| The 145 Club |
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History
The 145 Club was started as a way for some of the longer term freedivers of Sydney to have nights at the local pool without heaps of newbies. To train on certain nights you had to be at the level of 145.
To qualify for the 145 Club the following criteria have to be met:
100m Dynamic Apnea (distance underwater in a pool)
40m Constant Weight (Depth diving with no change of weights) 5min Static Apnea (Breath hold face down in a pool) The idea was: To train on these nights you had to be part of the "big boys" with the above under your belt. This worked for the duration of their training for an overseas comp at the time. After that, there was just too much interest in freedive training and shortly we welcomed all with the proviso that new people did the evening of safety training held by the club once a month. How it Works
The three requirements above are not "walk in the park" Each one requires some serious work to achieve and the work is different for each. Master one of the above and it assists the others. We found that having a serious target to work on gave much better results in training. For each new athlete the separate targets became a measure for their training. We also found that the knowledge and physical ability to achieve each target brought a freediver up to a level where they had enough experience and understanding to program their future training, and for the serious freediver the 145Club is just the beginning.
Static Apnea
After putting some people through it is apparent that many consider Static Apnea 5 mins to be the toughest. It is the one where the person is most uncomfortable for the longest time and having fresh sweet air only a few inches away, messes with your head. It is in STA that an athlete learns much about his/her own body and the feelings or lack of feelings that go with low level oxygen and high level carbon dioxide, plus the onset of the mammilian dive reflex. Minimum Safety: One trained safety diver who knows how to run a safe static apnea.
 Dynamic Apnea
Dynamic Apnea is probably the easier but that is because it is fun to train. It gets the basics of your finning technique down and streamlining and this gives you distance. Minimum Safety: Two trained safety divers, one in the water swimming next to the freediver, the other may walk the pool side if the attempt is done on an edge lane, otherwise both in the water.
  Constant Weight
The 145Club culminates in the Constant Weight. 40m is just enough depth to test your ability to clear your ears with that much pressure. It is enough that it is a little intimidating for the first time. Training for Constant Weight should be done on a gradual increase of depth to ensure the diver can clear his/her ears and has increased chest flexibility. Minimum Safety: Two trained safety divers experienced in running a depth session, both in the water, one dives down and meets the athlete on his ascent.
  Safety
100 metres dynamic, 5:00 static apnea and 40m depth are all solid targets and are meant to be worked at, and approached on a gradient scale. The levels of safety required for the training and 145 attempts have to be high and these have been set to ensure no one is at risk. Safety also involves ensuring the athlete has prepared by building up slowly to the level, demonstrating ability and competence on the way. Safety divers who are asked to care for divers whom they have not trained with must ensure the athlete has an accpetable dive history before any attempt. Safety is the priority issue and the 145Club is not just about making a number... it also involves the knowledge on how to do it safely.
The 145 Club
It has no club fees or registration; no club, organisation, local or national affiliation. Entry is only by demonstrating diving ability in front of the requried safety divers. But in reality the 145Club is simply a great training aide that turns out good divers.
Many of the Sydney Freedivers membership have one or two of the above done and are currently working on the rest. The 145Club requirements are great goals and major steps in any freedivers learning and abilities. |
| Last Updated ( Tuesday, 15 November 2011 06:41 ) |