When swimming with scuba fins, especially the type that the military issues, Rocket or Jet Fins, you may find a learning curve with getting faster, swimming longer and dealing with initial foot and ankle pain. Here is an emailed question from a future Navy Special Warfare Combat Crewman (SWCC) who is having issues with swimming with fins:
Stew, I am getting ready for SWCC, which will have some water events, and swimming with fins will be one. I find myself slower with fins (not faster) and in pain by the time I get a few hundred yards. Any advice on dealing with the first month of putting on fins to prep for schools in the Navy that require finning? Thanks, Bart
Swimming with fins is tough on the leg muscles but even more so on the ankles and feet. The pain you are feeling is in the soft tissues of the bottom leg/top of foot and ankle joint, which are being stretched. Ankle mobility is required to reduce pain when finning. You can continue to swim with fins until the torque of each kick slowly builds ankle mobility. The pain will take about three to four weeks to subside.
You are not faster with these types of scuba fins; you are more powerful. Swimming through currents in open water is what these fins are for, whether you are surface swimming or scuba diving. These fins are designed to help you easily get through 1-knot currents. They are not designed for speed. Most people can swim 500 yards without fins in the same amount of time as swimming 500 yards with the big scuba fins you are issued. We work to get our timed swims down to 1 yard per second. That means an 8:20 for the 500-yard swim, both with and without fins. That is a 16:40 1,000-yard and a 32- to 33-minute nautical mile swim (2,000 yards).
Maintaining that pace in open water is a solid score for any student in military programs that require swimming.
In fact, in Navy Dive School and other scuba courses in the military, you will also use these fins, and the goal is to be able to scuba swim at a pace of 100 meters in 3 minutes, nice and steady in your scuba gear to help you navigate underwater using a compass and known time for distance.
Reduce pain by doing more ankle stretches that stretch both the calves and shin muscles. Building up to what I call the “ballerina’s point” will help your feet better handle the torque of every kick in these bigger scuba fins. In a nutshell, it takes time to build your ankles and feet for these fins. Typically, a month of training two to three times a week with these fins will do the trick. For now, swim with fins until your feet hurt, then take them off and swim or tread water for 10 minutes while they recover. Then put them on again. See if you can go a little further each time you do this sequence.
Build your Hip Flexors
Proper swimming with fins comes from the hips. It should not feel like you are riding a bicycle while swimming with fins. Practice 4-count flutter kicks when on land (or alongside the pool deck) as these will be frequent exercises done in any military swimming or diving program. Try doing flutter kicks with wet, long pants on as well. You will experience this challenge in training, but it also helps prepare your legs and hips for swimming longer distances with fins.
Try this swim-with-fins drill: 75 meters combat sidestroke (CSS) with fins plus 25-meter turtleback recovery. This will help you keep kicking and working the legs during your rest phase and build up to longer nonstop distances.
Another option is to progress from easier slip-on fins for a few weeks, then add the bigger scuba fins to your training. As with anything in training, progressing from an easier version to a harder version is a logical process.
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