How to start Freediving

[vali]

when i read this post my first thaught is to hate my country....
we are twice land than hungary and about 20.000.000 people and yet we don't have any diving pool in romania
i guess the deepest one is about 7 meters
what ashame!!!!
we don't built proffesional pools, in stead wee built football stadions....what kind of country we are?
what kind of people?
forgive my frusstration....

[SanderP]

Vali, take it as a good reason for traveling.

And give them a good reason to spend millions for only a handful of deep water enthusiasts. Sadly, I live in such a country myself. We don't have any pools with noticeable depth either, but luckily we have two of the most successful fin production companies in the world, hehe. (almost all of the products are exported though)

Too bad, diving without scuba gear isn't really that popular. I've seen many shocked faces when they hear that some people dive with a speargun to catch fish or others dive 100 meters with just one breath.

[joe123321]

I wish I had a diving pool near me I would go everyday!

[smaxel]

i think is wrong to spearfish while diving its almost cheating

[servantes22]

hi all! first post new member, and new to the sport. i always enjoy seeing how far i can swim underwater in a pool . any how about a two weeks ago i could only manage about a minute, the other night i was able to do 2.02. how fast should i be expecting my times to improve with doing the o2 and co2 table? also went from 25 to about 65m in that time without fins. is this also normal gains? yes i do use a spotter(emt buddie). thanks for any info

[RIbum]

This is really excellent information. I have read the entire thread (I think) and I still have one question. The tables start with a ventilation period (2:30 or 2:00 depending), is this period really necessary? Technically I am going to relax and prepare to hold, but do I need to do so for 2:30, or just however long/short I need… What I mean to say is that prior to starting and going into ventilation, I have not held my breath for hours, or even days… I can understand the next ventilation period (2:15 or again 2:00), but the first??

[SanderP]

Imho the 2:30 intro isn't really important. Just relax and breath-up as long as you feel like and then start the hold.

[Akoni]

I used an intro to show that a period of relaxation is needed, this period may be different for different persons. Even for different sessions, it's all about how you feel beforehand.

[roof]

Hey guys,

Have read almost every post and appreciate all the great tips in here - just starting with the training tables!

I have a question about 'relaxing' while breath holding.
Since I push out with my belly when breathing deeply, my diaphragm is working hard somewhat - I find when I relax, my diaphragm joins in the party and relaxes too, pushing air up into the top part of my chest. I am under the impression it is better to keep your lungs inflated from the bottom up, so should I be letting my gut relax as well??

Cheers!

Roof

[Dennis77]

Hi.

I´ve just came back from the english course with Umberto Pelizzari in Sharm el Sheikh. It was absolutely amazing.

roof, you say, you push your belly out. Do you push it out with your muscles? Or, to say it in another way, can you push it out in the same kind without inhaling? Because that´s not a proper way to breathe.
Because; if you push out your belly, your organs below the diaphragm has place to expand, to move. So the pressure won´t be able to squeeze them. And it´s not true, that you can inhale more air while using this technique.

You can check it while you lay on the ground. Lay on the ground, breathe slowly through your nose. One hand lays on your chest, the other one on your belly, below the belly button. If you´re breathing the right way, your breast and your belly are not moving.

The last breath before diving; inhale in this way first, filling up the lower part of your lungs. Don´t inhale too fast. If it´s too fast, the air comes in building turbulences. You feel you´re full of air, but you aren´t. So; inhale slow, first fill up the lower parts. Then, at the end, you can fill up your upper lungs. While this the chest will move out. That´s ok. The last 20% of your inhalation you can form your lips like youre saying A and at the end O. Wait for 2-3 seconds, and you can inhale another time a bit of air. Then dive.

[jimbags1980]

I tried doing a static breath hold last night to get an idea of my max (got 2mins) but during my breath up/relaxing, I found I was starting to yawn quite often (sometimes every 3 or so breaths, sometimes more). Just wondering if this is normal, or am I doing something wrong with my breathing and therefore not getting enough oxygen?

Any input would be great thanks.

[Dennis77]

Sometimes I feel the same. Sometimes not. I don´t have a clue why this happens.

[cgphoto]

Originally Posted by matrixed82

To get around this I use this online table.

Thanks a lot for this link Matrix...I was wondering if something like that existed!

And thank you to everyone who is / has been contributing to this thread, I just did my first c02 table tonight with a little Pink Floyd to help me along, and did just fine! Can't wait to do the 02 tomorrow and eventually see an increase in my static!

-chris

[Mongrel454]

WOW what a long read :P

I must say that alot of stuff written has gone over my head LOL, But the
stuff i can understand is very interesting and usefull.
I am new to the sport and i have to say very unfit, so i will start doing my tables
tomorow night and see how i progress
At the moment i can only do about 45sec static which is dismal i know but
hopefully with training i can reach 2-3min(my goal)

[Jace]

Thankyou for this infomation.
Regards Jace.