freediving competition

How I Adapted to Deep Diving – Part 2

Before heading back to Egypt for my second stint I needed to figure out how to change and improve pretty much everything. There were so many things I needed to improve, such as my physical conditioning, how I recovered after a dive, my diet, psychological approach to the deep dives and training, many many things. But the key hurdle I needed to figure out was how to stop squeezing, and this was by far the biggest hurdle to overcome. I really can’t confirm it was one definitive change that made the difference, more an accumulation of changes done at the right times, so I’ll try my best to recount how it went.

The Bottom Turn

The first few aspects I set about changing were simple basics, such as how I performed my bottom turn. On my 82m dive where I experience my worst squeeze the year prior, I distinctively remember feeling a pang of discomfort in my chest as I turned around haphazardly. So I figured this was a simple place to start and pretty easy to implement. The bottom turn is a key transition phase of a dive, so even if this weren’t to overcome lung injury, it will still have a big impact on the relaxation of a dive overall. If you get the basics right then a deep dive is going to feel substantially easier. I like to say that overall there aren’t many advanced techniques, mainly a sequence of basic skills executed well, much like a deep dive.

Freefall

Another small change was ensuring that I kept my freefall close to the line, brushing lightly every now and then to remind me where it is while closing my eyes intermittently.

By doing this it meant that I didn’t need to make so many large adjustments, only small ones. It also meant that I felt more relaxed as I had confidence I wouldn’t lose the line. Losing the line during your freefall is not, in my opinion, a reason for squeezing, it can happen and is mostly an easy issue to resolve But I think the problem arrises from the sudden jerk of tension when realising the line isn’t where it’s supposed to be, or rather you’re not. But by ironing out any issues you have with freefall drastically takes this factor out of the equation and allows you to sink deeper into relaxation.

Breathing Reflexes/ Contractions

Slow progression of depth was another factor which I indeed changed in comparison to how I dove before. But I suppose one of the biggest changes was setting about how I experience contractions, or more accurately, breathing reflexes. Breathing reflexes at depth can be quite aggressive on the lungs. I’m fortunately not one of those divers that has to deal with breathing reflexes on the descent, but definitely on the ascent, especially on longer dives such as FIM.

When we have these reflexes, we experience an increase of negative pressure in the lungs, compounding the negative pressure that’s already there from being at depth. What I realised in myself was that I’d developed tension in the shoulders and stomach, this created my reflexes to become concentrated in the upper chest, which I suspected was leading to trachea squeezes, it also restricted the amount that my diaphragm lifter into the thoracic cage.

My idea was adjust these reflexes by directing them lower down in the intercostal muscles and simply allowing them to happen, as opposed to creating tension to and fight against. And to relax the stomach as much as possible, this allows the diaphragm to rise higher into the thoracic cage which lowers residual volume. Bringing about these changes in the breathing reflexes was a slow process, I could make the change on a less stressful dive, but on a deep dive everything becomes more autonomous, thus more chance of reverting back to the how I normally did things. So I worked on slow shallow dives, beginning the ascent just when I started feeling the urge to breathe and having to deal with only a few reflexes. Then slowly extending the dive time to deal with reflexes at the bottom before ascending, this took months to reprogram. Then finally adding deep dives into the equation.

Stretching & Flexibility

Chest and Diaphragm flexibility are of course hugely important for deep diving. The more flexible our diaphragm is, the higher it will lift up into our thoracic cage. This both allows for better equalisation, and aids us in being able to relax easier. Improving our chest flexibility is also going to build on our compressive potential which also allow us to deal with the pressures of depth, but also to enable us to take deeper breaths at the surface. Building on these areas takes persistence and dedication over a long period of time. Not through infrequent intense sessions, otherwise we run the risk of injuring ourselves very easily, especially with stomach lifts and lung packing.

