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STATIC - what are you thinking about down there?

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.

What do you think about during a static?

  • I play brain games

    Votes: 1 1.1%
  • I sing songs to myself

    Votes: 5 5.3%
  • I think my way around my body

    Votes: 14 14.9%
  • I listen to ambient pool noise

    Votes: 19 20.2%
  • Boring stuff - what am I gonna have for dinner?

    Votes: 5 5.3%
  • none of your business.. I fantasise

    Votes: 13 13.8%
  • God this is hard! When can I breathe again?

    Votes: 15 16.0%
  • NOTHING.....my mind blacks out but hopefully I don't

    Votes: 22 23.4%

  • Total voters
    94
I’ve heard two different believes on this. I think there was a university study related to this. One belief is to go blank. The other is that your mind never quits so the best thing to do is control it. Martin Stephanek said he does the first one, so you really can’t argue that it doesn’t work. Kirk Krack likes to control his thoughts. He said he likes to think of all the things in detail that happened in the previous day.

I do most of my dry statics at work at my desk so I try to work for the first 2:00 to 2:30. I use a nose clip to help hold the contracts and to have both hands free. If it’s an easy mundane task sometimes I can work until 3:00. After that my work is not accurate enough to be worth doing so I switch to controlling my thoughts.

In the performance clinic I was partnered with a guy who had never done statics. On the first day he did 2:30 with the usual taps and no talking. He said he believed he could do better if I would talk to him and keep his mind busy, so I did and he jumped up to 4:00 on the next day. The day after that, in my continual thinking of new things to say to him, I said pick one of the three best times of your life and replay it. He came up at 2:30 and said the only things he could think of were exciting times, like sex or when he won a motocross race, and those thoughts ruined his relaxation.

For me all my best experiences in life involved relationships, usually wife or children. These thoughts are very relaxing to me and it was a real value accessing time for me at the clinic. Memories were so clear it was unreal! I hated being interrupted with taps and being forced to respond. I kept upping the time I wanted the first tap so I would have longer to think.

I feel like I have found a new inner peace. From no on, my religion includes wet statics.;)
don
 
I belive it's good to be "blank" as long as you are not in the hypoxic state.

Why?

Because being "blank" probably saves oxygen.

When I am in the hypoxic state (I switch to active after about 4min when my contractions are coming) I like to keep my brain active (asking myself things) and in that way I get a better "picture" of how severe my hypoxia is.
 
I found out how important it is to keep the brain active in the last part of static. Martin Stephanek, in the performance clinic, said to do that. He said to not close the eyes toward the end, because the mind wants to shut down and if you close them it may.

Sunday I was doing wet statics and I thought everything was good. I liked my breathup, contractions didn’t start until 4:00, and I felt good. I felt the tap and heard 4:45. Contractions were getting hard, and I decided to close my eyes and see if I could relax past the hard part. The next thing I remembered was being shouted at to breath. My spotter has a real low voice and it sounded like God, “Don Breath, Don Breath”. I complied and opened my mouth and took some deep breaths.

Now I know what that drained, after a blackout, feeling is like. I became so tired over the next 3 hours. The black out really took me by surprise, because I was under a minute from my PB.

We got it on video and in watching it I discovered I was losing a little air on each contraction when they started at 4:00. I usually wear a nose clip, but not this time. I just read were the AIDA voted to continue the no nose clip rule in competition. I wished they had not done that. Anyway, when I blacked out, I lost all my air, and my spotter was looking off and didn’t see it. It was my wife who was videotaping who saw it and initiated the rescue. The good thing is the black out really shook my spotter up and I am pretty confident he will be completely attentive from now on.
don
 
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Don
Thanks for the story. Brought back a very scary memory. Every time I hear the old 'listen to my body' rationalization, I think of being one minute from what I 'know' I can do and waking up on my back with some concerned people staring at me.
Never thought about the eyes, it just feels right to close them for about
five minutes and then open them for the rest.
Unless I'm real messed up, the nose clip rule is only for depth competition. It doesn't apply to static.
Aloha
Bill
 
I actively focus on keeping calm and relaxed. Thinking to myself.
-My pulse is slow and soft
-I have no need to breathe
-I am competely relaxed
etc. etc. This helps for me
 
Bill,
Glad to know I am in good company. You’re absolutely right. Feelings have little to do with how you’re really doing. With my oximeter I have seen my blood O2 drop really low when I felt good, and I have seen it at it’s highest for a given time, when I felt terrible.
don
 
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in the water....while hunting i just think about fish!
But for record i think about nothing special...just try to dont think....
 
I just imagine I am meditating in a paradisiac place I once visited in an island in the middle of the Atlantic - Madeira.

Has a 4 century-old tree near a 150 feet waterfall. It's inside the island and it's really difficult to reach.

