Training cyclisation

In the training process, you should divide your training into several smaller cycles and focus on specific exercises in each of these cycles. We divide the macro and micro cycles according to the time we have available until the start of the diving season or until the planned peak of our form, when we want to improve certain personal bests. The number of cycles, their length and the exercises to be performed during them can be completely individual or prepared for the whole group. In group training, however, there is always the problem of differing preferences and capacities.

Basic training (1st macro cycle)

They form the basis of all sports and what is built up in basic training is later reaped in special training. Good basic preparation is the foundation on which to build the next steps. For competitors, this is the place for the famous saying “No Pain No Gain”, and for recreational athletes, the difficulty of the workout is adapted to the individual’s goals and preferences! In basic training, training will not be strenuous in the sense of heavy apnoea or long dives. Basic training is strenuous in terms of fitness and is a classic physical effort. In the case of breath-hold diving, basic preparation will mean a lot of classical swimming, interval swimming, hypoxic swimming, lots of short dives with very short pauses. The total distance swum will be 2-3 km per hour, depending on swimming technique and fitness.

• CO2 adaptation of the body is one of the key things to adapt to during basal preparation. During longer dives, more CO2 will build up in the body, causing hypercapnia, which will lead to two changes in the diver’s body. The first and main change will be the increased need to inhale, which will force the diver to complete the dive. The other is muscle pain due to lactic acid lactate. By gradually adapting to the increased CO2 in the body, the diver becomes accustomed to continuing the dive at ease, despite signs of advanced hypercapnia. Exercises to adapt to the increased CO2 in the body are short dives with as few pauses as possible.

• Conditioning is also crucial, as the base preparation will require swimming longer distances, over 2 km in one hour, or even up to 3 km for competitors. The length of the swim itself is a strain, and if you have to hold your breath for certain exercises, the strain is even greater.

• Swimming technique is a prerequisite if you want to do good basic training. Alternatively, the basic preparation time can be used to learn surface and underwater swimming techniques. If you have more difficulty in free swimming at the surface, you can use fins and a snorkel.

Transitional training (2nd macro cycle)

They represent a transition from basic preparation to the ultimate goal of setting personal bests. The aim of the training is to gradually adapt your body to longer dives and still build up a baseline fitness. The total length swum in one training session is still significant. The training combines swimming, medium-long and short dives. During this period, the dives start to occur, which are already exhausting in terms of holding your breath. The closer this macro cycle gets to the end, the longer the dives and the less surface swimming there will be, so the total length swum in training will start to decrease.

• A leap in thinking is the first thing you notice in medium-length dives. As the dives get longer, you need to relax well for them. Throughout the base training, this relaxation was not crucial and only fitness was worked on. However, more attention should be paid to relaxation and calming down during transitional training. During this period, there is a combination of short dives where CO2 adaptation is the goal and increasingly longer dives where more emphasis is placed on relaxation.

• Longer dives require different mental preparation, which needs to be given more and more attention. For a series of longer dives, it is necessary to find out what way of breathing, thinking and relaxing works best for the individual. During this second phase, however, during longer dives, the focus should start to be on mental preparation before the dive. The longer the dives, the more rest and relaxation will be needed.

• Variety in training is also welcome. After a longer phase of base training, longer dives start and a change in training breaks the monotony. This has a positive effect on motivation and, for a while, the boredom with certain exercises that were regularly performed during the basic training disappears.

Special training (3rd macro cycle)

The purpose of special training is to adapt your body to long dives and to reach your final goal. The goal can be to set personal bests or to be in good shape for the new hunting season. The total length swum during the special training sessions is medium (1/3 of the training sessions we rest and 2/3 of the training sessions we are active). All dives are 50m or more. The purpose of this period is to prepare for the maximum length dives that will be coming soon. This is why we gradually build up tolerance to low O2 levels in the body (adapting the body to function in a hypoxic state).

• O2 adaptation, or hypoxia adaptation, is a process that starts to happen automatically in the body when we do very long dives over a long period of time, where the body goes into more advanced hypoxic states. The body eventually gets used to operating in a state of severe hypoxia and the diver can maintain consciousness even though the O2 saturation of the body (O2 saturation) is very low. Thus, experienced divers will maintain consciousness at very low O2 saturations, while beginners would lose consciousness at much higher O2 saturations.

Example:

At the start of the breath-hold at rest, the diver’s Sa O2 is 99%. On the finger is an oximeter that continuously measures heart rate and O2 saturation, which starts to drop after a certain time. At a low enough O2 saturation, the diver would lose consciousness, but when this moment occurs depends on how the body has adapted to hypoxia. This could cause a beginner to lose consciousness at Sa O2 > 80%. A very advanced recreational swimmer (personal bests in STA approx. 5min 30s and depth -50m) would maintain consciousness even when Sa O2 dropped to 60%.

Source: O2 saturation graph, Koštomaj 2016

A top competitor (personal bests in STA +7min and depth -90m) would maintain consciousness even when Sa O2 dropped to 40%.

