Megan from Michigan; interested in freediving =)

[M_Mack]

Hi, my name's Megan, I'm 23 and live in Michigan, and I'm interested in seeing under the water (in my case, Great Lakes!)! I would like to try freediving first, as that sounds more appealing to me than scuba, but if I try it and hate it, I'm more than willing to switch to scuba, as my main goal is to have fun under the water. My main limit in freediving for now will be breath-holding, as I'm dreadful at it. My personal best is only 50 seconds, so I have a lot of work to do! But I'm willing to put in the effort.

I've been entirely unsuccessful at finding any freediving courses in my area (in southeast Michigan; there's several scuba places but none mention freediving on their websites), so I'll probably have to start whatever training I can do on my own. I'll try to find a pool which allows fins and practice dolphin kicking there, near the surface with a snorkel so I can breathe, and I'd like to practice breathholding on land. Outside of those, I'm not too sure how much I can really learn on my own, so if anyone knows of any courses around southeast Michigan or northwest Ohio, I'd definitely love to hear about them!

Anyway, I'm really glad I found this forum! It's so informative. I'll probably do lots of lurking around the boards and reading all your posts over the next few months. You guys are so cool!

I do have one question, if that's all right to ask here. It's about the C02 and O2 tables. I'll be practicing them dry for now, and I was wondering how many of each you are supposed to do a week, especially as a beginner. If you're supposed to do 3-4 a week, does that mean 3-4 of each, or both combined? And in what manner are you supposed to breath during the ventilation period? I read that deep slow breaths can also be hyperventilating, so how should you breathe during the resting periods to remain relaxed but not hyperventilate? I don't want to accidentally do anything wrong!

 

[Apneaddict]

Freedive Toronto will be holding an AIDA 2* course in Aug I believe. It has to be the closest to you. They were also (with some Montreal divers as well) the 2009 safety team in the Bahamas for the world championships. No better place to learn - great group of ppl.

Get ahold of them through their website: www.freedivetoronto.com for the details.

In the mean time - 3-4 times a week, alternating between o2 and o2 tables will definitely help. For extra pool time and co2 training that's actually fun, you could try to find a regular local underwater hockey game.

Breathe normally between sets and relax to slow your heart rate and empty your mind as much as possible.

For the next 4 days or so (doesn't matter if you miss a day or two), when you first get up and your heart rate is still low... Relax for a breather and then use a stopwatch / timer to time a maximum breath hold while lying in your bed. Take a 3 min breather / recovery rest and repeat the cycle until you have done 5 breath holds.

I bet each hold will get longer / easier generally and you might just surprise yourself within the first week. This should also help you with some encouraging results.

Canamuwhgear.com might be your best bet for equipment (mask, fins, snorkel). The Cressi Superocchio fits small faces and is low-volume. They also have bi-fins that fit women's feet.

The great lakes are an awesome resource. Check out the Tobermory and line-diving in lake Ontario videos on the Toronto site.

All the best and good luck with the training. Stuck with the Freediving - it's much more peaceful, natural, relaxing and elegant than scuba.

 

[Apneaddict]

Also - call up some of those scuba shops and ASK them about Freediving training / local freedivers. They will know if anyone exists around you.

They field lots of calls and get ppl asking about Freedive equipment from time to time, I can guarantee!

 

[M_Mack]

Freedive Toronto will be holding an AIDA 2* course in Aug I believe. It has to be the closest to you. They were also (with some Montreal divers as well) the 2009 safety team in the Bahamas for the world championships. No better place to learn - great group of ppl.

For the next 4 days or so (doesn't matter if you miss a day or two), when you first get up and your heart rate is still low... Relax for a breather and then use a stopwatch / timer to time a maximum breath hold while lying in your bed. Take a 3 min breather / recovery rest and repeat the cycle until you have done 5 breath holds.

Thanks for all the advice! I tried the breather in the morning today and did get a slightly longer time (57 seconds)! Any step in the right direction is fine by me. I think right now my limitations are much more psychological than physical, so I just need to get used to that feeling of needing to breathe.

I'll definitely try to look into the Freedive Toronto course. It's a bit of a drive for me, but doable if there's honestly nothing else nearby me.

Also - call up some of those scuba shops and ASK them about Freediving training / local freedivers. They will know if anyone exists around you.

I honestly didn't even think of this, so thanks. I have called three shops and gotten dead-ends so far, but maybe I'll find something if I keep trying.

-Megan

 

[Apneaddict]

It's all psychological in the beginning.

Try to think about absolutely nothing (clear your mind) ... Don't think about time, as this can really hurt your performance and try to relax every muscle in your body.

Think about every muscle group and relax them one by one.

You have enough O2 to last 3 mins easily without training... So it's all about relaxing, even as it gets uncomfortable. You may get diaphragm contractions - but this is also ok. Just go with the flow and relax through them. Count them if it makes you happy.

Each of the 5 holds should get progressively easier in the AM.

