Improving Your Breathing Under Stress

[jerry.mobbs]

Heres two fun drills you can do that carry over to diving. They both help you to control/recover your breath when under stress. I've been using them for the last 6 months and noticed improvements. Have fun and the usual caveats apply about not doing anything stupid.

Strokes per Breath

Jump in your local pool and swim freestyle
Swim 25m with 1 ****** per breath
Swim the next 25m with 2 strokes per breath
Swim the next 25m with 3 strokes per breath
....
Work up to 10 strokes per breath (or the max strokes per breath you are comfortable with)
Then work back down with 9 strokes per breath
Then 8 strokes per breath, etc etc until you get back to 1 ****** per breath
Relax and have a beer!

Focus on maintaining swimming form and being in control
Increase the distance and/or the max number of strokes per breath as you improve

This drill gives you the mental ability to control your breath and still work (ie swimming whilst maintain form).

It is more relevant to us as divers than say doing static breath holds.

Have a buddy watch you when doing this. DO NOT DO IT ALONE.

Source is Stew Smith. (google him)

Breathing Ladders

Done in a gym
Select a compound exercise you are comfortable with and have good form
Good choices would be dumbell swings, cleans, full range squats or thrusters
Big movements create big oxygen demand, so bicep curls or sit ups on a space hopper don't count
Pick a weight thats 20-35% of your body-weight
Do 1 rep
Take 1 breath
Do 2 reps
Take 2 breath
Do 3 reps
Take 3 breath
Repeat until you cant do any more reps

Take as many breaths as you require during the exercise
Focus on using your recovery breaths to maximum effect
As you get better you will notice the total number of reps you can do will increase

Source is www.gymjones.com

Have fun

Jerry

[Mats Edenfeldt]

I must say that I find no meaning in increasing the amount of strokes between the berths taken. This only creates an uncomfortable swim and it reduces the durability with the swimmer. Better is to increase the speed and therefore the need for the swimmer to breath heavier and then still keep the strokes at: breath, 1, 2 , 3 breath. Best thing is if you breath to both sides this forces the swimmer to think because it comes naturally for almost anyone to breath only to one side.
The swim 25-50 meters beginning with just gliding and slowly increase the speed until you are not able to keep the rhythm or the technique. Stop to rest for about 5 min then do it all over again. This does not only give you a good breath holding technique under stress but also gives you a good cardio. If you are a good swimmer do this in butterfly instead. To increase the amount of strokes before each breath is more or less the same thing as statically holding your breath. The need to take a breath comes with the body’s need of oxygen and is triggered by the amount of carbon dioxide in your lungs/body.

To do this and try to keep the technique and slowly increase the speed is a better way. The same thing applies to a diver in stress, you speed up and the body consumes more oxygen and the trigger to breathe comes faster. To be ale to maintain calm and focused and to still keep the technique when the body get stressed is more critical rather then to train it during a stabile and slow swim and just increase the strokes.

This is basically what all freestyle and butterfly swimmers slowly build up a tolerance for during years of training to be able to win the race by maintaining technique and breath rhythm during hard work or long and hard work like for the 1500 meters.

If anyone is interested in swim training I can on demand print out a typical swim program for medium up to elite swimmers for 2-7 training sessions per week.

[jerry.mobbs]

Quote: (Originally Posted by edenfeldt)

I must say that I find no meaning in increasing the amount of strokes between the berths taken. This only creates an uncomfortable swim and it reduces the durability with the swimmer..

I guess those Navy Seal chaps don't know what they are doing then

This is not about training swimming technique, its more about quickly and progressively making you more uncomfortable in the water, and then showing you that you can keep it under control when under stress. The breathing ladders in the same post have the same effect, but you don't need a pool.

Your method works just as well though.

What might be useful for the message board would be a simple training program to pass the GUE swim test. I know at least 2 people who would like something like that. Find a few divers who are taking a course this year and need to improve their swimming, draft a program for them to follow and track their results on the board? You'd probably get a few volunteers.

Cheers

Jerry

[Mats Edenfeldt]

Quote: (Originally Posted by jerry.mobbs)

I guess those Navy Seal chaps don't know what they are doing then

This is not about training swimming technique, its more about quickly and progressively making you more uncomfortable in the water, and then showing you that you can keep it under control when under stress. The breathing ladders in the same post have the same effect, but you don't need a pool.

