I appreciate the response.

I’m curious to see the videos (when you get time to put them together) that show the technique Yasemin’s technique

I heard recently that the big day is now May 2. Good luck

Howard

Watched the videos, here are my comments:

- Both videos show the classic technique as it applies to SURFACE mono swim, which is to say, only the downward stroke is used, and the swimmers then wait for the fin to return to the neutral position by itself without adding a backwards stroke. Other than that, both ladies are actually pretty good, their upper bodies undulations begin below shoulder plate level, which is good, with the arms, head and shoulders remaining motionless. That’s good.
- The first video, showing obviously technique without fins, is not appropriate for this remark, but on the second one, I noticed this lady does not use the “glide” part of the motion at all. Once the legs return to the neutral position, immediately after the stroke (both downward and backward, of which she’s only doing the downward part) the legs should be temporarily stiffened (ever so slightly) along with the rest of the body, to glide along with the impulse of the kick, which she is not doing, or doing very poorly. Other than that, these are good examples of what I’m referring to, just not full examples of the techniques I’m describing.

Lastly, it is true that it is easier to initiate the kicking motion with the arms extended, since this allows the latisimus dorsi muscles to be used to push down on the obliques, which in turn activate the hip flexors, which start the undulation. With the arms by the side of the body, the lat muscles are relaxed and this activation action does not happen, necessitating instead a wider undulation that must involve the abdominal muscles as well as a bending of the spine sometimes, creating the exaggerated undulation we’re trying to stay away from. I used to be a believer in the arms-by-the-side style, since I felt that putting the arms up would add fatigue and unneeded oxygen consumption by having to flex the shoulder muscles, which are very large, but in truth, even these negatives are more than compensated for by the streamlining and speed gained with the arms up.

Rudi

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qEGlOYxO_48

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3wqq_0FyuIA&feature=related

Sorry to keep pushing videos, but they do seem, for better or worse, to show technique in action.
These also made me wonder about basic technique. i train without fins usually, as they are hard to get to the pool on my bike after work (think Anchorage, Alaska in February). When I am swimming dolphin kick with my arms at my side (the hardest variation), I need a definite body undulation to move. When i hold my arms out in front of me, I can get along with more kick and less body. I assume with a mono I would need no body undulation, and just use my hips and legs.

Any comments?
Howard

Sorry it took over 2 months to reply to your post :-) We have been very, very busy to say the least, but here’s a reply at last. I finally got to see the videos you recommended and will say the following.

My statements stand, the most efficient way to use a monofin is by keeping the upper body as stable, steady and immobile as possible. In the video link you posted, the man (I assume he’s Terry Laughlin) almost gets the technique right, but right at the moment where his butt kicks upwards, at the end of the leg extension motion, he lets his upper body compensate the upwards motion of the butt by lowering itself. Typical balance really, one part goes up, the other one goes down. Except that this is wrong. You need to fight the upper body’s tendency to roll in opposite direction of the butt, by stiffening the lower back, flexing the abdominal region outwards and keeping the upper body straight. If you look at the woman, she does a much better job, she keeps her upper body almost straight all the time, and that’s the idea when using a mono for deep diving. Like I said, I will post several technique videos soon, and in fact, all we need is for the weather to get a little better in Miami and we will go out and do some filming.

Regards,

Rudi Castineyra

I don’t know the Total Immersion recommended technique for mono but if you say their focus is on efficiency rather than power, I doubt their approach and ours are really at odds. Maybe I worded it wrong, but what I meant by not “using the upperbody” was that the torso should not move as part of the stroke, that it should remain immobile. the kick should indeed start from the lower abdominal and lower back regions’ muscles, essential parts of the core musculature, but not higher than this. If this is what they advocate, then it is in fact, and solely from my perspective, wrong. We’ve been meaning to record several technique videos showing mono technique, among others like unassisted constant ballast, etc, but never get around to doing it. If I can record something shorter of Yasemin in the upcoming weeks, I will use it to show these basic procedures, which should make these concepts far easier to understand than writing about them. Let’s see. In the meantime, if there is a total immersion video available online, I will be happy to look at it and comment on it.

Regards,

Rudi Castineyra

:)

I know what you mean, it’s very frustrating to not be able to repeat a certain technique on a consistent basis, and it happens to me as well :-) Monofin technique is especially difficult and when you stumble upon the “right way” sometimes, it is difficult to really understand what to do to make it happen again. But I will try and give you some advice.

The first thing with any technique is to first focus on the basic premises, those things that no matter what, must be done all the time or must never be done. Like if you’re a sprinter running the 100 meters, you know that you really need to use your arms to push the body forward and that you need to carefully time the arm pull with the opposite leg’s kick. First you need to spend thousands of runs perfecting this technique until it becomes second nature, then you can focus on the details. Likewise, for monofin swimming, whether horizontally or vertically, there are a couple of basic “must do” that have to be mastered before thinking of anything else:

1- Don’t use the upper body! The most common mistake, even made by many world class freedivers. Most people feel that the right way to use a mono is by undulating the body, dolphin style, and for good reason, this feels like the “right” way to do it. But this is wrong, very wrong. All the power is transfered to te fin from the lower part of the abdominal/lower back area down to the legs, but that’s it, the torso, arms and head must remain fixed, without moving. It is useless to worry about what to do with the legs if the upper body is still moving. Once this problem has been corrected, most people find out that their technique has improved dramatically, simply because by not doing what’s wrong, they are doing what’s right.

2- Glide after the stroke! One of the benefits of a monofin is the fact that it creates a wake, or wave of momentum that creates propulsion after the kick has been made. With 2 fins, once you stop a kick, you must make the other one, as you almost stay still if you don’t continue moving. But with the mono, water that rolls off the blade is still moving after the diver has finished the kick. So, you must wait for that additional propulsion to end before starting the next kick. If you don’t, then you loose about 25-30% of your forward gain and you create a turbulence that makes the next kick more difficult. So, a freediver needs to learn to pause after kicks and let that “free” motion move him forward, and then, as the momentum ends, start the next kick. As you become more experienced with this, you’ll learn exactly when to kick so that you’re always moving but you’re conserving as much energy as possible. This “kicking point” is shorter at depth, longer in shallower water and changes also with a different fin. The longer the blade, the longer the glide, and viceversa.

3- Never extend the legs fully! Another big mistake that consumes a lot of the diver’s energy in vain. At the end of the stroke, when your legs are about to become completely straight, you must stop! This completion of the extension is responsible for about 50% of the energy usage by the quadricep muscles in the leg but only results in an extra 5% extra impulse. This is the action mst responsible for the lactic acid burn we feel in the quads both when using a mono or bi-fins, so the wise thing is to avoid it. Instead, as you near the end of the kick, when the lower legs are about to become aligned with the upper legs, this is the point at which we push our butts outwards, allowing us to finish “unfolding” the blade completely while keeping the legs bent. It sounds complicated, but is simpler than it sounds.

Yasemin, as a monofin swimmer for many years before she got into freediving, spent hours everyday practicing these 3 principles for many years before she started making minor adjustments for deep diving. Maybe that’s why her technique looks so “effortless” now, because she spent such a long time incorporating these basic principles. Well, I leave you with these few pieces of advice, but be assured that they can help any diver achieve a better and smoother technique. Later on, I will touch on more advanced principles, and next year, we will release a video about mono technique that will be very informative.

Safe dives,

Rudi Castineyra