Breath Hold Questions

[zackfodil]

Recently, I have become a fan of freediving, and breath hold. Last night I held my breath for 3 minutes and 8 seconds. I hyperventilated to do so, however I still got that time. It was comfortable until 2:40, thats when I had to plug my noise, and my body tried to inhale through my nose, it felt like contractions in my stomach. I forced myself to hold it until my final time of 3:08.

Anyways, I was wondering if that contraction feeling goes away after or a certain amount, or if it stays until I pass out. I heard in a freediving video once, that it goes away, but I couldn't push myself to that point. Hope somebody can answer my question. Thanks!

~Zack

 

[vali]

i am also interested for an answer to that question...
in my case, when contraction apear, they stay until i pull my head out of the water and breathe...however i did-n push my limits in static not even to reach a minor samba...
so!?

 

[growingupninja]

Please do yourself a favor and read the threads on hyperventilation. It is very dangerous, bad form, and a training dead end. Prolonged apnea and dive response is rarely ever comfortable. You just get more used to it with proper training and practice. Contractions also are part of it and they are usually an indicator that your body is going into O2 conserving mode, which is a good thing.

 

[zackfodil]

Please do yourself a favor and read the threads on hyperventilation. It is very dangerous, bad form, and a training dead end. Prolonged apnea and dive response is rarely ever comfortable. You just get more used to it with proper training and practice. Contractions also are part of it and they are usually an indicator that your body is going into O2 conserving mode, which is a good thing.

Thank You, I didn't realize hyperventilation was bad, I now know the risks. Do you know any articles on these forums on how to overcome the urge to breath, techniques on breathing, or anything that could help a beginner out?

 

[Azrael3000]

The easiest thing that has been iterated many times is to take a course. It will teach you more than you could read and it will also get you in touch with other people. Something that is quite important in apnea.

 

[vali]

ok i do not hyperventilate!!!!!!!
i was interested only if contractions feeling goes away after a certain moment?
the course was very very good, but in this particular case does not answer to my question
I was just curious, as my fellow zackfodil, before me :-??

 

[zackfodil]

ok i do not hyperventilate!!!!!!!
i was interested only if contractions feeling goes away after a certain moment?
the course was very very good, but in this particular case does not answer to my question
I was just curious, as my fellow zackfodil, before me :-??

Yes, I am still quite interested in knowing if contractions go away, haven't found an answer to my question yet though.

 

[zackfodil]

The easiest thing that has been iterated many times is to take a course. It will teach you more than you could read and it will also get you in touch with other people. Something that is quite important in apnea.

Believe me, I would love to take a course, but there's no where around me that teaches it, or that has courses on free diving

 

[Bill]

Don't know if I'm the one to answer your question because there were no contractions for 50 years. I did everything wrong until 15 yrs ago and when I learned a better way, the contractions started. Now they start at 40-50% of max for static and dynamic. Some anticipate and fight them, while others accept and try to ignore them. The more practice the better. If you're having fun then do some every day. If they are hard work then every other day is too much. There is something almost magical in the eight holds per session. Start the session with 5-10 minutes relaxing. O2 tolerance: 50% 2 rest 55% 2 rest up to 2-85% works. For me a longer rest works better but takes a lot longer. CO2 tolerance: start at 25% (this is a very individual thing) and 6 breaths (use breath count to eliminate hyper ventilation), 25% 5 breaths and down to 1 breath 25% 1 breath 25%. After a few years of this any good instructor can show you how to add a few seconds here and there.