Newbie needs advice

[Thom]

Hi everyone,
I've always had a thing about the sea, which led to me taking up SCUBA 2 years ago, although I'm realising that freediving is more what I've been looking for.

Unfortunately I live about as far from the sea as you can get (the East-Midlands in England) which has limited my training to static apnea.

Over the past week or so I've managed to get my static apnea time from 3:30 to 5:00. My first question is is this any good?

Basically I'm looking for advice on how to progress from here. The only water locally are quarries, which I'm not too keen to train in due to the low temperatures. I would like to go on some sort of course to learn the basics; can anyone recommend any (as cheap as possible as I'm a student)?

Thanks a lot for your help!

 

[Erik]

Originally posted by Thom
Over the past week or so I've managed to get my static apnea time from 3:30 to 5:00. My first question is is this any good?

. I would like to go on some sort of course to learn the basics; can anyone recommend any (as cheap as possible as I'm a student)?

Hi Thom, 5:00 static is excellent. You probably posess some good genetic ability. Don't stop.
As for courses, I'm in the wrong country to know, but I would go to www.freediver.co.uk , go to the "guest book", and post your question. They are pretty much responsible for putting freediving on the map in Britain. Not to mention bringing it to the forefront in other countries as well. I know that they have training sessions, and a pretty enthusiastic club that does a lot of freediving. Maybe someone there could find you something close.
And don't be wary of cold water! There's a lot of good diving in cold water.
Cheers,
Erik

 

[Thom]

As for courses, I'm in the wrong country to know, but I would go to www.freediver.co.uk , go to the "guest book", and post your question.

Thanks for the advice Erik, that seems an excellent site. It has some good information on courses. That was just what I was looking for

And don't be wary of cold water! There's a lot of good diving in cold water.

It's not really the cold that bothers me, but I only have a drysuit and I thought it would be difficult (if not impossible) to freedive in it. However, I'll give it a try next time I go to the local quarry. At this time of year the water between the surface and 16m is a relatively warm 7C, and suit squeze shouldn't be a problem because I doubt I'll be able to dive to any great depths just yet

 

[Angus]

Any good?

Thom if you can get to five minutes static with what you have done to this point you are very good and should think about competing. I have been freediving for years and will probably never reach your off the couch the level. Nice going Thom. Warmly, Angus

 

[Thom]

Thom if you can get to five minutes static with what you have done to this point you are very good and should think about competing.

Thanks a lot Angus, that's really encouraging. I've checked out various courses and am planning on attending one early next year. In the meantime I'll try and raise my overall fitness level, which is really quite poor at the moment. I'll also be lurking around this forum, from which I've picked up some really useful advice so far. Thanks again

 

[apnea newbie]

Good sports Tom

Hi tom !

As I am quite a newbie to, i thought i would go here to give you some advices, but if you got your statics from 3.30 up to 5 minutes... it seems like you are the one to tell me how I should train

What you should do though is do pooltraining (Dynamic Apnea ), i've been doing it for like 4 months or so now. Swim laps under water with your fins on, thats my tip. Personally I fear that the Worldrecord for dynamic apnea will be in danger if you jump into a pool , u did increase your static very much under a week or so... and with the same progress in dynamic, who knows !?

Good luck and happy swimming

/ Apnea Newbie

Ps. If you have any tip for training, i would be glad to know.

 

[Stephan Whelan]

Very impressive

Thom,

Indeed - your times seem very impressive for someone who is just starting out.

Are you going to be competing in the UK University Freediving Competition? I know it is going to be held in September sometime.

 

[JMD]

First I'd like to say I agree with everyone else that has posted, WOW, that is fantastic that your so well suited to the sport.

I found a website a few months back with what I found was an excellent pool training program. It focuses on both building general fitness and increasing dynamic apnea.

If your interested send me an email and I'll forward you the address.

 

[Stephan Whelan]

For everyone?

JMD,

Why not post the website address here for everyone to see and utilise?

 

[JMD]

The address is as follows:

http://www.freedivehawaii.com/training/matt_briseno.asp

Sorry Stephen I wasn't sure what proper etiquete was for posting web addresses and such.

 

[Stephan Whelan]

Not a problem

JMD,

Not a problem!

This site and associated forums are for free discussion of Freediving, Scuba Diving and Travel. Whilst we have the ability to moderate the posts, we don't unless there is some seriously improper behaviour going on...and (touch wood) this hasn't happened yet.

Feel free to give any information, links, etc...that are useful to other people - even if they appear on "competitor" sites to this.

We don't pursue the policy of removing posts to other sites - however I know for a fact that other Freediving sites have removed posts of their guest books that contain information on Deeper Blue...it's a shame really, we're all here to help one another!

Safe diving...

 

[Thom]

First of all thanks for all the positive responses, I've really been encouraged by all of the feedback you've given me

Ps. If you have any tip for training, i would be glad to know.

Well, I don't really have any tips (I haven't even come up with a fixed method of preparing for my breath holds yet) but one thing I did find helpful was to try lots of different breathing exercises before breath-holds, and keep a log of them along with the resulting times of your holds. From my log I hope to come up with an optimum pre-hold set of exercises for my own body. The 'inhale-hold-exhale-hold' exercise described on some websites, with each step lasting 15 seconds, has been very benificial for me.

Are you going to be competing in the UK University Freediving Competition? I know it is going to be held in September sometime.

I'm not actually at University yet (I'm 18) but I should be at either Birmingham or Bradford University by October time. With the facilities available (cheap gym and swimming pool) I hope to improve my fitness levels and I might consider competing if I get to a decent level.

http://www.freedivehawaii.com/training/matt_briseno.asp

Excellent... I'll make full use of this.

I will keep working at my static times, and in 2 weeks I'm going to try diving in Stoney Cove, a local quarry. It has shelved depths of 6/7m, 22m and 35m, which are ideal for training. The only problem is I'll be in my drysuit and scuba fins; but I'll let you all know how it goes

 

[Erik]

Drysuit

Excellent... I'll make full use of this.

I will keep working at my static times, and in 2 weeks I'm going to try diving in Stoney Cove, a local quarry. It has shelved depths of 6/7m, 22m and 35m, which are ideal for training. The only problem is I'll be in my drysuit and scuba fins; but I'll let you all know how it goes

Thom, I don't want to sound like your Mum, but please consider my experience with freediving in a drysuit. When you dive, you will at some point become EXTREMELY negative, for the obvious reasons, that I wont get into. When I train now in a 5mm suit, and when I first started in a drysuit, I use a weighted line with a good bouyant float on the top. The line is good for a reference point in dark water, but just as important can be grabbed at anytime that you feel too much ear squeeze , or just feel that you've gone deep enough. With the speed of descent in a squeezed drysuit, you will not be able to stop in time to prevent an ear rupture if you suddenly have a problem. Ditching your belt would do the trick, but divers with ear ruptures usually panic in pain and extreme vertigo, sometimes vomiting and disoriented.
Forgive me if you have thought of these things, it's just that it only takes one bad dive to ruin your day
Oh yeah, and a buddy at the surface is a good idea too!
Sincerely, Erik

 

[Thom]

Thom, I don't want to sound like your Mum, but please consider my experience with freediving in a drysuit.

Your advice is much appreciated... I understand diving in a drysuit will present some problems, and I intend to stick to the 6/7m shelf (where I have a hard bottom) as a result. I will have a float at the surface and two buddies (only one of us diving at a time), and I intend to weight myself to be neutral at 6m and not go any deeper. I'm not planning on trying to go any deeper than this until I get a decent suit; for now I just want to get an idea of my abilities in open water.