Your Guide To The Ultimate 3-step Free Dive Training Program

There’s a good reason Tanya Streeter holds multiple world records for free diving. It’s all in the training. Here are a few tips from Streeter’s own training regimen:
First, expect to stick with this plan for 14 weeks. It’s rigorous but well worth the time spent and you could very well find yourself improving on your time and stamina in No Limits, Constant Weight or Static and Dynamic Apnea events.
Bear in mind that in each phase of training you’ll work out for six days and rest on the seventh!

Part I – Strength Building
During Week 1 you’ll alternate days between 1 hour of cardio and 1 hour of weight lifting. The cardio training should consist of at least 45 minutes of your heart rate between 65%-85% of maximum. When weight training, lift between 60%-75% of your ability. The first and last thing to do each day is stretching and be sure to stretch the muscles you’ll work on that day.

For weeks 3-6, you’ll alternate between cardio and the treadmill or elliptical machine. Do 2 hours of cardio using interval training on Day 1 of that week, peaking your heart rate at 65%-92%. Follow that with 1 hour of cardio endurance with your heart rate between 75-85%.
Day 3 should consist of 2 hours of intensification training at around 80% heart rate with high intensity and followed by 1 hour of cardio endurance. Start Day 5 with 2 hours of endurance training with your heart rate between 75%-85%. Don’t forget to stretch before and after.
On Days 2, 4, and 6, start with a 30-minute warm up on the treadmill or elliptical machine then lift 70-85% of your ability on weight training.

Part II – Conditioning
On weeks 7-10, you’ll alternate each day between a 2 hour pool session and 2 hours of apnea weight training following some light stretching.
On day when you do your apnea training you’ll want to start with a minute of breath-up preparation lifting 30% of your ability. Do as many repetitions as you can handle in apnea, then perform 1 hour of endurance training at a heart rate of 75%-85%.
Pool sessions should consist of underwater laps. Vary your exercises to include restricted breathe-up preparation with increasing underwater distance, decreasing breath-up preparation utilizing the same underwater distance, and limited breathing during an extended swim involving hypoxia endurance training. Don’t forget to stretch before and after and include a warm down swim before your final stretching.
If you can fit it in and it doesn’t overtire you then include some static apnea training as well.

Part III – Diving
Over the next four weeks you’ll want to do some actual diving. Remember, though, every time you dive you should take a buddy to keep an eye on safety precautions. Each time you dive increase your depth a little more, but don’t overexert yourself. The goal is to improve your free diving skills, not to kill yourself.

Plan some rest days in your regimen. They should fall every 2-4 days. On those days you can maintain your strength and cardiovascular skills by reverting back to the workouts in Parts I and II of this plan. You want to be sure not to tire key muscles.
Also, when training for free dive competitions you want to pay special attention to your diet and sleep habits. Eat right and get plenty of sleep. Above all, be safe and stretch, stretch, stretch those key muscle groups!

How To Teach Your Baby Swimming

Ancient Greeks considered that a man who couldn’t read, count and swim – was illiterate. Your terror has coped with the first two skills already? Has he learned swimming already? Not yet? Then, no matter where you have a vacation this summer: at the warm sea or at the health center with a pool, in a canoe tour or at your mother-in-law’s country place – give your child several lessons of a real literacy.

It’s necessary to learn swimming on deep water, so that your child wouldn’t get used to pull down his legs and stand up on the bottom. While not observing this rule, a child’s period of transfer from shallow water to depth is being delayed: he can already hold on the water and dive, but still is afraid to swim in depth. However, avoid any extreme: don’t throw a child that cannot swim into the water. You can throw one and he’ll get out, and another will start sinking and after you take him out, he’ll never go into the water again. But even the one who gets out receives shock, a trauma. Your child doesn’t need this. So, let’s learn swimming in depth, but holding a pool’s side, berth or father’s hand in the beginning.

