Question Asking for tips during the first few meters

[hashed-potato]

Hi all,

I'm a beginner freediver that just got my AIDA2 last month. I'm sure this question must have been asked in this forum a few times already, but I couldn't find any by searching. Please point me to other resources if I've missed them.

Although I have no trouble diving ~12m, I feel like the first 2-3m is super hard if I can't equalize every ~0.5m for the first 3-4m. I think this makes sense because compression happens the most in the first few meters. So I'm currently holding my nose with one hand when I'm doing a duck dive, so that I can equalize immediately as I go down.

But I think this is inefficient, because I can only use one arm during duck dive, and my body doesn't get as streamlined as using both arms.

I see everyone else using both of their arms to duck dive and they tell me that until 2-3m, their ears don't feel very uncomfortable.

But in my case, I feel very uncomfortable if I can't equalize immediately after duck diving.

I tried pre-equalization (creating negative pressure in my middle ear) to compensate for the initial pressure, but although it works for my left ear, my right ear equalizes back immediately and I can't create any negative pressure for my right ear.

So I'd like to ask if anyone else had this trouble when you first started out, and how you overcame/worked around it?

 

[musubi]

Hi all,

I'm a beginner freediver that just got my AIDA2 last month. I'm sure this question must have been asked in this forum a few times already, but I couldn't find any by searching. Please point me to other resources if I've missed them.

Although I have no trouble diving ~12m, I feel like the first 2-3m is super hard if I can't equalize every ~0.5m for the first 3-4m. I think this makes sense because compression happens the most in the first few meters. So I'm currently holding my nose with one hand when I'm doing a duck dive, so that I can equalize immediately as I go down.

But I think this is inefficient, because I can only use one arm during duck dive, and my body doesn't get as streamlined as using both arms.

I see everyone else using both of their arms to duck dive and they tell me that until 2-3m, their ears don't feel very uncomfortable.

But in my case, I feel very uncomfortable if I can't equalize immediately after duck diving.

I tried pre-equalization (creating negative pressure in my middle ear) to compensate for the initial pressure, but although it works for my left ear, my right ear equalizes back immediately and I can't create any negative pressure for my right ear.

So I'd like to ask if anyone else had this trouble when you first started out, and how you overcame/worked around it?

Hey hashed-potato!
It's interesting you bring this up since I too feel this same way. I normally try to duck dive without the use of my arms. One hand is holding my nose and the other is holding my speargun. So what I've done to assist me is the use of a neck weight. It helps me tip over easier and gain a bit more momentum on the duck dive. Of course having a gun in my hand helps pull me down as well. What if you also considered a smaller weight on your wrist? Just a thought.

Right now, I'm running 2 lb of neck weight and the rest is on my waist (6 lbs). That said, I don't always get my duck dive right, and I've never felt it the most efficient. But, it's what makes me the most comfortable and I'm still able to hit the depths I want to which is sometimes down to 35 m. I've just practiced a lot doing my duck dives like this.

Hope this helps some.

 

[adrian.u]

Hello hashed-potato!

This is interesting to me since I definitely don't find it too uncomfortable to go down 3m or so without equalising at all. -That's not say I can't feel the pressure in my ears by that depth - I'd certainly normally equalise well before then (you're no doubt aware it's good practice to equalise as soon as you can, before even barely feeling the pressure). Simply saying I'd have to get to more like ~4m before it's getting really uncomfortable without equalising.

So I wonder what's causing the difference here...?

I spent a lot of time swimming when I was a teenager (many years ago now), and used to swim underwater a lot. I didn't know about equalising back then, so I would dive down to the deep end (normally ~3m I think, and sometimes briefly ~4m in the diving pool) and just thought that heavy feeling in your ears was something you simply had to put up with.
Was only after hearing about freediving (~3 years ago), and reading up about the need to equalise (was during covid, so couldn't try it for real right away), that I soon afterwards started practicing it for myself when I was swimming at the local pool, and learnt to equalise properly (first Valsalva, but actually naturally morphed into Frenzel after a couple of months, without me even realising!)

Do you have a local pool you can visit fairly regularly? If so, you could maybe do some experimenting there.

Here are a few things I'd be interested to try out if I was in your position...