Your method works just as well though.

What might be useful for the message board would be a simple training program to pass the GUE swim test. I know at least 2 people who would like something like that. Find a few divers who are taking a course this year and need to improve their swimming, draft a program for them to follow and track their results on the board? You'd probably get a few volunteers.

Cheers

Jerry

Ha ha the navy seals are wimps
The problem with divers that needs to pass a swim test is usually that they cant swim from the beginning. Well swim and swim almost anyone can swim but there technique is more like floating and struggling against the mass of water that they are pushing in front of them.

So to create a training program based on a person that cant swim properly is hard when you can not be there and show them how to do it. But I will give it a try and see if I can write down some good technique tips. I have spent a few sessions with people in the pool to give them a boost just before a swim test, and it usually gives them great results, the problem is always that the strength that it takes to maintain the technique becomes to much and they go back to struggling against the wall of water.
But the standard 400 m test can be done by anyone with a little help from a friend.

This is easy enough for me as a former swimmer but I know what they are going trough and I will certainly give it a try to write down something good.

[Mats Edenfeldt]

Swimming and especially efficient swimming is all about minimizing resistance and maximizing ******/power. The common problem with beginners is that they tend to push a wall of water in front of them and not being able to get more stream lined.

90% of all people revert back to some sort of “head above the water semi breast stroke” this is not useful for anything at all. The swimmer is forcing a wall of water in front of them simply by not putting there head under the water…the upright position of the simmer forces the legs down and the semi frog kick is diverted down and the body becomes a sail pushing the water in front of the swimmer. Don’t do this. You are basically bobbing up and down in the water and the arms get tired and then the legs and finally the back and you have to give up. Does anyone recognize this Forget this technique.

The far best thing to strive for is the freestyle, it is the easiest and fastest and require only some minor training to get a hang of, and it is fast.

The freestyle's swimming speed is caused for 70-90% by the arms. The arm movement can be divided in a couple of phases:
1. the put-in
2. the glide-phase
3. the pull-phase
4. the push-phase
5. the lash-out
6. the pull-over

Now how do you get started. First of all lets go back to the streamlining and gliding part…remember you want to create as little resistance as possible. So first get rid of those Bermuda shorts, they wont do you any good, get a par of long leg speedos. You don’t have to go with the minimal ones seen on competitor but get a tighter pair first of all.

No we are in the water and you have you new swim suit on. The key is gliding, keeping the ****** at an even paste and gliding. The hardest part when swimming freestyle for beginners is to keep the legs up. So start if you can with some smaller floating device that you can put between you legs to get that extra lift.

This is an example: http://www.swim2000.com/images/product_gen/full/753252.jpg

Start by simply floating in the water with or without the lifting device, if no lifting device is present use a buddy to help hold you in the horizontal position in the water or put your legs up on the edge of the pool if the edge is in water level. Start with both arms stretched out in front of you like you where an arrow, try and be as stretched as possible. This is the basic glide possitionThen start the sequence like so:

