aerobics for freediving

[Kars]

Swimming is a different kind of muscle use, slow and smooth, it does not compare to cycling or running.

As a novice you have hardly anything automated, you need to be very conscious of many things. Following your buddies - tilting your head often, snorkel breathing, swim style, spotting fish, having adjusted and well fitted, hassle free equipment, having fins that have a good foot angle and stiffness for the surface, the right suit and buoyancy, an economic route, riding the waves, and yes practice practice in finning for hours...

Their experience in hunting gives them the ability to easily recognise the spots fish like, and to identify fish noticing just small movements. You can compare this to driving a car as an experienced driver, you hardly need much conscious effort. As a novice you're tired after an hours lesson paying attention to all and every movement very consciously.

Their 1-2 minute dives are mostly within the easy phase, heading back to the surface when contractions start.
Usually what one does is when arriving a great spot is to slow down on the throttle a bit, slow the breathing down, and be ready for when a fish or spot appears. They take 1 breath (often not even full), and an efficient duck dive, (head in) until neutral buoyancy is reached - if the prey is stationary. Spearfishers often are weighted a bit heavy, and do not carry much if at all neck weights. Having in a weight on the neck snorkelling is exhausting.
In aspettio (waiting at depth) it's good to have good concealment and a near blank mindset only to be slightly raised when a suitable fish presents itself. Being tense and alert, alerts the fish.

But euh, couldn't you ask your buddies how they do it?

Thanks for the recognition.

 

[Erki]

Aerobic fitness is usually good for serial diving when it allows faster recovery between dives. For single dive in competition it has no effect or has negative effect. But if somebody has a very good dive response then even a very good aerobic does not hurt the performance.

 

[oldfather]

Swimming is a different kind of muscle use, slow and smooth, it does not compare to cycling or running.

As a novice you have hardly anything automated, you need to be very conscious of many things. Following your buddies - tilting your head often, snorkel breathing, swim style, spotting fish, having adjusted and well fitted, hassle free equipment, having fins that have a good foot angle and stiffness for the surface, the right suit and buoyancy, an economic route, riding the waves, and yes practice practice in finning for hours...

Their experience in hunting gives them the ability to easily recognise the spots fish like, and to identify fish noticing just small movements. You can compare this to driving a car as an experienced driver, you hardly need much conscious effort. As a novice you're tired after an hours lesson paying attention to all and every movement very consciously.

Their 1-2 minute dives are mostly within the easy phase, heading back to the surface when contractions start.
Usually what one does is when arriving a great spot is to slow down on the throttle a bit, slow the breathing down, and be ready for when a fish or spot appears. They take 1 breath (often not even full), and an efficient duck dive, (head in) until neutral buoyancy is reached - if the prey is stationary. Spearfishers often are weighted a bit heavy, and do not carry much if at all neck weights. Having in a weight on the neck snorkelling is exhausting.
In aspettio (waiting at depth) it's good to have good concealment and a near blank mindset only to be slightly raised when a suitable fish presents itself. Being tense and alert, alerts the fish.

But euh, couldn't you ask your buddies how they do it?

Thanks for the recognition.

It was al a very new experience to me and to be honest, quite overwhelming.
Lying at the surface staring down into the deep blue, I had to fight hard to control my anxiety and fear of the unknown. I also had to fight off the feeling of sea sickness for much of it which didn't help.
I did however ask how they do it and it turns out that much of it is thanks to experience. Years and Years in the water. Probably a good measure of natural ability and like Erki point out, a good dive response.

I don't quite understand how the dive response work within myself. I cannot claim to have noticed ever a moment where I could say, Ah there it is. Is there threads you can recommend that explains a bit more about this?

 

[Kars]

Do not underestimate what you can learn in 20 hours of focused practice. Those first 20 hours are very much fun because it yields many moments of success, and MAJOR improvements throughout.

To explore your DR, remove the stress factors like endless depth, swells (seasickness), and others. Ask them to teach you static, dynamic and duck dives in a few pool sessions. This way you can with confidence explore and improve the most important aspects of freediving.
To reduce seasickness one needs to get accustomed to the swell, it's basically caused by the confusion of balance in the ears and you visual input. Also you body needs to adapt to the movement of the sea. After a day at sea I often enjoy the funny feeling of my body compensating when I get back on land. This subsides in a minute or so it's like the ground is moving, though you know it's your you and your bowls compensating for water wave and swell rhythm.

