On past threads, we've talked a lot about physical preparations for static (aerobic training, diet, breathing patterns, increasing carbon dioxide tolerance, fasting, increasing hemoglobin, etc), managing physiological responses (contractions, feeling of suffocation, heat, overventilation tingles, hypoxia, blood pressure, etc), and now we're just getting into the psychological/mental aspects of breath holding with posts from Tyler Z. I believe Tyler is correct about the fallacy of expecting that one element will overwhelm all other factors contributing to a static to make it a good one.
You cannot isolate one element of static apnea from the others: take for example, contractions. Say one day, I hold my breath for 30 seconds more than my personal best. Hmm, I think, my CO2 tolerance must be high, or maybe my blood was more alkaline to start, or maybe my mental tolerance (or as Tyler might call it, "acceptance") of contractions improved, or maybe I was cold that day, or I ate foods and drinks high in bicarbonate without knowing it, or maybe that hour on the stationary bike made a difference (I doubt it would), or maybe after having sex my body was especially relaxed!
You may argue that paying attention to any of these elements (maybe it's better NOT to have sex before a static) will improve your static, but as the more than 300 posts in these threads show, freedivers who can hit their max (6:30+) reliably are few and far between.
More and more freedivers are doing breath holds of 6-8 minutes. But I would say that surpassing the 6:30 mark is indicative of having a whole host of elements come together. I believe that you only need a few things to go right to make statics between 5:00-6:30 depending on your "ability." Past 6:30 is where you need everything to work in harmony.
I have never really spent any length of time training for static, except right before a competition. This worked well for me in years past, when a 5:00+ static still put you in the top ranks. I made 5:23 in my first competition; 5:30 in Ibiza (I beat Pelizzari!); and in 2001 I had a pb of 6:11. My training came down to two weeks of 'cramming' right before each competition. And it also proved to me, at least, that I wasn't really that good at static if that's what I'm getting after only a ten days of training. Or to put it another way, I was getting by with tweaking only a few elements of breath-holding, not putting the energy into developing a more in-depth and personal approach to static apnea. As I begin my static training for Team Canada qualifying in 2004, cramming ain't gonna cut it, given that there are a couple of Canadians now who can do seven minutes or more! More than the competition aspect, I am interested again, after two years off from doing statics, to rediscover what I am capable of and to explore the mind/body combination with the challenge.
What I am interested in knowing from you freedivers who surpass 6:30 on a regular basis, is what happened the first few times you exceeded your personal bests past 6:30, 7:00, 7:30, 8:00? What felt better? Did it seem that things fell into place overall or did you isolate a few key factors as being the reason for your success? As I pursue longer statics and the intangibles of a "good" static, I would be interested to know your opinions of what it was that brought you to reconsider your limit. This is an open question: I expect some replies to be unspecific, given the nature of the beast. But if you figured out what worked for you that first time over what you were doing before, what was it about? What does being in the "zone" feel like to you? What little things are important? What preparations, mental or otherwise? What philosophy of static apnea (if I can call it that) to you take?
As I rediscover static apnea, I will keep track of how things go so I can contribute to this discussion...
Pete Scott
Vancouver, BC
You cannot isolate one element of static apnea from the others: take for example, contractions. Say one day, I hold my breath for 30 seconds more than my personal best. Hmm, I think, my CO2 tolerance must be high, or maybe my blood was more alkaline to start, or maybe my mental tolerance (or as Tyler might call it, "acceptance") of contractions improved, or maybe I was cold that day, or I ate foods and drinks high in bicarbonate without knowing it, or maybe that hour on the stationary bike made a difference (I doubt it would), or maybe after having sex my body was especially relaxed!
You may argue that paying attention to any of these elements (maybe it's better NOT to have sex before a static) will improve your static, but as the more than 300 posts in these threads show, freedivers who can hit their max (6:30+) reliably are few and far between.More and more freedivers are doing breath holds of 6-8 minutes. But I would say that surpassing the 6:30 mark is indicative of having a whole host of elements come together. I believe that you only need a few things to go right to make statics between 5:00-6:30 depending on your "ability." Past 6:30 is where you need everything to work in harmony.
I have never really spent any length of time training for static, except right before a competition. This worked well for me in years past, when a 5:00+ static still put you in the top ranks. I made 5:23 in my first competition; 5:30 in Ibiza (I beat Pelizzari!); and in 2001 I had a pb of 6:11. My training came down to two weeks of 'cramming' right before each competition. And it also proved to me, at least, that I wasn't really that good at static if that's what I'm getting after only a ten days of training. Or to put it another way, I was getting by with tweaking only a few elements of breath-holding, not putting the energy into developing a more in-depth and personal approach to static apnea. As I begin my static training for Team Canada qualifying in 2004, cramming ain't gonna cut it, given that there are a couple of Canadians now who can do seven minutes or more! More than the competition aspect, I am interested again, after two years off from doing statics, to rediscover what I am capable of and to explore the mind/body combination with the challenge.
What I am interested in knowing from you freedivers who surpass 6:30 on a regular basis, is what happened the first few times you exceeded your personal bests past 6:30, 7:00, 7:30, 8:00? What felt better? Did it seem that things fell into place overall or did you isolate a few key factors as being the reason for your success? As I pursue longer statics and the intangibles of a "good" static, I would be interested to know your opinions of what it was that brought you to reconsider your limit. This is an open question: I expect some replies to be unspecific, given the nature of the beast. But if you figured out what worked for you that first time over what you were doing before, what was it about? What does being in the "zone" feel like to you? What little things are important? What preparations, mental or otherwise? What philosophy of static apnea (if I can call it that) to you take?
As I rediscover static apnea, I will keep track of how things go so I can contribute to this discussion...
Pete Scott
Vancouver, BC
