Hello all.
I didnt know about "freediving" until recently, however, I had always been doing it.
I have always loved just me and my mask, no fins or snorkel. Last summer (05) I had nothing to do so at our local beach I would dive to the bottom of every bouy , 15-35 feet. (One thing: I have no official measurements for depths, just guestimates).
Later in the summer my buddies and I were out at and island, and i did some crazy deep dives, as in I waited for the sun to be out all the way and go down...there was something in the water down there that i wanted to check out.. but i remember not really seeing the surface that well and not seeing the canoe that my buddies were in. As far as I know it was high 40's-55.
Anyways, lately I've tried to this excersise (http://www.apneamania.com/code/training_sel.asp?catID=1&tipID=1) whenever I remember (maybe 5 or 6 times in the last couple weeks), but I was doing 3 reps, not five..
I can hold my breath to 2:30 without trouble and long story made short in the pool with some friends yesterday I wasn't feeling 100%, maybe like 70%, but when I was going to do 2:30 underwater to make it official, I stopped at 1:30 and came up, deciding I wanted to hit or break three minutes. Attemp one I was sure wasnt going to do it but I went long and hit 2:41.. I came up and was fine, and was thinking I might have been able to do 3, but I would have been really hurting. So after sitting in the hot tub with some buddies i went back to the pool with them and relaxed for 5 minutes, then went down...at 17 seconds I came back up, the breath I took wasnt going to do... after a minute of recovery and another of prep I went down again, something was feeling wrong so at :37 I came up...I just relaxed and listened to my friend talking for the next couple minutes, then at my one minute countdown started to get ready, went down . The breath I took by all rights wasnt the greatest, but it was the best of the three, and normally I would have stopped at about 2:30... But I took babysteps (okay, I can make it five more...another five...another five...another five...ten seconds! you have to make it!) and started to come up at 3:00 (was at the bottom of the pool, 2.5 meters) and came up with 3:03. I think if my lungs are feeling great and I'm mentally on top, I could do 4.
Using a crappy system at highschool I had the highest vital capacity in my Bio12 class with like 5.4L or something like that. I'm not that fit right now, have a bunch of extra pounds..But now I have a bit more time and will 30min runs every morning.I'm 18 and 5'11.5, and weight 200Lbs, give or take 5 pounds. I'm a big guy (So I'm told) with or without the pounds. I have an Olympic size swimming pool (bulkhead at 25m - "no swimming under") but no lakes super close. I'm going to Unversity, but in the summer I'll go back home where I have 4 lakes within 5 minutes, including my family's fave beach.
My "ultimate" goal is to hit 100 feet, just me and my mask (and swim trunks, not a speedo or skin/wetsuit). I'd rather I didnt do any freediving courses to accomplish this, other than learning proper safety etc. Also my dad doesn't think I can do 50meters dynamic (no fins of course) which I will attempt next. 25m can be kinda hard or easy, depending on the day. I REALLY cant turn around and go back though, I dont know why.
On a funny note I cannot really swim that well, as in technique. I didn't know it was the "front crawl" until last year, and cannot do any swimming properly, I usually get around underwater using my own technique (which seemed to always work until lately when I've tried to do big breast stokes underwater.. ) I tend to use my legs not very well,kindof like a big kick out to the sides, but I dont think it does much..
I Live in B.C., Canada, right in the middle of the province (no oceans, and the town I live in has a lake but its a good 20 minute drive..I have no car)
Also, all of my "freediving" has been in fresh water.
One other question:are there age categories and skill level categories in Canadian/International competitions?
Anyways, bottom line is how to improve (Learn to swim, lose weight, better underwater technique) and how much potential do you guys/gals think I have?
Sorry about the poor paragraph structure, etc.. Next time I'll organize me ideas before my post.
Have a great weekend, and God Bless
Arca_Tern
I didnt know about "freediving" until recently, however, I had always been doing it.
I have always loved just me and my mask, no fins or snorkel. Last summer (05) I had nothing to do so at our local beach I would dive to the bottom of every bouy , 15-35 feet. (One thing: I have no official measurements for depths, just guestimates).
Later in the summer my buddies and I were out at and island, and i did some crazy deep dives, as in I waited for the sun to be out all the way and go down...there was something in the water down there that i wanted to check out.. but i remember not really seeing the surface that well and not seeing the canoe that my buddies were in. As far as I know it was high 40's-55.
Anyways, lately I've tried to this excersise (http://www.apneamania.com/code/training_sel.asp?catID=1&tipID=1) whenever I remember (maybe 5 or 6 times in the last couple weeks), but I was doing 3 reps, not five..
I can hold my breath to 2:30 without trouble and long story made short in the pool with some friends yesterday I wasn't feeling 100%, maybe like 70%, but when I was going to do 2:30 underwater to make it official, I stopped at 1:30 and came up, deciding I wanted to hit or break three minutes. Attemp one I was sure wasnt going to do it but I went long and hit 2:41.. I came up and was fine, and was thinking I might have been able to do 3, but I would have been really hurting. So after sitting in the hot tub with some buddies i went back to the pool with them and relaxed for 5 minutes, then went down...at 17 seconds I came back up, the breath I took wasnt going to do... after a minute of recovery and another of prep I went down again, something was feeling wrong so at :37 I came up...I just relaxed and listened to my friend talking for the next couple minutes, then at my one minute countdown started to get ready, went down . The breath I took by all rights wasnt the greatest, but it was the best of the three, and normally I would have stopped at about 2:30... But I took babysteps (okay, I can make it five more...another five...another five...another five...ten seconds! you have to make it!) and started to come up at 3:00 (was at the bottom of the pool, 2.5 meters) and came up with 3:03. I think if my lungs are feeling great and I'm mentally on top, I could do 4.
Using a crappy system at highschool I had the highest vital capacity in my Bio12 class with like 5.4L or something like that. I'm not that fit right now, have a bunch of extra pounds..But now I have a bit more time and will 30min runs every morning.I'm 18 and 5'11.5, and weight 200Lbs, give or take 5 pounds. I'm a big guy (So I'm told) with or without the pounds. I have an Olympic size swimming pool (bulkhead at 25m - "no swimming under") but no lakes super close. I'm going to Unversity, but in the summer I'll go back home where I have 4 lakes within 5 minutes, including my family's fave beach.
My "ultimate" goal is to hit 100 feet, just me and my mask (and swim trunks, not a speedo or skin/wetsuit). I'd rather I didnt do any freediving courses to accomplish this, other than learning proper safety etc. Also my dad doesn't think I can do 50meters dynamic (no fins of course) which I will attempt next. 25m can be kinda hard or easy, depending on the day. I REALLY cant turn around and go back though, I dont know why.
On a funny note I cannot really swim that well, as in technique. I didn't know it was the "front crawl" until last year, and cannot do any swimming properly, I usually get around underwater using my own technique (which seemed to always work until lately when I've tried to do big breast stokes underwater.. ) I tend to use my legs not very well,kindof like a big kick out to the sides, but I dont think it does much..
I Live in B.C., Canada, right in the middle of the province (no oceans, and the town I live in has a lake but its a good 20 minute drive..I have no car)
Also, all of my "freediving" has been in fresh water.
One other question:are there age categories and skill level categories in Canadian/International competitions?
Anyways, bottom line is how to improve (Learn to swim, lose weight, better underwater technique) and how much potential do you guys/gals think I have?
Sorry about the poor paragraph structure, etc.. Next time I'll organize me ideas before my post.
Have a great weekend, and God Bless
Arca_Tern
