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How to improve at freediving (rec and comp)!
- Thread starterlaminar
- Start date
Thread Status: Hello
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It can take a long time to get an up-to-date response or contact with relevant users.
I wish I had something profound to add here but I really don't, Laminar's got it nicely covered: technique is very important; train at high intensity; get enough rest; eat well. I suppose the only thing I'd add is a willingness to identify what problems you're having and do something about them. e.g. muscle fatigue showed itself to be a bit of a problem for me in Sharm so I'm doing more strength/sprint work than I used to.
I may not be training for competitions, so much as I'm training just to improve my own abilities. But, I can share a few things I've managed to learn in the course of my own training;
1. Have goals. Just like Wes said, having something to shoot for helps to keep you motivated, even on those days when you're not feeling so "up to it".
2. Practice, practice, practice. After my first PFI course in Sept '06, I learned just how bad my kicking, entries, and head position were. So, I immediately starting focusing on those areas in my weekly deep pool sessions and improving them. The result? By the time I went down to Ft. Lauderdale this past Summer and got back in the water with Martin and Paul, they BOTH declared my form to be "perfect". So, find out what your weaknesses are, and work on ironing out the kinks! And, most importantly....
3. DO NOT BEAT YOURSELF UP! There have been days where I've skipped going to the pool because I was just too tired, or I just wasn't able to make it through a CO2 table, and I would immediately feel either guilty, or disgusted with myself. This just doesn't help. Instead, accept that there was a reason that things didn't go so well, and tell yourself that it's NOT the end of the world, and that there's always next time!
Todd
1. Have goals. Just like Wes said, having something to shoot for helps to keep you motivated, even on those days when you're not feeling so "up to it".
2. Practice, practice, practice. After my first PFI course in Sept '06, I learned just how bad my kicking, entries, and head position were. So, I immediately starting focusing on those areas in my weekly deep pool sessions and improving them. The result? By the time I went down to Ft. Lauderdale this past Summer and got back in the water with Martin and Paul, they BOTH declared my form to be "perfect". So, find out what your weaknesses are, and work on ironing out the kinks! And, most importantly....
3. DO NOT BEAT YOURSELF UP! There have been days where I've skipped going to the pool because I was just too tired, or I just wasn't able to make it through a CO2 table, and I would immediately feel either guilty, or disgusted with myself. This just doesn't help. Instead, accept that there was a reason that things didn't go so well, and tell yourself that it's NOT the end of the world, and that there's always next time!
Todd
Attachments
Very nice indeed. Just one advice from me:
Give your self time and aim for consistency instead of the quick fix. That doesn't mean that you cannot develop quickly, but that you aim for consistent, reproduceble results and constant development. Give your self time to mature as a diver. Some of these top divers have been at it almost 10 years, some even more.
It's good to have long term goals, but you need the flexibility to change plans also if things don't work out as you planned. Don't stick to any rigid "program" like it's the bible, but constantly evaluate and review your progress.
Try->review->adjust. Some call this "listening to your body", it's pretty descriptive, but it can be rather objective too.
Give your self time and aim for consistency instead of the quick fix. That doesn't mean that you cannot develop quickly, but that you aim for consistent, reproduceble results and constant development. Give your self time to mature as a diver. Some of these top divers have been at it almost 10 years, some even more.
It's good to have long term goals, but you need the flexibility to change plans also if things don't work out as you planned. Don't stick to any rigid "program" like it's the bible, but constantly evaluate and review your progress.
Try->review->adjust. Some call this "listening to your body", it's pretty descriptive, but it can be rather objective too.
And owning a shiny blue suit always helps, too!
Hey, LOOKING good can add confidence, and that never hurts, either! heh heh (and thanks to Martin, for ordering that custom suit for me!)
Todd
wow, this is a great thread. I haven't been looking much recently but today I'm meant to be writing an essay, so hey, I'm here!
Laminar's posts are fantastic, exactly what I would have said. He has almost inspired me to compete again....
I think a key thing (that has been mentioned) is the "don't beat yourself up" factor. Not every day is a training day, sometimes you've just got to be there for the fun. I couldn't believe it last week when one of our divers at the SaltFree Christmas meet insisted on trying to get at least near his PB in freezing conditions, fancy dress and with chocolate instead of tag - some people just cannot seem to freedive without competing somehow and ultimately that makes you lose your love and you just end up feeling disappointed every time you dive. My yoga teacher said to me that whilst you want to work towards getting into deeper positions, developing your skills, you should never put so much pressure on yourself that you're trying too hard, getting disappointed and dreading your practice in case you "fail". It seems to me that freediving (and in fact all sport probably) should be looked at that way.
