Hi DB Crew,
In the last thread involving a fair bit of debate over Seb's diving techniques I was tempted to throw my ten cents into the conversation based on my "traditional" upbringing in diving techniques. Instead, I decided I should keep an open mind and contact Seb to try and better understand his viewpoints and techniques before jumping on the bandwagon and voicing an opinion. As it happened he had a course in Sydney that month, so I contacted him to try and get a place on it, but unfortunately the course had to be cancelled due to events beyond anyone's control. I was rather disappointed but this is when I learnt my first important lesson about Seb.
Lesson 1: He is incredibly generous and supportive of those genuinely wanting to learn.....
Even though he had never met me, after a short phone conversation he remembered me from an email I sent him over a year before and offered to put me up at his own home so that we could do some training together and talk about the different techniques and approaches to freediving. As I had some time off between jobs I booked a flight the next day! Not long after he rolled up in his station wagon with the dog in the back to pick me up I learnt my second key lesson about him.
Lesson 2: Despite the mystique and media created perception that surrounds him, he is actually a really normal and very humble person.....
I had a view of him(media created) that has very little to do with who he is. For starters, he does eat, sleep, walk the dog, etc like the rest of us! He was very matter of fact but yet humble about his achievements which many in his position would not be.
BTW - I don't think Guinness (his dog) cares too much what we all think! - smart pup!
Lesson 3: He knows what he's talking about.....
He has mountains of diving physiology articles, research papers and test data that he weaves skillfully into the conversations to better explain complicated information to those less educated in these topics - like me!! Additionally the test data that he showed me from his own research was compelling in supporting his approach and when I tried his techniques myself I was amazed.
Lesson 4: Exhales as I've done them before bare no relationship to how Seb suggests they are technically executed or used in diving.
Seb is the first to agree that the way we "traditionally¨ do exhales is likely to decrease safety in comparison to the increased safety he suggests is inherent in how he does them. This may be the reason that such an emotive response to his techniques occurred in other threads.
My Results from the initial attempts.
Context - My inhale dynamic PB (to the verge of samba) is a humble 90m. To do this requires 30mins of stretching and pack stretching followed by a series of statics and a final breathup with close to max packing.
I am not going to explain the detail behind why his techniques work, as others (Seb particularly) are better positioned to do that and have...but here is what happened and this is fact:
Pool sessions:
1. Arrive at the pool and get in the water without prep
2. Shallow and very slow breathing for 10mins immersed to the neck and facing the sun. This was done concentrating on the discomfort to follow to keep the stress levels HIGH.
3. 2 full but slow breaths with a passive exhale on the second sinking to the pool floor.
4. FRC static until contractions start and then swim aiming for a 1:1 ratio of static time to swimming time.
We did 1 max effort like this each day for three days. My times and distances were:
Day 1
FRC static 30secs (first contraction) then swim - 50m
Total dive time - 1:10
Day 2
FRC static 40secs (2nd contraction) then swim - 73m
Total dive time - 1:30
Day 3
FRC static 50secs (3rd contraction) then swim - 78m
Total dive time - 1:40
(This was the best one as it was perfectly balanced 50secs static then 50secs swim)
These dives were the most uncomfortable, stressful but yet cleanest max dynamics I've done and I know that by following this approach that 100m is only sessions away. In comparison to my inhale PB - 90m this is extraordinary as it was done with no warm up, on exhale, stressed and after a static time that is equal to my swim time but yet still resulted in close to 80m!!
Regards
Andy
In the last thread involving a fair bit of debate over Seb's diving techniques I was tempted to throw my ten cents into the conversation based on my "traditional" upbringing in diving techniques. Instead, I decided I should keep an open mind and contact Seb to try and better understand his viewpoints and techniques before jumping on the bandwagon and voicing an opinion. As it happened he had a course in Sydney that month, so I contacted him to try and get a place on it, but unfortunately the course had to be cancelled due to events beyond anyone's control. I was rather disappointed but this is when I learnt my first important lesson about Seb.
Lesson 1: He is incredibly generous and supportive of those genuinely wanting to learn.....
Even though he had never met me, after a short phone conversation he remembered me from an email I sent him over a year before and offered to put me up at his own home so that we could do some training together and talk about the different techniques and approaches to freediving. As I had some time off between jobs I booked a flight the next day! Not long after he rolled up in his station wagon with the dog in the back to pick me up I learnt my second key lesson about him.
Lesson 2: Despite the mystique and media created perception that surrounds him, he is actually a really normal and very humble person.....
I had a view of him(media created) that has very little to do with who he is. For starters, he does eat, sleep, walk the dog, etc like the rest of us! He was very matter of fact but yet humble about his achievements which many in his position would not be.
BTW - I don't think Guinness (his dog) cares too much what we all think! - smart pup!
Lesson 3: He knows what he's talking about.....
He has mountains of diving physiology articles, research papers and test data that he weaves skillfully into the conversations to better explain complicated information to those less educated in these topics - like me!! Additionally the test data that he showed me from his own research was compelling in supporting his approach and when I tried his techniques myself I was amazed.
Lesson 4: Exhales as I've done them before bare no relationship to how Seb suggests they are technically executed or used in diving.
Seb is the first to agree that the way we "traditionally¨ do exhales is likely to decrease safety in comparison to the increased safety he suggests is inherent in how he does them. This may be the reason that such an emotive response to his techniques occurred in other threads.
My Results from the initial attempts.
Context - My inhale dynamic PB (to the verge of samba) is a humble 90m. To do this requires 30mins of stretching and pack stretching followed by a series of statics and a final breathup with close to max packing.
I am not going to explain the detail behind why his techniques work, as others (Seb particularly) are better positioned to do that and have...but here is what happened and this is fact:
Pool sessions:
1. Arrive at the pool and get in the water without prep
2. Shallow and very slow breathing for 10mins immersed to the neck and facing the sun. This was done concentrating on the discomfort to follow to keep the stress levels HIGH.
3. 2 full but slow breaths with a passive exhale on the second sinking to the pool floor.
4. FRC static until contractions start and then swim aiming for a 1:1 ratio of static time to swimming time.
We did 1 max effort like this each day for three days. My times and distances were:
Day 1
FRC static 30secs (first contraction) then swim - 50m
Total dive time - 1:10
Day 2
FRC static 40secs (2nd contraction) then swim - 73m
Total dive time - 1:30
Day 3
FRC static 50secs (3rd contraction) then swim - 78m
Total dive time - 1:40
(This was the best one as it was perfectly balanced 50secs static then 50secs swim)
These dives were the most uncomfortable, stressful but yet cleanest max dynamics I've done and I know that by following this approach that 100m is only sessions away. In comparison to my inhale PB - 90m this is extraordinary as it was done with no warm up, on exhale, stressed and after a static time that is equal to my swim time but yet still resulted in close to 80m!!
Regards
Andy
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