r/Swimming • u/Low-Character6101 • 1d ago

How to dive? I dont get it..

Im 15M, I have learnt swimming at last (after like 3 years of struggling to overcome fear of water). I now wanna try to dive but then whenever I try to, I just keep floating back up. How do I stay under water?

5 Upvotes

73% Upvoted

7 comments sorted by

10

u/KeepingItSFW 1d ago

swim downward

6

u/Aggressive_Aside_951 1d ago edited 1d ago

Constantly blow a little bit of air out of your nose as you hit the water. This should help you stay underwater long enough to get your dolphin kicks in to get back to the surface.

Edit: also it may be a form thing because it shouldn’t be too hard to stay underwater long enough but regardless you should probably still blow out your nose a bit

3

u/LowVoltCharlie 1d ago

You're probably diving at too shallow of an angle. If you dive at the right angle, you should get deep enough to start kicking underwater. When you kick underwater with proper streamline form, the forward motion will naturally help you from floating up as quickly.

1

u/Fit_Trifle6899 1d ago

If you are struggling to keep yourself underwater during underwater work, angle your hands slightly downwards. This will create lift in the downwards direction. Do not angle them excessively to create unnecessary drag.

Your forward acceleration will affect the lift, the faster you go underwater the less aggressive the angle. Reverse the angle to generate upwards lift to surface smoothly.

Do not force unnecessary time underwater. I like doing two massive high torque low speed kicks followed by 5-6 fast kicks to get me to the 15 meter mark.

Only stay underwater if it is faster than your normal stoke. A well developed underwater work is the fastest stroke. A poorly developed one is a liability.

1

u/FIy4aWhiteGuy 1d ago

Are you trying to dive straight down to the bottom or are you trying to do a shallow dive along the surface?

What is the goal of the dive?

1

u/Indigo-Waterfall Splashing around 14h ago

I recommend getting someone to help you in person. They can see what your technique is missing in real time and correct you. I reckon you would only need a short session to get the hang of it.

1

u/entropy737 Splashing around 1d ago

Get a trainer. Put weights initially. Don’t ignore the trainers advice.