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Need advice please

Thread Status: Hello , There was no answer in this thread for more than 60 days.
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Joao Pedro

Member
Feb 19, 2015
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Hello everybody. I practice spearfishing with my brother once a week. I love being in the ocean and I have a huge respect for it and all things that live there. I usually catch 1 or 2 sea breams to eat right after the dive. I try to use the buddy system and it often works in the beginning but after some time, we split. Part of the reason is that I cant keep up with him. He can dive 18m and stay for about 30 seconds, maybe less, I cant stay 2 seconds. I wouldn't mind about increasing my bottom time if diving alone (sure its nice to have longer bottom times but im fine diving 10m or less) but Im scared that something happens to him and I am unable to rescue him if he needs.

Part of my concern is because of the following. He had always been fearless about life in general, so usually hes pushing boundaries, which makes me worried. One other thing is that we made a spearfishing course and during this course the instructor explained this breath up: relax until your breath become shallow, then slowly increase the velocity and amount of air, keeping the exhale twice as long as the inhale and then after a minute or so take 2 to 3 deep breaths, inhaling all you can and exhaling all you can. To me right now this doesnt seems safe, maybe it is not dangerous but cant be safer than no change in breathing pattern during the breath up. Also when hes doing his breath up I can actually hear the noise even when Im 5 to 6 meters away from him. I already talked to him but he insists that it is safe because it was taught in the course.

Anyway, hes my brother I love him and I would not forgive myself if something happens to him. I tried searching for information about training and I couldnt find a solid training routine. Two things that I know it could help me: tables and apnea walks. But i dont know how many times each one of this activities should be performed in a week. Currently I still live with my parents and I study electrical engineering i can spend max of 1h each day with training. I also saw one video of a guy performing various stretches on the chest and diaphragm mixed with breath holds, etc. One other thing is performing cardio with different breathings. So with all due respect, I need you guys thoughts on these things:

1) frequency of tables and apnea walks;
2) daily lung stretching can improve breath hold;
3) cardio should be performed with different breathings or it doesnt matter.

If I can come up with a good plan I can start a log on the training section that im sure it will help people in a similiar situation. Sorry the long post, appreciate if you read this and thank you guys for the attention. Any thought will be highly important to me.
 
There is no perfect breathe-up that works for everyone. Every freediving organization teaches it differently. If you don't feel comfortable with the one you learned you might want to try some different ones. The breathe-ups that are taught are always a good starting point, but over time you will adapt and evolve it to what personally suits you best. The most important things to keep in mind for a good breathe-up is that it contributes to a lower heart rate, that it calms both mind and body, and that you manage your CO2 levels properly. With this in mind the 2-3 deep breaths you are talking about seem a little excessive to me, you wouldn't want to sacrifice your relaxation. But as long as you keep it slow, controlled, and you're not hyperventilating, it shouldn't be dangerous.

As for dry training you essentially could do it as much as you want. But i'd advice you to not overdo it, 2-3 tables or walks per week will already be a good amount. Doing it too much can quickly diminish your motivation. Also I don't think CO2 tolerance is you biggest issue right now anyway. Instead you might want to work on your relaxation during your dives, this has a much greater impact in the beginning.

As for stretches I think the most important one is the Uddiyana Bandha, which is a yoga technique but highly beneficial to freediving. You can do this one as much as you want, just make sure you do it on an empty stomach. I do it at least 3 times every morning when I wake up, it takes very little time! Here's a video that shows it (at 10:30)

Cardio is good for general fitness and for keeping a low heartrate, but strength training is actually more relevant to freediving. This may seem strange but it has to do with the type of muscle it creates. The muscle type that is created with strength training is better at doing short strong bursts of movement, which is what you do in constant weight freediving.

And please always stick to the buddy system, a difference in ability doesn't matter at all. The safety diver only needs to be around at the last part of the dive. If your brother is diving, you only need to start your descent when he is already on his way up, and meet him halfway.

Hope this helps
 
Very useful answer, thank you. I think you are right about the buddy system even when different levels of ability exists. I just get worried aometimes about entangling but i guess i shouldnt be concerned about it.

I didn't know about what you said regarding strenght training, very interesting. I've read somewhere that those stretches are useful for helping to deal with lung squeezes, but i dont dive that deep yet so i dont think it is going to help my problem regarding bottom time, thoughts? Thanks.
 
Hi Joao!

I got longer bottom times just with getting used to the feelings that come when holding your breath.
So my suggestion is to do static breath holds and get used to the feelings. That way you'll be able to stay relaxed and have a feeling of being in control of the situation when diving deeper. You can do the statics in water or on land but use a nose clip on land.
For me it took a long time to get used to the feelings (over a year of traning every now and then) but now I can do almost 2min dives =)

I'd also suggest watching videos about blackouts from youtube. That way you'll know what to do if something happens and it can help you to focus on enjoying spearfishing with your bro.

Also it's really rare to have a blackout in a freedive that takes less than 1 minute.
Aaand blackouts usually happen 10-1m belov surface when resurfacing (google or check youtube for "shallow water black out").

Oh and my breath up for dives is normal breathing and just relaxing. Then one deep breath and go. works for me best.

Do write if you have any more questions or something's unclear

Happy to help!
 
Thanks. Considering that a blackout is likely to happen in shallow waters I dont think it is necessary for me to train. Plus, as you say, i would need to become more familiar with uncomfortable feelings of urge to breathe amd I wouldnt be able to measure how close to a blackout i really am. Diving until the urge to breath, just a little more seems safer, idk.
 
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