Let us know how it goes.

 

[Kars]

Improving flexibility also really helps.

Apneaddict gave some great advise.

A big part of freediving is mental, some say 80%.
So it's training your mind, and you could do that almost anywhere.

For instance when you eat food. Is your mind totally focussed on the food?

Also clearing your mind is a challenge for many. We are so full of to do lists it's incredible. Forcing a though to go away is only counter productive. The best thing is to acknowledge you have the thought, say it's ok, say it's not useful at this moment, and then agree with yourself to deal with this thought at a specific time later. After you've rescheduled all these thoughts you'll notice no more thoughts pop up, (or much fewer), and you can just enjoy the sensations. Also try to reduce your judgements, just observe and cancel your expectations. Do your tables with a curiosity to discover how your mind and body works, enjoy the strange feelings, notice tension, changes, heart-rate, etc, with enjoyment, amazement.

While holding your breath you may notice parts tensing up, like Apneaddict suggested you can mentally relax them, and you can physically extra tense and release the area.

Actually having a timer, or being time conscious is counter productive to beginners I think. This focuses the diver on time, and the way most people deal with this is to tence up, brace themselves for the difficulty ahead. Instead of the bloody clock you can focus on technique, feelings, observing thoughts (no judging), enjoying music, listen to your buddies coaching, etc.

Freediving has helped me to learn a great deal about my mind and body. It also has learned me a great deal how to direct my mind and body.

BTW if you get one of those monofins I'll bet you'll have many interested people anywhere you go. It's another way to find a buddy.

Also writing a small piece with a nice freediving image and posting these at local pools may attract interested people.


Welcome to Deeperblue,

Courage, Love, and water,

Kars

 

[M_Mack]

It's all psychological in the beginning.

Try to think about absolutely nothing (clear your mind) ... Don't think about time, as this can really hurt your performance and try to relax every muscle in your body.

Think about every muscle group and relax them one by one.

You have enough O2 to last 3 mins easily without training... So it's all about relaxing, even as it gets uncomfortable. You may get diaphragm contractions - but this is also ok. Just go with the flow and relax through them. Count them if it makes you happy.

Each of the 5 holds should get progressively easier in the AM.

Let us know how it goes.

Thanks, I'll try this relaxing thing. I've never been able to clear my mind of thoughts, and it regularly takes me one to two hours every night to fall asleep because I can't shut my brain off, but focusing on relaxing muscles may be enough to keep most of my other thoughts at bay. Either that, or I can listen to some relaxing podcasts. That sometimes suppresses other thoughts as well.

Improving flexibility also really helps.

Flexibility like.. in yoga? I definitely have terrible flexibility; I can't even touch my toes! But I never really was able to get myself to do stretches consistently. I always got bored doing them, because it seemed like doing all the stretches of the body took like half an hour. Five minutes I'd be okay with, but not half an hour.

Also clearing your mind is a challenge for many. We are so full of to do lists it's incredible. Forcing a though to go away is only counter productive. The best thing is to acknowledge you have the thought, say it's ok, say it's not useful at this moment, and then agree with yourself to deal with this thought at a specific time later. After you've rescheduled all these thoughts you'll notice no more thoughts pop up, (or much fewer), and you can just enjoy the sensations. Also try to reduce your judgements, just observe and cancel your expectations. Do your tables with a curiosity to discover how your mind and body works, enjoy the strange feelings, notice tension, changes, heart-rate, etc, with enjoyment, amazement.

While holding your breath you may notice parts tensing up, like Apneaddict suggested you can mentally relax them, and you can physically extra tense and release the area.

Actually having a timer, or being time conscious is counter productive to beginners I think. This focuses the diver on time, and the way most people deal with this is to tence up, brace themselves for the difficulty ahead. Instead of the bloody clock you can focus on technique, feelings, observing thoughts (no judging), enjoying music, listen to your buddies coaching, etc.

I'll try to work on this. As I noted above, I am REALLY bad at clearing my mind, which is why it takes me over an hour to fall asleep. So I might have to "think" about the sensations, like "oh that's interesting, hm this too" kind of thing, as I really DON'T know how to turn my brain off. The music might be helpful, though.

BTW if you get one of those monofins I'll bet you'll have many interested people anywhere you go. It's another way to find a buddy.

Also writing a small piece with a nice freediving image and posting these at local pools may attract interested people.

Yes! Monofins are awesome! That's the first reason I wanted to start freediving; I want to swim like a dolphin! I know you can do that in a pool too, but... it's not quite the same. The idea of diving with bifins doesn't even remotely appeal to me. If I plan to practice dolphin kicking at a pool, I might have to get a rubber one for pool use (probably the FINIS Foil Monofin), as it's a busy lap pool and I'd be afraid I'd hurt someone with a stiffer fin. But if I want to pursue this and actually plan on diving in open water, I'll definitely get a fiberglass or carbonfiber fin for that.


