Stuck in dynamic can't pass 100m

[rddk]

Hi all, i've a question about some tricks for improuve my dynamic. This is the discipline i suck more since i dun like it so much, am good in static and costant weight but my problem is that after 1 year of hard work in pool i can't pass the barrier of 100m, i always stuck at 90/94 and last 2 weeks i forced my body to go over my actual limit, the result has been that i took 2 samba in 1 week :blackeye but the worst thing is that i tooked em at 80 metres that i usually touch easily :head. MY problem is that i reach 75 metres with really good feelings rofl since i month i get only 2 light contraction, before i was used to had them after 40 metres and i took em till 75. After turning the 75 i start to have really bad sensation if am going to make the 100 ,instead with no problem if am going for the 87 metres. My trainer and i think that is a mental problem :duh but i dunno how to pass it, i've thinked of making thee 75 m take 1 breathe and make immediatly the last 25 metres. If any of ya have suggestion u're very welcome. Since i got a decent static around 5'20'' i thinked to try make the 100 slower than usual speed. :friday

 

[ericvrp]

Is there anything you can do to enjoy it more? And I don't mean making it easier, but enjoying the fact that it's supposed to be hard.

 

[rddk]

I wanna do a try making 75 m than a static, and check out how i feel, or try to make the static at the beginning.

 

[Haydn]

OK. This is a simple fix. The problem is caused by not being able to train the part of the dynamic near the end of the swim. (Obviously, every dynamic we do trains the start and middle of an effort, but rarely do we get to train the hardest part, because we rarely do maximum efforts) The fix is to train the end of the dynamic and get used to the transitions between the easy, transition and competive stages of the swim. Do not try this exercise alone.

After warming up your breathold. You are ready.

1. Take ten really good long slow breaths and do a 25m dynamic. (all the dynamics must be gentle and not racing)
2. Then take nine breaths. The time it takes to do these breaths is your rest period. Then do another 25m.
3. Then take eight breaths, 7,6,5,4,3 etc. Each followed by 25m.

You will recognise how the easy stage becomes a transition into a harder stage. You are now training that transition. Somewhere around 5 breaths, you will notice that the rest period is much reduced and the 25m is almost all a struggle. This is similar to your 50 to 75m section of the dynamic. You will then do a 4 breath rest,then a 3 breath rest.

You will now have completed the last three 25m swims as if they were all the last length of a maximum effort. You will have experienced all of the mental factors that limit your performance.

Then, after you have done the 3 breath rest, you go back up to 4 breaths, then 5...back to 10. You will be very anxious re-doing the 4 and 5 on the back of the struggle of the 3. Remember, you are training the anxiety and recognising the feelings.

During your breathing/rests, do not speak etc, even coughing will mess things up.

Of course, many trained freedivers might be able to re[peat the breath/rests down to one breath and back up to ten.

For me, I never tried beyond going down to 3 (I trained alone and didnt ever risk it). I doubted I could ever do it on 2 anyway.

But, I was always aware of my body after repeating the exercise a few times over the period of a couple of weeks.

I only ever did 3 maximum efforts before I couldnt compete anymore. 131m, 139m 156m. Pretty ordinary today, but mine were 8 years ago. The exercise I have mentioned above, was the best I ever figured out. My static PB was 4:15. I reckon I must have been doing something right as many 6 minute plus statics cant get close to that 150m turn even today.

So its simple. Get used to the feelings at the end of the dynamic, because its those feelings that cause many people to stop, when they could otherwise easily add another 25m if they recognised them.

 

[rddk]

Haydn, tyvm for ya answer, i've already done this type of exercise but instead of counting the breathe i start form 30' of recovering and every time i lower it of 5' every time down to 5' that mean a fast exale and inale and than 25m. The problem i have is not working in high co2 because i can hold the contraction for long time the problem i have is to unlock the mental block of 100m. One person have suggested me to do a static at the end of 75m than another time stop at 80 m and do the static and so on so i can undestand better how far can i still can push myself. Another try i wanna do is doing the dynamic in frc. i have a lot of work to do

 

[ThomasB]

Haydn idea seems quite good to me. Let me know if tomorrow evening you are up for some dynamic

 

[rddk]

Ofc thomas depend all about weather, now the pool is en plain air, so if the weather is not good we can't training any dynamic....

 

[sgnips]

if the weather is not good we can't training any dynamic....

so, where is the problem? water above, water below... water anyway!!

 

[ThomasB]

so, where is the problem? water above, water below... water anyway!!

I don't care about lightings, he's the one with carbon blade on his fins

 

[sgnips]

i guess a lightning has a lot more to strike onto around a pool rather than choosing a pair of fins, even though they're carbon...
but i might be wrong...blackeye

 

[rddk]

Ehehehe thomas thomas you're forgotting about that water is one best conductor, if i get lightned u'll have an electrifying experience too ahahahahahha. Btw tomorrow i think is ok for training in pool!

 

[Kars]

Hi Rddk,

I don't think you have a problem with a lack of CO2 tolerance.
I don't think you have a problem pushing on to the samba border.
I don't think you had a mental block, though it has become one through repeated failure.

I do feel very much for your situation, mainly because I kind of have the same.

Here's a run down of what I think we may have in common.

We both have a good 'standard' condition, we can jog for a long time without specific training. Our bodies seem very able to exchange gasses to from the blood steam to our muscle. Our dynamics end NOT because of muscle failure but ONLY because of low O2 in the blood supplying our brain.

