I would like tips on increasing my breath holding capabilities.

[Elvin]

Hello
I have been skin diving for some time, but recently got motivated to go deeper. I am exersicing and doing some things to achieve better breath hold time under water. Would apreciate tips on this matter !
Elvin

[jimqpublic]

Look in the sticky post at the top of the beginner category:
http://forums.deeperblue.net/showthread.php?t=64959 "How to start freediving".

The O2 and CO2 tolerance tables are excellent exercises that helped me to increase my breath hold from almost nothing to 4:00 in just a few weeks. I was able to do a wet static of 5:00.

Of course there is a plateau and I'm back to under 4:00 after taking a few weeks off.

Jim

[ROBERT REYES]

Get some good Freediving courses, with the best teacher you can find.
Never dive alone, dont use your deep freediving ability to spearfish all day long.

[daLa]

Originally Posted by jimqpublic

Look in the sticky post at the top of the beginner category:
http://forums.deeperblue.net/showthread.php?t=64959 "How to start freediving".

The O2 and CO2 tolerance tables are excellent exercises that helped me to increase my breath hold from almost nothing to 4:00 in just a few weeks. I was able to do a wet static of 5:00.

Of course there is a plateau and I'm back to under 4:00 after taking a few weeks off.

Jim

I've tried using these as well, but how often do you recommend training those charts. Once a day? and are you supposed to do both at the same time or what? Does the text say, have just missed reading it?

[matrixed82]

Originally Posted by daLa

I've tried using these as well, but how often do you recommend training those charts. Once a day? and are you supposed to do both at the same time or what? Does the text say, have just missed reading it?

You can do them every other day, that should give you enough time to recover. Its not recommended to do both tables on the same day, they can take alot out of you.

[Elvin]

Thank's for all your counseling. Found some apnea training tables, and i am working on them, bit hard to understand at first, but im geting it!!

[joe123321]

i have been doing the tables and i have improved alot

[gman]

I have been working on holding my breath while I drive to work. I have an hour commute each way and this really helps the time pass. Anyway, what I have noticed is that I can go 1:30 easily with about a two minute break in between. After the fourth of fifth cycle, I get really light headed for about the first six seconds. Then it goes away, I feel great, and I can hold for two minutes from that point foreword and for the rest of the drive. What is going on?? I cannot stay strictly in the tables while I am driving, I have to concentrate too much on the road. Any ideas??

[naiad]

I think that's a very bad idea. Training while driving is not worth the risk.

It is possible to black out and cause an accident...
http://forums.deeperblue.net/showpos...81&postcount=6

Please be careful.

Lucia

[gman]

Thanks Lucia,
I had thought of that as well. I am not pushing myself towards any limits. I am staying very comfortable. Do you know what is causing the headrush I described?

[ROBERT REYES]

I agree
Very dangerous.

[matrixed82]

Originally Posted by gman

Do you know what is causing the headrush I described?

I'm not certain but I'll give it a shot, someone correct me if I'm wrong.
Maybe its because you get less blood going to your head for the first seconds. Once you do a full inhale the heart might be squeezed, reducing the stroke volume. It beats too slowly for the smaller stroke volume and there is less blood being pushed until it adjusts.

[naiad]

Originally Posted by matrixed82

Maybe its because you get less blood going to your head for the first seconds. Once you do a full inhale the heart might be squeezed, reducing the stroke volume. It beats too slowly for the smaller stroke volume and there is less blood being pushed until it adjusts.

Yes, I think it is caused by that. I get that sometimes, much less now than before because I am more used to doing static training.

A warning about that: Once I was doing dry static in a sitting position on a hot day, and I had that light headed feeling during the first few seconds. I thought it would go away, like it normally does, but it became a more intense 'spaced out' feeling, and then I blacked out after about 30 seconds. No harm done, but it just goes to show that it is possible to black out at the beginning of a static.

[cdavis]

Hi gman,


What is probably happening is you are hyperventilating, probably without realizing it. Excess ventilation before the hold is dropping your blood acidity (co2 level) so low that it is causing your carotid arteries to contract, starving the brain for o2, good way to pass out. Once the rush passes, you feel great because your co2 level is low, so it feels like you can hold longer. Better be careful though, low co2 levels mean that it is harder for 02 to disassociate from the blood and get into your brain. You risk a B0 near the end of a longish hold, which may still feel pretty comfortable.

All in all, apnea in the car is a generally bad idea, not that I haven't done the same thing. I think tables are a particularlly bad idea in a car. If you are going to anyway, limit your breathup in order to start your holds with relatively high co2 levels. If you still get light headed, immediate full exhale will make it go away as quick as possible. Start over with less breathup.

If you insist on trying to improve co2 tolerance in the car, go for things that give super high co2 levels without dropping the 02 very much. For example, try one breath, hold 1 minute (adjust this time for your tolerance level), one breath and repeat as long as you can stand it. If you can do it ten times, increase the hold time.

Be Careful,

Connor

[gman]

Okay, I am getting the idea
What about doing half-capacity breath holds? That way I am going newhere near the elastic limit of my lungs, and if I also go just one exhale and breath in between would that be relatively safe?