I used to have a quote from Nietsche on my signature here. It said something along the lines of "the mountains of truth are never climbed in vain, either you'll get higher today or you'll get fitter and get higher tomorrow". Think of freediving like that - if you don't get a PB today, at least you've been in the water, got more aquatic (even if you were dressed as a cow and diving for chocolate!) and next time you get in, you'll be a better freediver for it.
Oh well back to the essay.
PS Laminar - I'm a real insomniac at the moment too - any hints on getting more zzzzzzzzzzzs?
Laminar's posts are fantastic, exactly what I would have said. He has almost inspired me to compete again....
I think a key thing (that has been mentioned) is the "don't beat yourself up" factor. Not every day is a training day, sometimes you've just got to be there for the fun. I couldn't believe it last week when one of our divers at the SaltFree Christmas meet insisted on trying to get at least near his PB in freezing conditions, fancy dress and with chocolate instead of tag - some people just cannot seem to freedive without competing somehow and ultimately that makes you lose your love and you just end up feeling disappointed every time you dive. My yoga teacher said to me that whilst you want to work towards getting into deeper positions, developing your skills, you should never put so much pressure on yourself that you're trying too hard, getting disappointed and dreading your practice in case you "fail". It seems to me that freediving (and in fact all sport probably) should be looked at that way.
I used to have a quote from Nietsche on my signature here. It said something along the lines of "the mountains of truth are never climbed in vain, either you'll get higher today or you'll get fitter and get higher tomorrow". Think of freediving like that - if you don't get a PB today, at least you've been in the water, got more aquatic (even if you were dressed as a cow and diving for chocolate!) and next time you get in, you'll be a better freediver for it.
Oh well back to the essay.
PS Laminar - I'm a real insomniac at the moment too - any hints on getting more zzzzzzzzzzzs?
I'm not Pete, but I have some experience (everyone in my house, except me, has trouble sleeping) Melatonin - It's amazing stuff and also a powerful antioxidant. My son, who has autism, takes only 3 mg at sunset and it completely changed our lives. Also I can't sleep for several hours if I do even one yoga asana before bed.
Shifting your attention into the lower body helps quiet the mind - standing with legs bent and relaxing downward - or various breathing methods that move the energy down help.
Shifting your attention into the lower body helps quiet the mind - standing with legs bent and relaxing downward - or various breathing methods that move the energy down help.
hello,
I'm not in freediving any more since my back surgery. My backl is strong again but I can't do the monofin movement any more, and probably never will. I lost a bit of interest in freediving, and I bike (race, road) a lot now.
I learned some things there I didn't know while training for freediving. I came on this forum by coincidince, and want to share what I know about cross training, which I think is good for freediving. Perhaps all I say has already been said, since I dind't look it up int the forums.
First of all, "you get better at what you do". Obvious, but misunderstood sometimes. Swimming for 5 km will make you a good long distance swimmer, that's all. You economize energy by burning fatty acids (using more oxygen for that +/- 7 %) in stead of carbs. Of course you need to be able to swim for 1 km, even if it was for training your technique.
Freediving, as we all know is about economy, not in energy(fat and carbs) but in oxygen.
For the aerobic part of freediving, mostly the part before the contractions, your best bet is to swim at +/- 30% of your max power output, as this uses the least oxygen. You can not change that number but if you improve you 100%, you 30 will also go up.
Training for the 100% is weight training, but not just something like that.
Doing just 10 reps max weight with failure at 10 will not do anything for you.
It will make your muscle (fast twitch)grow, and that's it. You'll loose speed and flexibility. Do it this way :
Make series of 30/40 reps, do them fast and explosive. Choose your weight in the way you begin to loose speed because of exhaustion at +/-15, and continu as fast as possible to 30 or 40. Very hard.
Why? To swim aerobically(slow pace) you need slow twitch musle fiber. Every hard effort you do will always use fast twitch because these fibers are made for hard effort over a very short time (eg sprinting). When you begin to slow down at 15, means you are exhausting you fast twitch mf. Now your slow twitch take over to help the fast twitch. Do the exercise fast and explosive without rest (even for 1 second at the bottom or top of eg your squat), don't give your fast tmf the opportunity to recover. Take your weight too low, and you won't exhaust your ftmf, Too much and you'll be out at 20 reps with only a few efficient to train slow twitch.
This helped me a lot for the bike (faster riding at the same heart rate). Pay attention to begin with squatting or leg pressing(warming up + 3to5 series of 30/40reps), to raise your testosteron levels. After that you do 2 more exercises, respecting as much the movement of swimming (same angels, same musles). Find out what's possible in your gym.
I got a 100% (yes one hundred) improvement over 2 months. Max 2 times a week,out off season, 1 time a week in season.
Pay attention :
very hard, don't over train.
be explosive as much as possible, it's waisted enery if not done FAST.
do the exercise for 3 weeks without heavy weights to learn the movement and to adapt the muscles to the exercise.
