Solo Pool Training...

[Morg]

Alright here's my problem... I was planning on freediving this summer on Georgian Bay (Canada) but now a big change of plans has just occurred.

I am not moving down to Atlanta Georgia for the entire summer. I have no mobility but where I am staying I have access to a very big pool.

So my question is how should I go about training my

freediving in the pool? I fully understand that I should NEVER do this alone but I was wondering if there are any other safer training methods that are safe while swimming?
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I am not sure if they have a lifeguard on duty or not but hopefully they do then I would feel a lot more safer doing them as opposed to just myself.

I will just end up doing laps and continuing my dry training but if there is something that I can practise in the water that helps then that would be great.

I was planning on taking a freediving course to learn and become more educated but I cannot do that now .

Any ideas what else I can train in the pool besides just doing laps?

Maby​

some VERY mild Co2 tolerance tables?

Thanks,

Morg

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[DeepThought]

I am not sure if they have a lifeguard on duty or not but hopefully they do then I would feel a lot more safer doing them as opposed to just myself.

Actually, that's the other way around. A life guard is a false security.
Lifeguards have to look at other poeple in the pool (if they even do that). Think he would be able to tell between the first 4 minutes of you holding your breath on the face of the water and the other minutes of you dying?
Think he'll notice once you're not in his view and underwater inhaling water?
Well, it's a maybe, worth taking the risk? Freedivers have drowned in lifeguarded pools. You should talk with him and tell him what you are doing, but don't think this gives you any kind of security. Consider that as diving SOLO.
You need a partner that knows what freediving is about who is only concentrating at you and knows what are the safety procedures for FREEDIVING.

Sorry if I come out a little bit strong.

 

[Jon]

Morg,

Michael is right about not praciticing freediving without a buddy- as lifeguards do not count.

What you can do is surface laps with your mask, snorkel and fins. The more time you can spend in the gear you actually use the more comfortable you'll be in the water. If your going to use a monofin there's all kinds of surface drills you can practice. This would be a good time to work on streamlining and leg strength.

You can also look up some under water hockey drills that can be done with your snorkeling kit. I wouldn't do any Co2 tables unless you have a buddy there.

For lap swimming there's always hypoxic pyramids that you can do. I would also suggest joining a local master's swimming program as there are hypoxic workouts they do as a group- so you have someone watching your back. These are done without the gear, but still will cross over somewhat.

Dryland streaching, yoga, and statics on the couch will also help. To work on my monofin technique, I often find myself trying to streach out my shoulders and feet even when just watching TV.

Jon

 

[ggarrett]

I agree that practicing static apnea even with a lifeguard present and aware of your activities is both dangerous and stupid. I believe more than one static apneaist in Canada has died that way. Therefore, always practice static apnea with a trained spotter at your side. It will help you more if want to compete.

Dynamic apnea, in my opinion is another story. I feel perfectly safe practicing dynamic apnea during lap swim. 1) I let the lifeguard know what I am doing, 2) I practice proper recovery protocols at the end of dynamic over 50 meters. That is, recovery breaths, turn to the guard, remove goggles, signal OK, and say "I am OK" loud enough for the guard to hear. This engages the guard and gets their attention. Educating the pool staff is eseential to safe practice.

You might also find a buddy in the Atlanta area. There are folks from there on this forum.

Peace,
Glen

 

[Morg]

Thanks for your info and suggestions guys.

I can understand why you guys stress NOT to go out alone and train. I might order some fins while I am down there and get used to them while swimming around in the pool.

I will look into the Underwater hockey drills and see what that is all about. I am totally clueless about Under Water Hockey.

down there, hopefully I meet someone down there in the pool. I won't be able to travel around so it will be very difficult to find a fellow I will definitely be looking around for another freediverfreediver.

Thanks for pointing out that information about the lifeguard. I would have thought thats the first person you would want but I bet a fellow freediver who knows his stuff will be a lot better.

The reason I asked this question is because some spearos usually hunt alone correct? Do they just not push themselves really hard or know the signs when to stop?

