For this November (5th) session we shall be starting off with a quick briefing and question time while people arrive.
Then we shall be doing some stretching round the pool.
If you have a yoga mat this will be handy, though a towel will do.
The stretching we shall be doing is to loosen up both the neck and thoracic regions. We shall start with the neck.
When we dive our four main air spaces, ears, sinuses, mask and lungs have to equalise.
The ears can be problematic for many. Congestion brought on by colds, allergies or diet can sometimes make it impossible to equalise.
Without equalisation as the pressure increases we eventually will suffer a barotrauma, or pressure related injury. In the case of the ears this can be as serious as a ruptured eardrum, very painful, often accompanied by an ear infection which has to be treated with antibiotics and quite a period of time out of the water while it heals.
One way we can make things easier for us to equalise this area is to stretch our necks prior to diving. This relieves tension in that area and makes it easier to open the eustachian tubes allowing air to enter and equalise the low pressure area on the inside of our eardrums.
We shall also be stretching our thoracic region; this enables us to take very deep breaths with less discomfort. In these exercises we shall be stretching our diaphragms and intercostal muscles.
When we start to go beyond -25m and we pass lung residual volume, our chests and diaphragms have to be able to stretch as our lungs compress further. I will go into more detail in our pre-stretch briefing. If we do reach residual volume with a non flexible chest and diaphragm, we can risk a barotrauma (in this case a lung squeeze) which is not very pleasant. That is why we should always stretch first before diving.
We shall be doing some static apnea. With the new guys I shall be seeing what your present performance is to see where I can start you on your resistance to hi-C02 tables. This breath hold series will take some time as we have eight breath hold and eight breathe up/recovery cycles.
After this we can practice duck dives to make them slick, elegant and most importantly, efficient.
I shall be bringing some neck weights for those who may want to do some dynamic apnea and then we can finish off with a much loved and very popular TOYPEDO session.
Those who wish to can then use the sauna to relax in and we can chat about what we have learnt and ask any questions about the session.
I shall be getting to the pool at 7pm.
In the mean time any questions you have about freediving, please feel free to ask here. Stephan and I want this forum to develop into a meeting place for all Tribe members to share ideas, experiences, queries etc. We both keep quite a close eye on the postings here, so a response will usually be quite quick.
Regards
Simon.
Then we shall be doing some stretching round the pool.
If you have a yoga mat this will be handy, though a towel will do.
The stretching we shall be doing is to loosen up both the neck and thoracic regions. We shall start with the neck.
When we dive our four main air spaces, ears, sinuses, mask and lungs have to equalise.
The ears can be problematic for many. Congestion brought on by colds, allergies or diet can sometimes make it impossible to equalise.
Without equalisation as the pressure increases we eventually will suffer a barotrauma, or pressure related injury. In the case of the ears this can be as serious as a ruptured eardrum, very painful, often accompanied by an ear infection which has to be treated with antibiotics and quite a period of time out of the water while it heals.
One way we can make things easier for us to equalise this area is to stretch our necks prior to diving. This relieves tension in that area and makes it easier to open the eustachian tubes allowing air to enter and equalise the low pressure area on the inside of our eardrums.
We shall also be stretching our thoracic region; this enables us to take very deep breaths with less discomfort. In these exercises we shall be stretching our diaphragms and intercostal muscles.
When we start to go beyond -25m and we pass lung residual volume, our chests and diaphragms have to be able to stretch as our lungs compress further. I will go into more detail in our pre-stretch briefing. If we do reach residual volume with a non flexible chest and diaphragm, we can risk a barotrauma (in this case a lung squeeze) which is not very pleasant. That is why we should always stretch first before diving.
We shall be doing some static apnea. With the new guys I shall be seeing what your present performance is to see where I can start you on your resistance to hi-C02 tables. This breath hold series will take some time as we have eight breath hold and eight breathe up/recovery cycles.
After this we can practice duck dives to make them slick, elegant and most importantly, efficient.
I shall be bringing some neck weights for those who may want to do some dynamic apnea and then we can finish off with a much loved and very popular TOYPEDO session.
Those who wish to can then use the sauna to relax in and we can chat about what we have learnt and ask any questions about the session.
I shall be getting to the pool at 7pm.
In the mean time any questions you have about freediving, please feel free to ask here. Stephan and I want this forum to develop into a meeting place for all Tribe members to share ideas, experiences, queries etc. We both keep quite a close eye on the postings here, so a response will usually be quite quick.
Regards
Simon.
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