Should you use an inflatable rubber buoy or no? It’s better without it, but in inflatable armlets. A buoy relaxes; a child can pull down his legs, thinking that he’s still swimming. Armlets prevent a child from sinking, but make him hold his legs and body aflat on the water. And a child should get used not to pull down his legs.

Foam plastic plates are worse than armlets. When a child learns to hold himself on water gradually, you can proceed to a flexible stick for aqua-aerobics. These sticks are called noodles. Children like them as they are bright and colored, they hold body on water well, they can be bent anyway, clutched under armpits, hold behind the back… , this way arms and legs will be free and it’ll be easy to swim using such stick.

The best time for learning swimming in 6 y.o. A child already understands what do you want from him, his coordination is good enough already, and there’s no fear yet and it can be easily subdued.

Firstly we’ll be swimming on a tummy. Holding a pier, side or father, we’re learning moving legs. Legs are knocking the water, like while swimming the crawl: toes are stretched, turned inside slightly, knees don’t bend almost. Now we’ll show what arms should do. Arms execute circular motions, like in breast-stroke. And you shouldn’t be confused with such different styles, this way children can learn swimming easier.

Train a child to breathe out into the water at once. In the beginning, he can put only his mouth into the water. Eyes and nose are still above the water. He should form a habit – as soon as water touches his mouth – we breathe out into the water. Then we get used to put mouth and nose, then mouth, nose, eyes into the water. We breathe evenly, not too deep: half- breath, half- outward breath. Breathe in, look where we’re swimming, pull down the head, and breathe out into the water. Let a child hold firstly a pier, buoy, parent’s hand. And buy him eyeglasses to protect eyes.

Five - ten lessons – and you can see your child can hold in water confidently wearing armlets, swim on his tummy, breathes out into the water. So, it’s time to turn to his back. It’s easier to swim on back: a child doesn’t have to breathe out in water, he can look around while swimming, and use only his legs to swim… Children like swimming on back, but only after they learn swimming on tummy, as although it’s more difficult to swim on a tummy, it’s still more natural. Observe your child holds head, tummy and legs aflat. Let him imagine he’s lying of a sofa. As soon as he feels such position, he’ll learn swimming on back. A child can relax his arms, but also he may rake up slightly.

Don’t be in a hurry to put off armlets, wait till your child learns holding on water confidently. Let him swimming on a tummy, back, diving, swimming by breast-stroke and the crawl, wearing armlets… Then try to loosen armlets by half. If a baby says: “I cannot swim, I’m sinking”, this means it’s not time to put them off yet. Let him swimming wearing them, or try to putt off one by one slowly.

After 30 lessons while swimming, any child, even the shyest one, will swim independently. Have no doubts!

However, in general, it’s better to join a section, so that to form a good skill. When a child can already swim by overarm, for example, it’ll be difficult for a trainer to teach him again.

What You Need To Know Prior To Scuba Diving

Scuba diving can be a great pastime for you if you love the water. In the summer it's a great water sport where you can cool off while keeping physically fit! However there are aspects that you will want to consider first. These will indeed help you better decide if it's for you, and make it very enjoyable as well.

Diver Requirements

Before beginning any new physical activity, you should always be sure you can handle what it requires. If you have any conditions that preclude you from other activities such as heart conditions, diabetes, high blood pressure, breathing problems and definitely anything that would make you more susceptible to drowning, you will need to consult a physician to be sure you are able to dive! This is recommended for anyone else as well.
You are also required to complete a form to guarantee you are fit to dive. To find out what is required on the form in preparation, you can find it online at Divers Alert Network. Like any sport, you need to be in a condition to endure times of physical exertion. These include carrying a heavy oxygen tank above water, as well as times when you might need to swim faster. The diving gear adds extra strength demand to some degree as well.
You will need to be at least 15 years old for adult Scuba diving, or at least 10 for junior diving instructions and limited privilege. Certification will involve a Scuba Diving Test which will prove you know what is needed to dive safely.

