Reverse Kick

[Scuba_Noob]

I've figured how to do a flutter kick (hooray for me). I've learned how to do a decent frog kick and helicopter turn.

But I can't seem to understand the Reverse Kick. Because I'm starting to take photos, it's starting to become necessary to learn.

I'm looking mainly at this video gue-reversekick1 - YouTube and other YouTube videos. It seems like you just turn each leg in an inward circle. I try it and I either stay in the same position or move forward. Maybe because it was current-y my last few dives that I tried it, and likely because I lack the practice/experience, but I would appreciate tips.

 

[ktomlinson]

I'd seen videos, but the first time it really clicked for me was when I hovered above my cavern instructor while he demonstrated.

 

[Crush]

Most divers fail the reverse kick at step #1 - they don't "load" the kick properly. To begin the kick (1) touch your heels together, (2) make sure that your feet are flat against one-another (sole to sole), and (3) extend your legs fully, and slowly. If you follow these three steps (the loading phase), you will do fairly well. Next, separate your soles from one-another (point your feet in opposite directions) and rapidly raise your knees towards your elbows - pretend that you are going into a wide-stance squat with your feet pointing away from each other. At this point you will have moved backward significantly. All that remains to be done is to not push yourself forward. Extend your legs, but slowly: point your toes straight back (so that your toes are facing opposite your head), touching your heels, pressing your soles together, and extend slowly.

In truth, this move is best practiced with a mentor. My two biggest issues, which I understand to be common faults, are failure to extend fully and failure to keep my heels together/soles together.

Divers attempting this move who get frustrated begin to extend their legs rapidly, pushing themselves forward with each kick and undoing backward progress.

 

[TSandM]

Scuba Noob, I think the fastest way to learn the back kick is the way my husband did it, which is in a pool. Get in the pool with a mask and snorkel and no other gear. Think about trying to "scoop" water forward with the tops of your feet. Play with the motion until you can reliably go backward, and then practice until you can swim laps that way. (Believe me, it will come quickly, if you think about the top of your foot as a scoop.)

Once you can swim laps this way, add fins, but stay on the surface with mask and snorkel. Once you can swim laps backwards with fins, you will be able to do it on scuba.

We have taught snorkeling students to do this in about five minutes.

It is MUCH harder to learn this by starting underwater.

 

[g1138]

The trick to remember is that you use the side walls of your fins for propulsion. This confuses some divers who try to pivot their feet to provide the largest surface area for propulsion.

You want to slice through the water slowly with your fins during the loading phase. Then perform a swift back kick, allowing only the sidewalls of your fins to provide you with propulsion. At the same time you're kinda perfoming a scooping motion with the bottom tips of your fins, but directing your scoop up-and-forwards towards your head. Keep in mind that it's a subtle scoop, your sidewalls are taking in the most water resistant and providing you with the majority of your propulsion.

If your fins are very floppy and flexible (like split fins or thin rubber paddles) then you won't be able to perform the back kick on par with those seen in the GUE videos.

Here's two video examples that I used to help me learn:
[video=youtube;GkaYY5TBBJc]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GkaYY5TBBJc[/video]

[video=youtube;LgEkBn35TAE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LgEkBn35TAE&feature=related[/video]

 

[mathauck0814]

What kind of fins is the OP using? So far as I can tell, the reverse kick all but requires stiff, heavy fins.

 

[Searcaigh]

What kind of fins is the OP using? So far as I can tell, the reverse kick all but requires stiff, heavy fins.

Works well with Mares fins.

Strange, I was never taught this maneuver however I learned to do this on my own purely because of my photography.

 

[melanie.]

Great topic! I am struggling with the exact same thing

 

[rongoodman]

What kind of fins is the OP using? So far as I can tell, the reverse kick all but requires stiff, heavy fins.

They need to be stiff, but not necessarily heavy. It works like a charm with OMS Slipstreams or the Dive Rite fins.

 

[Blue Sparkle]

I've been slightly confused about which way to have my feet on the propulsion part of the stroke, and reading this I'm still unclear. For example, TSandM mentions using the tops of your feet like a scoop. The way I visualize that, it would be the tops of my fins that would be pushing the water, i.e. the flat part of my fin would be perpendicular to the bottom of the sea. On the other hand g1138 says the trick is to use the sidewalls of the fins for propulsion, for that I visualize my fins being oriented with the blade surface parallel to the bottom of the sea.

Am I misunderstanding? Or are there two different ways to do it?

BTW, I have no problem back propelling myself in a pool on the surface (I tried it while swimming), but when I do it diving I tend to start rising, feet first. This may or may not have anything to do with understanding the answer to my question above, but either way, I'm the sort of person who needs to have a mental understanding of what I'm trying to do before I can do it.

Blue Sparkle