Teaching it Neutral Style... a paradigm shift in Scuba instruction

[Neilwood]

I think one problem is that often people, particularly if not trained to be neutrally buoyant in mid water from the start, have a tendency to lose their position in the water as soon as the task loading is increased.

Would love to see the dive profile of one diver I was with on a 10m dive (who has a fair bit more experience than me) - every time he checked the compass he yo-yo-ed by a distance between a foot and a couple of metres. Was frustrating as I was supposed to be a buddy but no way was I trying to follow his profile - I stayed pretty much in mid water but watched him to make sure there were no problems.

I am still making a concious effort to be neutral and well trimmed but finding it getting a lot easier every dive. While finning, I do occasionally check under me to make sure I am still properly trimmed and not kicking up silt. I am not quite at the point of hovering effortlessly and motionlessly 2 feet above the sea floor yet though.

 

[wetb4igetinthewater]

I was given a ZERO on one of my CW skills by the examiner during my IE... for frog kicking! "That's a highly technical skill which is inappropriate for an OW setting. What would happen if an OW student tried to kick like that?"

They would ... uh ... frog kick? Go forward? Kick up less silt? Damage coral less? (I got a good idea how slowly coral grows based on how it was growing on/around 2500 year old ancient Greek pottery that I found on the sea floor in the Greek islands last month).

At least that is what happened at CW6 where the students were let loose to swim around the pool and some of them saw myself and other DM's frog kicking. The way the CD taught the class, the students had pretty darn good buoyancy, best I've ever seen from OW students so far. We showed the students the mechanics for frog kicking and helped them with their form. I told them that they'll kill less coral this way and they were all over that. What could possibly be the problem?

I did have an MI at another shop express concern that if OW students saw me frog kicking that they'd want to do the same. This is along the theme of this thread, starting things out correctly, why not teach students a simple leg kick that will impact the bottom less?

 

[phoenix31tt]

Funny thing is, for my OW, i was thought neutral (i.e. proper waiting), but still kneeling so for me i never felt like i was actually kneeling as we were kind of floating. My instructor has a pet peeve for getting the weighting right and hates to overweight students. So i guess i learned somewhere in the middle... maybe that's why it was way easier for me to be able to perform the skills mid water not to long after the class...

regarding the kicking... i saw my instructor doing something similar to a frog kick as well sometime diving with after classes... thats one of the things that made me research different finning techniques... it's very short sighted to tell instructors don't do a perfectly good kick because "what would students do" lol... they prolly aren't going to die, go to another training institution or have no fun diving seeing another kick

 

[Neilwood]

With regards to the kicking, I ended up doing a mixture of kicks on my OW dives. I generally swim breaststroke on the surface so was finding doing the flutter kicks were pretty tiring. Once we got to the OW dives, I noticed my instructor doing a fair bit of frog kicking so thought "why shouldn't I?", did it and came out far less tired.

Never knew it was a highly technical kick until I came here!

 

[phoenix31tt]

Never knew it was a highly technical kick until I came here!

it's not... certain instructors would like you to believe it is though... but it's really just another kick that helps alot of other things...

now back kicking i would say is highly technical lol... that thing is a pain to get perfect... but i'm getting there

 

[The Chairman]

I never knew it was a technical kick either. I refer to it as an anti-silting kick, but not as a technical kick. Tech divers should be using it, just like rec divers. It's not that hard but you have to decide to adopt it. It's not just something you can turn on, but once you've dedicated to perfecting it, it will change your diving.

 

[RJP]

now back kicking i would say is highly technical lol... that thing is a pain to get perfect... but i'm getting there

I've taught it to OW students. Many will ask for it once they see me do it in the pool.

The key, I find, is to teach it on the surface first... with no fins. This is really the best/easiest way to help people understand the leg/foot mechanics. Once you have that down, it's easier to adapt the motion t to wearing fins... and eventually scuba gear.

 

[phoenix31tt]

I've taught it to OW students. Many will ask for it once they see me do it in the pool.

The key, I find, is to teach it on the surface first... with no fins. This is really the best/easiest way to help people understand the leg/foot mechanics. Once you have that down, it's easier to adapt the motion t to wearing fins... and eventually scuba gear.

yup ended up following that same advice given right here on the board... surface, no fins etc then proceed by adding fins etc...

i guess learning it on my own made it harder for me that the frog kicking which is more natural...