Hi Alex Lasmar,
It sounds like a nice training mix.
Make sure you eat, drink and sleep enough, and quality mineral rich food.
Add a strength session, and work also on the counter muscles.
You can also add stretching to your routines, because you want long flexible muscles, diaphragm, chest etc.
You can add coordination and concentration exercises too.
Beginning Freedivers:
To all those exited new starters, find a buddy!
Apart that sharing your discoveries and victories gives double the fun, and a buddy's observation can be so helpful, your buddy is lifesaving!
The pool's lifeguard has to pay attention to everybody, and not only you. In the pools where I train a BO - even with buddy - It would mean permanent ban on underwater swimming for me and others!
To learn the fastest way is to do a freediving course, not only you learn every thing to be a capable lifesaving buddy but also a boatload of techniques to double your abilities almost instantly, and the best directions to grow further when you're back with your buddy in your pool.
Doing a course will safe you at least a year or two learning the ropes on your own, so effectively it has great value for the time and money invested.
Now on to some simple for advice beginners starting.
Breath-up:
Dynamic: Just stand and relax, let your heart rate slow down by breathing slowly in a rhythm of your sleep, 5 seconds in, 5 out, gently from the belly moving in the easy 30-70% empty-full range. When you're relax, breath out deep followed the inhale started from the lower belly, upper, chest, throat, and go.
Static: when you have a suit that is not to stiff and tight use it and float on you back breathing the Eric suggested rhythm, 2-4 in, 2-4 hold, 4-8 exhale, or the easier, gentle 5 in 5 out belly breathing. Your body has with this pace a sleeping association that helps you to relax all those hundreds of muscles you have and can relax. Apart from Eric's little bit more complicated fine routine I just have beginners try the simple same to dynamic breath-up. After the full inhale you can roll over just by bringing one arm over the opposite shoulder.
Dynamic technique:
In general there are a few things you aim and look for:
Efficient stroke,
Good Hydrodynamics,
Learning the signs and sensations of your body.
In Dynamic No fins Efficient stroke means that you have a glidestroke where you'll execute your arm and leg stroke separately, with a glide moment in between.
With bi fins you want to have a fluid stroke with not to much amplitude and power but with a nice rhythm you can do for a long time.
Monofins are very cool to have and use, but something to start with a little later when you've mastered the freediving basics. Monofins require a good back flexibility, and strong belly and back and upper leg muscles, coordination and shoulder flexibility. They are great fun and the speed and the feeling is very addictive. Also the fin surely attracts many other people to try our passion of freediving!
Hydrodynamics are a great way to save energy.
The way you go through the water is dependent partly on you flexibilty, but also how deep you breath in, how deep you swim and how your weights are distributed.
Many people use a home made neck weight, the how to guides can be found on this forum. It's great fun to make your own tools.
Learning the signs sensations of your body is essential.
You want to learn what's going on in your body, what your warning bells and whistles are. For some people it is a clear signal, like loosing count of the number of swim strokes or a number of contractions. For others it's much harder. Important to realise is that feelings and sensation can greatly vary because of many factors like: exhaustion, stress, hydration, food, breath-up. A very good reason to have a capable rescue buddy! Following a course you'll learn in good detail what is going on in your body, what signs to pay attention to, and in a safe situation with experts to explore and remember the sensations of your limits.
Static Technique:
The goal is learn how to relax and safe energy and what sensations and signs there are.
Like Jero said, pre static relaxation is important.
I like to add to this a mild warm and stretch of the main big muscle groups.
In my 7 years experience I now hold the view that one goes through different phases, preparation techniques before reaching their peak. Personally I like variation, though routine is often very effective.
For starters I like them not to push it.
In my view one should focus on learning how to relax first.
Static is for a small part physical and very big part mental.
In a life of stress and pressure relaxing is often such a new experience that needs time to be learned. When I coach and buddy my friends, I do it usually in the following way.
First I let the diver find some relaxation on his own, I closely observe to see their body relaxing, and slowly speaking in a low voice I suggest muscles and places to relax. Usually the stress is accumulated in between the neck and shoulder blades. While doing this I grab slowly different body parts and gently move them, this helps for the diver to find and recognise the strained and stiff parts. For instance many times a arm feels relaxed to the diver, but in fact is locked up by unnoticed muscle tension.
When you get some grips on the muscle relaxation, your times will steady climb, and the mental aspects gradually come in.
Similar to when you go sleep, things stored on your memory shelf will come to the forefront and ask your processing. This weighing and choosing takes a lot of energy, so what you can do is simply recognise the thought, say it's ok and let it go. Having a distraction or mild focus also helps from racing thoughts.
Thinking about time is great way to stress yourself out, so don't, instead focus on the art of relaxing.
You hear, as a diver doing static you've got plenty to do!
When you don't have a reliable capable dive buddy don't do static in the pool. Do it at home in bed or on the couch. Generally in the morning is a good time.
Gotta go sleep, have been training hard today, getting back in shape for our national championships defending my title.
Have fun, go slow, and have many small personal bests.
It's a interesting journey, a helix sport that can give you so much more than just cool numbers!
Love, Courage and Water,
Kars
