Techniques and helps

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kidspot

Contributor
Scuba Instructor
Divemaster
Messages
4,854
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Location
Moses Lake, Washington
# of dives
500 - 999
OK I guess this has to come up eventually, so I'll ask the question - What did those of you who are able to do longer (2 min+) freedives do to train your body? I'm a "shallow" water freediver, never been deeper than 40ft for 1min - but I'm shooting for 50ft and 2 min. as my next goal. So what ideas and suggestions for myself and others in the same spot?

Depth is ok, but I really want to learn/train my body to do longer "bottom times" so to speak.

Thanks - Tim

P.S. it's great to have this forum on Scubaboard too!
 
kidspot:
So what ideas and suggestions for myself and others in the same spot?
First, never train in the water (no matter how shallow) without constant, direct supervision by a buddy who is prepared to step in and assist you. People have died in a couple of feet of water holding their breath.

Here are a few things I've found helpful to increase bottom time:

-- Learning to move as effortlessly as possible in the water to reduce muscle demand for oxygen. Being properly weighted is an important part of this.

-- Gradually increasing target times by small increments. See how long you can comfortably go, then shoot for, say, 15 seconds more.

-- O2/CO2 tables help, as does cardio training.

-- In Kirk's clinic we learned specific ways to breathe-up before doing the dive or breath-hold.

It's probably worth mentioning that there is tons of material on deeperblue.net about breath-hold training.

Having said all that, I'm happy to get along doing 1-minute dives to 35 feet. In many ways I'm a lot like a happy recreational scuba diver who doesn't feel compelled to get trimix certified and dive to 200 ft. As long as I can get a few pictures along the way, that does it for me.
 
Frank O:
First, never train in the water (no matter how shallow) without constant, direct supervision by a buddy who is prepared to step in and assist you. People have died in a couple of feet of water holding their breath.

Here are a few things I've found helpful to increase bottom time:

-- Learning to move as effortlessly as possible in the water to reduce muscle demand for oxygen. Being properly weighted is an important part of this.

-- Gradually increasing target times by small increments. See how long you can comfortably go, then shoot for, say, 15 seconds more.

-- O2/CO2 tables help, as does cardio training.

-- In Kirk's clinic we learned specific ways to breathe-up before doing the dive or breath-hold.

It's probably worth mentioning that there is tons of material on deeperblue.net about breath-hold training.

Having said all that, I'm happy to get along doing 1-minute dives to 35 feet. In many ways I'm a lot like a happy recreational scuba diver who doesn't feel compelled to get trimix certified and dive to 200 ft. As long as I can get a few pictures along the way, that does it for me.

Very well said, Frank. In addition, what has worked for me:

--- a very deliberate breathe-up without any hyper ventilation of course.
--- hypoxic training (Ill detail in a different thread)
--- biofeedback (also a different thread) very effective stuff!
--- breathing postures
--- a diet that consists of only the things that are green and grow in nature....nahhhh just kidding on this one!
--- several other tips and "tweeks" that I have discovered works for me that i will add in future discussions.
Man, it is great to have this forum and yes, Frank is right Deeperblue.net has a wealth of info!
 
I practice in a pool about 20 feet and its the same pool we do diving practices in. I'll find somebody who has nothing to do or is testing new gear and normally they are OK to check you while your free diving and be on hand i case something goes wrong (theres also about 30 other divers). I do the pretty standard '1 minute rest, down 30 seconds, 1 minute rest, down 45 seconds....' all the time swimming round at the bottom. But this isn't really for what you'd call free diving but more practice for when I'm snorkling, but so far I can go down to 20 feet for 4 mins.
 
Frank O:
First, never train in the water (no matter how shallow) without constant, direct supervision by a buddy who is prepared to step in and assist you. People have died in a couple of feet of water holding their breath..

Rule number one..... Thanks Frank.


I have found that long distance horizontal UW swimming helps. Glide as much as you can and train your body to use as little energy (o2) as possible, eliminate unessicary movement. Rushing anything wastes O2.
 
kidspot:
OK I guess this has to come up eventually, so I'll ask the question - What did those of you who are able to do longer (2 min+) freedives do to train your body? I'm a "shallow" water freediver, never been deeper than 40ft for 1min - but I'm shooting for 50ft and 2 min. as my next goal. So what ideas and suggestions for myself and others in the same spot?

Depth is ok, but I really want to learn/train my body to do longer "bottom times" so to speak.

Thanks - Tim

P.S. it's great to have this forum on Scubaboard too!

hey Kidspot, I know that they have gotten a bad rap on this board (I think because they cost money) but the inspiratory/expiratory muscle trainers really do work!
 
I am interested in improving my breathold times. I have copies of the O2 and CO2 training tables. Should I do both an O2 and a CO2 Table at each session, or should I just do one table one day and the other the next? Thanks for your help.

Tommed
 
freediver:
Very well said, Frank. In addition, what has worked for me:

--- a diet that consists of only the things that are green and grow in nature....nahhhh just kidding on this one!

Good thing my pizza that I'm having (yes for breakfast) has lots of green peppers on it - oh - mushrooms too - must be incredibly healthy then. I bet the whole thing is natural . . .lets see

Dough - comes from flour, from wheat grown in fields -
Sauce - tomatoes - technically a fruit - Very healthy
Mushrooms, Peppers, onions - all good vegetable sources
Cheese - dairy product - makes for strong bones.
Pepperoni - from . . . uhhh . . . the pepperoni tree I believe . . .


LOL
Tim
 
kidspot:
Good thing my pizza that I'm having (yes for breakfast) has lots of green peppers on it - oh - mushrooms too - must be incredibly healthy then. I bet the whole thing is natural . . .lets see

Dough - comes from flour, from wheat grown in fields -
Sauce - tomatoes - technically a fruit - Very healthy
Mushrooms, Peppers, onions - all good vegetable sources
Cheese - dairy product - makes for strong bones.
Pepperoni - from . . . uhhh . . . the pepperoni tree I believe . . .


LOLTim

Ahhh, preparing for competition I see! :wink:
 
Tommed:
I am interested in improving my breathold times. I have copies of the O2 and CO2 training tables. Should I do both an O2 and a CO2 Table at each session, or should I just do one table one day and the other the next? Thanks for your help.

Tommed

I would do them on alternating days so not to overexert your lungs. I would do other training as opposed to these tables together in one day. Please be sure and have a qualified person with you if you do the tables. In fact you should cover rescue procedures before you even start. Run through a couple rescue scenarios.
 

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