Source: O2 saturation graph, Koštomaj 2016

By increasing their tolerance to advanced hypoxia, competitors achieve better utilisation of the O2 they had stored in their body before the dive. A similar adaptation to that of competitive snorkelers occurs in spearfishermen, who are in the water for several hours every day, making long or deep dives in the course of their fishing.

• The psychological strain becomes more and more pronounced as the long dives are performed. It can first manifest itself during the preparation for a dive, as a reluctance to dive or a loss of will to dive for long periods. During the dive phase, when the strong urge to inhale is expressed, the psychological effort becomes much more pronounced. The body gives the diver very strong unpleasant impulses to breathe, and the diver has to fight against them and persevere underwater. In the beginning, overcoming the need to breathe is fun, interesting and exciting. A diver is driven by motivation and the desire to progress. Eventually, everyone gets tired of this psychological effort and gives up strenuous training. Therefore, knowing your body well is crucial, and in such situations, taking a step back now may be a much better decision in the long run than persisting with over-training.

• The results of the previous work will come to fruition during this period. A diver who has made very good basic preparations and has trained well during the transition period will progress much more easily and quickly. How much of a performance boost you get from breath-hold diving depends largely on the effort you put in, and in the long run, those who train regularly and systematically are always better off. Talent is very welcome but without effort there will be no real progress.

• Setting a personal best gives a diver a very good feeling, as it is a reward for all the effort they have put in. A special feature of this sport is that personal bests are initially set much faster than in other sports, which gives divers confidence and a good feeling in their private life. It is important to realise that the purpose of scuba diving is not to continuously set personal bests, it is the enjoyment during the dive itself that counts!

Specific features of ready-made workouts

The specificity of the workouts that have been prepared and will be published in the upcoming articles is that they are designed for intermediate recreational groups, which can be used by beginners as well as better recreational athletes. The main problem of group training is how to design a programme for divers of different apnoeic capacities. The solution is to time your swims so that everyone swims a certain exercise at the same time, but the difference between the better and worse swimmers is that some will do fewer repetitions in the same time, while the better swimmers will do more.

Difference in performance

In a group, there are always certain individuals who are better and others who are worse. As a rule, it is better to arrange the group in order from best to worst and to do the exercises all at once, swimming one after the other, but allowing individuals to pass each other if necessary. The best in the group becomes a kind of flagship, motivating the rest of the group, setting the pace and making sure the whole training goes according to plan.

Swimming on time

As the whole workout is set to a specific time (1 hour), it is very important that everyone sticks to the time limit for each exercise or rest period. It is important to arrive in time to change, stretch and prepare your equipment. He does not talk during the exercises, what needs to be coordinated is coordinated during rest and after training. The training will end exactly after 60min, when the track must be cleared for the next group. All exercises should be timed and the lengths given are approximate to give you a better feel.

Example:

Group exercises Dynamic Apnea with Fins (DYN) 25m, to be swum on time 10 min, planned length 16 x 25m, start every 40-50s (20s dive, 20-30s rest).

– Beginners can do 12 x 25m DYN in 10min.
– The average person can do 14-16 x 25m DYN in 10min.
– The very good ones can do 18 x 25m DYN in 10min.
– Competitors do 20 x 25m DYN in 10min.
– Good competitors can do a 22 x 25m DYN in 10min.
– Top competitors do a 24 x 25m DYN in 10min.

This way, the whole group can swim the same workout, regardless of individual performance, with the better swimmers swimming a greater distance than the worse swimmers.

Intermediate recreational level

The training programme that will be published in the following articles covers some intermediate recreational level. It is also open to pure beginners and beginner competitors. For breath-hold divers, the goal is to swim a dynamic apnea of 100m or more, and for underwater hunters, the goal is to get fit enough to be able to do a large number of roughly equally strenuous dives in one day, not to the limits.

Temping of the mould

At the beginning of the preparation period, you should count the number of months or weeks until the planned peak of fitness or the start of the hunting season. We divide this period into any number of macro and micro cycles. If we have enough time, e.g. half the year, one macro cycle will last 2 months and then split into 2-4 micro cycles. However, if the total time of the preparation period is only 2 months, all macro cycles will need to be condensed so that the macro cycle alternates every 2 to 3 weeks.

Conclusion

Snorkelling and spearfishing are very beautiful sports, but they can also be dangerous. Almost all dangerous situations can be avoided in advance with the right knowledge, self-discipline, safety instructions and legal restrictions. It should be every diver’s responsibility to acquire the correct theoretical and practical knowledge before taking up underwater sports. The best option is to take a scuba diving course, which is a good investment in your safety. Even before you start training, an apnea course is the right choice.

All divers should ensure that underwater sports have a good reputation and that all dives are carried out as safely as possible. Loss of consciousness can happen to anyone, especially if they are too focused on setting records in training. It is important to realise that the purpose of diving is not just for the joy of setting a record. Much more important is the joy and the feeling of relaxation during the dive itself and the enjoyment of watching the beautiful underwater world!

PHOTOS: Jure Daić, Gregor Dinghauser, Jaka Ivanc, Dejan Šarman, Chris Marshall