I hope to help all you guys with out of water, non-apnea exercises.
bruno
I'm not in freediving any more since my back surgery. My backl is strong again but I can't do the monofin movement any more, and probably never will. I lost a bit of interest in freediving, and I bike (race, road) a lot now.
I learned some things there I didn't know while training for freediving. I came on this forum by coincidince, and want to share what I know about cross training, which I think is good for freediving. Perhaps all I say has already been said, since I dind't look it up int the forums.
First of all, "you get better at what you do". Obvious, but misunderstood sometimes. Swimming for 5 km will make you a good long distance swimmer, that's all. You economize energy by burning fatty acids (using more oxygen for that +/- 7 %) in stead of carbs. Of course you need to be able to swim for 1 km, even if it was for training your technique.
Freediving, as we all know is about economy, not in energy(fat and carbs) but in oxygen.
For the aerobic part of freediving, mostly the part before the contractions, your best bet is to swim at +/- 30% of your max power output, as this uses the least oxygen. You can not change that number but if you improve you 100%, you 30 will also go up.
Training for the 100% is weight training, but not just something like that.
Doing just 10 reps max weight with failure at 10 will not do anything for you.
It will make your muscle (fast twitch)grow, and that's it. You'll loose speed and flexibility. Do it this way :
Make series of 30/40 reps, do them fast and explosive. Choose your weight in the way you begin to loose speed because of exhaustion at +/-15, and continu as fast as possible to 30 or 40. Very hard.
Why? To swim aerobically(slow pace) you need slow twitch musle fiber. Every hard effort you do will always use fast twitch because these fibers are made for hard effort over a very short time (eg sprinting). When you begin to slow down at 15, means you are exhausting you fast twitch mf. Now your slow twitch take over to help the fast twitch. Do the exercise fast and explosive without rest (even for 1 second at the bottom or top of eg your squat), don't give your fast tmf the opportunity to recover. Take your weight too low, and you won't exhaust your ftmf, Too much and you'll be out at 20 reps with only a few efficient to train slow twitch.
This helped me a lot for the bike (faster riding at the same heart rate). Pay attention to begin with squatting or leg pressing(warming up + 3to5 series of 30/40reps), to raise your testosteron levels. After that you do 2 more exercises, respecting as much the movement of swimming (same angels, same musles). Find out what's possible in your gym.
I got a 100% (yes one hundred) improvement over 2 months. Max 2 times a week,out off season, 1 time a week in season.
Pay attention :
very hard, don't over train.
be explosive as much as possible, it's waisted enery if not done FAST.
do the exercise for 3 weeks without heavy weights to learn the movement and to adapt the muscles to the exercise.
I hope to help all you guys with out of water, non-apnea exercises.
bruno
Sebastian,
Found this: Annelie Pompe attempts a world record
What a fantastic, honest, cutting edge, piece for freediving training and journalism. Loved it!
Five stars! I really appreciated your candid revelation of so many things. Especially, the distractions involved in training. Too often freedivers are secretive about what they do - nice to see that others share also.
Hopefully in 6-7 months I'll have a proof of training regimen to share with all of you that leads me to new depths, as well.
Keep up the great writing!
Pete
Found this: Annelie Pompe attempts a world record
What a fantastic, honest, cutting edge, piece for freediving training and journalism. Loved it!
Five stars! I really appreciated your candid revelation of so many things. Especially, the distractions involved in training. Too often freedivers are secretive about what they do - nice to see that others share also.
Hopefully in 6-7 months I'll have a proof of training regimen to share with all of you that leads me to new depths, as well.
Keep up the great writing!
Pete
So, now with a few months to play around with all these ideas, has anybody changed their training?
Personally I took Bruno's idea to heart. I'm doing one evening a week in the pool doing windsprints. 25 yd at all out speed, rest 30 seconds, start again... Each sprint is absolutely all out. By the end of a dozen sprints I've had enough; my lungs and legs feel like they really got a workout.
Using Laminar's logic of specific training I feel like I'm really improving my diving with the windsprints. They help train your body for quick recovery, your legs get plenty of practice working at high lactic acid levels, your lungs get a real workout, and it fairly well represents spearfishing (a lot of up and down, with short surface intervals).
Howard
Personally I took Bruno's idea to heart. I'm doing one evening a week in the pool doing windsprints. 25 yd at all out speed, rest 30 seconds, start again... Each sprint is absolutely all out. By the end of a dozen sprints I've had enough; my lungs and legs feel like they really got a workout.
Using Laminar's logic of specific training I feel like I'm really improving my diving with the windsprints. They help train your body for quick recovery, your legs get plenty of practice working at high lactic acid levels, your lungs get a real workout, and it fairly well represents spearfishing (a lot of up and down, with short surface intervals).
Howard