FRC as a warm up before full lung static??

[apfire26]

This question is in regards to my dry static practice. Today I started to see how long I could hold using only frc. I started off at only 30 seconds but over about 25 minutes of practice I was able to get about 1.30 which I was very impressed with. At this point my confidence was high so I tried a full lung hold shortly after and I was able to hit my new personal best of 4.06. I felt great during most of the hold wit contractions coming at the 3 min mark, they usually start at 2 min. My best time before this was 3.45 and its been a couple weeks since I've done that. My question is...are the frc holds acting as a type of hypervintilation before my full lung holds or is the confidence that the frc hold gives me the reason for my improvements?? Or I guess it could be a little of both.

 

[apfire26]

Adding a bit to this. I waited a few minutes between the frc and full lung hold with slow steady breathing. Id like to use this method of warm up before my wet static attempts and even dives (once I get that far along). I know from what I've read that I do not want to hyperventilate before dives, so id like to know what people think about this method before I continue working on it. Thanks.

 

[Simos]

I used to do exactly the same - FRC holds themselves are not acting as hyperventilation, they're probably just getting your dive reflex to kick in. And spending 25 minutes doing them in bed etc definitely makes your body relaxed, gets you in the zone and vasoconstricted.

In my case I could get similar results with successive full lung holds before the max, the only problem is that they take a lot longer to do and are more tiring.

Make sure you always have a buddy watching you for any holds in water.

 

[apfire26]

Thanks for the reply simos. I was hoping for a little more discusion here on the subject but no big deal. Anyway, I've had a couple more days to practice this method with very good results for myself. Yesterday and today I've done a fairly quick warm up with frc holds, about 10 minutes, my last hold going to at least 1.10, preferably more. After a 3 minute break of normal breathing my first full lung hold yesterday was 3.20 and after the same warm up today my first full lung was 3.30. This is a big improvement for myself because prior to this new method I was finding even 3 minutes a bit hard to accomplish with my average hold only being about 2.30. I've been sick the last 2 days as well so I've only done 3 full lung holds all going well over the 3.00 mark easily which is exciting. My hopes are once over this cold and with a little more practise I will be able to hit 4.00 consistantly. Also I'm going to add that it seems the longer my last frc hold is, the longer it takes contractions to start on my full hold. Although I do need to do more holds to see if this is accurate.

 

[Simos]

I haven't been practicing at all lately so can't tell you for sure but for me as well contractions used to start really late (for me at least). It's been a 2-3 months with no practice now and I tried some statics last week and i was getting contractions in less than 1 min!!!

If you hyperventilate more in general contractions come later - contractions are actually good and prolong the hold, as long as you can take them. There are lots of threads on hyperventilation - it's generally bad and to be avoided. FRC holds won't by themselves cause hyperventilation, it's how you breath in between holds that determines that. If you just do normal breathing you should be fine.

In general, different people have very different approaches. Try different things and see what works for you - relaxation is key!

 

[apfire26]

I notice that some people don't relize that their warm up or breath ups are leading to hyperventialtion because it seems there are a few different ways of blowing off to much co2 without doing the quick deep breaths usually assotiated with hyperventilating. I'm fairly confident now that my new technique is not in any way hyperventilating. It just seems to be working so well for me that I'm surprized I can not find many people talking about it in other threads.

 

[Andrew the fish]

...my new technique...

well, I was using this method for a few months now, so its not new technique, and definitely not yours

But I was doing it a little differently - empty lungs dive to some 6ft, slowly, to get a little bit of a blood shift. Or sometimes I dive FRC and lay on the bottom of the pool and do some negative packs to get some air for bubble rings, sometimes I get two, never manage more than 3 rings, just can't get enough air for a full-size ring.

Next I would do like 10 minutes of underwater time with one-breath short surface pops. After that I am basically part fish for good half an hour. I can't comment on how would this "warm up" routine reflect on my PB times. I just dive to my heart content, with ease and comfort.

 

[apfire26]

At the time of typing that it never crossed my mind that anyone here would take that statement as literal as you did,lol. I was in no way implying that I came up with this idea or that it is new. It is in fact a "new to me technique" that I have just started to try. The main reason for the thread is to be sure its not an improper warm up before dives. Anyway..there is a section on my co2 and o2 table app that allows me to customize one myself. I turned this into a warm up table before dry static holds and hope to eventually use it before dives and/or wet statics. Its about a 15 min warm up that basically gets my frc holds to about 1.30 or more. (It takes almost 15 minutes of practise to achieve this). Once I'm there, like I said earlier I wait 3 minutes then on to the full holds. Its working great so far. When I'm not sick I'm going to spend some more time on it in hopes getting my frc hold to 2 minutes which in turn I think will push my pb time up some.

 

[Simos]

The one thing about FRC and empty holds is that it won't train your CO2 tolerance as much - given that you have recently started, you'll probably benefit more from CO2 tables.

Still, the FRC holds might be a good 'warmup' routine. You will find out that more experienced freedivers experiment or use the 'no warmup' approach; it's harder and you get contractions a lot earlier but the theory is that it does lead to a longer max hold.

 

[fabikp]

Hi all, can anybody explain the difference between "warm up" and "breath up"(if there is any) and what diving or breathholding without warm up exactly means ? Thanks for answer. Pavel

 

[Simos]

Hi Pavel, they are not really technical terms as such so people use them in different ways but most I guess will refer to their breathing routine before a hold as 'breathup' whereas warmup usually is referred to whatever you do before the 'max' hold or dive eg the warmup could involve a series of breatholds or shallower dives etc

No warmup diving is exactly what the name says; you go straight to your max dive without warmup holds or dives.

 

[Andrew the fish]

also, "breath up" is breathing routine literally just before the dive, minute or two away. It actually is HV, called differently :martial