Bicycle Kick

[spectrum]

The bicycle kick can make you go like heck with the right fins. My wife, using Aeris Velocity fins (vented, not split) went like a bat out of hell on the surface when skin-diving. That works all fine and good with an infinite supply of air.

The inescapable problem with using the bicycle kick when scuba diving is that it takes you out of profile and creates a lot of resistance to forward movement. That means more work, more air and less dive. (BTW, her kick is progressing well.)

Developing a strong predictable flutter kick requires some practice. Most divers can only get so much bottom time and that can make it hard. Try skin-diving in open water or doing laps in the pool. It was during some pool time a few years ago that I was able to really solidify my flutter kick from a form, coordination and endurance standpoint. Now when diving it seems like a lot of my kicks are just gentle ankle actions. If I'm in current or need to pour on the steam I can go into a full leg flutter and do well.

All of that is evolving into a modified flutter, sort of a frog kick etc. It all depends on the situation. If you can control yourself in the water without disturbing the bottom and are not the one ripping through your air supply call it good, have fun and evolve as a diver.

Pete

 

[HenrikBP]

Wasabi; I can frog kick and modified frog kick just fine in my Atomic Splits. My back kick leaves a lot to be desired, but lack of practice is no doubt at least part of the problem. I've also frog kicked in Scubapro Splits, and it worked, but not as well as with the Atomics. So, as have been mentioned, it's possible, but the stiffer splits are easier to frog kick.

Henrik

 

[Mr.X]

The bicycle kick is a vital link to our primordial beginnings as hairy mammals trying to cross a river, or ocean. It's an instinctive form of swimming. "Let it grow, let it live."

Sorry. Just had to throw that in. I used to watch groups of kids 8 - 11 yrs. old swim in Force fins, dressed in wetsuits without weights. They had prior introductory lessons, were always positively buoyant... yet they inevitably reverted to that dog-ugly form of instinctive swimming. If anything, it was to keep their little heads far out of the water as possible.

X

 

[Wasabi1264]

Well, it's funny...trying out the frog kick movement out of water is WAAAY more natural than any flutter kick would be. I'm going to try this (even with my splits) in the pool on Sunday and see how I get on. I don't think it will be hard for me to develop this kick compared to a "good" flutter. Also, the vids were really helpful, as I noticed one thing is that divers bend their knees a lot...kind of like skydivers. Must be much easier to maintain being horizontal that way without the mass of outstretched legs. Again, this seems very comfortable.

 

[ClayJar]

And please tell me that frog kicking is possible with these dang splits! Seriously, I wish I would have thought of that sooner, but unfortunately, you MUST buy mask fins and snorkel before you even begin.

It may be a bit early for you to admit it (I tried to maintain the illusion as long as possible), but sometimes in diving you find that having more than one of something can be useful. :biggrin:

For most of my diving, I use Jets or Turtles, depending on footwear, but I have a pair of split fins that I can use when I'm planning a dive that fits their particular strengths. You can pick up a pair of Jets or the like on the cheap, and then you'll be able to use either set based on the planned dive.

A marathon swim all the way around one of my frequented quarries would have been far more well-served had I done it in splits, for example. If I were planning to swim against a strong current, I'd likely go with them as well, assuming maneuvering was less important to the plan than waterspeed. For most of my diving, however, the responsiveness of paddle fins is of primary significance (with speed being something that only comes up if I have to occasionally chase down a sprinter -- I can live with burning a bit of air for a moment or two).


Anyway, as to bicycle kicks, I dare say that the splits I've seen have been more effective at *forward* propulsion when faced with a bicycle kick than have the paddles. (I've no experience with force fins.) The splits "flop" about a bit when pushed tipward through the water, which gives them at least a little purchase. The paddles just slide back and forth through the water (would that be to "kick like an Egyptian"?). Obviously, that doesn't make the splits at all efficient when used with a bicycle kick, and they may even give enough forward propulsion to hide the need for improved finning form.

 

[TSandM]

Wasabi1264, the flat body/bent knee position you saw in the videos is an excellent one for negotiating areas which are close to the bottom and subject to easy disturbance. It puts your feet ABOVE your body, and further from the silt, and when combined with the kicks you saw, allows you to move easily above an easily disturbed bottom composition without leaving a trail behind you. But how much you bend the knees depends, in part, on your gear, because bending the knees brings the mass of your legs and feet closer to your body, and shortens the lever arm for pushing the rear half of you downward when you are wearing negative fins.

 

[Fish_Whisperer]

Thanks for the vids on the modified flutter, backwards kicks, and helicopter turns. Much appreciated!!

 

[Wasabi1264]

Wasabi1264, the flat body/bent knee position you saw in the videos is an excellent one for negotiating areas which are close to the bottom and subject to easy disturbance. It puts your feet ABOVE your body, and further from the silt, and when combined with the kicks you saw, allows you to move easily above an easily disturbed bottom composition without leaving a trail behind you. But how much you bend the knees depends, in part, on your gear, because bending the knees brings the mass of your legs and feet closer to your body, and shortens the lever arm for pushing the rear half of you downward when you are wearing negative fins.

Makes very much sense. And thanks for your dive journal...made it easier for me to feel okay about being a newb. BTW...My daughter is getting ready to ride competitively. I assume there will be at least a leased horse in our future. ;-)

 

[lmorin]

The bicycle kick is a wonderfully exciting, difficult and rare kick in soccer/football. When used properly, it is perfect for its particular function: scoring with the back toward the goal. Not relevant to diving? How about this:

 

[rawls]

Except a bicycle kick requires more range of motion than a traditional flutter or frog in almost all joints/muscles involved.

Not necessarily...Range of motion does not mean you cannot use a joint or muscle or how many joints and muscle groups are utilized. Range of motion measures the degree of distance one is able to accomplish between a flexed and extended position. You may have to use more joints and muscles but this does not mean you have the same range of motion for example, between two different kick methods. A person may have more range of motion doing a bicycle kick than they can doing a flutter kick. A diver may be using the hips in both a bicycle kick and a flutter kick but the motions are different and one motion may have more range than the other...