Learning on my own how to Freedive

[swimmer_spe]

Some of this makes me think of when I was a kid.

We would throw out some coloured sticks and go diving after them. The water was between 12-20 feet deep and all we had on were swim shorts and a mask/goggles.

Now, I would like to be able to do the same thing, how ever push the depth to 30-60 feet. Or, for that matter, stay under longer.

From what I am reading, I should be dead by now.

 

[minno]

snip... I have driven from Victoria to Vancouver ...snip...

that must have been quite a drive, most people take the ferry, Victoria being on Vancouver island and Vancouver being on the mainland

PFI is in Nanaimo, they don't do many classes in Canada though, one in Vancouver and one in Calgary Alberta last time I checked, neither works for me

minno

 

[Manwork]

Also important: more than just having a buddy, you need a buddy able to dive to the same depth as you - he´s the one retrieving you in the bottom if an emergency occurs. The depth is limited by the less skilled diver, for both of them.

 

[Phantom Menace]

I belong to a freediving club here in NZ and the training has helped me get to 40m recently. A few things to note:
* Shallow Water Blackout can creep up on you unexpectedly (Google how it works and it will become clear why)
* It is possible to push yourself to the point of black out and you won't know it has happened once you come round (assuming you have a buddy to help).

For these, and other reasons, we ALWAYS train with a buddy (when doing both depth and pool training). We also have a dive line, lanyard and pulley system for depth training - as well as a safety diver who will come and meet you as you swim back up (and for deeper dives we have two safety divers - both free divers BTW). I wouldn't feel safe going anywhere near my limits without this sort of safety stuff in place.

As has been said - look up the Frenzel equalising technique - learning it will help you dive more easily (at least to round 30m or 35m beyond which you need to lean "mouth fill" )

 

[BigRichP]

As others have said, it is far more important for a freediver to have a buddy than it is for in scuba....Maybe not so much if you are doing short and easy drops, but it sounds like you are going for big drops and times to 2 minutes and beyond.

As to the technique, you need to drop with your heart rate as low as possible...so...you can't be working hard on the surface to get a buoyant suit down the first 20 feet....You need to be near neutral, maybe slightly positive at the surface...with your heavy wet suit, there is no way to freedive well unless you wear a weight belt....there are Freedive weightbelts that have a rapid release feature that you can instanty disengage it with, if you feel like you have pushed your limit to much on an ascent...and...these are rubber/elastic belts, so they allow deep breathing and don't restrict you like the nasty nylon scuba weightbelts do ( and once you get a freedive belt, that is the one you will always use for scuba as well).
You want to relax your heart down to resting pulse..for me that means as close to 50 bpm as I can get it....and have packed the biggest lungful of air you can hold in your lungs, and then raise your legs out of the water to pile drive you down the first few feet.....you should not have to do more than a few large amplitude, low frequency kicks to cross 15 to 20 feet, and you should be falling by 20...so then one kick or so every additional 10 to 20 feet you fall will just accelerate your free fall.
You need to fall straight down, and this also is most optimal if your mask is not pointed at the bottom--as the flat glass pane of the mask is usually more drag than if the tip of your head is what you have pointing down.....

Keep trying to lower your heart rate as you fall....keep trying to relax every leg muscle, and all muscles in your body, as you drop.

Flare when you get to the depth you want. Relax more....then begin a slow cruise until it is time to ascend. You would be using large amplitude, low frequency flutter going horizontal at depth....or dolphin...and if going real slow is good, maybe even a frog kick, with a big push and a very long glide between...on Ascent, I like the dolphin kick, and you can do most of this with your spine and hips and calves/ankle articulation, keeping the big oxygen hogging quads and glutes completely out of this...

Big freedive fins overcome the weightbelt negative bouyancy from depth easily enough.....the bigger problem at the surface on trying to get down is having no inertia going, and until you get down a few feet, you can't get an efficient kick--which is why you don't want to flail away with no weight belt--you want to get started without wasting huge energy and getting your heart rate way up.

What do you mean exactly when you mention amplitude and frequency?


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[danvolker]

What do you mean exactly when you mention amplitude and frequency?


