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Dry vs wet STA

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A

alit

New Member
Jun 7, 2010
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Hi all:)

I'm new to this forum after just (re)discovering apnea. When i was a kid i always stayed under water for as long as i could, but when i growed up i "forgot" the whole thing. After seeing a TV show with Norway's leading female apneaist i decided to check my max breath hold on the sofa.

So what are your experiences on personal best times of dry vs wet statics? Could i expect to make significantly shorter or longer holds wet vs dry, or about the same times?

I have contacted the local freediving club, but im afraid that trying wet statics will result in a much shorter hold than i did dry. (embarrasing to announce a PB and not beeing able to get even close in the pool...:))
 
I just practiced my first wet statics this week in the pool. My personnal best is 3:20 and 2 minutes is relatively easy after a few warmups. After a normal warmup session I managed 2:45 in the pool. So, I'd say I didn't really notice much of a difference between the two. Though, if I change positions in the pool I get different levels of needing to breath.
At the end of the day, who cares if you suck in the pool. Everyone's there for the same reason, cause they like holding their breath and want to get better. I met a fellow spearo at the pool and we talked and he helped me out with my breath holding and swimming style. I went from swimming 25 meters to 50 with my fins just by changing my technique. Good luck!
 
thanks a lot for the reply, and good luck with your training as well
 
If you are lucky enough to have a club by you definately take advantage of it. Your max ettemps will be much greater not just cause of water(though I do prefer wet static) but its easier to push yourself knowing that knowlegable people are there to look after your safety and talk you through your static, a good buddy in the water can make all the difference in a performance they can likely guide you in breath-up strategies and other elements that ultimatley matter allot more than wet or dry. I also think if your goal is diving wet statics add more to your comfort in water than dry. But if your on your own, dry only, wet only with supervision.
 
I am definately only doing dry statics now, because the lack of a buddy. And i actually only "trained" 4 sessions yet so i probably need a basic course or something...lol. But im fortunate enough to live fairly close to a club with active freedivers. The norwegian community is small, but there are guys there who do 200m DNF - and should be able to guide me in the correct direction:) I have already contacted them, only thing is finding the time to go to the pool.....

So if i understand you correct your dry PB isnt a lot more than your wet PB?
 
Hi alit and welcome,

good to hear you (re)discover apnea!

alit said:
So if i understand you correct your dry PB isnt a lot more than your wet PB?
Click to expand...

Everybody is different... for example my PB in wet static is way better than dry... I can relax a lot better in the water than sitting or lying anywhere else!

miguel
 
Thanks for the welcome miguel

I also experienced that my times vary a lot between my 4 sessions... sometimes im able to relax even if it hurts, other times i just "give up" when the contractions start.... did you guys find that times became more consistent with training, or is it still varying a lot between days?

Looking forward to getting to the club and start learning this the proper way....
 
I am very new to the sport like you, I have only been practising statics for 3 weeks, so take whatever I say with a grain of salt.

However, I would expect that the difference in wet and dry statics vary betwen people. So far, I have been able to get better times dry than wet. My personal bests after a few weeks training is 5 minutes dry and 4:15 wet.

I find dry easy for a couple reasons, 1. I am able to get a bigger last breath as there is no water pressure acting on my chest. Part of this just means I still have a lot to learn about getting a good last lungful of air in the water. and 2. I am able to fight through contractions better on land than in the water. I think number two will eventually change as I get more comfortable in the water. While on land I am able to relax through intesnse contractions more easily then in the water. In the water feeling heavy contractions still makes me anxious and uncomfortable making it harder to last as long. I do notice however that the contractions in the water do not feel as intense as they do on land, so perhaps when I break through the mental barrier and learn to relax through contractions in the water I expect eventually my wet static times will become better than my dry times.


http://descendbelow.wordpress.com/
 
my wet static is better than dry, but I don't do many dry static max attemps and havent been working on o2 co2 tables much lately. I think it is easier to completely relax floating face down in water, and I think thier is more a sense of committing to the static if in water, it's so easy to bail out on a dry static, but seriously the encouragement of your fellow freedivers or buddy in the pool goes a very long way(a bit of peer pressure doesnt hurt either). My wet satic PB is 5min43sec. I would be much better if I had a club or regular buddy to train with so consider yourself extremely lucky
 
A few days ago I hit a personal best of 3'30 and today in the pool I hit 3 minutes.

