constant ballast

[Pekka]

I have followed the posts here and they seem to handle static and dynamic apnea mostly. I am more interested in constant ballast although I know that all of these require the ability to hold breath and act. how should one start the training for constant ballast, if static is already ok. should rope be used in debths like 25m or 30. what is the best way to go under water and should one go fast or slow?
Well thanks beforehand for all tips

[clogz]

When I started, got for excample these kind of tips. I suppose this should be part of all training, not used just by itself.

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Stair apnéa

Stair apnéa is unusually hard training and it will give you much, at
different levels. What you need is a chronometer, a good pair of training
shoes and a high building (at least 8 floor high).

You start warming up, jogging for approximately 1 km. Then take the elevator
up to the top floor in the selected building, your position should be at the
stairs and prepare yourself. In the meaning with prepare yourself I mean
ventilation practice, calm deep breathing with help of your lower stomach.
When you feel calm and your pulse is calm it's time for the tree last deep
and faster inhales/exhales, the last of the tree respiration's should be a
deeper exhale and a deeper inhale as in exercise 1. Hold your breath, start
the chronometer and begin walking down the stairs. Walk down calm and as
economical as you can in full control of yourself. After several floors you
should have reached your "depth" and it is time to turn around. When you are
on your way back at the top (surface) increase your speed to half running
speed and start breathing/stop the chronometer as soon as you have reached
the top (surface). You should be able to hold your breath for as long as
this exercise takes, from the surface - down to the right depth - and back
to the
surface again. At the top of the stairs (surface) rest for about 5 minutes
before you prepare yourself for the next descendant.

This training tip prepares you mentally for your dive, down to deep water.
As you continue practising this exercise you will understand and feel your
depth and when it is time to turn around to the surface. You will also
experience improvements in your diving one bit at the time.
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[Erik]

Hi Pekka, allow me to list a few points? First and foremost, if your training to push limits, a buddy is important. Get a decent float, and at least 10 lbs of lead attached to the bottom of your line....25 or more is better, but be careful when you deploy the weights: you don't want to get caught in the line as it descends to the bottom. If you are diving in low vis, put a light pointing up at the bottom of the line, and maybe cylum sticks every 10 metres or so. I usually do 2 breath holds while I am suiting up, before I get in the water. Once your line is set, breathe up, exhale completely, then pull yourself down the line to maybe 5 to 10 metres, depending on how your ears take it...don't hurt them. Stay only for 10 to 20 seconds, then gently pull yourself up. Breathe up again, then one more. Breathe up again, then do your full inhale, packs, and whatever else you do, then pull yourself down the line to a fairly deep depth; maybe your target depth. Come up immediately, this is no place for static practice. Breathe up, relax, then do your constant ballast dive. If the vis is bad or it gets darker as you descend, then form an "OK" sign around the line with your hand. Form the ok sign as if you were signalling to a buddy on the bottom. The reason for this is that if you ever compete, you will only be allowed one handhold grip of the line to pull yourself up. If your ok sign is upside down, you might grab twice and be disqualified. When you reach your depth, grab the line tightly . Kirk Krack showed me how to "swoop" my hand with the guage down as far as possible at this point to get the best reading! In the same motion, pull yourself up. Put both hands over your head, behind your ears. Form a point with your hands together, and kick. When you are 1 or 2 metres from the surface, pull your arms down, and let the air begin to escape from your lungs....don't forcefully exhale, just let it out. When you breach the surface, immediately take a big breath, hold it for 1 second, and force it out through pursed lips, as if you were bearing down on the toilet (careful now!). Do 3 or 4 of those; they will help you resist blackout at the surface.
As for the speed, what you need to find out is the fastest speed that you can descend or ascend with the least effort. Perfect your entry, and work on hydrodynamics. Wear less weight for deeper depths. With a 5mm suit in the sea, I wear 8 lbs for diving below 30 metres. If you are weighted heavy, you will descend very easily, but at depth you will work like a bastard to get back up, bringing the possibility of SWB closer.
As you descend, you will be able to kick less and less, to the point where you wont need to kick at all. I stop kicking at -25 metres.
Conversely, when you ascend, you will kick harder at the bottom, and should be barely kicking at all by the time you reach -10 metres.
When you are done, get your buddy to pull all that weight up into the float while you recover from your dive! Just kidding, help your buddy, and be careful of the line again.
Hope that helps, I wish I knew this stuff last year.
Cheers,
Erik Young