Build-Up to FII Level 1 Training Program - Ideas, Scheduling, and Help

[mishu1984]

Im signed up for FII Level 1 in September, and hopefully Level 2 in December.
Reason being that im doing Level 1 in Dubai, and Level 2 or its PFI equivalent in Miami.

Currently my static dry PB is 2:45. Id like to get to 3 or even 3:15 in the next 45 days.

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In building up for this ive come up with the following training schedule:
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I already lift weights in the morning before work, it saves me the morning traffic, and after work the rest of the day is free.
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6am-7:15 weight training.
8-4 work (breakfast at 8, lunch at 1)
4:30pm i get home from work
4:45 - 5:30pm* dry static tables
6pm dinner
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Ok now here is my question, where do i fit in pool-work? We have a pool at home so i can manage a few laps.
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my initial idea is the following:
Pool 3 times a week, alternating with apnea walks twice a week. ie Sunday, Tuesday, and Thursday: Pool. Monday and Wednesday: apnea walks.
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Any suggestions, recommendations, drills, etc?
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Thanks

[mishu1984]

Broke my PB today with a dry static of 3:03. I also got my F10 in the mail today and a new copy of African Spearfishing Diaries Volume 3.
yup today has been good to me.

I broke the PB after my CO2 tables. i finished my tables which i have for my past PB of 2:45 and then did a 5:30 breathe up and went for it. Oddly enough i was very relaxed even as contractions set in at the two minute mark. Actually i was having an imaginary conversation where i was telling the instructor i signed up for classes with that i wanted to pass out in a controlled environment so that i would know what it feels like so that i could avoid it, next thing you know the alarm rings at the 3 minute mark.

3:03 baby, hopefully 3:45 by end of august.

[podge]

Mishu how’s it going baby?
Looking good with the training mate, as for help or advice the best I can do is say, hold yer breath for a bit longer and dive a bit deeper and all will be well.
Good luck with it all young-un and keep them Camels in line.

[mishu1984]

hahha podge i think ive got it figured out.

im switching out the weights for cardio in the am. i partially tore my meniscus about a month and a half ago, so my cardio is bellow par.
stretching and tables as soon as i get home from work.. lunch shortly thereafter.
pool-work/apnea walks at 8:30ish. i figure i should be well ready to make the most out of my course by the time it comes.

camels, yeah they can be cheeky little bast@rds lol

[podge]

Weights, cardio work outs, stretching, tables, pool work and apnea walks
Sounds like a nightmare to me mate.
I’ll stick with my pre-dive routine of coffee, Marlboro, pie’s, beer and chocolate.
Good luck with it all bud

[mishu1984]

Adjusted tables to reflect new max of 3:03
i tried doing CO2 tables yesterday, but the app started to give me trouble. given the creature of habit i am, and the level of frustration i was experiencing, i bailed out.

i got home from work today and did some stretching as per Martin Stepanek's dvd. I highly suggest stretching before any apnea.
i did the C02 tables today. felt great
howevver, i got a call in the middle of the tables. that really messed with my flow. i have to remember to put my phone on flight-mode so that i get no calls or other notifications that kill my groove.

finished up the tables nicely and thought id give it a try of breaking my PB or at least match it +/- 5 seconds. had a great breath-up. first minute went by great. i barely noticed time going by then the minute alarm came up and i thought to myself "ok that was easy now u just have to do that twice" and that is when everything went downhill.
i barely made it past 1:35.

lesson: put phone in flight-mode. turn off minute notification.

later on decided to do some pool work. i think the pool at my building is 20 meters. il have to double-check tomorow with the doorman.

35s swim (no fins): 10 second breathing (3 breaths). did this for about 25 minutes taking a 1 minute break every ten laps. it felt really nice and smooth. my shoulders started to feel really sluggish towards the end. got out of the pool and did a few jumping jacks. BIG MISTAKE.

all in all good day training.

