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 Hello
divers! Today I want to share with you a simple but
very important part of my dive ritual: my pre-dive stretch
routine. I see lots of divers dedicating a lot of time
to maximizing their breathing and apnea capacity before
diving, they do a lot of dry statics, yoga, concentration,
meditation, etc, etc, but I don’t see them stretching
or warming up their muscles. Humm, do they forget that
freediving is a sport too, and that it is the legs and
arms that take us down and back up in the end? Having
said that, I think it’s very important to condition
ourselves for apnea, and I myself take about 20-30 minutes
for my breathing warm up before every dive. I also do
a lot of yoga and feel that it is extremely important
to keep a harmonious balance between body and mind,
and this has helped a lot during my martial arts career,
so nothing against yoga either. To clarify though, I’m
talking about the active kind of yoga, what is called
“asanas”, or postures that stimulate blood
irrigation to organs and muscles, not the passive, meditation
style yoga. But my point was that, besides getting mind
and lungs ready, the muscles need even more attention.
Why? Well, let’s see.
First of all, it is through the use of our muscle power
that we’re going to move those heavy fins or monofins
down there, and believe me, the deeper you go the heavier
they get. It doesn’t matter if they’re made
out of carbon or any other light material, at depth,
they will feel heavy ? So the thing is, what kind of
warm up is best for the muscles? I don’t suggest
doing any serious physical activity because it is very
important to keep the muscles as fresh as possible at
the same time. So I don’t recommend running, jumping,
sprinting or even lifting weights as I know some divers
do. All we need is to get some blood to the muscles,
and for that, a good stretch will do the job while keeping
you fresh. Another benefit of it is that as the muscle
stretches, it will then contract more when you use it,
which means you will have more power available to you
when you need it. Remember, the more you can elongate
(stretch) the muscles, the more they can recoil, which
translates into more efficient strokes underwater. I
have tested this, and for example, when I do unassisted
dives without pre-dive stretch (lazy David) I usually
need 1 or even 2 strokes more for every 20 meters that
when I stretch. Do I need a better reason that that?
Well, actually there is one.
Remember something, the muscles are attached to each
other and to the bones by tendons and ligaments. It
is EXTREMELY important that they are warmed up too,
since this will make a big difference in how easy and
how fast the muscles can stretch and recoil, which translates
into power production. The best, and basically only,
way to warm up tendons and ligaments is by stretching
them well. Another thing is that, specially in long
deep dives, there comes a point when your muscles are
not burning oxygen anymore, they are just killing all
the sugar and protein reserves inside themselves, and
this is what will give you that terrible feeling of
heaviness, cramps, pain and even failure. At this point,
it is even more important that the tendons (which hold
the muscles together) are very flexible, since they
will need to exert more strength to move these muscles
loaded with lactic acid. Even when the muscles stop
working, you will still get a few more kicks or strokes
out of just the reflexive action of tendons and ligaments,
and this can be the difference between making the dive
(even if at the edge) or not making it at all. So, to
make the long story short, take the time to stretch
well before every dive and if you never did before,
you will notice big differences soon. Hey, it is not
an oxygen pill, but those I only keep for myself :)
Here is a simple routine that I follow most of the
time, to which I add some other things depending on
whether I am tired, loaded with training or the dive
ahead of me is a “big one”. As a general
rule, the more tired or stressed I am, the more time
I dedicate to my pre-dive stretch. Also, I would like
to point out that for this to work, you need to hold
the stretch for a good period of time, ideally at least
1 minute for each. The longer you can hold it the better
it is, but in general, 2 minutes is a good maximum time,
and you should never do it for less that 30 seconds.
So, the ideal range is between 1 and 2 minutes, but
anything over 30 seconds will do the job. Also, please,
concentrate on your form and don’t cheat, because
if you don’t do the stretches right, you might
even get injured. The red lines on the photos show you
the muscles and areas being stretched, and I have provided
some simple instructions for those that are a bit difficult
to guess how they start.
So, make it a point to stretch well before every dive,
and you’ll be glad you did!
Regards,
David Lee
www.ApneaBlue.com
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