• THE PUT-IN
  The put-in of the freestyle is straight in front of the shoulder in the line of the shoulders or maybe a little more wider, on 3/4 of the arm length with a slightly bent elbow. The hand touches the water sooner than the elbow, which is positive for the next phase:
• THE GLIDE-PHASE
  After the pit in, the arm will be stretched to the front, at which the palm of the hand is pointed downwards. During the glide-phase the arm chooses the best position to pull through. We could say that the hand "grabs" the water. Because the hand is searching for prop on the water, the pull-over shoulder can be kept high and above the water, so that there is less resistance. Also the breathing is a lot easier because of that prop.
• THE PULL-PHASE
  The movement of the arm right after the glide-phase untill the hand is perpendicular under the shoulder, we call the pull-phase. During this phase there occurs a slight bow of the elbow joint, so that at the end of this phase, the angle of the elbow joint is about 90 degrees. Because of this, it's possible to pull through with a lot of power. The elbow remains constantly at the highest point.
  During the pull-phase the palm of the hand will be pointed backwards. The hand moves first to the side and then comes under the shoulder again, at which a slow bow in the elbow joint occurs. At the end of the pull-phase, the hand never passes entirely the imaginary vertical axis of the body. When this does take place, this has direct consequenses for the body's position in the water. The shoulder goes down under water and its position is much deeper in the water, which causes a lot of extra resistance.
• PUSH-PHASE
  The push-phase starts right after the pull-phase, so in the beginning the arm is perpendicular below the shoulder untill the moment that the arm, and then the hand leaves the water.
  During the push-phase the hand will go backward towards the hips and will be slightly strechted. In fact, the hand follows a certain "S" pattern (looked upon from below). The elbow joint will never be entirely stretched. The hand will make in the last part of the push-phase, just before the lash-out, a final push backwards. This is called an uniformly accelerated movement.
  The "S-formed" way the hand follows with regard to the body, has been drawn in the figure. With regard to the bottom the hand remains more or less on the same depth, because the is "locked" in the water and the swimmer pulls his body over it. The armstroke's damming surfaces are the palm of the hand and the inner side of the forearm.
• THE LASH-OUT
  If the end of the push-phase has been executed well, the elbow will first and the hand (starting with the little finger) will be the last to leave the water. The lash-out takes place at the hips and/or the upper leg.
  During the lash-out the hand is as close as possible to the body and partly unbended. In fact there has to take place a smooth movement between the pull-through and the pull-over. Because of this a shaking movement will be prevented.
• THE PULL-OVER
  The pull-over takes place with a "high" elbow and has to take place unbended: the forearm and hand are "hanging" below the elbow. Swimming with a "low" elbow and a "wide" movement cost more energy and cause more unwanted rotations. All the movements should take place as close as possible to the body's length-axis.
  Because the pull-over can take place faster than the pull-through (less/no resistance), we see that the arms with regard to eachother do not start acting like "wings of a mill", but make up for eachother and go away for eachother. The complete armstroke passes away uninterupted. The shoulder also moves continuously (also called the "rolling" of the shoulders). The rolling of the shoulders must only take place in the length-axis of the body.

The Legstroke
Although the arm-movement contributes by far the most to the swimming speed, it is wrong to think that the legstroke is not of any significance. The arms and legs have to cooperate precisely, to swim a well swum ******. A good legstroke contributes its part to the whole.
The legstroke has two functions:
1. A stabilizing/compensating function (most important)
2. A damming function

The leg-movement consists of an alternation of up- and downbeats, at which the legs pass eachother during the ******. The legstroke is often very irregular and very differed at different swimmers and takes rarely place only in a vertical direction.
The irregularities consist of: "emphasisstrokes". drag-movements and differences in moving results. These irregularities are closely connected to the way the armstroke is swum and the breathing.
Although the up- and downbeat both have a damming function, the effect of the downbeat is bigger, because of a more positive position of the damming surfaces.
The movement starts from the hip, at which in the upbeat the leg will be stretched because of the water resistance. The downbeat of the upper leg has already been started whn the feet are still moving upwards. At the turning point the unbended foot goes down, at which the foot sole can give stowage. Meanwhile, the knee has also been bended when the foot went down, the shinbone and instep are in a favourable position to cause stowage in the downbeat. This effect will be strengthened, because the upper leg moves back in upward direction. This is only possible when the unbended leg follows the movement out of the hips. In the end there arises a wave-alike pattern via upperleg - knee - lower leg - ankle - foot.
The combination
There are different combinations that can be swum; for example the American crawl. This means that in one complete armstroke, fit exactly six downbeats of the legs. For short, we could say 2:6. Characteristics of the American crawl are: intensive legstroke, a clear glide-phase, the tempo of the arms relatively slow and the pull through close to the body with high elbows.

Finally we could say:
- The downbeat of the right leg equal to the put in of the left arm.
- The downbeat of the right leg equal to the link between the pull-phase and push-phase of the left arm (the same counts for the left leg and the right arm, of course).

