Increase bottom time

[cdavis]

Keep at the group thing, Marc. I've been trying to form a group as well. Its slow, but comes with time. You will figure it out.

Good progress on your FRC! There are some good threads here, if you have not seen them. Search FRC, exhale diving, etc. I'm down to just south of 25 m and slowly getting deeper. All my diving now is FRC, except I just discovered that for intense spearfishing, lots of small fish, short surface interval, etc, full lung works better for me.
Dives are much much longer with FRC, but I'm having difficulty figuring out the best, safe breathup. What do you do for breathup?

Connor

 

[azapa]

i love the frequent "how can I increase bottom time" threads. In fact, to my shame, although I'm not sure I probably posted the same question about two years back!

you want "quick" answers, here you go:
- do a course at least ** level or equivalent apnea academy, that will give "all in one" tips
- dive with a great partner that makes you relax because he's been trained to save your a** (and you his)
- sought your weighting out: if you are fighting down to 10M with heart at 100BPM you won't last long at 20m
- watch your diet and hydration
- learn to equalize without effort at your target depths
- learn how to breath up and relax (I mean truly relax, no just "hey, I'm relaxing here" but with 50% of your body screwed up with tension)
- dive 5 times a month at least to the depths you want to be comfortable in.

Doing all the above, in about 2 years, you should almost double your dive times for a given (or better) comfort level!

See, easy and quick too:t

Take care.

 

[iv3]

Hi Cdavis,

given up on the club thing...believe me no one interested!
Even tried to teach my girlfriend, God help me, but that lasted the same amount of time she tried to get me into golf!!!
As far as the breathe up is concerned I basically just try to relax as much as possible and as passively as possible, concentrating more on my equalising as opposed to my actual bottom time. Although, I can usually lie at 20m for a minute on FRC.
Unfortunately, the 4m dive pool I train in is closed over the summer for renovations ( classic 'irish' timing).
South of 25m on FRC is fantastic, makes me long for a buddy so I could maybe push the envelope a bit.
Belfast airport is beginning flights direct to Egypt this year, so perhaps Santa will get me a dive course over there ( hello Sara Campbell ) soon!
Let me know when you hit the 30m mark and how it feels and stay safe.

deeply, Marc.

 

[cdavis]

Ah, teaching the significant other, probably the hardest thing in diving. I had little success either.

Sounds like you have just a bit more bottom time than me. Trade??

The diving deeper FRC may be a function of greater diaphragm flexibility (I do lots of diaphragm stretching), physiological adaptation, or maybe inhaling more. I have added a small amount of weight, cleaned up my surface dive and general technique, gotten used to a very slow descent and, as a result, can inhale more. I inhale with diaphragm only, to the max but with no rib action. It yields roughly 65 percent of full lung.

Good luck with yours.

Connor

 

[iv3]

Hi Connor,
are you inhaling passive and then diving?
I remember Eric Fattah explaining that he took a small gulp of air after his initial exhale to compensate for the suit restriction and the atmosphere of air above, (apologies Eric if I have misquoted or misunderstood you ).
I always dive after the exhale...am I missing something Connor?
I agree that diaphragm stretching has helped immensely and really notice it in other sports too.

deeply, Marc.

 

[cdavis]

The tricky part comes in the individual's FRC volume: it varies a lot. Some guys exhale passively and have half a lungfull left. I do that and its almost as low as a full exhale. From there, I can only force out about another liter. Eric says he dives with a full forced exhale, then a passive inhale plus a little more, that gets him to about 60 % of a full lungfull (corrections invited). I go to a full inhale with diaphragm only and that's about 65% of a full lung. Everybody's different.

I think the real key to FRC diving is the effortless descent, giving time for the dive reflex to fully kick in, not how much you inhale.

There has been some discussion of whether to exhale and dive or exhale fully, then partially inhale and dive. Eric and Laminar do (were doing?) the latter. I started with the former and went to the latter. Takes a bit of practice to get the volume right, but seems to work better.

If you haven't seen it, check out the thread"Exhale diving for the "average" diver".

Connor

 

[iv3]

Hi Connor,
thanks for the info, will definitely experiment with the different breathing style and get back to you.
Odd thing is though, I think I may be diving perhaps too negatively, ie. more than passive exhale, so it will be interesting to see how the two sensations compare.
Do you know if Seb Murat dives the same way as Eric F. et al?

deeply, Marc.

 

[cdavis]

There has been so much development of these concepts that I'm not sure exactly what Seb was/is doing. Passive exhale alone, I think, could be wrong. There are 3 or 4 very good older threads where he discusses what he's doing and its theory. Heavy going sometimes, he doesn't express himself in normal people speak. Search exhale, "exhale diving" , FRC, etc and look for very long threads. I had to read his stuff several times before it began to make sense.


Connor

 

[titan]

I just use half lung, no purges breaths no rocket science in it, it doesn't increase my botton time...but decreases the rest times,at least I fell more fresh and gives a good training I'm pain glutton if it has no intensity it's boring

Everyone sorry to be a litle of topic but this concern lot's of us and I have to answer to what trux said

Iv3 I think the idea of Trux is great but pretty hard depending on what culture and place u are, I tried to found a freediving club (and actually is growing) the major advice I can give is choose the right people those who would nacturally comit and like outdoor activities, maybe they aren't the greatest athletes in the world maybe they are just laidback, but everyone likes friendship,adventure, booze, peanuts, sun,sharm el sheik I would say girls but nowdays they belong to the endangered species, if ask the general population would like to do 10 min apnea they automatically say woooo I can't do it I'm weak I'm claustrophobic I have afraid of open water, but in apnea you evolve a lot - woo I'm wimp this scenario happens all the time

Instead if do and approach the people with an idea (notice that I didn't say club but the ugly will have to pop up sooner or later to catch the one with commitment potential) of an overall fun interesting and adventure spearfishing/apnea/small boat trip/probably mediterrean sharm el sheik trip/cute monofin (girls love them who isn't the girl that hasn't dreamed of being a mermeid)/beer and food club they will defenitly take a look

Any question just ask I'm glad to answer
PS: having an instructor title course a lot

 

[titan]

PS: having an instructor course helps a lot (2 caipirinhas and I?m already eating words maybe I will open a thread about this when I have the proper time )