To find out more about Dive Response, do a search on this forum.
In a nutshell, it's the bodies response to breath-hold, redirecting blood to the vital organs, lowering metabolism, lowering heart rate, releasing spleen blood, and more.

In freediving training we're exploring the DR, and conditioning our mind and body to have a good DR early in the dive, so our dives can be long and safe. Anxiety for fear of the unknown is normal. With a quiet, relaxed setting, mindset and buddy one can replace this with knowledge and confidence.

Now it may all seem like a big, endless mountain, with you not knowing where to start. But when you have your first pool static session with a patient slow moving buddy you'll find yourself already ascended leaps, rising above the first clouds gaining many insights and feeling the joy of success overcoming fear.

Love, and Courage,

Kars

 

[HLanger1955]

I confess I'm a bit confused. Having attended the Apnea Academy courses I got the idea that being in good cardio-vascular shape helps. For most people this messagge seems to be ok (the forum is "beginner.."). Perhaps big muscles don't help as one gets rigid loosing harmony in water ? I wonder how to stand longer training sessions both in the pool or in the sea without being in good physical condition, and a reasonable leg-strength can be helpful for a good fining technique, and heart beat of trained persons is lower than in those with little excercise.

 

[Kars]

Hi Hlanger,

Yes we can use a good physical condition, sufficient strength, sufficient endurance, sufficient flexibility.
However some people, who already have an (far) above endurance ability, strength, flexibility, may find the optimum for competition freediving does not meet with the optimum for say a marathon, a weight lifting competition, or a contortionist show.

Many people come to freediving with an average or below average physical shape, they greatly benefit from any physical improvements.

 

[oldfather]

Do not underestimate what you can learn in 20 hours of focused practice. Those first 20 hours are very much fun because it yields many moments of success, and MAJOR improvements throughout.


To find out more about Dive Response, do a search on this forum.
In a nutshell, it's the bodies response to breath-hold, redirecting blood to the vital organs, lowering metabolism, lowering heart rate, releasing spleen blood, and more.

In freediving training we're exploring the DR, and conditioning our mind and body to have a good DR early in the dive, so our dives can be long and safe. Anxiety for fear of the unknown is normal. With a quiet, relaxed setting, mindset and buddy one can replace this with knowledge and confidence.

Now it may all seem like a big, endless mountain, with you not knowing where to start. But when you have your first pool static session with a patient slow moving buddy you'll find yourself already ascended leaps, rising above the first clouds gaining many insights and feeling the joy of success overcoming fear.

Love, and Courage,

Kars

Thanks for your patient explanation Kars.
I am searching the forum for threads about DR and have learned bits and pieces, but I havent found any that explain what it feels like.
I suppose I will learn from experience. All in good time.
Unfortunately, the four spearo's were on island for 7 days only, and with them left my opportunity to learn from a budy.
I avoid pool sessions, mainly because the see is right next to it and nearly as calm, slightly warmer and present better scenery.

 

[Reindeer1984]

Haha i believe you can argue both ways but I will always believe being healthy and fit will give a person an advantage to any activity compared to a person not as fit (both persons equally trained in the activity). Aerobic exercise like jogging trains the body and mind to control itself under pressure, along with strengthening and repairing body tissue of all kinds including the lungs and blood.. 'nuff said on my half.

 

[HLanger1955]

I'm wondering about specific excercise for both cardio as well as stretching...flexibility in freediving seems to be an issue and I feel a desperate need to improve it in water..

 

[CMH]

I get the impression that its good for apnea if anything - afterall all the world class freedivers do aerobic activities (stéphane mifsud)

 

[xristos]

Hello,
I'm new to the forum but freedive some time now in sea for fun, not more than 30 meters deep. Reading all the information from this topic I don't get my question answered since it seems to relate more to the person. So please let me share some brief personal data and ask for you opinion. I am 18 years old and swim mainly freestyle in pool 3 times a week. I do 3 kilometers per one hour season. Do you think this is something that isn't useful for freediving ?
Thanks

 

[Kars]

Hello,
I'm new to the forum but freedive some time now in sea for fun, not more than 30 meters deep. Reading all the information from this topic I don't get my question answered since it seems to relate more to the person. So please let me share some brief personal data and ask for you opinion. I am 18 years old and swim mainly freestyle in pool 3 times a week. I do 3 kilometers per one hour season. Do you think this is something that isn't useful for freediving ?
Thanks

What you have gained that is useful for freediving is: understanding propulsion, streamlining, a general very good condition, a healthy diet and work ethic, and understanding that technique is preferred over force.