When this sounds familiar to you, please confirm.

Now my guess what's happening inside.

When we dive our body starts to work hard to keep the gas exchange with ours muscles going. With our bodies it's very good at that so we'll go into ANAEROBIC MODE very late, later as Joe Average, much later than sprinters and weightlifters do. Therefore we deplete our O2 supply in our blood and lungs much quicker, resulting in a need to terminate our dives earlier than we would expect from our impressive static abilities.

What we need to do is to have our bodies go into anaerobic mode much quicker.

How to do that?

1) Quit doing aerobic exercises.
2) Do only strength exercises, build muscle mass.
3) Learn to swim with low blood flow.
4) Learn to keep relaxed as CO2 rises and you encountering the signs that look like your programmed 'border'.
5) Reprogram you mind. (you can use the Frog Flow [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZqZbF546JNo]YouTube - Frog Flow[/ame] exercise, in my opinion a great way to learn to relax in the struggle phase)

Like you Rddk, I have the same challenge, and what's blocking me it the fact that I don't take enough sleep and rest. Somehow I find it hard to have that discipline but I know that some external motivation would help me over that edge. A dive motivated female buddy / training partner would be ideal, but hey not found such luck here yet.
Maybe you can give me some tips in this department?

Love, Courage and Water,

Kars

 

[rddk]

I recognize myself in some of the things u say, am really aerobic and low anaerobic structure, i'll try the method u've suggested me, another factor is that i hate the pool so i dun like training there much. Btw about training i always try to find the motivation in myself, i've read also the mothod used by natalia molchanova.
The thing i hate is that in costant weight am quite good like in static, atm in cwt am doing 30 m than a static of 30/40 sec and than going up to surface, i've always stopped myself cuz there was the end of the rope. This summer i wanna try my pb in cwt, for dynamic now i'll training it hard since september now i need some mental rest from the pool.

 

[Kars]

Yep I also perform much better in CWT.
Actually when I think of it, those are like those 'frog-flow' dives, with a static part in the beginning, and when the vascular constriction has kicked in the workout to the surface.

Thinking about it makes me daydream about the dives I want to do this summer, in the blue waters of Spain. I set my goal at 80m CWT, which I would also like to do in Sweden in the Nordic deep competition. My current PB is 65 also set in Sweden.

Well the pool is not an enemy to me. Though I can see why it may became to yours. You're best of doing those strength exercises at home - I find push ups very beneficial, and reserve the pool for swimming technique and relaxation. Quit pushing yourself in the pool, just relax there, reshape the association you've build up with that environment into a positive one.

Love, Courage and Water.

Kars

 

[sgnips]

Hi Kars,
you always have some really nice stuff ti share, and not only video stuff, but emotional and about sensations
it was just yesterday evening that i had a STA PB date with my buddy
not a bad evening as we had a good time, but i did a "miserable" 5'20 and she did a 4'30 or 4'40
while she is training a lot in the pool pushing hard in the last weeks, i had my lunch pool closed, so had no excuses for being tired
yesterday i experienced the same that is stucking me in DYN: a strange urge to breath with no actual motivation as contractions are just what they always used to be and relaxation is not a problem
i talked with my buddy after the session, she wanted me to write down a serie of "sensations scores", so that i can work on them later and she told me what we always knew but seldom realize: as long as we give ourselves a "date with performance" (btw: yesterday it was intended to be my 7'00 approach), we're nearer to failure right before beginning our work and, when we fail, our feelings will be much weaker. We should give ourselves appointments with SENSATIONS, rather than times or distances

now i know i made a mistake, yesterday, i feel bad, as if i "lost an opportunity" to push hard my sta, just like i often lose oportunities to push hard my dyns

and i don't even know how to get out of this empasse, as it is strictly psychological

 

[rddk]

Tyvm kars, i'll improuve my anaerobic work.With pushups and other stuff.

 

[Iaia]

Yes Sgnips!
I think this way is the best! If we always have a date with time or meters we can always loose and then, have a bad sensation. But if we have a date with sensation we can always win! I start to work this way few weeks ago, and I think is wonderful.
When I go to the swimmingpool to do my train I haven't anxiety, fear to not reach what I want... I fell relaxed and happy 'cause I'm ready to feel pretty sensation and emotion, the same that make me feel good, the same that enjoy my apnea!
I think this way is the key to improve!

 

[Kars]

Good idea Sgnips and Iaia, actually I already did that when I started frog "frog flowing".
With getting enough sleep the difficulty is that I'm not feeling worthy of sleep, and am not feeling tired too. I see sleep like a idle waste of learning time. A necessary evil. I also like the quiet of the night, the silence. And my dreams have not been uplifting, it usually involves some dramatic struggle.

Today I went for some diving (first time of the season) in a local lake. Surface temperature was nice, 21 C, and at 6m wit went down to 12c. I did not do deep dives, the deepest was to 15 m. My buddy and I enjoyed the water and sun, and we did see some big carpers on the way back After the diving we enjoyed a nice lunch and drove back home on our motorcycles. Very nice.

 

[ThomasB]

5) Reprogram you mind. (you can use the Frog Flow YouTube - Frog Flow exercise, in my opinion a great way to learn to relax in the struggle phase)

Kars

Lovely video.

 

[Haydn]

Try forgetting the dynamic distance for awhile, and just put in say 10 x one mile dynamic swims over the next two weeks or 10x one hour/two hour swims. You will be amazed after that how short 100m will appear.