At the 2:2 the armstroke is very dominant. There is no, or hardly any legstroke present. This combination (2:2) is also called the Australian crawl, because a lot of Australian swimmers swim this way.
Breathing
Inhaling takes place when the arms are in the extension of eachother, which means in practise:
Inhaling on the left side, when the left hand is at the height of the left hip and the right hand starts with the put-in/glide-phase. Inhaling takes place in the 'valley' at the left side, at which the head turns around the length-axis of the body. Exhaling gradually takes place under water via the nose as well as the mouth.
Most swimmers have a favorite side to breathe and often only inhale at that favourite side. There also are swimmers who have the ability to breath at sides. This type of breathing is considered to be the best way. The legstroke plays a supporting role with breathing during swimming.
Frequently made mistakes
- During the put-in phase, the arms cross the length-axis of the body
- The pull-through is to much sidewards
- Too much legstroke, in stead of a proper armstroke
- The position of the head: too high or too deep, which causes problems with breathing and of course more water resistance

[Mats Edenfeldt]

Now when you have started to do the ****** and you are getting a feel for how you are pushing water with you palm in an efficient way you can start gliding. Now the lifting device is almost essential to get the hang of it. You can use two larger soda bottles plastic (1,5 lit) and some rope to make your own. The thought is that this is held between you legs right up in you crutch to help the lover body and but up in a more horizontal position.

When you are comfortable with the ****** and start to get a bit more speed in the water you can start to slowly start using the legs. You have to have more speed in the beginning to be able to keep the legs up, as you progress you will find that you can swim slower and slower and still keep the legs up, this is because of the legs that you now can put in to action. They have probably already been used as when you do the arms you use the legs to stabilize and this is exactly what you use them for when just slowly free styling. They are just supposed to oscillate with the arm movement. This oscillating movement/kick gives short bursts with every ****** that not only propel you forward a little bit but also kicks the legs upwards a bit.

Remember still the glide phase of the swim and keep gliding on every ******, when you are gliding on the right arm the right leg is trusted slowly from the knee and down in a gentle trust, keep the foot stretched out backwards and just use it as a slight pendulum. This gives well enough trust to keep the lower body out of the water and a good horizontal position.
Be aware of the common mistakes from the first part, if you at all cross your center line with the ****** you will have problems, keep the ****** within the with of the shoulders . Also don’t put you head down to far try to have the water surface at bout the model of the head, and when breathing don’t twist the whole body sideways, just follow the oscillating movement for the body and look out to the side, not directly at the roof.

To further train your technique you can use a kick board: http://www.swim2000.com/images/produ...ull/753134.jpg
This give you the opportunity to just do the leg movement, hold the board in front of you in the same streamlined position as when you are doing the ****** and then do the kick to propel yourself. You can use any type of buoyancy device for this that is in this chap, or just any device that is easy to hold on to and will keep you floating and is not to big. If nothing is found you can hold on to the pools edge and do the same but it is more useful when you actually feel the difference in trust and speed so try to find a suitable device to use before the pools edge. This will give you a better understanding of how much you have to kick to be able to both propel yourself and to keep the legs high in the water. The basic position of the foot is stretched out as for a ballet denser and then slightly tilted inwards to get the optimal kick.

Have to leave work now but I will get back with some more later on. Happy hunting.

[jerry.mobbs]

Eden

Whats your opinion on Terry Laughlin and Total Immersion?

I've had great success with his methods.

You've probably gathered that the word s-t-r-o-k-e is banned on this board, hence the ***** in your posts.

Cheers

Jerry

[Lukas]

Haha, I was wondering about the stars, thats quite funny actually.
The swim test really doesn't sound very hard, I had to do much worse for swim team or to get my lifeguard cert.
Am I missing something, like is it in full gear, etc.? Doesn't sound like something people would be worried about but I don't know, maybe I just know too many great swimmers

[Martin Burnard]

The swim test, is quite interesting as it's something that is greatly affected by your previous immersion (excuse the pun) in sport.

As a competitive swimmer the 400m is a doddle, and the breath hold is just a push off the wall, a good dolphin kick, you are done.

For those who are not from a swimming background, it is not so easy.

For all other factors we all start from the same point, learning to dive!

[Mats Edenfeldt]

The swim test should not be a problem for a former swimmer or someone that have spent allot of time in the water but still it presents a quit big problem for those that don’t have the technique or the experience in water. I have been swimming since I was 5 so for me the ocean or any water is like home They can do it on pure strength but that is just a pain in the ass. So why not do a few sessions in a pool and get the hang of it and you can do it in style instead Also something that I have not mentioned in the above post is the turn, I could do the swim test just by slowly swimming and do long and efficient turns, if anyone is interested in turning technique I could find some info on that to. If you don’t do the swim in Ginnie like we did with JJ on the cave 1 That is just 4 laps and nothing to turn against ha ha.