Cross-Training for Freedivers: Part II
Posted By Peter Scott on 24 May 2004
After interviewing several top freedivers about their cross training strategies it seems that most, but not all, excelled in other sports before freediving. Martin Stepanek and Yasemin Dalkilic were finswimmers, Annabel Briseno competed in underwater hockey, and Topi Lintukangas was a triathlete.
Bu what do you do if you're not already an elite athlete?
Luckily, there's more to freediving than physical fitness. Freedivers need to develop special underwater skills and abilities, mental preparation techniques and self-awareness. "Spend as much time as possible in the water to maximize the adaptations of the body," advises Fred Buyle, former world record holder, "Spending the maximum time freediving is the key ." Nevertheless, even with access to water, all the freedivers interviewed agreed that it helps to do something to prepare your body for freediving.
Some freedivers use a relatively straightforward cross-training regimen. Martin Stepanek and Mandy-Rae Cruickshank are two divers who have planned world record attempts solely on the strength of indoor training. Stepanek says that he uses stairclimber, cycling and finswimming for cardio training. He does this to increase the oxygen-carrying capacity of his blood, carbon dioxide tolerance and buffering capacity. He avoids pool training except for negative pressure dives to maintain chest flexibility for equalizing. Mandy-Rae Cruickshank, the "better half" of the Performance Freediving team, also relies on similar gym training to get ready for ocean diving, along with with CO2 tolerance tables and hypoxic training.
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