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Static warmup in a competition

Thread Status: Hello , There was no answer in this thread for more than 60 days.
It can take a long time to get an up-to-date response or contact with relevant users.

subaquaticus

Fond of the Red Sea
Oct 10, 2004
557
11
108
64
Hi,

I am doing my second competition :ko next Saturday in Massy...

My goal is to do 4'00" in static...

My first comp was last saturday and I did 3'04", which disappointed me a little bit :waterwork ...

I had never done wet static before ; I had trained dry mostly lying on my bed... in the metro, attending a conference...

I already did 4' lying on my bed...

I have used recently Umberto's static training table (dry) with constant recuperation and increasing times : 2'00" + R = 2'45", 2'10" + R = 2'45", ...
..., 3'10" ; according to Umberto, it corresponds to an apneist doing a max of 4'00" ; I did this table too easily, and then I added 10" the week after...

Last Saturday, during the warmup phase, I felt good ; it semt easier for me to train in water than dry... I did 45", 1'30", 1'30", then relaxed.., and then 2'00", 2'15"...

Just before the competition phase, I felt disturbed... I got rid of my watch (why ?)... The loudspeaker announced 2'00", and then very quickly 30" (???) ... And I plunged my face into water... In water I heard very distinctly the loudspeaker announcing 2'00" and I felt very good and relaxed...

And then I broke my breathhold at 3'04"... The urge to breathe came very quickly... Why ? If I was well at 2'00", doesn't it mean that I should have reached at least 4'00" ??... I was a bit disappointed...

Next Saturday what should I do in order to reach those 4'00" ??

First I decided to rest the whole week... only 30' back swimming on Thursday... no dry static training in the week ; no dynamic training... Am I right ? One week between two comps seems a tight schedule, doesn't it ?

Second I decided to take an adequate watch to control my time while in water during the warmup phase - and also - ??? - during the comp...

Third I decided to carefully plan my eating and drinking during the day before... Last saturday I ate about 2 PM a big steack with salad, drank a coffee, bought a giant yoghurt to drink... The organizators gave us at 5 PM a little package with a banana, a bottle of plain water, a bar of cereals and a bar of chocolate... Static began at 7 PM... and then dynamic with and without fins... I felt under-alimented during the comp...

I read somewhere in the forum that you should eat nothing before static and it very much surprises me... ??? Isn't it mandatory to eat some sugar or glucides before the comp ? and to drink some typical sports beverage ?

Fourth : how shall I plan my warmup ?? If my goal is 4'00", is it good to do several 2', 2'15" during the warmup phase ? Is it good to stretch a little bit the possibilities during warmup ? or in the contrary, is it better to relax mostly ?
 
I'm sorry if I misdiagnose you, but it seems to me from reading your post that your nerves got the best of you. You were too excited and nervous and could not concentrate.

Don't worry, it happes to all (at least most) of us.

First: To be able to do consistent results, you must train consistently. Train, train train, over and over again. Preferably train with countdowns, Ie. have your buddy announce to you "2 minutes" etc. The more you train, the less effect "competition nerves" will have on you. And by training I don't mean you should try to beat your personal best every day. Instead, you should find a good time (say 90% of your max) and make sure you can do that in any conditions (on a bad day too).

Second: Don't set your goal too high. If your dry pb is around 4 minutes, then don't go in a competition thinking "hmm, if everything goes right, I'll hit 4:30-5:00". No, go in saying to your self that considering 4:00 is your absolute best on a good day, anything above 3:00 in a competition would be actually pretty good.

Third: If you train only dry statics, you will be good at dry statics. Dry training has benefits to wet, that is obvious. But they're different things. Try to find a way to train wet more (with a buddy, of course).

Fourth: "2 PM a big steack with salad, drank a coffee, bought a giant yoghurt". Drop everything but the salad from there. Add something light, say more veggies, whole grain bread etc. Absolutely no coffee! Only a banana 2-3 hours before static. Chockolate is an absolute no no! Allways begin a static feeling a bit hungry (but not starved). If you don't believe me, try it for your self :)

Warmup: now here it is pointless to give any advice. It is something that is individual to each and every person. You must experiment and find out your self. If you're aiming for 4:00 I might suggest something like:
0:45 FRC (passive exhale, just to relax)
1:15 FRC
2:00
3:00
And at this point you should have about 5 minutes on the clock to rest before start. This is just a suggestion. Don't print this out and time it to the second. But something you might experiment with...

