Static problems HELP PLEASE!!!

[ktreloar]

hey crew,

Before i had been a converted frc diver, done nothing but frc dives for close to 2 years. Now in the last month i have been trying to get back to inhale statics currently my frc static is around 4.30min with room to spare but, i cant seem to get my inhale static past 5.00mins. Its really starting to eat at me with some major dumb spits down the pool lol.. what really suprises me is i dont get contractions till like 4mins and with no packing. I cop three contractions and bail. Im not bailing because of the contractions mainly im feeling uncomfortable i think its strange. Just before i get contractions i get this really thick feeling in my chest that gets worse until contractions hit then it stays.. Blood shift maybe?!?! i would really appreciate some help i have tried tables, apnea walks more cardio.. but nothing seems to be working

Cheers guys if anyone could help i would be really appreciate it.

Regards,

Ktreloar

 

[titan]

sounds like u overtrained a bit take4 a few days off

 

[aharon solomons]

Titan certainly has a point, however there are more questions to be answered here before an informed guess can be made .How long did it take you to arrive at 5 mins .One would need to see your whole training program to begin to answer this . You mention cardio if we are talking aerobic ,this can be a problem ,everything you do a lot of alters your physiology ,a lot of aerobic builds a dependancy on a continous supply of O2.
Specialising in frc alters your physiology , tipically it reduces both your RV and your IRC.
Also FRC is a very difficult thing to precisely quantify.
If you would like to discuss this further my email is aharon@freedivers.net .It interests me . Expectations are probably the main problem . Expecting your system to immediately adapt to a competely different challenge is unreasonable .Because you can do 4:30 frc dont expect to immediately do 8:00 mins.

 

[efattah]

I had the same problem with I switched from FRC back to full inhale stuff. I could do a 6'30" FRC static but only 7'00" on an inhale with packing despite having many more litres of air.

My best guess is that the body is not used to the higher CO2 that occurs on inhale statics, plus the body is not used to the pressure on the heart and arteries -- this can create a feeling of vagal blackout later in the static, until you adapt to it.

If you want to get good at inhale statics you need to practice inhale statics.

 

[Simos]

Hi Kteloar - Aharon and Eric know best so you have some great advice/explanations there already.

Practically speaking, instead of having any expectations on how long you should be doing on full lung, why don't you slowly start increasing the amount of air you are taking in and observing both the times but also most importantly, your level of comfort.

I think you should be able to build up your times this way while maintaining relaxation and allowing for adequate time for your body to adapt to the new challenge.

In the meantime, it might be beneficial to work on some diaphragmatic/thoracic stretches and maybe even practice some shorter holds with a bit of packing to also get used to the sensation of being 'full' of air?

Just a couple of ideas - have no clue whether they'll work as I haven't been in your situation. Maybe Eric can give some feedback if I'm talking rubbish

 

[aharon solomons]

Simos excellent advice my idea exactly ,however I sense other issues here as well. We have a very specific stretching regime we use involving a 10 inch pilates ball , it was invented by a very brilliant Irish physio ,and has had some astonishing results coupled with more conventional stretches,we are great believers in stretching .
1 hr bike rides might not be the best idea in the world .Builds a dependancy on a continous supply of O2 . And needs a lot of stretching afterwards ...very often neglected

 

[buddha]

Simos excellent advice my idea exactly ,however I sense other issues here as well. We have a very specific stretching regime we use involving a 10 inch pilates ball , it was invented by a very brilliant Irish physio ,and has had some astonishing results coupled with more conventional stretches,we are great believers in stretching .
1 hr bike rides might not be the best idea in the world .Builds a dependancy on a continous supply of O2 . And needs a lot of stretching afterwards ...very often neglected

It´ll be great to see how those stretchings works with the ball!

 

[cdavis]

Don't know exactly how it works, but I'm pretty sure you are fighting physiological changes brought on by frc diving. Having done frc pretty much exclusively for several years, trying to switch back and take a large lungful feels all wrong. Doing cw on really full inhale feels awful, completely screwed up, strong urge to breathe after a short dive time. I'd be very interested in how long it takes you to adapt and what it does to your frc ability.

Connor

 

[wjohnson100]

Several ideas on reducing discomfort during statics:

1. Ditch the packs. I have done >7 min holds without packing.

2. When you get to that point of discomfort try this exercise - pull up on your ribcage.

3. When you first start getting contractions, instead of the contractions, try this exercise - push air from your upper lung into your lower lung. Physically you will see your belly inflate. As the hold progresses, the pushes get more and more frequent, intense, and difficult, just like contractions. When they get too hard you can do normal contractions. I have gone all the way past 7:00 using this method with minimal discomfort and without doing normal contractions.

Good luck.

