Apnea Trainer app -- anyone here use it?

[LucB]

Hi all,

I've always wanted to try freediving and will get a chance to take a course in Roatan this spring. In the meantime I'm trying to increase my lung capacity and tolerance to CO2.

I downloaded this app called Apnea Trainer (by Jan Luther, and reviewed on this site). If you're not well trained, using this App apparently will double your time underwater in a week. I've been using it for 6 days now for 15-20 minute sessions at a time, and steadily increasing my inhale/holding/exhaling times, and yet I still can't hold my breath for barely more than a minute. What the hell.

Seems silly to get discouraged after such a short period of time, but if everyone else is doubling their time, I may need to try a different approach...

Thanks for any advice

Luc

 

[vinnie]

Hi! you're probably not relaxed when doing that. Try lying down on your coach. Listening to music may help too. Don't pay too much attention to the reviews and what others are saying.

 

[A.Naish]

As vinnie said. It all comes down to slowing your heart rate. Calm down as much as you can, in a sleep like manner. When i started i was doing about 1:40 sec but after a few months, now I can do well over 3:30 sec with contractions kicking in at 1:20 smth. All the best

Sent from my HTC One_E8 using Tapatalk

 

[Nathan Vinski]

If I'm thinking about the same app it's basically a rudimentary pranayama guide. Something like 5inhale/5hold/10exhale/5hold repeat..

This Could potentially help with CO2 tolerance if done intensely enough but it's not really effective for beginners as it won't really expose them to longer and longer times withstanding contractions which is something that's import to get used to at the beginning.

Look up CO2 tables on these forums and anything like that will help you more than interval breathing/pranayama that you get with the apneatrainer app..

As previously mentioned, relaxation is the most important.

 

[LucB]

Thanks for the replies, everyone. It's good to know that I shouldn't feel bad for not being able to hold my breath for 3 minutes after a week.
A.Naish I find it incredible that you can go so long after contractions start! Wow. Well, I'll plod along with my dry training in the meantime. I downloaded a CO2 table app and started using it today. My goal is to be able to hold my breath for 2 minutes, a month from now.

 

[3joern]

I also started with the apnea trainer because I don't like the tables. After 2 years and the last half year with more training for the Club 145 I can say that apnea trainer with the STAmina table is for me the best way.
At the beginning I do the exhale inhale pause, first five now up to 7 sec. I every second day have done a max (about 2 months but at the end not so regularly) and from 2 min up to 4:37 was very fast. Then I started more co2 tables with this max as reverence. I also add the pause after exhale in apnea trainer (8/32/16/8) starting last year and had a big improvement for my contractions (more enjoyable. Then also add 5 min as reference in STAmina. Now my pb is 5:23. But be patient, let the co2 tolerance grow like a tree and try to enjoy every session.

 

[LucB]

I am using both the Apnea Trainer and STAmina as well. Just a few days ago I reached 3:02 on a breath hold! Which is very good for me. Can't wait to actually take a freedive course!