- If you swim down a couple of metres (without duck dive, just making your way down at a fairly shallow angle), do you feel the same level of discomfort as quickly? Or does it not get so bad so much as when you go down vertically with a duck dive?
- What about if you start upright, and exhale just enough to let yourself slowly sink? (so you're sinking right way up rather than upside-down)
- Now get into duck dive position and again exhale enough to start sinking, but upside-down this time. Now you're going down more slowly than you would with a proper duck dive, so you have a bit more time to experience what's going on in your ears.
- Do you find that being upside-down makes the difference? (So sinking right way up isn't as uncomfortable so soon, or even when swimming down at a relatively shallow angle.) Or is it pretty much the same for all?
- Do you find sinking more slowly makes it not end up quite so bad for the same depths as when doing full duck-dive?

So far I've suggested you try all the above without equalising at all, just to compare how the uncomfortable feelings develop with depth under different orientations. (Of course, you shouldn't let it become painful at all - come back up asap if it starts to get too uncomfortable...)
But then I'd repeat the above experiments while equalising, and see if the different orientations make a difference to how that feels.

I'm thinking one possibility may be that you're finding it more difficult to equalise properly/fully when upside-down. That might be to do with your body positioning in some way - e.g. make sure your head is straight, not tilted backwards, and make sure your back is straight, not arched, etc. - or maybe it's more physiological - there's certainly a difference in how gravity is acting on various parts of the middle ear when upside-down, and I suspect it only improves by doing more equalising under better conditions (i.e. not upside-down - start right way up where it's easier to equalise fully, and progress to swimming at steeper angles).

There's loads more I could say, but so much would depend on what you find from above, and this reply is already plenty long enough so I'll end there!

Let us know how you get on...

 

[adrian.u]

BTW, a couple of things I meant to ask...

You said:

I tried pre-equalization (creating negative pressure in my middle ear) ... I can't create any negative pressure for my right ear.

I'm assuming you meant positive pressure? (Equalising increases the pressure in your middle ears to match the increasing pressure with depth - I doubt you're actually doing a reverse Frenzel, or some such thing when pre-equalising, right...?)

Also, your mention of the difference between ears reminded me to check if the uncomfortable feeling while descending during duck dive is mainly right ear, or is it both at that point?
Finally, during the 'experiments' I suggested in my previous reply, you can compare how the ears feel (sinking more slowly, or swimming down at a shallower angle, should give a bit more time for you to concentrate on what's going on with each ear independently...)

 

[Rodrigo Gonçalves]

Hey hashed-potato!
It's interesting you bring this up since I too feel this same way. I normally try to duck dive without the use of my arms. One hand is holding my nose and the other is holding my speargun. So what I've done to assist me is the use of a neck weight. It helps me tip over easier and gain a bit more momentum on the duck dive. Of course having a gun in my hand helps pull me down as well. What if you also considered a smaller weight on your wrist? Just a thought.

Right now, I'm running 2 lb of neck weight and the rest is on my waist (6 lbs). That said, I don't always get my duck dive right, and I've never felt it the most efficient. But, it's what makes me the most comfortable and I'm still able to hit the depths I want to which is sometimes down to 35 m. I've just practiced a lot doing my duck dives like this.

Hope this helps some.

This is similar to what I do, and I guess it works. Btw, can I ask you what you do to the speargun while descending? I feel like the way I do it, just having my right arm stretched down and holding the speargun, isn't very relaxed and streamlined. I've also tried holding the gun on the barrel and then bringing it to my side, but that way the duck dive isn't so smooth

 

[musubi]

This is similar to what I do, and I guess it works. Btw, can I ask you what you do to the speargun while descending? I feel like the way I do it, just having my right arm stretched down and holding the speargun, isn't very relaxed and streamlined. I've also tried holding the gun on the barrel and then bringing it to my side, but that way the duck dive isn't so smooth

When I go to make the duck dive, my right arm is extended out to help with momentum and making the dive. Then I bring the gun to my side, holding it mid-barrel, so the tip is just above my head. So, my left hand is constantly equalizing, pinching my nose, and my right arm and hand is relaxed as possible, by my side.

It's not the most streamlined position, but it's the most relaxed for me. I concentrate on my head posture a lot to improve my streamline.

I find that extending my arm or arms out, into the most streamlined position, takes a lot more effort for me to hold, thereby using more oxygen.

 

[sfolks]

Hi Hashed-Potato!

They way I manage it is to pre-equalize at the surface. Before I duck dive, I equalize once, take the snorkel out of my mouth, and then duck dive using both arms. After that one arm stroke I bring my left hand up to my nose and begin equalizing continuously. That first equalization at the surface buys me what I need to get to the second equalization and beyond.