how often to train?

[apnea_beast]

i have been doing 6-10 dry breatholds every night before bed for the past week or two. also 3 or 4 times a week i do 10-15 underwater lengths in a 25yd pool. is this too much or too little training? is it cool to do the breatholds every night?

 

[perow1]

Like with any sport I would say that a gradual increase in training intensity is the way. If we would talk running and ask the same question; Is +100km each week to much? No, if you are an experienced runner with years of practice building up to that training intensity. If the average amateur were to increase the weekly dosage to +100km fast, that runner would be burnt out or injured very quickly.

I guess the same goes with apnea as with any other training. Consistency in the key. It is not hard to do apnea every day for a short period of time, but can you be consistent with that amount oftraining? Maybe it is smarter to do it less often to start with, until you can cope with the stress long and daily apnea sessions does to you mentally and to your body aswell. It is more importatnt to be able to keep up with the training over a longer period of time. And, as always, rest is a vital part of training.

 

[uw_ikarus]

One should not forget that training without rest has a counter effect. For what concerns me, 2 times a weak apnea training, ca 3 times aerobic and anaerobic exercise is what I can afford, both from free time available but also for my own physical limits. As I learned, going beyond this makes me simply feeling tired and my apnea resistance worsens. Well, one also should have some fun when doing apnea...

 

[AltSaint]

A couple of very valid points. Although you didn't mention doing the underwater lengths with someone else, I am assuming there is a 'someone else' when you are doing them?

 

[apnea_beast]

this is just my new training schedule. i've been doing underwater laps for a little more than a year. when i'm not doing underwater laps a few times a week i'm usually freedive spearfishing a few times a week. ive been apnea spearin since i was a kid. i also did some apnea walking a bunch this fall and winter. a year ago i could hold my breath for maybe a minute sitting at my computer and now i can do 3. (the intensity of these holds is half 70-80% and half 90-95%). so given that training history is adding the nightly breatholds in addition to 3-4 pool sessions a week too much? or should i do the nightly breatholds on days i can't make it to the pool? i've been lifting weights consistently since i was 15( 20 now) and did a lot of running in high school as well. so ive got a pretty good athletic base. i do weights 3 times a week for 20-45 minutes.


as for the laps. there is a lifeguard. i only do one length and then work on relaxing and reducing recovery time so i don't do another until i feel ready. i don't like to push it underwater. i've done two lengths in the past but i like to stick to one while training, for safety's sake. i'll push it a little more when im out of the water.

i have a blast training! i wouldn't do if it wasn't fun. it zens me out and there are plenty of bikini clad girls at the pool who are impressed at my aquatic skills. when i do dry breatholds i am usually at my computer watching spearfishing vids on youtube.

 

[trux]

Be careful with the underwater laps anyway - the lifeguard is usually worthless unless he does nothing else than permanently watching exclusively only you. Too many freedivers died in this way. Many cases were reported here on DB. In some cases the lifeguards were informed about the freediver's training, but before they have spot him, it was too late. You can blackout without any prior warning easier than you think. The breath-hold capacity is not always the same, and as well the urge to breath and surface varies greatly, depending on many conditions (including hyperventilation or diet). Especially after a weight-lifting workout you may run out of oxygen much faster than normally - the metabolism consumes much more oxygen for eliminating or removing toxins (i.e. lactic acid) and so you can blackout even when doing a distance you usually do without slightest problems. That may happen especially easily if you use to breath deeper than normally, or doing purge breaths before the dives, reducing so the CO2 level.

You better find a buddy or join a club to train properly and safely. As for the training frequency - as others already told, there is no universal formula that would tell you how much you need to train. You will need to find the right dose with some experimenting, but as already advised, remember taking enough rest to avoid over-training. Especially if combined with other forms of physical training, it can happen easily. Again, it is quite individual, but having a day or two off of any physical and apnea training every week may be wise.

 

[Erik]

Do what you like until you start feeling sick, tired, discouraged, bored. One thing to be aware of is that lots of oxidants/free radicals are produced, so diet appropriately (add anti-oxidants) if you are doing a lot of daily statics. This can cause any and all of the above physical and psychological conditions.
And of course know that most rec freedivers who die in water (not spearos) die in pools.
Cheers,
Erik

 

[apnea_beast]

so how likely is it that i black out if i am not pushing it and am feeling only slight discomfort? i usually keep my pool efforts to 60-80% of my limit.

 

[trux]

so how likely is it that i black out if i am not pushing it and am feeling only slight discomfort? i usually keep my pool efforts to 60-80% of my limit.

Nobody knows how close to BO you are until you blackout. And you cannot know where your limit is, so when telling you push until 80% is irrelevant, because you simply do not know where the 100% is. It may be different every day, and even every dive (depending on breathing, previous workout, food, psychical state, stress, temperature,...). And if you additionally use to hyperventilate (most people do it unconsciously anyway), then you may not even feel the urge to surface before blacking out. That's why it is necessary to train with a good and permanent supervision, not just a lifeguard somewhere in distance. And only training in a secure environment together with experienced buddies makes sense, because when doing it alone, you need to keep the security margin so large that the effect of such training is quite questionable.

 

[uw_ikarus]

During training sessions one should get "close" (70-80%, whatever that means) to one's limits. For me this is intrinsic to training, so its good to do the training sessions with other freedivers, who know about what can happen. Fortunately I have these friends around when doing training sessions. Sometimes I dive alone, but then I keep very far away from limits (discomfort). These, however, are "fun sessions", not training...

 

[Yogaman]

Huzit Apnea Beast.

In my opinion, here are three bits of advice if learned about training for freediving:

1) training according to how your body is feeling is very important. If you feel you can train everyday, even twice a day, go for it!

2) From the above though, it is also very very very important to not burn out and overtrain. Off-time and rest is incredibly important to improving. (And what I've discovered, is that rest should often be longer than we usually take). However, I reckon everyone usually overtrains once in a while (by mistake) and this is a great thing if you can learn from the experience, and learn more about the way your body works.

3) Finally, everyone has their bad/off-days, so don't put pressure on yourself to perform. In my opinion, you should acknowledge that you're not feeling/performing 100%, and do something that's easy and fun. The ironic thing is that when you do this, you suddenly find yourself in the zone again, and felling good!

Well that's my advice : )