For doing higher number freediving you would need to develop more of a sprint type muscles.
For recreational dives, like you hinted towards with your 30m, you need to add technical skills of duckdiving, swimming with fins, equalisation, breathing, chest and diaphragm flexibility. You also need to have an freediving buddy whom can rescue you from say 20m.

With your excellent condition you'll enjoy quicker -dive to dive recovery, and longer dive sessions.
One thing to understand about freediving is that freedivers are moving very efficient, deliberate and minimalisticly.
Look up diving like a seal, like Sebastian Murat explored, and see how he exhales before the dive, and just let himself fall down.

 

[xristos]

Kars,
Do you think that doing 100 meters sprint freestyle for example would be ok ? Or by sprint you mean running out of water ? After doing that for a month ( if it is faster swimming what you mean with short intervals)could i follow with this program I found in the forum ?
"
A typical pool session for me would be something like this:
300 meters breast stroke/DNF: 1 stroke w. head up (normal breast stroke), 3 strokes under - repeat. Fantastic CO2 training!
8x50 m breast stroke/DNF: 1 stroke + 4 strokes under - repeat.
300 m: 25 DNF + 25 breast stroke/relax - repeat
5-10x100 crawl pyramid: 1 stroke 1 breath, 2 strokes 1 breath... ... 9 strokes 1 breath ... and down to 1/1 and up again and... "

http://forums.deeperblue.com/threads/a-few-questions-from-a-newbie.100917/ <---found here
In the above I don't understand one thing: "300 meters breast stroke/DNF" It is to chose between breast stroke and DNF but 300 meter DNF isn't practisable.
About tables I used to do only O2 tables starting from 2:00 ending at 3:30 with 2:00 minutes rest each time and managed a 4:32 personal best. Right now though after some time I didn't practise them I hardly get to complete the table.
I usually have buddy, when I don't I love being just with my mask and snorkel, grabbing a rock and doing static at 3-4 meters watching fish. Static won't last more than 2 minutes but are really relaxing.

 

[Kars]

Hi Xristos,

The training depends on your freediving goals, since I think you're well on your way to exceed normal recreational performance levels, I need to have a clearer picture of what your goal is. Maybe you can describe a dream dive, or divesession, and we can adjust the training accordingly, ok?

Nice to hear you have a buddy, and are enjoying the silence: que Depeche mode here

 

[xristos]

Hi Xristos,

The training depends on your freediving goals, since I think you're well on your way to exceed normal recreational performance levels, I need to have a clearer picture of what your goal is. Maybe you can describe a dream dive, or divesession, and we can adjust the training accordingly, ok?

Nice to hear you have a buddy, and are enjoying the silence: que Depeche mode here

Great question, my goals are to improve my bottom time at those depths at first phase, so that I dive a bit easier, controlled and eventually a bit deeper. I want improve my DNF as well. I think though I will have some trouble equalizing.

 

[Kars]

Well, you can try this:

Yes that's me in the video.
As you see I use very little energy to get down, aided by some weights and a slow but efficient duckdive.
On my nose is a noseclip, if I would use a mask I would have equalised at the surface and held my nose and arm to the chest on the way down. If you have a high HR at the surface or you use much energy to get down, you'll also loose the relaxation at depth. Next time you dive, try to take your relaxation down with you.
To help this you'll need a slow but efficient duck-dive. I find that it helps greatly to imagine myself diving like dolfin over a bar at the surface, which result in my body, bud and legs getting higher out of the water, for more momentum. Also beginners have a hard time going down vertical and streamlined. When I want to do long relaxed bottom dives at shallow depths I use less then full lungs. for deeper stuff I use easy full lungs, avoiding tiring my breathing muscles too much. For the deepest stuff I pack, but not to my max.

For equalising, you can gain a lot from preparation as well as exercise, look up Aharon Solomon's video's here on Deeperblue.

At home and in the pool there are things you can do to train your equalisation techniques. For instance do a headstand, bring your air to your mouth, then push the air from your mouth out through your nose (not exhaling from the lungs). It's a bit easier head up. But this helps your to learn to control the muscles involved in the equalisation technique called Frenzel-Fattah (http://liquivision.com/docs/Frenzel_Fattah_English_r2006.pdf).

 

[xristos]

Thanks a lot

 

[Chipswim]

Very nice explanations Kars !