Lubomir Stefanoff | freediving and UW photography

On Sunday when I was going to try a longer dynamic apnea I decided to count the kicks per 25 meters. I made 18-20 kicks per length (50 m) which is not good at all. I am kicking too much without enough gliding, and that wastes a lot of O2…Today I was alone at the pool and didn’t train in the usual manner – (50m with 1:15 intervals, sprints, longer apneas, etc). I made some very slow dynamic apneas (40-50m in 55-1:15 seconds) and focused on the glide and the number of kicks. I found out that with only 1 kg neck weight the glide is reduced significantly – I was just going up and had to push on my lungs to stay close to the bottom and maintain a streamlined position. A few days ago I tried a 2.1 kg neck weight and I was slightly positively buoyant at 2m (close to the bottom of the pool), but it was much better. So now I have to build my own 2,5 kg neck weight a see if there is a significant decrease in the number of kicks per 25 m. I’ve watched many videos on Youtube and people seem to kick and glide so efficiently…From now on, every time I train with the monofin I’ll count my kicks and hopefully I’ll reduce them to 6-7 per 25m. Next weekend we are going to make some videos at the pool – video footage is a great way to see the mistakes you make from another perspective. I’ll post some pictures and videos. Your criticism and feedback  in general will be greatly appreciated.

Regarding the max attempts – on Sunday I tried to do 90-100 m dynamic, but again came out early and still fresh at 80 meters. I’m getting used to the contractions but it takes some time. I looked on internet for exercises that train the body (and mostly the mind) to tolerate more contractions. Crazy table done on a stationary bike seems a good option for me but I’ll do more research on what others say about it. DeeperBlue forums offer great information

Now that I finished the basic preparation, I won’t spend much time training out of the water (running and cardio in the gym). I don’t think I’ll have the chance to go freediving again this month, so my training will be mostly in the pool (3 times a week) +some  dry CO2 tables. Here is how my typical work out in the pool look like:

10 x 50 m with the monofin, 1:30 rest

10 x 25 m sprints underwater, 1:00 rest

500 m monofin swimming – 25m underatwer/25 m on the surface (active recovery)

After that I usually spend 15-20 minutes doing some monofin drills – swimming on the sides and back, focusing on the knees (as I saw from a recent video footage I bend them too much).

After today’s session I thought for a while about the benefits of this kind of training. To be honest, I think I’m not training hard enough. I can swim easily 50 meters DYN with the monofin with those 1:30 rest and I don’t feel tired at the end of the workout. It’s high time to start doing either more meters or decrease the rest intrevals (I’ll try 1 minute rest on Thursday to see how I feel). After all, the body needs to get stressed to achive a good training effect. I haven’t done long dynamic apneas recently and last time I tried to pass 75 m I just didn’t want to suffer the contractions and came out early exactly at 75 m. Staying in the comfort zone won’t yield good results. Doing longer distances regularly (including max attempts) will help me get used to contractions and finally make the 100 m swim (I’m sure I can do that, just need some time to prepare mentally). From now on I’ll do one max attempt every week both in static and in dynamic…hope to see results in the near future. I haven’t done much wet staics either cause I usually  wear a 2.5 mm shorty wetsuit and get cold pretty soon, so maybe going to the pool with full suit on Saturdays is a good idea – I won’t be the only one with a spearfishing suit in the water – probably Mitko and Vov will be there too…