Hyperventilation and static tables

[Matt84]

I just was wondering during my breath ups i normally inhale than exhale slowly (15 sec+). would this be considered hyperventilation?
If so Will i get better results in my o2 and co2 tables if i don't hyperventilate?


thanks
matt

[cebaztian]

Hello Matt
What a lovely eternal subject: hyperventilation.

Hyperventilation = any breathing above what the body itself would have ventilated. So yes you are hyperventilating. Not in a sense that you take more breaths (normally some 10-12 a minute), but volume wise.

But a breath every 15 sec we freedivers would call "ventilation".

What is the aim of an O2 table = to let the body endure low levels of oxygene and hopefully get acustomed to it.

What is the purpose of a CO2 table = to get used to high levels of CO2

What does hyperventilation do: raise levels of O2 and more so lowering levels of CO2

So the answer in both cases would be: yes, you dont need to breath more before your tables. BUT

In the case of training low O2 levels, we usually chicken out, not of low O2, but high CO2, som with O2 tables I would suggest more ventilation. Knowing that this puts you indanger of BO. But that is what O2 training is about : exploring the limit, pushing the body.


Sebastian

[TRITON]

I want to share some of my experience with trying different breathups.....
Since i've started to compete in freediving in 2004, i've tried many ways of breathing and got to some conclusions that i will try to share with you.
When i'm doing statics(without warmups and with normal breathing,like i'm sleeping),contractions come pretty early, at about 1:40-2:00 and start to be very hard to cope with after 3-3:30,and that way my PB is about 4mins...
Also i've tried doing warmups and hyperventilation and that way my PB is 5:55(on my bed) and i haven't had LMC's or blackouts doing statics either way(with or without hyperventilation).I always end my dive due to contractions that become too strong.
So, when I'm doing STATICS I do some kind of hypervetilation that enables me to relax for a longer period of time during a breathold, saving my oxygen, as I don't have to fight contractions from 2 minutes(that I think also raises oxygen consumption).
On the other hand when I'm doing DYN,CWT,DNF,CNF.....I use a totally different breathup.My breathing is VERY slow and VERY shallow and i think i start my dive slightly hypercapnic as I have the urge to breath(not contractions) basically from the begining of the dive.I started breathing this way after reading many articles,threads here on deeperblue and when I started to really understand what happens in one's body and how it reacts when it's not breathing.When doing this kind of a breathup contractions come earlier ,but the diving reflex in much stronger and very early into my dive i start to feel blood moving from the extermities to the core.Since i altered my breathup i've done PBs in all the disciplines(except STA) and i've come up with exhausted legs but PERFECTLY clear in my mind.
At the end I want to say that I just wanted to share MY experience with everyone and in any way i'm not encouraging anyone to hyperventilate.
Stay safe and NEVER,NEVER DIVE ALONE

[Matt84]

Thanks for the info guys. So this mourning i did my o2 and co2 tables without hyperventilating. My co2 table i did wasn't that bad as compared to me hyperventilating vs normal breathing. But when i did my 02 table it was a totally different story. Normally when i'm hyperventilating i don't get contractions till around 2:45-3:00 but today i was felling it much earlier at about 2:15 to 2:30. on the last hold of 3:30 i was really suffering. It was much harder to make it through the 02 table. So from now on i will change the errors of my ways and stop hyperventilating. Another quick question when you guys are entering your struggle phase with contractions how much do you endure? and does the struggle phase of contractions pass at some point ?