Thanks,
Morg

 

[Adrian]

Hi Morg,
In Spain we have an average of a couple of deaths a year among the spearo population. Sometimes quite experienced, and sometimes even while diving with buddies. Prior to blacking out one doesn't necessarily have any clear cut symptoms indicating what's about to happen. Many people have blacked out thinking they were doing just fine. That's why it's so dangerous.

Adrian

 

[Haydn]

There is never a need to go anywhere near maximum dynamic apnea when training. Practising style and fitness is more important than training hypoxic tolerance. If you have to train alone (or without one to one safety), simply dont even think about doing hard apnea sessions. Remember, you might be able to do a maximum dynamic apnea once in an hours session by wasting most of the session in preparation doing a handful of statics or apnea swims. Or you can do a mile or so in dynamic apnea, concentrating on technique or sprints (limited to 25m efforts one per minute) without getting anywhere near a dangerous hypoxic state. Then maybe once a week, ask the lifeguard to safety you for a longer distance and maybe once every two months arrange a maximum effort. Brief the lifeguard, prep the 02, and still come up early. Easy does it is safe. However, I would guess life expectancy in the first exercise, training alone and seriously trying maximum dynamics would be around 10 sessions.

 

[jome]

I'm with Haydn on this one...

Dynamic:
You can train very effectively without ever going anywhere near your limit. For example 25m or 50m laps concentrating on style, technique, speed, balance fitness. I would regard very safe for someone who's in reasonable diving shape (pb around or over 100m). You can save the maximum attempts for times when you have a proper buddy etc. But you have to have enough mind control that you stick to your plan. For example, NEVER over 50m and no max attempts. No matter who good a day you're having. This kind of training is very effective, if you do it enough.

As for static. If you're not doing max attempts in water (which thou shalt not do alone), I see no point wasting precious pool time on them. You can just as effectively train CO2 tolerance with dry statics...The the useful things you can train in water for static cannot, in my opinnion, be trained without a partner. Also static is more confusing to the staff...You look dead anyway. How do they know you're ok? With dynamic, chances are when you stop moving, someone might notice something is wrong...(but for heavens sake, don't count on that!)

 

[dannybuoy]

Two little additions to the staying within 50-60% rule:

If you train width-wise in the pool, you can still practise your turning points.

The 50-60% rule is relative, i.e. it means 50-60% of your maximum that day. Not every day is the same, so for example if your max is 100 meters, do not religiously stick to the 50 meters every time. Never go over it, but certainly never try to achieve it every single time either, as it isn't a minimum. Use this practise-time to really listen to the signals from your body, and when you feel at about 50%, look up, and go up. In other words, your body is the measure, not the amount of meters, or just your feet.

I try to always keep in mind that, in regular pool hours, someone can accidentally jump on your back, and provided that doesn't knock me out, i'd still have to be able to overcome the pain and shock and make it back up, with enough air to yell at the :mute .

The real advantage of training within the 50-60% zone, i think, is that you can really get a feel for the water and yourself in it. It might not be as instantly satisfying as a (successful) max DYN, but you do get to spend a lot more time underwater, finetuning. It is lovely :inlove

BTW going for a max (with buddy, of course) after months of 50%-ing felt very odd; after 50 meters my body just went "hey, isn't this where we go up?". Funny how conditioning works sometimes.

 

[naiad]

I try to always keep in mind that, in regular pool hours, someone can accidentally jump on your back, and provided that doesn't knock me out, i'd still have to be able to overcome the pain and shock and make it back up, with enough air to yell at the :mute

Very important. I have experienced this more than once.

I do sometimes train alone, but within strict limits.

-No max attempts or anywhere near (of course! )
-No hypoxic training of any kind.
-Do a fixed distance, and don't keep going longer for any reason.
-Be careful about setting a bad example for others.
-Nothing which makes me seriously out of breath, to the point where I am defenceless and could be hurt by others. (This includes serious hypercapnic training, etc.)
-Nothing which makes it hard to tell if I'm ok (though I could probably do a 4min static floating face down and the lifeguards/other pool users wouldn't bat an eyelid, until I drift into the lane swimming area and someone complains that I'm getting in the way, then the staff will get the rubbish-collecting net out )
-Never rely on the lifeguard to notice if things go wrong.
-Be very careful with getting hurt/trapped underwater by other pool users. People don't care. (At least that's my experience)

This leaves me with 20-25m dynamic laps, which are fine for improving technique. Also duck-dives, turns, equalisation etc.