Some other points:
-I find it best to do almost daily statics in the week leading to a competition. On the last day before, I take a break.
-Make sure you get plenty of sleep during the whole week leading to competiton (note: daily static practise tends to disturb you sleep, so balance them out)
-Try to make "mockup competitons" before the actual one, on where you have 45 min to warmup and must start your static on a countdown
-In the actual competition, during your warmups, practise the start while listening to the countdowns of divers that start before you. Ie. time your warmup statics to someone else's actual start. It's a great way to learn the countdown and avoid getting excited.
-Try to eliminate too much variables and calculation. Simply eat right, get in there, do your thing. If you have too many things on your mind, it will diminish your performance.
-If this is your second competition ever, don't go in there to win or to beat your pb. Go in there to learn. Only experience will help you get better, so suck in as much experience as you can from the competition and other divers. You'll get them next time. This time, you're there just to get some xp and to have some fun. If in the process you happen to beat your pb, well that's just great...

Just some random thoughts...
 
Last edited:
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Reactions: DeepThought
Some nice thoughts there Simo :). I plan to move to the UK in July/August and intend to start competing in Europe (hopefully). As yet i've had no competition experience so it's good to hear everyone's take on comp behaviour.

Regarding the chocolate thing, for my regular 7pm training sessions I tend to have lunch around 1pm and then have a chocolate at 3:30-4pm for a bit of an energy boost. I have heard about not eating chocolate beforehand, do you know what/why this is so?

Cheers,
Ben
 
Someone else will propably have a more scientific answer. I just find that anything high on sugar is bad. Also, to my understanding, chocolate has caffeine and especially theobromine in it. Here's some stuff pulled from google:
Chocolate contains both caffeine and theobromine (a metabolite of caffeine), which are chemically related compounds from the methylxanthine group. Caffeine is found in coffee, and to a lesser extent, in tea, cola and chocolate products. In fact, the caffeine in chocolate is negligible ‚ 1.3 oz. of DOVE® Milk Chocolate and 1.3 oz. of DOVE® Dark Chocolate have approximately 4 mg. and 22 mg. of caffeine, respectively (1), compared to 120 mg. of caffeine in the average cup of coffee. In contrast, it is theobromine that is found in the greatest quantities in chocolate (table 2).

Caffeine and theobromine are a group of water-soluble components that yield uric acid upon oxidation and are believed to have similar physiological and pharmacological effects. However, there is little research to confirm this. It is probable that the variations in their structures cause them to have different effects on the human body; for example, theobromine lacks a methyl group when compared to caffeine (fig 1). Although this is a slight difference in structure, it is well-known that the body in all of its processes is very specific in nature. More research is needed to understand the effect of each individual mexthylxanthine.
So as you can see, can't really say if that effect is negligible. My gut feeling is that quite simply too much sugar too close to your static accelerates your metabolism, which in turn consumes more o2 and produces more co2...All I know is from first hand experience that chocolate or any sweets in general are bad for my statics...
 
Last edited:
jome said:
I'm sorry if I misdiagnose you, but it seems to me from reading your post that your nerves got the best of you. You were too excited and nervous and could not concentrate.

Don't worry, it happens to all (at least most) of us.

First: To be able to do consistent results, you must train consistently. Train, train train, over and over again. Preferably train with countdowns, Ie. have your buddy announce to you "2 minutes" etc. The more you train, the less effect "competition nerves" will have on you. And by training I don't mean you should try to beat your personal best every day. Instead, you should find a good time (say 90% of your max) and make sure you can do that in any conditions (on a bad day too).

Second: Don't set your goal too high. If your dry pb is around 4 minutes, then don't go in a competition thinking "hmm, if everything goes right, I'll hit 4:30-5:00". No, go in saying to your self that considering 4:00 is your absolute best on a good day, anything above 3:00 in a competition would be actually pretty good.

Third: If you train only dry statics, you will be good at dry statics. Dry training has benefits to wet, that is obvious. But they're different things. Try to find a way to train wet more (with a buddy, of course).

