Hi! I'm new to static apnea

[Valce]

Hi, my name is Valerio and I come from Italy; I'm 21 years old.
I think my story might be quite a common one... I sort of noticed that I could hold my breath longer then my friends. I only tried static apnea a few times before and always counted the time myself... and measured it somewhere between 1 minute and 40 seconds to 1'50".

So, today at the pool I asked a friend of mine to look at his watch and tell me precisely how much I could stay underwater... on my first try I did 1'59"... I waited for two minutes and tried again, and this time it was 2'32" with enough room for improvement to last at until about 2'40".

They told me that I might actually be quite good since I never had any kind of training before, and that there are actual apnea competitions, so I looked on Wikipedia for different kinds of apnea in sports... I think I wouldn't be that good at dynamic of any kind because while in motion I waste oxygen at an alarmingly high rate... I have a really hard time swimming underwater... and I don't quite like it.

On the other hand, I really like static; it makes me feel very relaxed... I don't know, it's a strange feeling. Besides, I really like competition, both with other opponents and with myself.

I'd like to know if this is a sport that one usually does individually or if there are actual... I don't know, static apnea clubs, schools, societies, coaches... how's the training, where and when there are any kinds of competitions... I'm really clueless about all this, but I'd like to know if there's someone that shares my same interest for this... sport, I think (is it actually a sport)?

Thanks for your attention and kind answers! :P

[Valce]

Ehy I just did 3'02" dry! :P I just wanted to share the joy of the achievement.

[Jee]

Yes, this is a sport, and of course a way of life. Check the topics around this forum, and the DB site with the articles. You can read about it on the AIDA International site as well. Of course you can search on "freediving" or "apnea" on internet.

Grats for your new personal best in static!

There are clubs, where you can practice freediving. AIDA is th most widespread freedving organization, but CMAS also has freediving now.

The most important: never train static (freediving) alone! Find a buddy, who knows this sport, and know how to do the safety.