Freediving effects on high intensity training?

[Silentknight]

Hello everyone,

I am about to begin a 6-12 weeks full-time training camp, with emphasis on running, swimming(including underwater), climbing, carrying weights around: what I would call general fitness, pushed to a very high level. We will be with experimented trainers and a nutritionist. With all that support, planning and focus put into training, I will be able to have very good training discipline.

I have gotten decent results in the past after about 1-2 weeks of consecutive training but have never pushed it more than that. I can dedicate a good 45minute everyday to training breathholds/apnea walks/dnf, etc. so I am expecting to be able to push further than what I have so far, in up to 12 weeks of consecutive quality training.

My question is; could my improvements in the freediving-related exercises have any good or (more importantly) bad effects on the development of my cardio or muscular fitness? Am I shooting myself in the foot by adding the freedive-related stuff to my already very intense physical training? Is my cardio going to take a dive or not develop as quickly? Recuperation? Etc.

I know there are some freedivers on this forum that are also athletes in other disciplines and others that are very well documented on the physiological changes that occurs when diving, so I am quite sure some of you will have a thing or two to say about this!

Thank you :t

 

[cdavis]

Hi Silentknight,

You post an interesting and difficult question. I'm surprised some of DBs more physiologically knowledgeable members haven't commented.

impacts of freediving training on top of what else you are doing are probably a mixed bag with the majority of the impact probably being positive if you don't overdo it. Increasing co2 tolerance and hypoxic ability from freediving training should help your other training and vis versa. If you are diving FRC or do a lot of quite deep diving, there might be some impacts that would have a marginally negative affect on intense cardio exercise. The reverse is also true. There is some evidence that intense cardio thins the air exchange membranes in the lungs; FRC seems to have the opposite effect. Maybe you would be training hard enough to see an impact, don't know.

Seems like the main worry would be over training. Long apnea, particularly with exercise, is pretty demanding. You are putting a lot on your body, might be too much.


Connor