One of the methods that is taught to overcome squeezing is to make sure you stretch, and this is of course true, but certainly not just before a deep dive. Before a dive session we simply want to awaken the muscles and utilise the flexibility that we already have, not to try and discover new flexibility just before we’re about to put a heavy strain on the lungs. This is another big change that I’ve put into my own diving, I stretch diligently and frequently, but only on dedicated dry training sessions or the evening before a dive. In the morning of a dive, it’s just a simple warm up to increase blood flow to the muscles, nothing more than that. So to clarify, don’t over stretch before a dive.

No Fins

Another piece of the jigsaw fell into place once I started No fins. Up to this point, even with all of the changes I’d made, I was still experiencing some small squeezes once I got to over the 85m mark in CWT. So I decided to scale the depth back again and progress with No Fins, and up to this day I have never had a squeeze on a No Fins dive. Again, I can’t really put my finger on the reason why, I’ve dove well over 80m so it’s not necessarily the shallower depth. But I suspect, once I started swimming in a different way, this allowed me, to greater effect, enact the changes I was trying to put in place with how I experienced breathing reflexes.

Since then I have continued on my journey of eliminating my squeezes from the positive experience I had with No fins, and it may be due to this reason why I love No fins so much. I’ve had some hiccups along the way, namely while arriving at the 100m mark with CWT, but I put this down to comp nerves and poor tag grabbing. But overall these days I don’t have an issue with squeezing. There are a lot of other small things I have added since those days in Dahab, such as a long rest after a dive over a certain depth, sometimes only doing 1 dive if I feel it’s necessary. Not pulling up the rope after a heavy session, also avoiding over hydration in the morning is another small thing that might make a difference. But as I said at the beginning, I don’t think there’s a panacea for squeezing, and nothing can compensate for experience and time at depth, and I think this is probably the key factor among many that has allowed me to overcome squeezing.

Conclusion

So to summarise, I approached this complex puzzle by isolating certain components of a deep dive and to try and adjust them one by one. By breaking down and working on these individual basics, I also saw huge improvements in other areas of my freediving. Naturally relaxation was the key improvement, and I guess in freediving it always comes back to this. So to answer the question of how to stop squeezing, it can be answered in a simple way, to relax. But as you begin to delve deeper, you learn that relaxation is influenced from many different angles, and it’s not always so simple to solve.

My Plan for 2020

Mar

March 9, 2020 dean Freediving Training / News Bahamas / Caribbean / cross-training / Dominica / freediving / freediving competition / panglao / Training 2

At the beginning of every year, I always set out what I plan to do in terms of my training goals and what competitions I aim to compete in. There’s always some small deviation from the plan, this can be down to many ever-changing factors, though the change of plans usually only really affects how I plan my training peaks, and how I’m focusing on different training elements.

For example, if I’m approaching a peak but find that my strength and conditioning isn’t what it should be, I may decide to scale back on max dives and spend a little more time in the pool, or perhaps my breath-hold isn’t up to scratch and I need to address this area of me training a little closer. On occasion, I have found that financially things might be tight and so I’ve changed my comp plans because of funds, but for the most part, the plan gets followed. If I find my training isn’t going so well and I have a comp just around the corner, I’d still go ahead with it, even if I may not be where I want to be, these are usually the periods where we learn the most about ourselves.

The planning of my comps and training usually happens at the end of the year in preparation for the following. I’ve found over the years that the shape of what the next year will look like usually starts to take form slowly as I come towards the end of the season, I find myself starting to see what I might want to do in terms of goals, and what competitions I fancy going to. 2019 was the first year that Vertical Blue didn’t go ahead, so throughout the whole of last year, I was pretty adamant that I would be there for the showdown in 2020. But after my invite came through and I reserved my spot I started to question if it would be the best plan for the overall performance of the year. It is for sure the best competition for results, because of conditions, but also because of the stimulus that an event like VB provides, it brings the best out of us.

