Kicking in the diving reflex and more

[BlueIcarus]

Hi,
As usual I find I'm still further to know anything about freediving
Last training day I couldn't do more than 40 m.
in the pool (w/ fins). I did no warm up. I usually do a couple of statics before dry dynamic apnea training, but was my first wet training of the season and haven't had a method.

Next day, I went to another pool. No fins allowed. So I had to go no fins. Began with 25 m. series, but not feeling too good. So I stopped, did some easy warm-up statics (45secs, 1:30 mins and 2:30 mins) and.. boom!
suddenly I was doing 50 meter no-fin series.
After these statics, I felt my heart strong and slow and my lungs really elastic

So, two questions arises...

a) What's your quickest way to kick-in the diving reflex?. Rafacuatic has told me he does first a negative dive, then a couple of sloooow dynamics, for instance

d) Anyone feels best at no fins? With fins,
I feel the lactic buildup very soon. No fins,
I usually perform better than with fins. Any ideas? I guess it has to do with finning technique

Many thanks and health to you all!

 

[cdavis]

Hi blueicarus,

The fastest way I know is a series of negative dives. In my pool workouts, I do 6 or 7 very short negatives, working up to maximum reverse pack, not more than 10 minutes. I'm working on clearing at the bottom, but it really kicks in the reflex. 75 + yards dynamic is usually easy after this. For me, that is a long distance which took a long series of attempts to work up to before I started with the negatives. A couple of minutes of mask off breathing underwater and a breathing pattern (fast in, very slow out) that slows the heart rate also helps.

Something interesting though. I tried the same series of negatives in the ocean and it did not seem to kick in everythlng. I still needed 15-30 minutes of diving to feel fully comfortable with depth and time.
Seems like there is something more complicated going on that negatives alone don't address. Next trip I'll add the mask off part and see if that helps.

Connor