This is the place I think of when I need to relax or calm down...;)

I don't have a picture that shows its incredible wonder. :head Anyway, here goes an ugly pic of it that I found in google...
 

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interesting discussion gang. i haven't done statics in a while, but my freediving workouts are definitely a 'some days i have it, some days i don't' kind of thing and it's all mental. i find that when i have a lot on my mind and i can't quiet my mind i have horrible workouts. when i can totally relax i do much better. usually with statics i do a couple of things. i do the mental scanner thing to scan my body and see if i'm totally relaxed. i also recite a mental mantra of 'my mind is relaxed, my body's relaxed, my heartrate is slow and calm'. the best thing though is just feeling the water on my body and imagining a dive and just feeling happy to be a part of the water. kind of a combination of a lot of the things many of you have already said.

and i do close my eyes until i get into my contractions. i've always felt the same way about closing my eyes at the end of a static. too easy to not open them again.

good topic!

-m
 
ZZZZZZZZZZ

I don't much care for doing static apnea, but when called upon to do so, I go at it in exactly the same way as I go about falling asleep in my bed.

I don't train for this stuff, but when it clicks, and I manage to get my tongue positioned to do the work of keeping the air down there, and start down the path to dreamland, I can usually get well past 6 minutes before the little smart guy in my parietal lobe says "Hey, stupid ! This might be a good time to wake up before you start snoring........"

It wouldn't be a good idea to snore with your face in the water, would it ?

Paul
 
Nice stories here!

I usually begin with checking my body to be relaxed for about 30 sec up to 1min. Then I imaging myself sinking in deep blue waters. Like a skydiver flying into the dark blue. Some times I see some dolphins along the way. My contractions usually start pretty early, around 2:30. At my latest competition even around 1:30! But I can remain relaxed after saying to myself, ok firtst one, I'm alright, and then go back to my pleaseant dream. At 4:00 it get's harder, then I switch to actively controlling my body. Check my limps to be relaxed, try think my hartrate a bit down, and mostly trying to control the shiffering from the cold water :( First Thing I need to buy is a new warm suit!
Around 4:30 - 5 min I lay my hands on the edge. At this stage I'm fighting pretty hard, and try to prevent my body from becomeing a stif facedown statue :D.

In short I do: checking, dreaming, checking.

Nice idea to keep your eyes open in the end, think back to my Pb I did it at that time, but not consious. I'll try it out. It also may help me checking myself for a -approaching- Samba.

And Samatha I remember asking you the same thing at the Freedivemeet in the Netherlands :)
 
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getting verticle

Kars,
Do you bring your feet down and become vertical for the last part? I was told to do this, and it didn’t used to be a problem, but then I got a 3mm suit out of that Yamamoto 45 stuff (it has lots of air bubbles in the neoprene and is extremely buoyant at the surface) and then it was a real struggle. I started using two pound ankle weights, which helped some, but it still more struggle then its worth.

How are the rest of you doing it?
don
 
I don't bring down my legs, just bring forward my arms in a relaxed way, lay them loosely on the edge and try keep every muscle relaxed while in the last phase.

BTW after my first BO on the dynamic discipline last dec I felt much more relaxed when training under water. For Instance, swimming in a 25m pool, I swim 25, let miself sink fluently to the bottom, look around for ~30 sec and then very relaxed swim back 25m to the start. I'll try tonight if I can find this relaxed state back.
BTW my last static was no where near my former values, so I want to find that back too. Any advice/insights on these experiences?
 
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Kars,
What was you BO in dynamics like? Was the spotter swimming above you? How quickly was he able to recover you? What did it feel like before you BO’d?

I’m really interested because I usually have to do my dynamics with my wife spotting, and when we practice rescues, she is only able to do it about 1/3 of the time. Now and then I get to do it with one of the men in our club, but none of them have actually recovered someone from a BO in dynamics. I think I’m ready to turn the corner and go for another 25 meters, if I could remove the fear factor.

I know what you mean about a BO making you relax. I had my first BO in statics a month ago. Thirty minutes later I tied my dynamics pb of 75 meters. I was so relaxed the last 25 meters I wanted to just stop and go to sleep. I had to keep telling myself to stay focus and awake. After the dynamic my tiredness progressed quickly to where I could barely hold my head up and make normal conversation. No problem sleeping that night!
don
 
My BO in dynamic, pretty detailed version :)

Ok, here it goes:

My PR Dynamic is 100m, in a 25m pool
At this competition in Eindhoven of last december 2003.

