FIT Free Diving Course

[ricki]

Just received a clip of part of a FIT Free Diving course from late summer this year. You can accomplish some amazing improvement using their techniques in free diving ability.

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I came across this bizarre free diving clip out of Iceland. Not sure why the person is using those short fins. Still, the rock grotto footage is intriguing.

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[ricki]

Martin and Paul are putting on a weekly pool free diving conditioning program for FIT II graduates. It is quite reasonable and a good workout. The last session consisted of a free style warmup of about 350 yards followed by some kickboard sprints (12 yards perpendicular to the water for resistance followed by 12 yards the regular way, x 8 sets), finning 25 yards UW followed by return on your back on the surface x 8 sets, finning 25 yards UW followed by a 20 sec. breathhold followed by 25 yard UW without breathing x 8 sets and usually followed by negative pressure drills. Each exercise is spaced with 100 yards of free style. He continuously provides input on form and technique while Paul shoots video for after action analysis. It is critical that proper safety, monitoring and diver recovery techniques be employed throughout these exercises to minimize the odds of injury or death from shallow water blackout. Hint: don't do this at home! Wonder what else Martin has planned as the sessions go on?

More about this and the upcoming FIT II course on Jan. 6, 2008 at:
http://www.divefit.com/

[admin]

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Paul put together a clip of one of the early pool sessions, see above.

We had another one last night in a 50 m pool as opposed to the normal 25 m one. Wow, what a difference. Plus Martin served up a more intense session for conditioning, not to be repeated but per every few months. That is to allow yourself to recover! Kicked some butt, interesting all the same. Looking forward to more.

I think the workout consisted of swimming australian crawl breathing after 5, 7 and 10 strokes for 300 m. Then we sprinted 25 m UW with short fins followed by 25 m sprint on the surface in teams of three, relay style. Then we did 25 m with the kick board perpendicular to travel followed by 25 m planning. Then we put on long fins or monofin in my case and in teams of three did 50 m UW with a turn and a few strokes in the return direction for six reps I think. I must be forgetting something. We closed with some negative pressure exercises in the deepend. Exercises were generally separated by a 100 m swim. Nikki (Nicci?) walked along as safety looking for swimmer, SBO problems. She thought I may have had some signs after what I thought was an easier 50 m plus UW swim. Maybe not so easy, SBO can deceive you.

[ricki]

So Rick, What ARE the techniques for the static hold? Give us a quick course.

Frank

Hey Frank,

I thought it might be better if I responded to your question here. Anyway, the basic techniques for static apnea or holding your breath motionless with your face is immersed are fairly simple. Some guys off the street can achieve remarkable static breath hold durations simply by using some basic techniques. Of course to properly adapt it to dynamic apnea or breath hold while swimming and diving to depth takes quite a bit more learned technique, training and practice.

There is a serious problem in this however, accidental drowning UNLESS you learn and PRACTICE extensive safety procedures, sign detection in yourself, and symptoms in your buddy and other techniques. The process of improving your bottom time also disables some of the autonomic triggers to want to breathe. It is quite possible to stay submerged and blackout without extraordinary discomfort. This compels responsible divers to do it right. That is where proper training like FIT Divers comes into play. It is a package deal, merely practicing improved static apnea duration in the absence of training to properly deal with important safety issues is a real bad idea. It is not enough to learn this stuff yourself as you need a buddy trained and skilled in the same procedures to act as your safety in rotation on dives.

I strongly recommend looking into a good pro course like this if you are serious about trying to improve your free diving. Free diving can impart a high degree of accomplishment and satisfaction for participants. Also, it gives you something to do when the wind turns off.

http://www.divefit.com/