Breath hold

[Spear0Joe]

Hey guys ,

There are probably hundreds of posts on this.. but here goes,

I play alot of octopush ( underwater hockey) and me and my mate were just practicing our breath holds in the pool, and I managed a 3minutes 15, but my friend said when I came up I was momentarily blue, I was just wondering is it safe to push on towards 4 minutes plus with someone watching/timing.

Cheers guys

Joe

 

[spaghetti]

....when I came up....

Firts off Joe, I don't know if it's necessary to give you this advise, but anyway:
do not train your static breath hold while laying at the bottom of the pool: that's really dangerous and some people have lost their lives for this terrible mistake.
Stay adrift on the surface, better against the walls, with your head just below the surface: don't go deep to train statics.
Second: I can't see any problem for you to break the 4 min if you're already 3.15. Step after step I believe you can make it (but do it safe).

 

[Spear0Joe]

Hey Spaghetti,

I wasn't aware of that, but in future attempts I will bare that in mind, I was using a boom to hold myself down, probably at around 1 metre. What is the danger surrounding static attempts with depth, is it just that in a black out situation, its more dangerous?

Thanks

joe

 

[spaghetti]

It's because you tend, of course, to hold your breath as long as you can, and delay, and delay, five more seconds, ten more seconds, until you're done and say to yourself, ok, I'll quit now..... BUT THEN AFTER you still have to swim up!
Also read this:
http://forums.deeperblue.com/safety/68814-bad-news-sweden.html

 

[Pav]

reading stuff like that puts me off! , 2yr old baby daughter to think about. I want to teach her to surf, to spearfish, and then i want to watch her whip me at everthing I was ever any good at!

I reckon I stay pretty well within limits, but I do notice my breath holds increase during the spearfishing season (unlike others I don't include December to March in my season :head .. too cold!).

I have read about the topic and understand the principles but I would like a couple of things clear in my mind.

1) SWB stikes in the last few meters due to difference in compression / squeeze. But to what depth do you have to have dived too to be able to suffer? If you have made a shallow dive can it still happen (in 5m for example? 3 m?)

2) What length of hold is required to trigger this?

I am expecting there is no answer as all people are different. I sometimes come up because it feels like I've been down for too long. Could it still happen after a short dive (50% of your max hold)?

 

[Arjen]

1) SWB stikes in the last few meters due to difference in compression / squeeze. But to what depth do you have to have dived too to be able to suffer? If you have made a shallow dive can it still happen (in 5m for example? 3 m?)

The relative pressure differential is the largest in the last couple of meters. So if you push your limits to the extremes in a relatively shallow dive (5 meters), you can get a shallow water blackout since the partial pressure drop would be 33% (relative from 1.5 to 1 as a total) That could be enough to black out, providing your ppO2 is already low because your pushing.

2) What length of hold is required to trigger this?

I am expecting there is no answer as all people are different. I sometimes come up because it feels like I've been down for too long. Could it still happen after a short dive (50% of your max hold)?

That depends on so many factors. How tired are you, how's your hydration, how hard are you working under water, how relaxed are you, how was your breath-up, what and when did you eat for the hold, how many holds have you done already?

I'm by no means an expert on this, but I do know enough to never train depth on my own and never do hypoxic or any kind of static table training on my own in the pool. Not worth the risk. (I do some hypercapnic training on my own, series of 25 meters DNF with a short surface interval, but that's it)

 

[trux]

... That depends on so many factors. How tired are you, how's your hydration, how hard are you working under water, how relaxed are you, how was your breath-up, what and when did you eat for the hold, how many holds have you done already? ...

Good answer, Arjen. I'd just add that already the type of ventilation prior the breath-hold may have such an influence that you can black out much earlier than your PB is, or that you push beyond your limit, without noticing it. Little bit of stress can lead to unconscious hyperventilation, and that may have tragic consequences.

 

[Arjen]

Good answer, Arjen. I'd just add that already the type of ventilation prior the breath-hold may have such an influence that you can black out much earlier than your PB is, or that you push beyond your limit, without noticing it. Little bit of stress can lead to unconscious hyperventilation, and that may have tragic consequences.

I know. I did that at the Dutch Apnea Open and had a very nice black out to prove it. My first BO and I strive to leave it at that one..........