Breath-up before a maximum dive

[Gerald]

Dear DeeperBlue Members!

For the first time my depth limit is not limited
by equalization. (I am talking about advanced techniques
at -40mt and below, my "normal" equalization works
excellent with various techniques, also freehand ...)

Now I must work on my breath-up :duh

There are a lot of people who are ready to point
their finger at hyperventilation, this is understandable.
But everybody that I observe is doing some kind of
ENFORCED breathing before their attempt.

These are my questions:

1. What is the borderline between hyperventilation
and enforced breathing 5-10min before an attempt?

2. What is a good "breath-up-model" for the last 5-10min
before a maximum dive in terms of an "inhale-hold-exhale"-ratio.
Let us say:
5 sec inhale
10 sec hold
5 sec exhale
Would this be correct?

Looking forward to Your advice

 

[efattah]

Contractions

Hi Gerald,

Everyone has a different body 'alkalinity'. Your alkalinity changes even day-to-day, so no breathe-up pattern can be fixed as the correct one for you. However, there is a way to determine if you breathed too aggressively. I call it the 8 contraction rule:
- If you surface from your dive with a problem (samba/BO) and you have fewer than 8 contractions during the dive, then your breathing was too aggressive

In fact, you should manage 10-12 contractions (or even more), before having a problem at the end of your dive.

If you have only 2-3 contractions during the dive, in the last 30m of the ascent, then you were diving far too alkaline (too aggressive breathing for your body alkalinity).

We have one diver here in Vancouver who must hyperventilate for 10 minutes before going down, and she NEEDS to, because even then she has 15+ contractions during her dive.

In my case, I use the following rule:
- As I pass 60m on the descent, I should start to feel burning in my lungs
- I should reach the bottom without contractions, but my lungs are slightly burning
- I should get my first contraction as I pass 60m on the ascent
- I should get about 8-10 contractions from 60m up to the surface

If those conditions are not fulfilled, then I either breathed too aggressively, or not enough. I once did 60m with no contractions at all, at that shows I was way too alkaline.

At the world cup in Nice 2000, for some reason I was extremely alkaline. I had announced 63m, and in the last 2 minutes during my countdown, I took only 3 breaths. Even then, with such a slow breathing pattern, I was too alkaline, and got only 3 contractions during the dive.

Eric Fattah
BC, Canada

 

[fatboyjim]

alkalinity

hi Eric

can you talk some more about being alkaline, i`m interested
but don`t understand fully.

I have found that a degree of hyperventalation works well for me on the times i have dived depth only, although i don`t use this when fishing.
However as you are aware many experienced divers would frown on this.
What exactly are the implications of being alkaline? i take it you mean the blood. Can diet effect this and if so what type of diet?

thanks

 

[fatboyjim]

forgot something

i try to rememeber an example.....
i dive to 30m spend time at the bottom and leave when contractions have started, perhaps having 10+/- (as a guess) on the return. Total dive time 2+ mins. Alkaline or .?
thanks again

 

[efattah]

Answers

fatboyjim,

If you have a samba/BO at the surface, then you can determine if you were too alkaline by how many contractions you had.

If you don't have a samba/BO at the surface, then it is much more difficult to determine if you were at the correct alkalinity. Being too alkaline typically means that you feel great until the last 20-30m of the ascent. Being too alkaline means that contractions come suddenly and very hard and unpleasant. Being the correct alkalinity means the contractions come slowly, small at first, then bigger, more pleasant, not even too bothersome.

Alkalinity = pH of blood and tissues
Affected by breathing, and by diet
A diet consisting only of raw fruits & vegetables results in very high alkalinity.
A diet consisting only of cooked processed foods with lots of meats results in very high acidity = high alkalinity.


Eric Fattah
BC, Canada

 

[BlueIcarus]

Hi,

Eric,
So do you have another kind of 'contractions rule' for doing a STATIC max?

thanks

 

[naiad]

Re: Contractions

Everyone has a different body 'alkalinity'. Your alkalinity changes even day-to-day, so no breathe-up pattern can be fixed as the correct one for you. However, there is a way to determine if you breathed too aggressively. I call it the 8 contraction rule:
- If you surface from your dive with a problem (samba/BO) and you have fewer than 8 contractions during the dive, then your breathing was too aggressive

In fact, you should manage 10-12 contractions (or even more), before having a problem at the end of your dive.

It is interesting to know that some people need to hyperventilate a lot, while others don't. I still haven't found the right balance for myself, but I'm working on it.

Lucia

 

[BlueIcarus]

Hi,
After the normal ventilation cycles,
I purge-breath until feeling a little dizzy (maybe 15-20 seconds, depending of A LOT of things), then take normal (tiny, not ventilations)
breaths (3 or 4 normally, until the dizziness is gone) and then go for the big inhale. That works really well for me. Contractions come late and very smooth, so my alkalinity is probably right. As the number/time of purge-breathing is different each time, all I can do is wait till feel the dizzyness, and then wait with normal breathing till restricted blood flow from low CO2 is back to normal.