Getting fit for freediving

[timh]

Hi

How much cardio training is good for freediving - for someone who is completely unfit (ie has sat in an office for the last few years with no physical exercise)?

I've read a few of the training articles around and they all say not to do too much cardio and if you do, not to let your heart rate go over 65% of your HRMax - I believe because cardio trains your body to use oxygen - whereas freediving you want to train your body to go without.

So, how does one get fit then?

Any suggested strategies, exercises, etc?

Thanks in advance.
Tim

[spriggan]

Well, I thought that cardio workouts help?

[cdavis]

Hi timh,

In general, the better cardio condition you are in, the better base you have to build freediving skills. Pure static might be an exception to that, but I doubt it.
Assuming you are completely out of shape, the more cardio you do to get in better shape, the better. Figure out what level is "overdoing it" for you and stay below that level. Not sure about a specific bpm, but that sounds kind of low unless maybe you are in really bad shape. 65 percent of my theoretical max is a medium-light workout for me. I'm in decent shape, but no one would mistake me for a serious athelete.

Have fun getting in shape

Connor

[jome]

For someone completely out of shape, it can only do good.

It's really important not to go too fast, especially in the beginning when you are building the foundation of your fitness. Concentrate on long and frequent rather than irreqular self punishment type of training. Continuity is the key in aerobic exercise.

In general, most of your workouts in aerobic exercise should stay under the aerobic treshold, with the exception of pushing your self every now and them just to kind of keep your body guessing. 60-70% of your max sounds about right. For a average guy I guess 120-140 bpm. But it is very individual, so pretty much pointless to give any arbitary bpm-figure...You should be slighlty windy, but not panting...Able to talk in complete sentences. Then the intensity is about right.

[QazzaQ]

Being in good shape is beneficial, no doubt about it. It even helps the mental side of diving to know that you have some reserves left for bailing out in case something unexpected happens during CW.

Then a bit of a sales pitch: it is surprisingly difficult to find the optimal training zone for maximal improvement, but Suunto's t-series products with personal training effect calculation (EPOC) has helped me quite a bit. The line between very improving training and overreaching (leading to exponentially increasing recovery times) is surprisingly difficult to interpret by listening your own body during a training when you have adrenaline and endorphine etc. running through you veins... I've found that I can have more gain with less pain even by using the older Suunto t6. I've heard that Suunto has some new t-series products out that are not only much cheaper but can also show the training effect real time while training. Does anyone have any experiences/comments from these devices?

-EeroS

[jome]

My experiences are similar, but of course, two finns praising suunto is hardly objective in the eyes of others Then again, I do believe that a beginner level aerobic training can be done very well without any kind of monitors etc...One simply needs to get out there to already get huge benefits. But for anyone training cardio even half seriously, it can be a great tool...

Anyway, my biggest gripe with the t6 (which I never fail to mention is that it simply does not work in water, not even swimming, much less diving...

This I want to mention just because someone spending 300-400e on a HR-monitor might expect to use it for example while swimming...It's a great watch, but only if you do all your cardio dry.

I guess the new "smart belt" should partially solve this. You would not still get real time data in water, but at least you can analyze your activities post swim/dive...

Any info about can the smart belt be used under water? IE is it water proof enough for actual diving?

[Gerald]

Physical fitness is a very valuable asset of a freediver. Classical cardio activity, such as running, swimming or riding a bike is highly recommendable in the "general training phase". It's bringing us to the "base camp" at the foot of "Mount Personal Best". Moving on from that "base camp" I am getting more specific, if I am on the hunt for PB's and I am tapering my cardio exercises, fully relying on "being in shape".

Besides, the advantage of getting yourself in shape is increased flexibility for doing something else that is worthwile. Once you have reached your "base camp" you are not far from reaching the "local peak" of a marathon, a swim- or a cycling event.

Overdoing cardio, especially in the core-phase of the freeding training is counter-productive. I remember very well, how my static-, and dynamic performance dropped dramatically the day after a 30km/19mi run. Simply because the heart rate doesn't go down to where it's ought to be for a good performance

[island_sands]

Originally Posted by timh

Hi

How much cardio training is good for freediving - for someone who is completely unfit (ie has sat in an office for the last few years with no physical exercise)?

I've read a few of the training articles around and they all say not to do too much cardio and if you do, not to let your heart rate go over 65% of your HRMax - I believe because cardio trains your body to use oxygen - whereas freediving you want to train your body to go without.

So, how does one get fit then?

Any suggested strategies, exercises, etc?

Thanks in advance.
Tim

Tim,
check out this thread.. i always go back to it when i have not trained a while and want to start again.
http://forums.deeperblue.net/showthr...446#post437446