L
Lenika
Guest
Hi freediving community,
I'm new to freediving but very happy about learning it.
I actually did a course a while back in Germany but had a lot of trouble equalizing parts of my sinuses - had quite a lot of pain in the back of my head, and I didn't get the certification. I had given up the idea of freediving (strangely on SCUBA my sinuses never bothered me) but then sort of got into it again when I started working on a new island in the Maldives earlier this year. I'd go for morning swims and at the end I'd pull myself down on the buoy line. I realized I could practice equalizing without the fight/stress, and I had almost no trouble with my sinuses anymore.
So I started trying more and more and can get to a nice depth of around 25-29m consistently now, either doing CWNF or FI. That's the depth where I feel like my lungs are about to collapse and my glotis is about to cave in. Equalizing gets difficult at this point too. I haven't figured out how to get any deeper yet, but am planning on visiting another course this fall, hopefully with Miguel Lozano. Perhaps he can shed light on how to get deeper than what I assume to be my residual volume.
Water temperature is at about 30-31ºC which means I can dive with no suit here - a definite plus, though unfortunately the negative side is the coral bleaching which has devastated the reefs in this area.
Anyway, in the mean time, since I'll not be getting any deeper here (the rope ends at 30m), I'm trying to train for extending bottom times and breath holds. I don't have access to a pool so I have to be inventive as to how to do interval training etc. in the ocean with currents and sometimes slightly choppy surface conditions. I have no way to measure distances reliably along the reef, so the only thing I can do is use time, I suppose. I'd be happy to hear any recommendations on what type of training you would suggest in these conditions.
I've started with CO2 tables for dry practice, and strangely as of yet don't get contractions during breath holds on land. In the water sometimes I do, but they are actually quite pleasant, not at all what I expected. My dry breath holds are around 4 minutes max at the moment, so I'm hoping I can extend that to 5 or 6 in time.
A little about myself - I work as a SCUBA instructor, I used to be a competitive swimmer. Freediving for me is a purer form of coming in contact with the ocean, which is my great passion. For the same reason I also enjoy surfing, though I'm by no means very experienced in it. I only freedive if I know I'm desaturated from the previous day of SCUBA diving.
Thanks for having me!
cheers
I'm new to freediving but very happy about learning it.
I actually did a course a while back in Germany but had a lot of trouble equalizing parts of my sinuses - had quite a lot of pain in the back of my head, and I didn't get the certification. I had given up the idea of freediving (strangely on SCUBA my sinuses never bothered me) but then sort of got into it again when I started working on a new island in the Maldives earlier this year. I'd go for morning swims and at the end I'd pull myself down on the buoy line. I realized I could practice equalizing without the fight/stress, and I had almost no trouble with my sinuses anymore.
So I started trying more and more and can get to a nice depth of around 25-29m consistently now, either doing CWNF or FI. That's the depth where I feel like my lungs are about to collapse and my glotis is about to cave in. Equalizing gets difficult at this point too. I haven't figured out how to get any deeper yet, but am planning on visiting another course this fall, hopefully with Miguel Lozano. Perhaps he can shed light on how to get deeper than what I assume to be my residual volume.
Water temperature is at about 30-31ºC which means I can dive with no suit here - a definite plus, though unfortunately the negative side is the coral bleaching which has devastated the reefs in this area.
Anyway, in the mean time, since I'll not be getting any deeper here (the rope ends at 30m), I'm trying to train for extending bottom times and breath holds. I don't have access to a pool so I have to be inventive as to how to do interval training etc. in the ocean with currents and sometimes slightly choppy surface conditions. I have no way to measure distances reliably along the reef, so the only thing I can do is use time, I suppose. I'd be happy to hear any recommendations on what type of training you would suggest in these conditions.
I've started with CO2 tables for dry practice, and strangely as of yet don't get contractions during breath holds on land. In the water sometimes I do, but they are actually quite pleasant, not at all what I expected. My dry breath holds are around 4 minutes max at the moment, so I'm hoping I can extend that to 5 or 6 in time.
A little about myself - I work as a SCUBA instructor, I used to be a competitive swimmer. Freediving for me is a purer form of coming in contact with the ocean, which is my great passion. For the same reason I also enjoy surfing, though I'm by no means very experienced in it. I only freedive if I know I'm desaturated from the previous day of SCUBA diving.
Thanks for having me!
cheers
