ill start!!!!!!

Hey guys just got gun and stuff never shot a fish etc and am building confidence up in swimming where would be a good spot to start someone said ti point

What is the optimum weight/buoyancy for diving (obviously this depends on size/wetsuit thickness etc) - but should you have positive buoyancy in the top water column? I can dive 10/12m comfortably and have enough weight to be neutral at the surface then obviously sink during decent and sit on the bottom. Should you decrease weight as your ability to dive deeper improves?

hunt&gather wrote: What is the optimum weight/buoyancy for diving (obviously this depends on size/wetsuit thickness etc) - but should you have positive buoyancy in the top water column? I can dive 10/12m comfortably and have enough weight to be neutral at the surface then obviously sink during decent and sit on the bottom. Should you decrease weight as your ability to dive deeper improves?

You should be bouyant at half your intended depth at the very least. As you get deeper, weight should be taken off to maintain that.

For reference, I try to be neutral at ~7-8m if I'm diving to 10 or so and aim for ~12m if I'm diving to 18-20.

Azazel wrote: hunt&gather wrote: What is the optimum weight/buoyancy for diving (obviously this depends on size/wetsuit thickness etc) - but should you have positive buoyancy in the top water column? I can dive 10/12m comfortably and have enough weight to be neutral at the surface then obviously sink during decent and sit on the bottom. Should you decrease weight as your ability to dive deeper improves? You should be bouyant at half your intended depth at the very least. As you get deeper, weight should be taken off to maintain that. For reference, I try to be neutral at ~7-8m if I'm diving to 10 or so and aim for ~12m if I'm diving to 18-20.

PS: I am planning a course with no bubbles, but I would like to go there very fit, otherwise I'll feel like I'm wasting my time.

TG wrote: Quick one. Shooting line for Rob Allen gun or any gun for that matter. How long and what breaking strain?

Shooting line length is defined in 'wraps' of gun. On almost all the guns we use here, the line attaches to the muzzle, often with a bungee, then loops back to the line release by the trigger, then back up the barrel, through the muzzle and onto the back of the spear. That makes the line ~3x the length of the gun, with theoretical range as 3xbarrel length + spear as measured from the muzzle. A double wrap is 5x barrel length.

As for breaking strain, the usual range is 250-400 pound mono. 300 should be plenty. Dyneema/Spectra can also be used, if you like.

On the other note about fitness, cardio fitness is nice, especially for repetitive diving, but it's actually not an advantage for breath-holds. In other words, lose the fuel tank by all means, but don't go crazy.

Moderately sounds good Mullins. I don't wanna go overboard. In short, seeing that you are one hellava freediver, what do you see as being the best exercise, just doing it and dive as much as possible and see how far you can go under water in the pool as much as possible. (With people watching you of course)

PS: Thanks for that tip about the line Azazel, I have been wondering what "double wrap" mean for some time now but never thought of asking. Makes better sense now.

The best female freediver in the world is in her mid 40s....

Age has no particular drawbacks in freediving.

What's the best kind of exercise? If you want to train for spearfishing, probably lots of repetitions around 30-50% of your max, e.g. 50m dynamics with 1-2 minutes rest or something. If you want to train to freedive, you need to do fewer, longer dynamics with more rest in between. The two sports are quite different physiologically. Or rather, you'll find they're the same to start off with but as you get better you'll need to either choose one and specialise, or compromise between the two.

I can't really suggest distances, times etc because I'm not that familiar with what newish divers do. I think most find 50m dynamic "ok but a little challenging" then things get more serious around the 70m mark, so it's probably a good distance to aim for to begin with.

Fins probably better for spearfishing, because the exercise is more specific and you get strength/technique training thrown in. However most nofins specialists find it very easy to convert across to using fins, because they have the breathhold side of it so well covered. So whichever one you prefer really. Of course, for spearfishing you need to be a reasonably good surface swimmer so that might be the deal-breaker when it comes to nofins.

Yes: the difficulty is finding what your actual max is, and it helps for the number to be genuine so you'll be in for a bit of pain. Also, the percentages will probably drop as you get better so my 30%-50% figure is only approximate. E.g. many beginners can comfortably do lots of reps very close to their max, because they have no dive response and it's like a normal (aerobic) swim for them as far as muscle fatigue goes. Whereas if I do a 100% swim I can't walk for the next 10 minutes and I need to go home for a lie-down, have a cup of green tea and possibly call in sick the next day with a headache. Even a 50% swim (124m) puts me in slight oxygen debt.