Jersey Jim's post is another invaluable addition to the deeperblue 'archive' of personal or anecdotal training evidence.
More and more, because of this forum, we are starting to see patterns emerge. Even though for each individual, the patterns (and conclusions) are somewhat 'weak' or unscientific, when each person seems to report similar patterns and similar conclusions, it generates strong evidence.
Some of us have been searching for the 'ideal' training methods for years. Many of us worked in the dark for ages, but now, finally, it seems that our combined knowledge may lead to real and true facts, and this is going to happen very soon (and is already happening).
The old ways are dying. The oldest and most common method of training was to do lots of hard cardio. Many champions claimed that simple hard cardio was a great key in their success. What was never revealed was that those same champions were (and are) very susceptible to hypocapnic blackouts (i.e. blacking out while packing). I myself once was a part of that group.
Certainly cardio can improve performance, but more and more it seems that there are better ways. When I was among the 'hard cardio' group, the first thing I found was that very intense short intervals produced far better results than 'steady-state' cardio. That was the tip of the iceberg.
Apnea walking, for example, has received nothing but praise since it first popped up on this forum. I haven't heard a single negative comment or effect reported from it; yet, countless members report immense benefits, sometimes inhuman benefits--like Bevan Dewar's sudden ability to do 7'30" statics after inhale apnea walks -- one of the few cases I have ever heard of dramatic improvements in static without actually practicing static.
More and more it seems that the bulk of training should be done while holding the breath, whether it be in the water or on dry land (is this really surprising?). Yet, under that principle, training becomes mainly anaerobic, and traditional sports coaches will be quick to point out the tremendous stress that anaerobic training causes to the body -- so, if a diver does hold his breath during most or all of his training, he must be careful not to overtrain.
Sebastien Murat has often commented that divers who train on an inhale would benefit the most by maxxing out each apnea. This concept would favour five or six max dynamics with long recoveries, rather than the common pattern of 16x50m dynamics with short recoveries. Using the concept of specificity, it seems that your recovery time between apnea sets in training should match your planned recovery in real life. If you spearfish and want to dive with only 60 second recoveries, then perhaps you should model your training after that. If you are a competition diver who will spend 8 minutes resting before the dive, then perhaps you should model your training after that.
Rene Potvin from the freedivelist reported inhuman results after four months of commercial spearfishing, diving for 5+ hours per day. He did no other training. His average dive time increased from 1'30" to more than 3'00", and these are active dives, not hangs, and those dives were done with relatively short intervals (around 60-90 seconds).
It seems obvious that the most specific of all exercises is to do precisely the activity you are training for -- i.e., dive to train for diving. It is important never to lose that idea -- some people may actually have the time & access to dive every day as training. For the rest of us, all we can do is try to model our training to be as specific as possible to what we are training for. So far, apnea walking, as well as certain gym exercises such as apnea stairmaster, have shown tremendous promise. At the same time, 'steady-state' cardio shows more and more problems, including greater oxygen consumption, higher metabolic rate, lower blood pressure (and thus susceptibility to all sorts of blackouts). If one insists on breathing during the training, then intervals seem to be the way to go.
Sebastien Murat himself reported that his blood hematocrit would never go over 50% as long as he kept 'breathing' cardio in his training program. When he removed 'breathing' exercises and all exercises involved apnea, then his hematocrit soared to 63%. It is no surprise that the various sports organizations (especially cycling) put a cap of 50% on the hematocrit -- any more implies blood doping -- to them. After all, such athletes BREATHE during their training, and it has been shown that athletes who BREATHE during their training rarely, if ever, get a hematocrit of over 50%, because it is simply counterproductive -- the blood becomes to thick to pump quickly. For freediving, however, there is no need to pump the blood very rapidly, so thicker blood provides advantages, as is seen in seals, whales and penguins. They also have hematocrits of 58-64%, they don't blood dope, and they don't breathe during their training.
Keep the info coming.
Eric Fattah
BC, Canada