For all of my previous VB comps I had been permanently based on the Island, and so it meant that I didn’t need to travel to and from the comp, instead, I would just slip back into training in a, once again, empty Blue hole. This time I would have to travel from the Philippines, meaning I would have to adjust to a completely opposite timeline, sync up, compete then head back to Asia and sync up once again. This isn’t really the issue, it’s more the fact that it was in the middle of the year, plus VB being such a big comp, after finishing it can leave you pretty spent, to say the least. With this in mind, combined with around the world trip will inevitably take a serious chunk out of training, realistically between 1-2months. I figured if I just spent this time staying in one place I could get much more quality training done, albeit not in the limelight that VB provides, but the same level of diving none the less.

So I’ve decided to stay put in Panglao for 7 months, starting from February until the end of August. Prior to arriving back in Panglao, I was staying with Adam and Erin in Australia, so both Adam and I started back at training in January. I’ve learned over the years to start back slowly and not try to put the foot down too fast, so January was very much prep before the training really begins. So lots of swimming and medium intensity but high volume pool training, focusing on generating a positive vibe for the upcoming season.

I’m targeting the first depth peak of the year to be in May for the Uba cup, scheduled from the 19-25th. After this first peak, I will scale back on the depth and head back to the pool along with more physical workouts again, not as long as the beginning of the year, only for a few weeks or so, then build back the depth for another peak in August before my time in Panglao comes to an end. What I’ve also found over the years is that if I set a really solid foundation for the first few months of the year, when I slip back into base training again I only need a few weeks to bring myself back up to fitness after a long stint of deep diving. This year in Panglao, there are no scheduled competitions in August yet, so if it stays like this then I’ll focus on hitting my targets in training if things go really well I may consider scheduling a record attempt or two, though only for the records I currently have, which are in CNF and CWTB, ideally, I’d like to make my dives in a competition environment.

After this second peak, I will do the same as the first, scale back to the pool and slowly build back up again. The last peak will hopefully be the best, this is the plan, but it is also important to keep the fire going all year and to enjoy the process as much as the end result. So my plan is to target Dominica for the Blue Element competition as my final peak and the end of my season, this comp is scheduled November 6-13th and is an epic place to do some big dives.

I competed in Dominica for the first time back in 2016 and I really loved it, conditions are perfect, zero current, good visibility and awesome surface conditions. The dive site is actually in an old volcano crater that creates a shelter from the outside ocean currents, and the surrounding topography provides shelter from the trade winds that blow from the east. All of this culminates for a very beautiful place to dive in, with the surrounding mountains as a backdrop.

So that’s the plan, my first depth peak in May, another peak in August to finish off my time in Panglao for this year, then ending the year back in the Caribbean for Blue Element.

Why I Train in Panglao

Feb

February 24, 2020 dean Freediving Training / News apnea / Asia / Bahamas / deep diving / deep week / diving / Durian / freediving / freediving competition / freediving training / healthyliving / panglao / phillipines / snorkeling / Training / travel 6 14

My 2020 training season has started already! And I think it would be difficult to feel more energy and enthusiasm to get stuck in like how I feel at the moment. 2019 was kind of a transitional year in many ways, from a freediving and training perspective I felt a little uprooted. Since the end of 2015 most of my diving, and certainly all of my training was done in Long Island, in “the” Blue hole.

Dean’s Blue Hole. Photo Credit Will Graham

At around August 2018 I was forced to make the decision to leave my favourite playground and find another base, the main reason? Money.

As anyone who has visited the Bahamas knows, it is no budget location, those of us who have competed or been involved in Vertical Blue certainly know the cost. I was however, fortunate to be semi permanently based there, and so I was teaching and earning, but unfortunately outside of the main Island events, Long Island doesn’t see a huge influx of tourism, yet. So even while living and earning on the Island I still couldn’t make it work, and after deliberating for a while I finally decided to leave my most loved location to dive and train.

