Training effect falls off

[cdavis]

I have noticed a very distinct reduction in apnea capacity, especially in my dynamic, when I don't work out for two or more days. It comes right back after 2-3 days consecutive training. This fits the observation thay my diving gets better with every consecutive day of diving, at least for a week or so. If this is a general tendency, it would have considerable effect on how to get ready for competition.

Anybody else see the same thing?

Connor

[amihov]

I have noticed the same thing on me. But I can reverse it back to where I was for 30 minutes warm up period. One thing is for sure static apnea training and apnea walks have help me in my training. Based on them I have been able safely to explore my limits and gain endurance. After all nobody wants to tray diving alone up to 15 or more meters for a first time with out some practice out of the water. I have managed to walk for more than 70 m on a single breath.

[naiad]

Same with me. It's a fine balance between enough training and overtraining, but CO2 tolerance decreases after a few days of not training, and O2 tolerance after a few weeks. The good news is that it only takes a few weeks to get back to my best times and distances.

Lucia

[trullalla]

hi Connor,

i have to say my experience is completely different.
if i dive few days in a row (doing max perf), the 1st day is always the best, the 2nd is just a bit worse, and from the 3rd i'm going downhill.
last may i was training for a month for a comp, and i was only diving every second day, and it was still too much, so every 3rd training session i had to take a break.
now i'm only doing one max dive every 3 days, and this seems to work better.

on the other hand everybody else i train with have much higher intensive training...

linda

[cdavis]

Thanks for the replys. It helps to hear somebody else's experiance.

Lucia,
I think you are right about C02 tolerance. It feels like a
C02 issue for me and fits my experiance. I do some one day dives in fresh water and will try some tables for a day or two before. Should be interesting.

Linda,

The type of diving you do is so far from mine that it is hard to compare, but I suspect I'm seeing the same thing. I'm a recreational diver, come up when it feels like it and very seldom try for a max. When I go on a week or so dive trip, my recreational abilities get steadily better for several days, but I start getting tired and my desire to do deep dives declines after about day 3. I bet if I were doing max dives, performance would drop with time, much like yours

Thanks again for the food for thought.

Connor

[Walrus]

Hi Connor,
I agree it sound more like a CO2 tolerance thing. I've had long period's ie 3 months+ with no training and have hardly lost any abillity, but everything just feels harder. ie contractions come earlier. As for being able to do a max performance it doesn't actually change that much, so shouldn't go by feel.

The last few years I have really changed my mind about what freedive training actually does for you. Based on these assumptions I have changed my training aproach and have made huge improvements in my freediving. I don't look at freedive training as something like cardio or weight-training in that you are getting a physical training effect. I look at it as training for a skill based sport, so more like tennis, football etc.

Apart from the skill, the other thing that has the greatest effect on freediving abillity is the "dive response/survival response". Now this is still actually the brain you are training and not your body. To me the physical training effect of the body is actually quite small, CO2 tolerance is the main one I can think off. Few freedivers have elevated red blood cells. CO2 tolerance for me and at least most people I know seems to be a temporary thing. Ie train tables for 2-4 weeks and you see an improvement but the gains slow to a stop. Stop for a few weeks and you are back to start again.

There are some of the 7-8 minute guys that don't train statics at all except until a few weeks before the comp,
also competition divers who have done no training at all for a whole year then with just 1 week of training do 70m+ dives. If the training effect was mostly physical ie body then these should not be possible.

Cheers,
Wal

[cdavis]

Hi Wal, thanks for the input.

I agree, even at my level, its mostly in the head. Seems like the dive response would be too. It is still amazing that divers can lay off training for long periods and then be able to completely return to full capacity so quickly.

I'd be curious about your take on the ability of the lungs/rib cage to tolerate depth and its relation to training. For me at least, this seems very related to training. Through regular use of diaphram stretches and negatives, I've hugely increased the depth to which I can clear and which is comfortable. I ran the math on the estimated depth of my reverse pack negatives recently and was floored to come up with depths in excess of 250 ft, even assuming a larger than measured residual capacity. Three years ago ,I could hardly do 100 ft, or its equivalent as a negative. The interesting question is how much will I lose if I stop training. What do you think?

Connor

[GreekDiver]

Diving is mostly mental. I know i can spearfish comfortably any day at 20 meters with good bottom time. I cant spearfish 30 meters comfortably though. I can freedive it easily but not spearfish. Cardio helps but knowing in your head you can do a certain depth over rules everything else. Diving is mental.

[cdavis]

Well, it is and it isn't. When I first started diving deeper than 60 ft, I was stopped dead at 100, unable to clear deeper. Not uncomfortable, plenty of time, just no air left to clear with. After several years of negatives I can dive a good bit deeper; equalization doesn't stop me. My limit is now co2 tolerance and mental. It depends on exactly what you are addressing.

[GreekDiver]

Originally Posted by cdavis

Well, it is and it isn't. When I first started diving deeper than 60 ft, I was stopped dead at 100, unable to clear deeper. Not uncomfortable, plenty of time, just no air left to clear with. After several years of negatives I can dive a good bit deeper; equalization doesn't stop me. My limit is now co2 tolerance and mental. It depends on exactly what you are addressing.

are you spearfishing, or just swimming down to those depths.

[cdavis]

I used to be a serious spearo. Maybe I just got old, but more than dinner just isn't my thing anymore. Today, for me, spearing is shallow, 45 or less. It never was more than 60. The deeper diving is all sight seeing.

Connor