Walt

 

[Simos]

Hi Walt - very interesting. I'm not 100% sure I get the pushing of air in the belly method. To me, it sounds like normal contractions? Are you voluntarily pushing air to the lower part to counter balance the contractions? Do you keep the pressure constant or just push in the same rhythm as contractions?
Posted via Mobile Device

 

[wjohnson100]

When you do normal contractions, you are contracting the diaphragm and abdominal muscles. In my recommendation you push air down there to inflate the diaphragm - the exact opposite of contractions. It is not a constant pressure but just whenever you start to feel some discomfort and probably about the same or close to the same rhythm as your normal contractions. I don't know for sure as I have not really compared the methods rhythm wise. You can see me doing it on my videos at YouTube - wjohnson100's Channel all the way to 7:18.

 

[Kars]

I did practice some Yort, a combination of sport and Yoga, and it also uses a ball of that size for stretching. The exercises we did were for the back spine and ribcage and helped very much to loosen up things.

When Doing deep dives in cold water I don't do in water 'warm ups' because it only makes me shiver and tense. I use stretching on land to warm up and be flexible and ready for the deep dive. I started doing this 3 years ago in Sweden, and proved successful for me.

But Ktreoar, 4 minutes with comfort and no contractions sounds delicious to me
What kind of CO2 schedules (Table A ) can you do?

 

[buddha]

4 minutes without contractions and I'm fighting the same time in my statics against them

 

[dom12]

I find Yoga just before statics, is the best thing to do, but not just yoga focusing on rig cage, spine or chest.
But rather just do a routine of Asanas, e.g do a few cycles of the sun salutation, then a few cycles of asanas that focus on all mucles before doing those that focus on just one.
Doing so, puts your muscles into a sleep like state, this makes contractions usualy take abit more of a while to come and keeps you relaxed through out the uncofertable feelings of tension and pressure in the chest.
Usualy works for me...especialy when i do the static right after while remaining in the corpse pose.

Any body else do this? or find it works control uncofertable feelings?

Dom.

 

[Gletwyn Rubidge]

What works for me to overcome the tough feeling in my chest is:
1. Get my attention out of my body - focus on the corner of the room/pool - change corners - or focus on a single spec of dirt on the pool floor. Or do an imaginary strole across the floor tile as if you were an ant. It's an active process like counting sheep to induce sleep. Just get your attention away from the chest.
2. Sometimes mild movement helps me at the last 30-40 sec -just when I feel like stopping then (on dry static) I sit up and look around - repeating 1. above while sitting. Obviously it consumes more oxygen but if it extends my hold say 30 more seconds then I gained despite adding some co2
3. Last and perhaps most effective for me is to apply a meditatve type focus on some point - e.g. like yogis focus on some object for say 50 minutes or more, not budging and not thinking a single thought. My lesser equivalent often induces a trans-like state in which mild body pain - e.g. a sore butt from sitting, or numb foot is no bother at all. I have had big jumps in my maximum holds, exhale holds, apnea walks and CO2 tables this way. Ideally you want total focus and a blank mind - i.e. not thinking about anything.

 

[wjohnson100]

Yea, I used to do things like sitting up or rolling over on my side during dry statics. Worked great. I would suggest, however, that you resist doing things in your dry statics that you cannot easily repeat in the water. Ultimately I have done almost as good wet now as I did dry, and without doing the sitting up thing.

Just a thought.

 

[Gletwyn Rubidge]

WJohnson100 - Makes sense what you just said - it's a step to initially expand my comfort zone. Hopefully I can wean the sit-up in time.
Using those methods I improved from 5:18 to 6:23 dry static with 3 full exhale holds to warm up.

 

[wjohnson100]

Yea, I am working on the full exhale things too. For now though, my warmup is wet full breath holds of 4/5/6 and then the final hold, or something close to that. Going to try to up the first, second, and maybe the third hold though, if I can, by 15-30 seconds. That is similar to the warmup I was doing to get to 7:18 dry. You can see it on vid at my youtube - YouTube - ‪wjohnson100's Channel‬‏ if you want. The videos there discuss in depth my warmup. Is alot shorter now that I am training in the water though. Slashed the times between holds since I was doing dry one. I am still just at the beginning of my in the water training though. Remains to be seen how that will work out.

 

[Gletwyn Rubidge]

Saw your clip - your 7:01 looked real comfortable, nicely done on YT especially for others, and I subscribed too.
I will track your progress as I will want to go wet later but first I must get to 7 min and 6:30 comfortably!

 

[wjohnson100]

If you need any software to help (particularly good on windows based computer) check out Compressed Builds - Apnea Table Manager 1.0.appref-ms.rbp.zip - Windows Live

I wrote the software and it is particularly good if you are doing dry holds. There are Apple versions there too, but there are some problems with them that I cannot fix as I have no Apple computer to test it on.

good luck.

Walt