Everything else is for the proper freediving session.

Lucia

 

[Morg]

Awesome.. thanks for giving me something to work on if I have to train alone. I will do that dynamic training probably all this summer if I do not find a local free-diver there willing to spot me.

These lengths your talking about is that with or without fins? I will order some fins when I am down there and will use them quite a lot to get used to them in the pool.

I think that I really need to work on my underwater swimming.... I rarely use my feet to swim and I just rely heavily on my arms. I dislike swimming without fins because that reason. I figure I rely %80 of my entire movement on my arms.

I will have access to a work-out area and the pool. I plan on doing this

Day 1 - Normal Workout (Upper Body, Lower Body, Cardio , laps in the pool(No Breathe Holding))
Day 2 - Dynamic Training (%50-%60), Then some more laps in the pool for leg strengthening .

How long would you suggest training dynamic?

Thanks again guys,

Morg​

 

[fcallagy]

Hi Morg,
Just to touch on a suggestion made earlier, you could try to focus on your technique. So insted of breathholding etc if 25m no fins is no problem of 15m or whatever see if you can increase your glide from the wall or reduce the number of strokes over 25m or 15m whatever your comfortable with.
Regards Feargus

 

[Haydn]

Just to give you an idea. I never, ever, exceed 50 meter repeats. The only variation is the recovery time which is never, ever, less than triple the apnea time. IE 50 meter dynamic apnea takes 30 seconds therefore recovery time is always at least 90 seconds. In other words I go every 2 minutes, but never earlier. This is sometimes tough if I am having an off day and therefore this toughness is the limit I allow to training the enduring of the last few meters. I dont increase the toughness, ever, by trying a turn or giving myself less recovery. Often, I have a good session when it feels great, this trains other mental areas of the discipline. By making the session comfortable I can train seriously for a good hour and cover the miles. I never train statics because I am often training alone (with a pool lifeguard often reading a book, or sat in an office.......), sometimes a handfull of other swimmers are around. My statics are therefore rubbish at 4:15 but my dynamic pb is 139m clean and 156m lmc. I dont think anybody else worldwide has such a great disparity between the two performances. What I mean by that is that most people with 4 minute statics cant do 100m dynamics. The few that have exceeded 150m rely on 6 or 7 minute statics.

 

[Morg]

Just to give you an idea. I never, ever, exceed 50 meter repeats. The only variation is the recovery time which is never, ever, less than triple the apnea time. IE 50 meter dynamic apnea takes 30 seconds therefore recovery time is always at least 90 seconds. In other words I go every 2 minutes, but never earlier. This is sometimes tough if I am having an off day and therefore this toughness is the limit I allow to training the enduring of the last few meters. I dont increase the toughness, ever, by trying a turn or giving myself less recovery. Often, I have a good session when it feels great, this trains other mental areas of the discipline. By making the session comfortable I can train seriously for a good hour and cover the miles. I never train statics because I am often training alone (with a pool lifeguard often reading a book, or sat in an office.......), sometimes a handfull of other swimmers are around. My statics are therefore rubbish at 4:15 but my dynamic pb is 139m clean and 156m lmc. I dont think anybody else worldwide has such a great disparity between the two performances. What I mean by that is that most people with 4 minute statics cant do 100m dynamics. The few that have exceeded 150m rely on 6 or 7 minute statics.

Wow those are some crazy numbers. I just calculated the 50 meters out to 160 feet. If you can do that in 30 seconds you must really be moving.

I am hoping that the pool I will go to is at least 8 feet deep in some areas. That way I can kick freely with fins on and not worry about hitting the surface.

That's one other thing that I can work on while I am there... I will be ordering the fins so I can test them out and build up my fining muscles. My fining style is scissor kick with and I am working on the dolphin kick as well.
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Sorry about all these questions I had to decide to go down there because of work... I had originally planed on taking courses up here and doing some actual freediving but I can't do that now. My entire summer will be spent down there in a pool unless I find some areas to freedive. I don't want to lose my interest or put it on hold because of that.