Teaching in Long Island. Photo credit Matt Porteus

Diving in near perfect conditions for the majority of the time, with a 25m training pool and zero distractions was always going to be a tough act to follow, but I set out to think of where I could go to get the same level of high quality training. I thought about Europe first, maybe Tenerife, maybe Malta, maybe I could live in the UK and fly out to Egypt for depth stints. Tenerife came the closest, it’s the only European location which can allow all year round diving, along with access to so many amazing pools due it being a primary triathlete destination, and the Island is stunning!

Taibaba, Tenerife Dive site & Radazul Pool

It has so many other things to do, with world class climbing crags (Climbing picture) all over the Island along with surfing in the south, and of course amazing food with all the convenience of a well run European country.

I would say Tenerife is not off the list by any means, and I may head there this year for a training stint on the way to the Caribbean. But at the end of 2018 I had a call off my friend Adam Stern to assist in his first Philippines Deep Week, and so I decided to check that side of the world before making a decision.

Deep Week was being run in Coron, which was quickly crossed off the list. Barracuda lake is an epic place to dive, but it’s just not deep enough, and the surrounding Ocean has the same issue. The Lake has about 40-50m of depth, and is the first place I have ever dived that is actually too hot to train in, with a surface temperature of 30 degrees Celsius and a thermocline increasing to 40 degrees at 40m, it’s not the best for our best friend the dive reflex to work effectively. But after finishing Deep Week we set off to Panglao, this was already at the end of November and so I had already decided I would spend Christmas and New years there.

When I first arrived in Panglao I didn’t think immediately that it was my new training base, if I’m honest it was pretty busy for my liking, but I had to be realistic, I had just moved from a deserted tropical Island in the Caribbean, so literally everywhere was going to be busy compared to Long Island, so I persevered. One of the pluses I quickly noticed was the abundance of training pools available, on the Island of Panglao alone there are about 4 or 5 25m pools. Then in Tagbilaran, which is on the main Island of Bohol, only 25 mins drive away from Panglao, there’s a really nice 50m pool. So pools were available, one box ticked. Then there was the cheap fresh fruit and veg available, the pineapples and mangoes are insane and abundant, but the one fruit that is a game changer is durian, which only a hand full of countries in the world actually grow and harvest.

Along with the abundant fruit and veg, in Tagbilaran there are about 3 big super markets where you can buy almost everything you need, this was a refreshing change compared to the scant grocery options on Long Island, so this was a big big plus, no more Miami supply runs.

The main question that still needed answering was the diving. Around December/ January I wasn’t really deep diving anyway, so I just set about to begin my base training in the pool. But I did begin depth training slowly, beginning with some shore dives on fixed moorings. Now I wouldn’t say it was bad by any means, and I would have continued with shore dives while limiting my depths to sub maximals. But while I was still shore diving I was still unsure about making it my next base, until I started diving with Freedive Panglao that is.

FP run drift dive sessions, this basically means that when diving off a buoy we drift at roughly the same speed as the current, and so the current isn’t really noticeable most of the time compared to diving of fixed moorings, in fact I began my freediving with drift dives with Freedive Gili, so there was a sense of familiarity and nostalgia. So as soon as I started diving with Freedive Panglao I quickly fell into a groove, I was diving most of the time with Alenka Artnik, who is an absolutely wonderful dive partner,the same goes for Stefan Randig, and the Freedive Panglao team are an awesome bunch.

Just a few freediving champions as buddies!

Once we started diving on the calmer side of the Island in May, I knew then that Panglao was my base. With about 9 out of 10 dive days that are deep divable, and so many days of amazing surface conditions. Along with being based right in Asia, with easy access to neighbouring countries, it really does tick most of the boxes when it comes to choosing a deep dive location. It’s kind of obvious actually, with the highest concentration of freediving schools in the world, over 10 the last time I counted, it is fast becoming the primary hub of freediving in Asia. And with a brand new international airport finished last year it is only going to get busier. Personally I would be happy with it being a little less busy, but we can’t have everything. So for now, this is where I train.

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