Legs exhaustion

[TRITON]

I'm doing my dinamic training in a pool 50X23m and 99% of my training i'm doing widths not lenghts because the pool is pretty crowded.
My PB is 6 widths ......that's about 138m.At the end of the almost every dive close to or equal to my PB I feel that my legs are totaly exhausted.
I've done 6 widths 2-3 times and 5 widths many times , and I've never had a BO or a samba.So, I supose i'm not that close to my limit and it's not from hipoxia(correct my if i'm wrong).I'm using a handmade monofin(hard stiffness). Is lack of leg power maybe the reason or should I maybe buy a softer mono?

 

[naiad]

138m is a lot! Maybe you are just getting tired?

 

[TRITON]

138m is a lot! Maybe you are just getting tired?

I don't know .........my buddy also did 6 and didn't experience it so severe,and he uses the same monofin.He has got bigger and stronger legs,so maybe that's the "problem"....but on the other side maybe it's not.Because of that I seek some opinions from Eric F. ,Trux........and other that have great knowledge in medicine.

 

[SnuFPunK]

At the end of the almost every dive close to or equal to my PB I feel that my legs are totaly exhausted.

And if you give yourself a 5 minute rest, you feel fine and are able to do another length ? or do your legs continue on being sore ?

Can you describe the feeling in your legs in more detail ? do you end the length and then realize your feet are sore and tired ? are they alittle bit numb as well ? any tingling sensation ?

~ Snuf.

 

[cdavis]

If you are experiancing strong lactate burn in the legs prior to exhaustion, yet don't feel very high C02 levels (strong urge to breathe), it is likely that your dive reflex is quite strong , limiting blood flow to the legs and causing them to go anerobic while preserving lots of 02 and relatively little C02 in the core and brain.

If that is your situation, anything that improves efficiency will help, better streamline, softer, more efficient fin, slower speed, etc. Working on anerobic capacity will also help, things like 1/2 lung apnea walking (careful with that one). If that interests you,research it carefully, you can hurt yourself.

There is a recent thread on "apnea kneebends" that might be the basis for a good anerobic workout, without the danger of falling down if you pass out.

Just curious, do you do a bunch of negatives before your dynamics?

Connor

 

[TRITON]

At about middle of third width my first contraction starts.As I progress they become stronger but....bearble.I have pretty thin legs so maybe I should do some training to improve my leg power.I've tried softer monofins and didn't like it so much........to much kicks for a certain distance.This is maybe because i'm used to dive with my hard monofin.
Cdavis, if you mean negative pressure dives,I don't do them at all.
When I plan to do a max DYN i do some breathing exercises followed by 2-3 dives and that I do my max.As for the contractions ,i've read that Peter P.
on his 205m DYN in Maribor had his first contraction at 75m.........and did 205m.So the contractions aren't a sign of anything besides CO2 buildup.

And if you give yourself a 5 minute rest, you feel fine and are able to do another length ? or do your legs continue on being sore ?

Can you describe the feeling in your legs in more detail ? do you end the length and then realize your feet are sore and tired ? are they alittle bit numb as well ? any tingling sensation ?

~ Snuf.

Yes they feel a little numb but also very tired.I don't feel tingling as I don't hyperventilate at all(if you meant tingling caused by hypeventilation).In the past my breath up consisted of deep slow breathing and 3-4 faster breaths just before the final inspiration followed by 20-30 packs.Now it's all about deep very slow breathing without those faster ones.As i learned from this forum when the CO2 level is decreased, the binding of O2 to hemoglobin is also decreased so it's better to experience contractions a bit earlier but have a bigger reserve of O2.

 

[SnuFPunK]

Hmm, I think you should start cycling
Or running.

~ Snuf.

 

[cdavis]

I agree with SnuFPunK. Sounds like your legs are just running out of 02. Greater leg strength and working on anerobic fitness should help a lot. Check you streamline.

Connor

 

[Walrus]

Going with a softer monofin doesn't hurt, for dynamic you also want softer then for constant. I think in general most freedivers use too stiff a fin. If you have decent monofin technique even with a soft fin you can go very fast. I found as I got better at dynamic I had to move to a softer monofin. I was stuck around the 150m mark with a medium soft fin because my legs were getting too lactic and could barely kick at the end. Now I use a soft monofin and my legs start 'failing' closer to the 200m mark. If you are looking to improve then you actually need to get a fin soft enough so you still have something left over at your current PB, then this allows for example another 10-20m improvement.

Cheers,
Wal

 

[TRITON]

What exercises should I do to improve leg power?

 

[Bill McIntyre]

What exercises should I do to improve leg power?

I suppose that this is akin to heresy, but I never swim in a pool because it I don't have easy access to one and would find it too boring even if I did. I find that squats, leg extensions and curls with a weight machine, along with my cycling keep my legs in good shape for freediving.