 

[The Exhale Diver]

I have trained alone for about the past 14 months averaging 3 sessions a week in the pool, in that time I have advanced steadily and have never come close to having any problems. There is no lifeguard looking after the pool when I am there either.

The reason why I have had no problems in that time is simply because I practice serial diving (i.e. repetitive dives of shorter duration and distance) rather than pushing to a maximum performance. I also perform all my dives on exhale in a static/dynamic combination. The key is to slowly progress so you know what you are capable of then make adjustments according to how you feel on the day, so if I am feeling a little sick I will reduce the times accordingly.

 

[Mr. X]

Interesting article by best known spearo author, Terry Maas.

 

[fcallagy]

Interesting article alright,
Its good in that it mentions people by name and age and their parents. so often stats are just that, stats and we pass them off it has more of an impact when its personalised.

 

[naiad]

Scary. When I first started freediving 3 years ago, I used to take serious risks because I didn't know any better. Things like max dynamics with empty lungs, alone...

Now I would never do something like that. That is why I think freediving clubs are a very good thing. Sometimes people complain about them because they think it is a dangerous sport, and they don't want to see sambas in the pool, but it is much better than the alternative, which is to have beginners training alone, ignorant of the risks.

About my own solo training, I think it is as safe as possible. I haven't given details because I don't want anyone to copy me. I almost always train with a buddy now anyway.

Lucia

 

[dannybuoy]

The contradiction in this thread seems to be that we want to find some rules for the rule-breakers. The rule being broken would be 'never dive alone', but according to another thread, more than 80% of us do dive alone:

http://forums.deeperblue.net/forum12/poll91.html

It is understandable that none of the experts want to go any deeper into this matter than repeating the rule, and it is important to emphasize the dangers of training solo, yet apparently neither novices nor experienced divers are detered. Obviously, we are freediving solo.

Now rather than denying this, perhaps here is a good place to discuss it. What is the safest way to be unsafe? What can we do to not freak out other people in the pool? If you only have very limited pool time, say an hour, what's the best stretching routine, what kind of build-up can you do? How many times a week is beneficial, when does it become counter-productive?

For me, freediving is a passion. I'd much rather do it with a buddy, but he's a busy guy with a girl in another town, so he's out most of the time. There's a club which meets once a week, i travel 1 1/2 hours to get there, and the same back, which is worth every second of mass transportation, but once a week sure isn't enough for me. I mean no disrespect to the sport or the experts who say i shouldn't train alone, it's just that i don't have much of a choice. Well, i could pick up golf, like my parents.

The point is, most of us do train alone, if not all the time then at least some of the time. Perhaps not as extreme as Lucia in her early days :duh , and probably more out of necessity than out of sheer ignorance. So i don't think the answer to Morg's problem should be to not do it. Maybe we can explore the limits within which one can train solo in relative safety.

 

[Haydn]

"Training alone" is a very loose term. Not ranging simply from being totally alone in the pool or sea but including training with others in a group but without a one to one safety diver/companion. We use the phrase to include static, dynamic and constant. It is important to recognise the varying amount of risk involved and which elements contribute the most level of risk, looking at the whole picture. ie an empty lung constant weight dive below negative bouyancy (even with a companion) is far more dangererous than a 25meter dynamic with fins in an empty pool. Whilst we all train alone more often than not, whether in the strictest sense or loosely, we must be very aware of the certainty that one day, our sport will bite us and we must hope at that time , that we are not alone......because, for certain, that is the day we die. Therefore when we dive alone, the greatest safety factor we can employ is to limit our activity to very basic exercises. A thought question....... Would you be dead by now if all your statics, dynamics and dives were always accomplished alone? Answer yes if you have ever had a blackout or more than a handful of sambas. Also remember, a policy of never training alone, could mean never getting wet, or maybe for only a couple of times a year (hardly a sport then). Maybe we should all take up cake decorating. Seriously though, I have been a part of a group of divers, one of which was lost. For almost two hours, we thought we had a fatality because one person dived alone. Death doesnt always happen to somebody else. Aida should never condone or teach a best practise or series of solo safety limits. It is wholly correct only to teach Never Dive Alone and therefore we never need die alone.