[mishu1984]

havent done any tables or pool training this week because of ramadhan. hoping to get my schedule sorted by this week's end.
have been doing more cardio and less weights training in the mornings.

the only easy day was yesterday

[mishu1984]

Got my Pulse Oximeter in the mail today.I decided to pick up where i left off my CO2 tables. Nice little gadget. At one point my heart rate was at a nice 80 bpm on the breath-up and droped to 55bpm within the first 25 seconds of the breath-hold. Thats got me a little excited and next thing u know my Hr was all over the place.
Once i figure out the software this thing comes with im going to try to log the hr on scale with the tables.

here is a screen-print of the software it came with.very basic if you ask me.

[picasso]

Hi, What kind of pulse oxymeter do you use? Thanks.

[mishu1984]

Some cheap one i got off ebay. made in china. useless software. but serves my purpose so far.

[mishu1984]

Hopefully back on track with training. Did Co2 tables today. i was really pleased to see my heart rate drop down to 51 bpm during the third apnea cycle. Maybe i got a little too happy, because it was all up from there.

I need to work more on my relaxation and stop thinking about my heart rate.

[Simos]

Hi Mishu - do you have a buddy when doing pool work at home? Please don't do any apnea work in the water alone as the risk of black out and drowning is not worth it.

Overall having read the above my advice would be to focus as much as you can on relaxation and stop worrying about time, BPM, SPO2 etc at least for now. It's more important to work on relaxation in my opinion - I don't know much about the course you're going to be doing but I'll be surprised if you need to be at some level of breathhold etc when you get to the course..

Cool graphs though :-)

[apneaboy]

Simos pipped me to it by half an hour :-)

Work on dry apnea for now not trying to increase your distances by yourself before the course. You could get quite competitive within yourself trying to be as good as you can be in time for the course.

Dive safe and make it to the course, that will impress more than not turning up buddy ;-)

[mishu1984]

I do my dry apnea work alone. Poolside i now have my brother spotting me and he knows what my routine is. Im trying to get him into this more "pure" apnea approach to spearfishing. he only wants to shoot fish. to each his own. then again, im going for this course so that i can spear safer.

[mishu1984]

Did dry static tables yesterday evening.
Im having a little trouble with the "empty your mind" part of relaxing and i find my thoughts drifting all over the place.
so i thought why not change things up a little.

First thing i did was get rid of the pulse oximeter. Its nice to graph your heart rate drop from 70 bpm to 48 bpm, but if it causes you more stress than anything else, why bother?!

Next thing i did was change the light levels in the room. i put the shades down but not all the way, letting in just a little light. kind of like what we see here at 4:30 am.

Then came the soundtrack. Since i first started training ive been listening to Ottmar Lieber. Its very nice and soft, and most importantly, no lyrics so its doesnt detract from my attention from "relaxing".

So Ottmar lieber goes out, and in come Gregorian Monks chanting. NICE!!! extremely relaxing.

Next thing was a scented oil burner. why not give it a try. so i got out a eucalyptus-spearmint mix from the body shop and got that going.

Did the stretches from the FII dvd, and got on with the tables.

1st setw as ok, nice to feel the intercostals open up and stretch on the inhales and since it was my first set in two weeks i felt a little rusty.

2nd set was significantly better in both the breathing phase and apnea as well. i didnt feel the 10s reduction in breathing time, and got to the end of my apnea cycle without a problem.

3rd set- same as the second.

4th set, now where is where the "magic" happened. i dont know if it because i pulled an all nighter, or because of the scented oils, or the gregorian monks, or whatever other reason it might be, but during this set i was the most relaxed ive been in a long time.
at one point i felt weightless and in an almost dreamy state and was thinking of the phrase "we are all children of the light".

the remaining 4 sets i tried to duplicate the experience of the 4th set but i couldnt to the same extent. ive never ever ever in my life said we are all children of the light, so im going to blame the lack of sleep and elevated CO2 levels, but id really like to learn some proper relaxation techinques.