“A proverb is a brief, simple, and popular saying, or a phrase that gives advice and effectively embodies a commonplace truth based on practical experience or common sense.”—Literarydevices.net
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| Just because the sign say "No Diving" we can still use fins. |
Scuba diving, like many popular activities, uses proverbs,
stories, or myths to transmit commonly held beliefs and conventional wisdom
from divers in the know to divers who ain’t.
Today’s proverb—you can only
maintain physical conditioning for diving with fins by swimming with fins—is
one I have often repeated and around which I have designed my aquatic workouts
for the last 30 years.
A kernel of truth
exists in the proverb, one that makes intuitive sense. A dash or pinch of truth is what makes us
accept the myth without really questioning its validity. The fact that the proverb is uttered by an
authority figure—instructor, divemaster, assistant instructor—increases its
unquestioning acceptance. Very often,
they merely repeat the proverbs they heard in training. Keep in mind an “expert” in scuba diving, as
in Congress, is someone who knows just enough about the subject to provide
advice to someone who knows nothing about the subject.
The Journal of Hyperbaric and Undersea Medicine reported in 2007 that "Underwater swimming is a unique exercise and its fitness is not accomplished by other types of training." Compared to regular swimming, myswimpro.com explained in the blog post 8
Benefits of Swimming with Fins “If there is one item in the equipment bag
for improving technique and performance, it’s the fin!...Fins not only make you
swim faster, they allow you to swim and kick for longer periods of time
building endurance…the added resistance of fins builds strength and power. Muscle recruitment is at an all time high
under the stress of fins.” Finally, as
the article notes, “swimming fast is fun.”
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| Advertisement for Finis Edge Fin |
Like many divers, I tended to dive more April through
October. Yes, there would be occasional
dives off-season from Isla Vista or Refugio beaches or in Vortex Springs on the
Florida Panhandle near Ponce de Leon. For a couple of years, I tried to
establish a tradition of diving on New Year’s Day to start off the year on the
right fin, so to speak. That tradition
only lasted a few years. Finding buddies
willing to forego the festivities the night before in order to dive the next
morning proved difficult to the point of abandonment.
I recall my open water scuba instructor mentioning that the
combination of muscles used for sustaining a good scuba flutter kick could only
be replicated by swimming with fins.
From that moment on, I maintained my diving fitness swimming with fins,
either in the ocean swimming along the buoy line at Goleta beach of swimming laps
in the pool wearing mask, fins, and snorkel.
My fins were not full size Scubapro Jet dive fins with booties, doing so
might look ridiculous. (Although in an
article on Swimming with Fins on Military.com, author Stew Simon notes “the
type of fins you should use while preparing for (for combat swimming profession qualifications)
is a strong scuba type fin that can also
be used for scuba diving.” Indeed, many
of the enlisted personnel trying to make the qualification for pararescue that I
encounter at Anchorage area pools use Aqualung Jetfins or Scubapro Rockets. Rather, I had a pair of full-foot snorkeling fins
or rubber open-heel body boards fins, such as Voits or Churchills, that did the
trick. Today, I use fins specifically designed for fin swimming.
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| Four pair of fins from my quiver. Black Hydro Tech,.Orange/Yellow DaFin lifeguard, Yellow Finis Edge, Green Hydro Tech 2, |
California had enough ocean open
water finswimmers that I was not the only person doing so. Swimming in the pool was another matter. I would fin for lap upon endless lap in the pool at the
local health club or at the university.
Initially, to the uninitiated my appearance was something of a
curiosity. I recall my brother telling
me the story about being at the health club when a woman he worked with told
him in disbelief “there has been some nutty guy snorkeling in the pool for over
15 minutes.” He replied, “yeah, that’s
my brother Jim.” She started to get that
look of embarrassment on her face when he explained “that is how he stays in
condition for scuba diving with fins.”
For two years in the late 1980s, we played underwater hockey
at the UCSB pool under the tutelage of Don Canestro. Being able to swim with fins was a
prerequisite to playing, being able to efficiently sprint on the surface and
below was the key to playing well. I
became a research diver; maintaining that status required an annual water
skills proficiency test including an 800 yard swim in the pool with mask, fins
and snorkel. When I moved away from the
coast a few years later, year around fin swimming in a pool became the norm, an activity I continue to this day. I am convinced that swimming with fins
conditioned me to do keep diving. A few
years later, I discovered the joys of underwater swimming with "bifins" and a monofin, but that is the
subject of an upcoming blog entry.
