Since this web site has been operational a number of people have asked me either what my training programme is or what particular training routine I follow. Apart from pool work (which is usually in a 25 m pool) basic gym work is very important for general cardio vascular and strength training plus stretching exercises at home. Flexibility exercise are very important and it is important to remain supple if you want to get the most out of performing gymnastic, dance and ballet routines underwater. Pool work starts with a warm-up swim – usually of 20 laps – mixed stroke swimming – crawl and breast stroke – again this gives a good cardio vascular work-out. Specific underwater training can be broken down into a number of basic components: - underwater swim training – this takes the form of swimming laps underwater – I usually start with one lap – then in the session build up so that I do an underwater turnround at the deep end wall and a swim back – I do repeats of these, extending the distance covered each time so that after 4/5 repeats I can do a double length underwater – variants might include doing a length and then stand at the deep end before surfacing or doing a somersault in the deep end before swimming to the wall or even a somersault then a stand-up. - breath hold training – I do this by going to the deep end ladder – take a couple of deep breaths (no more) and then submerge and hold my breath underwater – doing repeats so that my time increases on each breath hold – do 3 or 4 of these. - Exhalation exercises. One of the key skills it is important to master when doing underwater dance routines is to control your buoyancy – one training exercise I have found useful is to trickle exhale so that I slowly sink to the bottom of the deep end. It is surprising how much air you can exhale yet still not be out of breath and is a wonderful conditioning exercise. I do various forms of this exercise – from sinking in a vertical position – diving to the bottom and lying on my back and exhaling. A good method is to lie on your back on the surface at the deep end and hook your feet under the second or third rung – then slowly exhale – your head and body will slowly sink (its also quite fun to see your bubbles rising to the surface) so that eventually you end up in a fully inverted head down position with your back to the wall – extend your arms so that you end up in a handstand – release your feet and sink to the pool bottom – hold the handstand or bring your legs back over so you end up standing – lift off and surface. - General figure and underwater routine work. Always do plenty of basic figure work – back loops/dolphin loops/bent –leg exercises/back and forward somersaults as well as twists. Do several underwater swims incorporating 2 or 3 different figures in a routine. Remember practice makes perfect. You can construct your own programme of course but I would recommend incorporating these 4 basic components as a minimum requirement and the more you get to the pool the better.