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Think of the ideal kick shape.....you need to have your legs and ankles draw an arc with the freedive fins, where the arc develops a bend in the fin, that is maintained for as much of this arc as is possible---you get pushed forward efficiently, when you have this ideal bend in the freedive fin.....if you have this optimal bend lasting twice as long in each kick than your evil twin, who is doing short choppy kicks, you will be going faster with less effort, because your fins are propelling you effectively, and your evil twin with choppy short kicks, gets only short pushes, and wastes much energy by not keeping the fin in an energy efficient bend state that creates optimal propulsion.....

So if you are horizontal in the water, say swimming 5 feet under the surface, you want the top of each kick to have your legs getting almost 45 degree up--with your ankle articulating the perfect angle for the fins at all times....your ankles need a mind of their own, they constantly need to adjust the angle of the fins throughout the entire kick stroke---the combination of the arc you make with your legs, and the articulation of your ankles, will give you your kick shape.

Amplitude is how high and how low the legs place the fins in this arc you are creating with your kick shape....Freedive fins require a much larger amplitude than short stubby fins, in order to take advantage of their long blades and propulsive characteristics. Frequency is your cadence--like a cyclist and how fast they are pedaling. You can change gears by making the amplitude shorter, and the frequency higher/faster---you might need this to drag a boat or another diver......or a huge pull on a dive float you are towing. You might need the lower amplitude( easier gear) if you are wearing a baggy high drag wetsuit, or clothes that are flopping around in the water, preventing you from gliding....if you are slick in the water, as with a slick freedive suit, and you are perfectly horizontal for your horizontal swim vector, then you shoulkd get a big glide between kick, and the big amplitude kicks give you a great big glide, with lots of rest in between....and this is low frequency....and you go relatively fast, with very little effort....while your evil twin is using choppy little short kicks, and not really getting much of a glide phase, so he does not get his heart rate low like you do...and he goes slower with more effort, because the fins are not being used effectively for the way they create optimal propulsion.

Strength in the hips and legs from cycling is a huge benefit....almost perfect training for this....except most cyclists try NOT to use their calf muscles, and a freediver needs to use the calf muscles to articulate the ankles as the fin goes through the arcs....so bike training needs to have the seat higher than typical for a racing cyclist( how a shop would set up your bike) , forcing you to use "ankling" in your pedal stroke....This is the hardest thing to get right, as finding optimal seat heights for your bio-mechanics eludes 90% of all serious cyclists for years of their development. And trying to optimize the ankling style pedal stroke will take you outside of all the conventional wisdom of the bike shops.....

 

[Hank49]

T

Strength in the hips and legs from cycling is a huge benefit....almost perfect training for this....except most cyclists try NOT to use their calf muscles, and a freediver needs to use the calf muscles to articulate the ankles as the fin goes through the arcs....so bike training needs to have the seat higher than typical for a racing cyclist( how a shop would set up your bike) , forcing you to use "ankling" in your pedal stroke....This is the hardest thing to get right, as finding optimal seat heights for your bio-mechanics eludes 90% of all serious cyclists for years of their development. And trying to optimize the ankling style pedal stroke will take you outside of all the conventional wisdom of the bike shops.....

I've found this to be very true. I got a stationary bike and within a month had increased my bottom times by 15 second or so and did my first 2 minute dive.
This was after doing a free dive course and learning about stream lining, breathing up better etc.

 

[BigRichP]

Awesome. Can I get a power point presentation next time?


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[danvolker]

Awesome. Can I get a power point presentation next time?


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Yeah...it was long...sorry.... If dive shops taught proper kick shape...if most even knew it existed, I would not feel I needed to be so long winded.... Really

Freedive shops like Florida Freedivers, DO teach kick shape as a major skill.....I would love it if they taught a class to all the local scuba instructors and DM's, on kick shape and optimal propulsion...and snorkeling.
It would end up developing better scuba divers.

 

[BigRichP]

You want to relax your heart down to resting pulse..for me that means as close to 50 bpm as I can get it....and have packed the biggest lungful of air you can hold in your lungs,

How do you pack your lungs?


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