Problem with Constant weight

[Dolphin Girl]

Hi to you all

I am looking for some advice with my constant weight training. I have a problem with my constant weight dives, I hate them.
I have a pretty good static, 4m16secs but I only manage a 32m constant on average, my personal best is a 33m (which has only happened once). I feel that with a static of that time my constant should be a lot deeper. How do I fix this ???
One of my biggest problems is that I have a long distance to travel if I want to train in deep water. So I spend a lot of time training my statics and minimal time is put into my constant training.
Is there a way to train for constant weight in a swimming pool ???

Looking for any advice ????

Thanks

[efattah]

A 30-33m range for someone with a 4'00 to 4'20 static is pretty normal, so your numbers correlate quite well.

There is no rule which relates static to constant, but most people who can dive 40m can do 5'00 statics (always exceptions of course).

You get better at what you practice. If you practice deep dives, you will get better at deep dives. Beyond that, any attempt to 'simulate' deep dives in the pool or land, has limited effectiveness.


Eric Fattah
BC, Canada

[Bill]

One method, that I haven't tried, is swim 25 meters, 30 second static and swim 50 meters, on one breath, to simulate a 50 meter dive.
Another one that helped me. 100 meters easy on the surface, 50 meters at 90%, still breathing through the snorkel and 25 meters dynamic. 5 or 6 of those should stretch you out.
Aloha
Bill

[Skindiver]

Dear Dolphin girl

Being a psychological game we are in i feel the first clue to your performance block comes from your description of your level of enjoyment of constant weight. You said you hate it.

We mostly tend to do well easily with things we enjoy and conversely we tend to enjoy what we do well. Whilst we can force ourselves to do well with things we hate, it is usually not a sustainable performance and our motivation is an external one.

Freediving tends to focus on an internal motivation but competition freediving also brings external factors into the equation.
You need to analyse your motivation. If the decision to compete were out of your hands and you were prohibited from competing would you accept it ? Chances are no. So you do have a level of internal motivation.
Are you competitive ? Do you hate when someone dives deeper than you ? Yes? then you are also externally motivated.

Unfortunately you believe that you are at your limit or close to it because of a few close calls at your present maximum range. YOu have lost touch with your internal motivator.
You will remember that you have done 4.16 static but also samba'd two weeks earlier at 2.51.
Likewise 33m is way not your limit, and once you crack that you will begin enjoying diving.
The only way to crack it is to prepare well and go for a big dive of 35m and dont stop until you reach the tag regardless of how you think you will feel on the ascent.
Chances are good that the dive will be clean especially with the confidence you have gained from your newfound static ability and compensation you are making for being a vegetarian with anemic tendancies.
Your dive site being a far, dark and murky place will seem strangely familiar to you after returning from the clear water of Hawaii and it will no longer seem as opressive as before.
You can be better at this. Just reward yourself with a good crack. Give your internal motivator some great karma.

Skindiver.

[Abriapnea]

Hi Dolfin Girl , and welcome to the family
Guess you are a member of "our" team who competed recently ?
If you really want to improve your c.w. and have the time I would recommend taking a diving buddy and spending a week training at Badgat
I did it for five days with Trevor and had a great time , also managed to improve my p.b. by 5 . comfortably .
With the proper mental attitude success is virtually guaranteed . Just remember to have fun .

[ADELENELYNCH]

Dolphin girl, I'm a newbie but here's a word of encouragement if it helps. My static time is just about yours but 33mCW sounds crazy to me! So I think you're doing darn well. What Skindiver says seems to make a lot of sense. I find that I perform best when I'm really really enjoying it, and i forget about time, depth etc. Maybe you need to find out how to love doing the CW again. Better still, dive some place nice.....come to Asia!

[samdive]

I got stuck around that depth for ages. What helped me breakthrough was learning to freefall - so if you're not doing that, start now. I did it by wearing a bit too much weight at first, getting used to the freefall and then taking the weight off bit by bit.

If you can't get in the water that often, try visualising dives as often as you can. As you haven't mentioned ears and your static is OK, I'm guessing the problem is psychological - as it always is with me.

Best of luck, let us know how it goes

Sam

[cdavis]

Hi Dolphin Girl,

Sounds like you are doing pretty good. Your numbers seem very reasonable.

The two excercises I use to get ready for CW are (1) simulated dives like Bill suggested. I do 4 or 5 each pool session, coming up when it gets uncomfortable. You will find yourself being able to simulate dives considerably deeper than 30 m. It gives you a feel for the 02 demand and C02 buildup of CW. (2) negatives in the deep end of the pool. You can simulate the preasure effects of much, much deeper dives than 30 meters in a 4 m deep pool. It helps keep you comfortable during CW and makes clearing easier. NOTE: negatives can hurt you and can take a long while to heal. Read up very carefully everything you can find in these forums, go slow and don't stay on the bottom at all. PM me if you like.

Otherwise, getting in good cardio condition helps a lot.

No excercise can really simulate CW, but these come as close as anything I've found.

Connor

[demasoni]

I just posted a long winded soul searching-type answer but suddenly realized after posting that the original post by Dolphin Girl was in Nov. 2002...so I deleted my post. Any updates, Dolphin Girl?

[cdavis]

Opps

Thanks demasoni, I missed it too.

Connor

[samdive]

me too... Dolphingirl is probably Natalia Avseenko or something..... : )