The Right Equipment
As with nearly any sport, there is some gear required. Though when it comes to scuba diving, having the right equipment, and knowing well how to use it can turn out to be a matter of life and death under extreme circumstances.
Of course the most important scuba diving equipment is your breathing apparatus. It can be heavy, and there are important aspects of it that you need to be sure of each time you use different equipment.
Beyond these, you also need a wetsuit, fins, and other items that will help protect you from the underwater environment where you might need to keep warmer, as well as protected from sharp objects and certain water life.
For the sake of good experienced maintenance, as well as the price, many opt to rent their gear. Often this will be from a sport shop where you scuba dive. You can also buy your own gear, though that will leave much of the burden of keeping it fit on you, as it is yours.

Why Many Scuba Dive
While the majority of scuba diving is recreation, there are those that do it for a living as well. Scientific exploration and research is another area with a lot of scuba diving demand. They spend a lot of time in the water watching sea life cycles, and how microorganisms/coral fit the whole underwater environment. There are also others that work in constructing underwater platforms that are often used for research as well as offshore oil.
Scuba diving can be a usually relaxing form of exercise that still keeps you fit. If you love the water, are interested what happens under it, and looking for a change of scenery, scuba diving is probably for you.
With that, you will need to find a course for certification in scuba diving. This is required to teach you what you know to enjoy, and stay safe while enjoying this inspiring sport. It teaches you how to avoid accidents and other mistakes when you dive that can have dangerous impact on the rest of your life. Then when you dive you will be able to enjoy this potentially addicting experience.

PADI Courses in Hurghada - Red Sea

Probably one of the phrases most associated with Hurghada is Scuba Diving. This is because the city boasts of favorable climate, rich marine ecosystems and highly visible water all year round, factors that draw scuba diving enthusiasts and would-be divers in hordes. For those thinking of making a trip to this recently developed coastal city, it's be good to know that there are several available PADI Diving Courses in Hurghada.

Those who have no prior diving experience and can only spend no more than two or three days in Hurghada have the option of taking the PADI Scuba Diver course. This is one course designed for those who wished to experience a trip underwater without having to go through lengthy training. Diving at this level requires the constant supervision of a certified divemaster or instructor. For those below 15 years of age, there is the PADI Junior Scuba Diver course.

For those wishing to go further, they have the option of taking the PADI Open Water Diver Course. This course usually last for 4-5 days and students get certified after completing it satisfactorily. This course comprises of classroom sessions, diving in confined waters, and several dive trips out in the sea. For those younger than 15 but are still interested in getting certified, there's also the PADI Junior Open Water course.

After completing the PADI Open Water Diver Course, interested individuals can proceed to enroll on PADI Adventure Dive's or the PADI Advanced Open Water Diver. These courses do not entail lengthy classroom discussions and go right to the fun part, actual diving. This course is designed to further enhance and hone the diving skills of participants. For two days, students of this course get to choose three specialties to try (in addition to the compulsory Underwater Navigation and Deep dives), depending on the ones offered by the selected dive center. And with numerous dive sites available in Hurghada and nearby areas, there is no shortage of destinations to visit.

Next in line when it comes to PADI courses in Hurghada is the PADI Rescue Diver course, about 4-5 days. This specialized course offers training in recognizing potentially dangerous situations and teaches ways of preventing them. This course also provides knowledge on search and recovery techniques when underwater and on how to provide emergency care. There is also the PADI Junior Rescue Diver course.

The next level up would be the PADI Divemaster course, and is designed for those seriously thinking of turning this particular recreation into a career. Comprising of multiple modules, this course usually takes anywhere from 9 Day's (PADI minimum required hours) up to 30 days to complete. Upon completion, a Divemaster can undertake training and supervise diving trips and expeditions. To be a certified Divemaster, students need to experience at least 20 open water dives before starting on the course, and need to complete 40 more by the end of the training, and must be 18 years of age at the beginning of the course.

Whatever diving specialty or experience a tourist may have, he or she can have the opportunity to further it with a variety of available PADI courses in Hurghada.