As for contractions, I generally stop my breath hold when they start every second or less. I haven't been able to get past this guppying. Anyone have any tips on going past this point?
 
stretch,stretch, stretch, the tighter you are the more spastic your contractions seem to be, when you are at a point you are about to give up toward the end have your buddy throw random simple questions at you, i.e. what is your favorite color? etc. it forces your brain to shift to the question and less on the panic for air.
 
What kind of stretching? I've heard about intercostal stretching but have no idea how to do that, or just stretch my body out? I'm going to try that random question out tonight.
 
Thanks all for great replies When it comes to stretching i did see a video at youtube where a guy did an exhale dive to the bottom of the pool, and stretching his abdominal muscles there. The same movements would probably work on land as well...? i dont have the link but you should try a search at youtube.

Nobody with experience when it comes to consistency of holds between days? I have experienced a 2 min difference in max hold between days, even if preparation is mostly the same.....
 
Like you I'm pretty new. I don't have a reliable buddy so it's been hard to try statics in the pool and I haven't done a max attempt, just few halfhearted shots when my buddy has been there. What I have noticed is that dry statics contractions start at averag 2 min, 3 min on a good day, but in the water at around 1'30 or 2'00 at best. Then again when I have done statics in a pool it's usually after a decent swim session, so that would make a major difference!

And there is huge variants between days, if you do some reading on here people say that's why they don't train statics as they get frustrated at the variation. Lots of aerobic exercise and being tired will significantly decrease performance, as does alcohol consumption the night or even week before, millions of things... Also, if you overtrain statics you can 'burn out', so trying max attempts every day is not actually very beneficial.

I have been working on 'feeling' contractions and learning how to relax, and stretching, it makes a huge difference. I haven't tried a max attempt for over a month, when I started, i got some pretty good numbers (through sheer stubborness), but since then I've been getting numbers about a minute less, because beyond that point I can't stay relaxed, and it totally defeats the purpose to flail round in discomfort even if the number is high

I have found one of the best things to help with consistency has been a countdown timer (with alarm) with my tables, rather than watching the clock, so you can focus on feeling your body and reactions, and not think about 'how much longer' - if it's a number you know is within reasonable reach, it's easier to shift the focus to awareness and relaxation. Someone suggested to focus on training statics as 'every time' rather than a max attempt, and increase this gradually week by week (5-10 secs).

The Manual of freediving has lots of stretches and breathing exercises in it. Ashtanga (not only the pranayama part) yoga will give really, really good results. It's worth going to a class for a few months until you get some experience, then you can get away with doing it in the living room if it's too expensive.

The thread "How to Flow in Freediving" is a great one to look at if you haven't already
 
alit said:
Hi all

I have contacted the local freediving club, but im afraid that trying wet statics will result in a much shorter hold than i did dry. (embarrasing to announce a PB and not beeing able to get even close in the pool...)
Click to expand...

I know exactly what you mean but I think they would be understanding - I am sure this is very common! And you will eventually get that result, or even better with patience and practise.
 
no need to anounce your performaces at this point just do the statics and try your best. There is a standard safety protical, your buddy will tap you on the shoulder every min or 30sec or whatever you agree on and you respond to the tap with an ok signal so they know your ok.They update you on time and talk you through the static so you can push it as far as you can no need for predetermined announcement unless your training for a record attemp or something. When I spoke of stretching I'm not neccessarilly focused on abdominals or intercostals, but whole body in my case I really had to loosen up upper back thoulders etc, you want your body as relaxed and loose as possible, regular deep tissue message has helped as well, if your body is tight you tend to tensen up more on the contractions wich makes them more violents and wastes more energy
 
Thanks again guys My questions are all answered! Now its only training that remainsrofl
 
Hi folks, I haven't read it all. Just to share my exp. I have dry STA few seconds better than wet ones. The guy (200 m DNF) Alit metioned is Bjarte, his nick is B-J, just in case you would like to contact him this way .
 
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