Fourth: "2 PM a big steack with salad, drank a coffee, bought a giant yoghurt". Drop everything but the salad from there. Add something light, say more veggies, whole grain bread etc. Absolutely no coffee! Only a banana 2-3 hours before static. Chocolate is an absolute no no! Allways begin a static feeling a bit hungry (but not starved). If you don't believe me, try it for your self :)

Warmup: now here it is pointless to give any advice. It is something that is individual to each and every person. You must experiment and find out your self. If you're aiming for 4:00 I might suggest something like :
0:45 FRC (passive exhale, just to relax)
1:15 FRC
2:00
3:00
And at this point you should have about 5 minutes on the clock to rest before start. This is just a suggestion. Don't print this out and time it to the second. But something you might experiment with...

Some other points:
-I find it best to do almost daily statics in the week leading to a competition. On the last day before, I take a break.
-Make sure you get plenty of sleep during the whole week leading to competiton (note: daily static practise tends to disturb you sleep, so balance them out)
-Try to make "mockup competitons" before the actual one, on where you have 45 min to warmup and must start your static on a countdown
-In the actual competition, during your warmups, practise the start while listening to the countdowns of divers that start before you. Ie. time your warmup statics to someone else's actual start. It's a great way to learn the countdown and avoid getting excited.
-Try to eliminate too much variables and calculation. Simply eat right, get in there, do your thing. If you have too many things on your mind, it will diminish your performance.
-If this is your second competition ever, don't go in there to win or to beat your pb. Go in there to learn. Only experience will help you get better, so suck in as much experience as you can from the competition and other divers. You'll get them next time. This time, you're there just to get some xp and to have some fun. If in the process you happen to beat your pb, well that's just great...

Just some random thoughts...

Thanks very much for your answer ! I did not expect to receive such a quick and thorough one !

I see you are from Finland ; may be we met last summer in Nice ? I spent there two weeks and met the National Team of Finland ; they were doing kind of instrucor's session and I played the guinea pig...

One question : what does FRC stand for ?

I read with interest your advice concerning alimentation : it confirms another post which surprised me... but it is logical : the less you eat, the more you decrease your metabolism... the more you will look like a dead body... I will try to starve a little bit before static...

But I guess that you have to eat something between static and dynamic ??? You need energy in dynamic, don't you ?

I shall try to implement your warmup procedure... I should try 75% of my max leaving me with 5 minutes recup before the comp...

One question : is this "5 minutes" important ? if it amounts to 10 or 15 minutes, will it make me lose the benefits of my warmup ?

Thanks for your help....

françois
 
jome said:
Only a banana 2-3 hours before static. Chockolate is an absolute no no! Allways begin a static feeling a bit hungry (but not starved). If you don't believe me, try it for your self :)

Last Saturday, in Rouen they gave us a kind of "doggy bag" at 5 PM ; in this very bag, there was a banana... and I ate it right away... and the static began at 7 PM... then I followed your advice by anticipation...

In this bag there was also a chocolate bar... and it surprised me since I had always heard that it was no good before any kind of sport... I ate it out of shear politeness...

There was also plain water, but I don't like it... I prefer typical "fitness" beverage... What do you think of drinking before static ?
 
jome said:
So as you can see, can't really say if that effect is negligible. My gut feeling is that quite simply too much sugar too close to your static accelerates your metabolism, which in turn consumes more o2 and produces more co2...All I know is from first hand experience that chocolate or any sweets in general are bad for my statics...

and AFTER your static, waiting for your dynamic, what do you eat ?
 
I've never been to Nice, so we propably didn't meet. But I'll be going there in May...

FRC is "functional residual capacity". I'm not sure if it's absolutely the same thing, but I use it as a term for "passive exhale". Ie the amount of exhale you do when you just relax your chest, but don't use any breathing muscles to push air out.

From my experience, the best rest period between last warmup and max attempt is around 5 minutes (that includes breathup). It propably varies a lot from person to person. Anything over 10 minutes is far too much and the benefits of warmup seem to dissappear...But experiment and see what works for you.

I usully drink just water and stop all together about on hour before.

I don't eat between static and dynamic. I know alot of people do, but for me not eating seems to work best.
 
jome said:
I don't eat between static and dynamic. I know alot of people do, but for me not eating seems to work best.

I can understand that you should have an empty stomach to do your static in order to lower your metabolism... doing static is close to being dead...

But dynamic apnea is much more lively... Last Saturday, I felt a little bit dizzy, as if in an hypoglycemic state, you need to push with your legs... all the more since dynamic with no fins succeeded dynamic with fins... which requires a lot of energy, doesn't it ? and after that, there was a relay 12 X 25 m !

Fasting before static and then eating nothing, how is it physiologically possible ??
 
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