Wow, you guys give such great advice. What a great group of people here at this forum. I've learned so much already just by listening to all you guys.

 

[Kars]

It appears very likely to me that Freediving is going to have a huge impact on your life.

Maybe it's hard to imagine now, but in the future you're going to enjoy many things you have not even considered interesting before.

I suggest you try some yoga and meditation classes.

Also some walking outside in nature in the evening, or after work. If you concentrate on just witnessing your body moving, breathing, rolling off the feet, that in itself is a great practice and interesting to experience. Freediving helped me to expand my awareness and sensitivity manifold. In freediving we don't have instruments that say when you need to come up, it's all about feeling, being in tune with your mind and body. This expansion in awareness makes making lifestyle changes easy.

On stretching, I prefer to do more of 'dynamic' stretching. Swimming backcrawl for instance is great for shoulders and chest flexibility. My suggestion is to combine the stretching with something fun and dynamic. Something that makes you feel good, happy and alive. If you have some friends you can share some of it, and double the enjoyment. Many high performing people love to run in the morning or evening to clear their mind and clean their bodies. Sport is a great anti depressant.

The deeperblue forum is indeed a great place. I think it's due to the character shaping quality of our wonderful soul liberating helix sport.

 

[M_Mack]

Well, I found myself unable to perform this exercise in the morning, because my brain is quite muddled in the AM and my alarm clock is so startling it shoots my heartrate up anyway. So I've taken to performing this late at night when it's very quiet.

We live behind a ravine, so I've been going out to our backyard and laying down on my back on the dewy grass. It's a little cold, but it doesn't make me shiver, and it's very relaxing looking at the stars, listening to the crickets and peering out into the darkness of the ravine.

Anyway, last night I relaxed for a few minutes, breathing through my nose, then breathed in swiftly through my mouth and held my breath as long as I could, and repeated this cycle five times, only timing the last breathhold. I made it to 1:36, which sounds like a darn good start! I started to get very mild contractions at about 1:00, which seems kind of early, doesn't it? Maybe I was mistaking them for something else. I tried to focus on relaxing my diaphraghm and throat every time I felt tension, and to try not to fight it but just let it roll over me. I can definitely say trying to relax my body helped, as did visualizing gliding through the water slowly. Are you supposed to have your glottis open or closed while holding your breath? I found that closing it added some extra tension but did help when I got the contractions, since air wasn't forced into my throat.

I'm afraid I may have hyperventilated somewhat, as the easiest way for me to feel very relaxed and reduce my heartrate was slow, deep breathing through my nose. I'd like to avoid using this as a crutch so... what is the easiest way to breathe that reduces your heartrate and relaxes you, but doesn't cause hyperventilation? Slow but not deep? Deep inhale but shallow exhale? Sorry to sound naive; I honestly don't know.

Incidentally, I calculated my resting heart rate while watching TV and it was around 80 beats per minute, which sounds like it's on the high side, so reducing heartbeat is probably important for me! I've started going cycling, as that's one of my favorite forms of exercise, but still...

It appears very likely to me that Freediving is going to have a huge impact on your life.

Maybe it's hard to imagine now, but in the future you're going to enjoy many things you have not even considered interesting before.

I suggest you try some yoga and meditation classes.

Thanks for the suggestion! I'll try to look into that.

 

[Kars]

Megan I think you're doing great already, enjoy your discoveries like chocolate cakes

I Love the idea of your nice cold piece of grass watch the stars, listening to the crickets. I hope it smell nice there too. Indeed the fresh cool air is very nice to feel flowing through the airways.

As to know when you're hyperventilating or not, it's a narrow balance and it may take a while to find it because it shifts with many factors, like metabolism, tiredness, level of hydration etc. What I do in general is, first breath only from the diaphragm, once that works, stop directing and just observe the body doing it automatically. Then I shift my focus on the airflow going through the airways, and seek to have a nice smooth, gentle, regular airflow. When everything becomes more relaxed the depth and speed of the breathing lowers. And when I'm in form it feels like I'm hardly breathing at all. Some practising Yogi's uses pieces of silver paper hanging in front close the mouth (sitting up), and the trick is 'short breathing'. So breath in such a way the paper doesn't move. The better they get, the closer the paper goes without moving.

A high HR can have many causes.
Stress can be a big one.
Condition, food, exhaustion, artery cleanliness, flexibly, hydration, body position, time of day, activity, temperature to name a few.
Try to have little changes and see how they help, and feel. For sure Freediving is going to help you become more healthy, but take your time and enjoy all the little changes.
Reducing the HR is not a big priority, improving condition, flexibility and foremost relaxation is.

1'36" - You see with just a different approach already a big difference within 5 breath-holds. However please go for quality, and choose to enjoy many small personal bests (pb's). The focus should remain on learning and enjoyment.

While you're holding and watching the stars you can imagine them to be particles in the water, and you flying through them.

Enjoy, Kars

 

[Salehthefish]

Hello Megan and welcome on DB

All best