Question Next year's plan. Advice please.

[marius_i]

Hi all. Newbie here. I have been flirting with the idea of freediving for a year now. I am planning a trip to South and Central America with a friend starting next Nov and we've decided we would like to be able to explore those seas with recreational freediving. We are both good confident swimmers and in good physical condition (play rugby, go running, paddleboarding, gym etc.).

Our plan looks like this:

Dry train CO2 and O2 tables at home using a phone app (we both live in landlocked cities) for one or two months.
Take a freediving course somewhere in Apr/May next year.
Carry on dry training Jun-Jul
Go on a trip to the coast and do a week of freediving and paddleboarding in Aug.
Carry on dry training in Sept-Oct.
Leave for South America in Nov and find all the diving spots we can along the way (the overall route is Peru-Mexico).

My questions are: does this sound like a good plan, and if not what are your amendments to it? How intense should the dry training be (daily sessions, 3 times/week)? Should I buy a book (I was thinking Pelizzari's course) and study before I go on the actual course? Any idea of how long we might be able to hold our breath (without hyperventilation I can do 1:20 lying in bed, my friend goes 1:29) by the time we do go on the trip?

Any advice and commentaries are much appreciated. Sorry for the long post!

 

[xristos]

Very interesting plan. Especially if you consider your limited experience with the sport, I like that you plan big . I think there is nothing wrong with it. Note though, that I dont have a clue what the coastline you describe looks like. For your scenario I would look for place with lots of things to see (wildlife, nice seabed etc.).

As for training I suggest not caring too much. The tables are ok maybe I would prefer O2 tables and gentle ones you can achieve without struggling too much with focus on meditating and relaxing. Other training methods I won't get into. I suggest you search for them on the forum and get more in depth. Some include : flexibility, yoga, meditation, weight training, sprinting(hiit), wet(pool)/dry(static)/dry(walking) tables.

 

[Nathan Vinski]

My honest opinion would be to avoid any type of apnea training (CO2 or O2) until you take a course or have some training from a professional coach.

The reason I say this is because, let's say looking at static performacne, until 3:00 (conservatively), but most likely until 4:00 CO2 and O2 training will play almost no roll in your ability.

To reach these times it's all about focus and technique. A good instructor will be able to teach these skills. The danger with training (looking specifically at you and your friends times) is that what ever 'bad habits' you have that are limiting your performances to <1:30, will be compounded and engrained if you continue holding your breath without having first corrected/learned the proper skills.

My recommendation would be to improve your overall fitness. My focus would be anaerobic fitness with occasional aerobic sessions. More important would be improving your flexibility as relaxed muscles burn less O2.

In all honesty, speaking as an instructor it's much easier to teach 'blank slate students' who haven't tried to learn freediving on their own before arriving on the course, because breaking bad habits takes much longer than teaching good ones.

As for you question about achieveable performance, most of my personal students do 3:00-3:45 static and easy 20m deep dives by the end of their first course.