Starting out with Freediving

[Lachlan Haitana]

Hi everyone

I've decided that I would like to take freediving a little more seriously, with no experience of training/competitions etc

What can i do for training in and out of the pool. I am a competitive runner so I only want to train in the pool twice a week but I still need help on what to do, i dont want to look like an idiot in front of the others also in the pool. Also is there anything i can do with my diet, equalisation and core? I want to increase my static apnea from 2:01 to the 3:30 range. I am only 15 and at the moment I only want to freedive recreationally - no competitions etc. As i live in a coastal community, I want to be able to dive around the shores for a longer period and will be willing to train to make this happen.

Also my equalisation at the moment is weak - what can i do to train this.

Cheers

Lachlan

 

[Kars]

Welcome to Deeperblue!

Where are you from?

Lot's of questions.

Freediving is a odd sport, as water is stronger then our muscles we have only technique to get where we want to be.
Things you can do (a bit) learning alone: learning how to duckdive and swim efficiently, streamlining, relaxing everything you're not using.
On (soft) land you can do apnea walks, static tables, stretching (diaphragm, ribcage, shoulders), meditation/mindcontrol, equalisation (Aharon Solomons youtube for instance), strength, CO2 tolerance, using the Deeperblue search function

Finding a buddy should be very high on the list, as well as participating in a freediving course. Both of which will allow you to explore your current limits in a much more safe environment.

When you catch the freediving bug, your running may start to fade, which may be good for freediving performance. The high level O2 consumption conditioning of running is counter to very high apnea numbers. However if you're happy with long in water times, many dives, quicker recovery in between dives then one can see it as a partly benefit, provided one can switch to low metabolism fast. It works good for recreational freediving, not for professional competitive diving. (6+ minutes)
In all one has only so much energy, and freediving can consume much, so keeping an eye on rest is very important.

Foods, before diving: avoid mucus inducing products, and drink enough (extra)water (very important!) - Since we constantly move, sweat and breath through our mouth, we use and lose a lot of moist. Dehydrated divers are prone to black out, cramps and decompression illness. Also avoid having a stuffed belly, preferable an empty belly before a dive session. Avoiding gassing food too.
After the dive: fluids, carbohydrates, proteins, vegetable, fats, as soon as you can after the exercise as you can. The sooner one start recovering, the less recovering and time one needs.

Safety:

Do never hyperventilate (breathing more (volume and or speed) than you naturally need). Hyperventilation reduces or eliminates the urge to breath making it very easy to swim into a black out. Secondarily it vastly increases O2 consumption, shortening the dive and -again- increasing BO risk.
Respect your bodies signals and consider your dives like you're diving alone. Assume No-one / lifeguard is going to be there in time...
When the urge to breath comes (swallow/contractions), turn and return to the surface in a controlled relaxed way.
If you want to dive longer, become more efficient and relaxed. - this is The way to extend dives.
Have a buddy who can pick you up and rescue you, and keeps watching you closely.
Know that at depth the feelings and urge to breath are affected, as well as the distance/time to air.
When experimenting, only change 1 variable at the time, and have small steps.

Do a freediving course. To explore your limits safely (so you KNOW them), to learn safety, to learn a mountain of techniques that safe you years of experimentation. Do a freediving course and bring your buddy too!


Love, Courage and Water.

Kars

ps I edited my text, added and improved a few key points.

 

[Lachlan Haitana]

@Kars thanks so much! your info really helped, i'm from new zealand!