move backwards with the side profile of your foot and you aren't going to get anywhere fast with that technique. Perfectly fine for trying to slowly back out of a really silty environment, but not effective if you need to actually make progress in a timely fashion.

By removing the fins, you force your feet to grab the water with the top of your feet as you want to engage as much of the top profile of your foot/fin as possible to make a powerful back kick. It should literally look like the inverse of a frog kick. Unfortunately this is a fairly unnatural foot position, but removing the fins will make it more efficient.

you can see big back kick followed by small back kick in this video. I showed this one in particular because many people incorrectly think that you have to be on scuba in order to practice this skill. It is on skin diving equipment, but see how much of the fin blade is being engaged? On your video you can still see the bottom of the fins when you are back kicking, that means you are trying to back kick with the side of the fin. AG seems to think this is appropriate, and it is in some circumstances because you create downward thrust as you rotate your fins which can be less than ideal in a real silty environment, but learning how much rotation to use of your foot to control a balance of speed/power going backwards and the downward thrust is something that comes with experience.

 

[guruboy]

Is it the camera or do you have a head down trim in the video?

If head down, you want to try and get more horizontal. If you are head down, some of the force is going up instead of back.