I stoot there preparing on a small underwater table, belly in the water, shaking like a leaf :(. Some mentioned "look he's already having a Samba:) ", hell no it was because I was really cold! I took my final breath, packed a few times an swam away with my mono. Happily for me I could find the right strok fast and 50m where there fast. I turned, swam back with the same tempo I started. Until approx 75, I feld the need to safe some air/energy so went to a gliding, slow speed stoke. Deu to this slower speed balance was more dificult and I recon that I may already have some slight consiousnes weakening. Or maybe I focussed too much on maintaining a good technique? Anyway I went a bit of the black line. Then there was the wall, and I thought "now make a nice turning point and some quick strong strokes" So I did a nice turn (slower then thought after the dive) Pushed of the wall and did 3 more strong strokes already in the direction of the poolside where I planned to go up and grab the well (edge where the water flows over, I mean ). The last thing I remember is grabbing the well from under water, and I get up to the surfice. Which went fast deu to my swimming speed. My hands are just for hanging on.
Rik, my friend, was watching the whole event and he reported:
He got up, breathed like one is supposed to, but it deterred/fainted, than you blacked out. There were about 3 safetydivers in the water, and one right next to me, swimming allong on the surfice.

I quess that the safety had put his knee under my bottom, and arm around for support, removed my mask etc.
But these were no "experts", they just had a short course I learned later on.
When I woke up, first thing I noticed was "a guy, I may not call his name" was talking slowly me to breathe. Huh? I breathed normal, with no need for more, but followd his orders and did it deep and slowly. Then I thought what is HE doing here? Than it al felt into place, as I also notice the knee where I was sitting on, I had a Black Out.
I feld totally restted, not a slightest tiredness in my body. And I showed Fred Buyle (jury) the ok sign, just for the audience and a bit of fun, he smiled back. Ok, a new first experience for me. Later on people asked if I wasn't affraid or something, well I wasn't, not a single tenth of a second. I was so much focussed that overwritted everything. Am I'm affraid now? no, maybe on the contrary. But I'm more carefull as I do not want it to happen again. Tips I think I can lear from this BO are:

1- Listen more to your form of the day, it can varry.
2- Know that being cold is a bad infuence, to be taken into account too.
3- Try not to devert from the efficient tempo and stroke, it safed me nothing.
4- Focus in the end on the signs of a samba, instead of the stroke.
5- Add only a few meters to your PB.
6- Do not make deals with yourselve, like: "at 100m turn and 3 more strokes." Doing this probably cancels the feeling of a approaching Samba/BO.
7- I recon that in Dynamic it's much easyer to go BO then in static, because there is so much to think about.


Now about your safety guy/women.

Annouce you max, and talk though the whole procedure, practice it, even with a fake BO. Grabbing you, keeping you up, taking of mask etc.
Ask him to check you when you come up, like a jury.
Tell him/her what the tell tale signs are, like going off track, slow turning, no fluid movement, etc.
Tel him/her when do you expect it to become difficult.
Explane wat a BO is, show a video?
In Germany the safety swimes allong under water with the athlete, so he's more closer then a surfice safety.
Surfice allong the side of the pool, much easier for the safety, and you can secure yourself with much less effort, preventing a BO.

But to be fair with you I would do only a max with someone that has reasonalbe experience (seen a few Samba's/ BO's in person) and has the correct education to handle it. Not a willing volunteer.

Hmm a big post...
Futhermore I think that one should do no more then one or two PR attempts a month, It's pretty exausting.

For the record I'm not yet educated very much, this is al from what I have observed and heard over the last year. So I may have missed something important :( If I did not I quess I'm on the right track :D

Kars.
 
HI Kars,

What's a Samba? Is it the same as a Blackout?? I'm even less educated than YOU. :(
Water Rat
 
So THAT explains the 6:40--I WASN'T THINKING!!!!
Water Rat, who can think herself to four and a half minutes, no more--so far....
Water Rat
 
Like I said before, you guys are ALL NUTS! (That's OK--means I GOT COMPANY) :)
Water Rat
 
Just to supply 2 cents because nobody else has mentioned this yet:

I count my contractions almost every time I go for a max. However, I usually count in groups of 20, 25, or 30. So I count the first 20 say and then restart from 1. I mentally attempt to keep track of how many groups I have done. 30% of the time I am not sure if I remember it well.

The purpose for this is many.
- gives a focus of distraction
- minimal mental processing/activity
- estimate of time
- gives you a motivator/scale for CO2 tolerance (second most important reason)
- always a motivator to finish one more group and at the end of that group usually it is easy to get the motivation to tell yourself to do one more, and on, and on, and on... (this is the most important reason for doing it)

I should mention that I do 100+ contractions and my max was 160-170 at a time when I received slightly faster contractions. The point is do not think to use my group values. One should determine how many contractions you get total and then come up with a resolution that gives you a reasonable short term goal for a group. As in if you get a total of 30 contractions over a 2min period, then maybe choose a group size of 5 or 7. Lately I am doing 20 because I am only having just over 100 contractions for 4+min, whereas I used to use 30-35 when I was getting 120-150 contractions for 3:30-4 min contractions.

Cheers

Tyler
 
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