I'm limited to pool training in a 25 yd shallow pool[4 ft deep]. Unable to find a club or training partner,so I'm solo. I swim for fitness 10X100 free on 1:40 breathing every 3rd stroke daily. I do O2 and CO2 tables after and under the watchfull eye of the life guard. She is briefed on what I'm doing. since starting I've been able to get to a 4:00 min breath hold. My goals are still rec freedives to 50 ft with 30 sec bottom time. Suggestions? I'm planning to take a course when one is closer to NC.
-
Welcome to the DeeperBlue.com Forums, the largest online community dedicated to Freediving, Scuba Diving and Spearfishing. To gain full access to the DeeperBlue.com Forums you must register for a free account. As a registered member you will be able to:
- Join over 47,943+ fellow diving enthusiasts from around the world on this forum
- Participate in and browse from over 531,990+ posts.
- Communicate privately with other divers from around the world.
- Post your own photos or view from 7,455+ user submitted images.
- All this and much more...
You can gain access to all this absolutely free when you register for an account, so sign up today!
Pool training
- Thread starter Don Kimball
- Start date
Thread Status: Hello
, There was no answer in this thread for more than 90 days.
It can take a long time to get an up-to-date response or contact with relevant users.
It can take a long time to get an up-to-date response or contact with relevant users.
Hi Don,
Same question as Billieball.
There is a considerable amount of stuff you can do in a shallow pool, but never believe that a lifeguard is adequate safety. In very unusual, special circumstances, a lifeguard might be almost adequate, but mostly assume you are training completely alone, serious.
Training alone, you can't push it and your breathholds are getting long enough to raise the possibility of a BO if you do push it, so don't.
I'd suggest training 1/2 lung and in a pattern that mimics a real dive. For example: breathup, relaxed breathing, with no purges and little deep breathing, exhale half way and hold a static until the first (thats early) urge to breathe, then start swimming. Come up when it feels right and don't push. You sound like you are training regularly. Do this regular and you will start to see major improvements that will translate to real diving. Remember, don't push. This is about getting into the "zone" by staying relaxed. PM me if you want some more detail.
Last but not least. Even this type of training is much less than perfectly safe. Work on getting a buddy.
Connor
Same question as Billieball.
There is a considerable amount of stuff you can do in a shallow pool, but never believe that a lifeguard is adequate safety. In very unusual, special circumstances, a lifeguard might be almost adequate, but mostly assume you are training completely alone, serious.
Training alone, you can't push it and your breathholds are getting long enough to raise the possibility of a BO if you do push it, so don't.
I'd suggest training 1/2 lung and in a pattern that mimics a real dive. For example: breathup, relaxed breathing, with no purges and little deep breathing, exhale half way and hold a static until the first (thats early) urge to breathe, then start swimming. Come up when it feels right and don't push. You sound like you are training regularly. Do this regular and you will start to see major improvements that will translate to real diving. Remember, don't push. This is about getting into the "zone" by staying relaxed. PM me if you want some more detail.
Last but not least. Even this type of training is much less than perfectly safe. Work on getting a buddy.
Connor
Thanks for reply and i'll add swims tomorrow. Whould it be better to work on freediving before or after my laps. Don
Well, for training, it doesn't matter. You push your limits and improve either way. If you're going for an attempt, then definately before your laps because your bpm has not risen from exercise.
billieball, I do wet tables as well, now more so than dry tables. I model my training after Tanya Streeters. It's posted on her website. She does wet tables too.
billieball, I do wet tables as well, now more so than dry tables. I model my training after Tanya Streeters. It's posted on her website. She does wet tables too.
We do wet static training in our club too. Twice a week. Much better than dry tables. First, it is more fun, second it is easier - you can better relax in water, third you train also your diving reflex, and fourth competitions in static apnea are also in water, so you best prepare for them - in water. It does not mean people do not add some dry tables, or other apnea exercises, but on my mind, the wet static training is better and more efficient.
