Equalization Head down

[Roan]

move your head around so that your neck and sinus's find their "right" position. sometimes your jamming your neck, move it (your head) around on the way down.

 

[Apnea_Addict]

I was at the pool today - trying it out again.

It seems that I need to start to equalize right away because if I am later - the ears are jammed.

I tried turning at depth and I could feel it get harder at the moment when I was upside down (the pool is 5 metres deep).

I was trying to use a little neckweight, that made sinking at lot easier. If I try dive on a full inhale I have force myself underwater as I seem to float then.

Holger

 

[daiquiri]

I found an incredibly easy trick to check whether you're doing frenzel or vassilva - in fact, it's so easy I suspect I may be wrong, because it's strange nobody has mentioned it before (or at least I haven't seen anybody writing about this. So you advanced guys out there please check if I'm correct.
What I do is the following - I relax my abs completely, and I put my hand on my belly, or even better, push my ab muscles a little with my fingers to feel them relaxed, and feel if they contract. When I do vassilva, I MUST contract them which I feel at once with my hands, it's so obvious you can't make a mistake. I'm unable to do vassilva without contracting my abs, I can't push strong enough the air from my lungs to pop open my eustachian tubes without contracting those muscles. But, if I do frenzel, I can do it without the least bit of ab contraction, they stay completely relaxed.
So what do you think? Perhaps it works only for those who have tight eustasian tubes - while others can push the air in without contracting the abs? I don't know. Some feedback would be appreciated.

 

[matrixed82]

daiquiri,
In the performance freediving clinic they made us do that exact procedure to check if we were doing vaslava or frenzel. We also put one hand on the throat, the other on the belly. If you're doing the frenzel you should only feel your neck moving, not your belly. I spent all this time trying to learn the frenzel but I was doing it all along :duh .

 

[Apnea_Addict]

And what did the PFI people say what you are supposed to do if you can feel yourself doing just the valsava - or seemingly both at the same time ?

Holger

 

[daiquiri]

daiquiri,
In the performance freediving clinic they made us do that exact procedure to check if we were doing vaslava or frenzel.

I knew there's nothing new under the sun (although I secretly hoped I invented a new method Anyway at least I'm proud I figured out something myself that PFI is actually teaching on their clinics. And now I can be 100% certain I'm doing the frenzel Thanks for the info.

 

[DiverTodd]

After reading a very technical and rather intimidating method, I read this technique for doing the Frenzel, and it made it VERY easy for me:

1. Puff a bit of air into your mouth
2. Close your throat (as if you're about to lift something heavy). If the Adam's Apple moves up, you're doing it.
3. Pinch nose
4. Place tounge on roof of mouth, and try to make a "k" or "guh" sound. This provides the proper "piston" action of the tounge.

I've tried this, even on empty lungs, and it WORKS! Last night, I had my first REAL freedives...on my 3rd attempt I got to 34' ! AND all of this in a cold Ohio quarry! I gotta tell ya, at almost 8pm, it was pretty darn DARK at 34'....good thing my descent line was WHITE. (I can't wait to get my freediving wetsuit, though...my stupid 5mm one piece and hood is like wearing a full-body CORK). However, I gave in to nerves and was using the "fail safe" of Valsalva...as a result, my ears were hurting at depth. I still need more dives to really work on the Frenzel and VTO. The fact that I like/prefer going head down doesn't help, either! lol

Todd

 

[Apnea_Addict]

Hi Todd,

I just tried that in front of the bathroom mirror - with nobody else around.

Works fine - but I tend to forget how to do it once I am upside down in the water. Unlike you it is still something I not completely comfortable with - especially if I have to fight to stay down or go further down.

Holger

 

[matrixed82]

And what did the PFI people say what you are supposed to do if you can feel yourself doing just the valsava - or seemingly both at the same time ?

Holger

I think they gave you a 'homework assignment' to go through the Frenzel-Fattah document to learn the frenzel. They didn't put that much emphasis on it, if I recall correctly everyone in the small group (6 of us in total) was doing the frenzel.

 

[Apnea_Addict]

Last weekend it worked head down up to depth of about 30 feet - at that level we had the first thermocline which may have something to do with the troubles as well.

I was able to try out a monofin and use it for cw for the first time. Equalising seem to go a little easier or maybe it was just because I was concentrating on something else ?

Holger

 

[naiad]

I can now do the Frenzel reliably on land. It works every time, even after a full exhale and reverse pack. Next time I have a pool session with some free time, I'll give it a try.

 

[DiverTodd]

daiquiri,
In the performance freediving clinic they made us do that exact procedure to check if we were doing vaslava or frenzel. We also put one hand on the throat, the other on the belly. If you're doing the frenzel you should only feel your neck moving, not your belly. I spent all this time trying to learn the frenzel but I was doing it all along :duh .

I just tried this myself, and my abs don't move at ALL, either. Gee, I guess I've been doing the Frenzel all along, too! (Come to think of it, all the pressure comes from the air in my mouth, and not from my lungs at ALL.) lol I also experimented with "The Twitch" (pinch nose, build up a little pressure in mouth, then tilt the head to the right and then left). I tried this, and "pop!" "pop!" went both ears in turn. Now to see how it works underwater and UPSIDE-DOWN.

Todd

 

[Apnea_Addict]

I had my first dive today where everything felt alright (while being "upside down"): the Frenzel, the Posture, Position of the Head (and looked good, my buddy said).

It was at our lake in Hemmoor where we have got a new attraction: A small plane on which we have a buoy with a steel wire instead of a rope. This is very solid and makes pull down easy.

I also took my time and went down a lot slower than I used to.

Holger

 

[Apnea_Addict]

I was going down to 20 metres last weekend and 15 metres the one before - there was something I did not notice: I wasn´t staying parallel to the line but bending the upper body now

Next time Í´ll try to stay really close to the line so that should not happen again.

Holger