Otherwise, I have to second Connor - a life guard who does not sit with you and taps you each half a minute or so, to see if you react, is worthless as safety. The case of the Swedish guy who died training under the watchful eyes of a lifeguard is the best proof: http://forums.deeperblue.com/safety/68814-bad-news-sweden.html
In our club, we have triple safety - there is the instructor in water, there is a life guard strictly dedicated just and only to us (he is a professional life guard, spearo, and a former freediver), and then we train usually in groups of two to four divers, keep each other by hands, sending signal around to see if everyone is conscious. When repeated signal is not returned, the freediver is being pulled out of the water immediately.
Otherwise, I have to second Connor - a life guard who does not sit with you and taps you each half a minute or so, to see if you react, is worthless as safety. The case of the Swedish guy who died training under the watchful eyes of a lifeguard is the best proof: http://forums.deeperblue.com/safety/68814-bad-news-sweden.html
In our club, we have triple safety - there is the instructor in water, there is a life guard strictly dedicated just and only to us (he is a professional life guard, spearo, and a former freediver), and then we train usually in groups of two to four divers, keep each other by hands, sending signal around to see if everyone is conscious. When repeated signal is not returned, the freediver is being pulled out of the water immediately.
What trux said.
That didn't answer the question though. The point of the tables is to train your body to tolerate high CO2 and low O2 right? If you make it easier to do the hold won't you be getting less of the benefit of the tables?
I'm not saying that inwater training is bad, because that is the point, to get in the water.... But if your doing full breathups and rebuilding O2 supply and deminishing the CO2 between holds and making things easier during the hold, isn't the net gain less?
I'm not trash talking anyones routine, I'm confused.
Right, I see where you're coming from. Don't worry, you're not putting down anyone's routine, you just don't understand.
Well, theoretically, wet apnea should extend your times yes? For me, it doesn't, at least not yet. I still cannot beat my dry times. So for me wet training isn't easier, if anything it's more difficult.Wet apnea makes it easier to hold, theoretically. That doesn't mean you cannot train tolerence. You just have adjust your times for wet training. If your times for dry are 4min, in wet you could push it to 4.15, if the wet training really is helping to make it easier for you.
So if someone asks me why should I adjust my tables to fit wet training, I'd say why adjust my tables to fit dry? You get all the benefits trux stated when doing wet training. Doing dry tables makes most people more comfortable when on land, but suffer in water. So conclusion is, wet training is better, at least for me. Does that answer the question?
It is not about making it easier. When I told you can better relax in water, it in no way means that you should make it easier wet than dry. The better relaxation helps you getting deeper to your limits, hence pushing more (possibly to even deeper level of discomfort than dry). And according to some studies it is not even about improving physiological hypoxic or hypercapnic tolerance. You learn controlling them, but the physiological adaptation remains questionable. At least for the hypercapnic part. At the hypoxic training, there may be some long term physiological effect.
So what you do, is learning your body and mind better withstand the hard effect of hypercapnia, and to recognize properly signs of the limiting hypoxia. You train controlling your oxygen consumption. You learn relaxation. And you train the diving reflex. Hence it is better doing it in battle conditions. Doing it dry, you train for dry apnea, which is rarely needed, and you can fail once you are in water. Doing it wet you train for freediving.
With all this I definitely do not mean that dry apnea training is useless. Quite oppositely. But the wet static training is important.
Seriously, the reason I asked about "wet" tables, is because unless you are with a knowledgable buddy...they could be quite dangerous. One of the reasons we like to do tables "dry" is because if one gets light-headed (or worse), your not falling face-first into water...just sinking down into the comfort of your easy chair! Plus, you don't need a buddy!
billies safety thing is true, but I HATE DRY TABLES, it's the worlds most boring thing. I just sit there waiting for them to end, looking at my watch. I have struggled to about 3mins dry, but can do 5 wet. My advice would be go with what you enjoy, you will always do better at it