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Breathing up?

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restinrigpa

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Aug 1, 2008
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hello everyone,

just wanted to get some tips on "breathing up" before a dive.
I do it but,just wanted some real guidelines to follow.Also,wanted to
know what is mammilian dive reflex?

Thanks to anyone who can help.
 
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hello everyone,

just wanted to get some tips on "breathing up" before a dive.
I do it but,just wanted some real guidelines to follow.

I'm probably the last person who should be answering this question, as my technique is really shocking. You're best to get someone to show you in person that way they can watch you do it a few times to ensure that your technique is correct.

A good breathup is key to a safe dive. NEVER EVER hyperventilate before a dive as you run the risk of a shallow water black out. Google "shallow water blackout" it explains this further. Believe me the statistics on this are really scary.

Also,wanted to
know what is mammilian dive reflex?
The "Mamalian Dive Reflex" is a term coined to name what happens to the bodies of all mammals when they breath hold dive.

As mamals when we immerse our faces in cold water nerv endings on ones cheeks trigger several survival instincts into action. These include....
~ Heart rate slows down
~ Blood shifts from the extremities (limbs in humans) to preserve oxygen supply to the vital organs and brain
~ Urine production is slowed to help prevent dehydration (in humans the opposite usually happens)
~ At extreme depths plasma fills the chest cavity to help prevent lung collapse
~ Youre metabalism goes into anabolic (I think that's what it's called)mode as you're body doesn't have an abundant supply of oxygen anymore so it converts body fat and sugars into energy to keep youre muscles going.

All this happens automatically without any conscious thouight on your part. From my engineering point of view the design and mechanisms of our bodies is simply amazing.

There's probably more things that happen that I've forgotten. I'm by no means an expert on this as the information I'm regurgitating here I've simply read on the net and in the text book "Diving Science" I forget who it was written by. This book gets really into depth on the Mamalian Dive Reflex and is a great source of information.

Another great text book is "Manual of Freediving" by Umberto Pellizari here's a link to an online shop here in New Zealand that I bought my copy from. Manual of Freediving

Hope that helps.

Good luck with any further research on the subject you do. The amount of info out there is huge and it can seem quite daunting at first.
 
Last edited:
As for the breath-up, maybe you should just try to breath very slowly and deeply for starters, with the exhalations being at least twice as long as the exhalations.

I guess there's no perfect way doing a breath-up, everyone will develop their own eventually.
And like flying_spanner already said, don't hyperventilate!
 
Hi all, another good way of breathing up i find is to submerge face down breathing through a snorkle without a mask or goggles. I find this really promotes the dive reflex and i usually do this for around 5mins before a static attempt. I learnt this a few weeks ago from a good friend (you know who you are, Ben) and found it to really increase my times (from 4min 40sec to 5mins 16sec) i also just try and breath normally as if i was watching TV or something before hand and just relax.

Everyone has a different way of doing it, this works for me. Let us know how you get on?

Chris
 
Holding your breath for me is 90% mental and 10% physical. It’s all about relaxing. My first time holding my breath actually trying was 1:40, about 3 min later I got 2:40 I was stoked, but I tried about 2-4 times every day and by the 5th day or so of pushing my self it I hit my Personal best: 5:01 minutes. I was extremely happy. I just found my limit. At about 4:50 I started seeing clouds, white bricks (Lol) and feeling really good, Dizzy, I felt
Extremely high (not that I would know what that feels like right!? :p).

Its all about your pain tolerance. If you can tolerate the pain for 3 minutes then that’s great, practicing your ‘static times’ (not moving) It just builds confidence and tolerance sure its good but the best way to get better is to actually get in the water and dive, When I dive ‘Dynamic’ (using your muscles while diving) if I am relaxing (barley using energy) is about 2 min to 2:30, Using energy changes it dramatically. If I use energy non stop at the bottom then my time is about 50-60 seconds. Savor your energy. Less motions = longer bottom time. REALLY IMPORTANT!

When you start pushing your self to farther limits and longer times then you will start to feel contractions (unwanted body movements, muscle spasms) they are fine, it actually builds my tolerance when I do Static and Dynamic breath holds. I start getting contractions at around 2:40 or so. but this is how I do my breath up.... It has worked for me, I am no pro. Just a beginner learning about my own body and what works best:


Hyperventilation method – Not very safe, unless you have a spotter, Easy to Blackout.

1) Relax 5 min - normal breaths or Slow and deep
2) Exhale fully
3) Inhale fully
4) Exhale fully
5) Inhale fully - Pack your lungs (Take the biggest breath you can take until you cant fit any more air in)
6) Take your self into a different world, (think about anything but the pain)
7) You will have the urge to let out air, don’t do it.
8) Let the contractions hit, Once they start, they don’t stop (I get them around 2:40 or so)
9) The more you can control them, the less energy you use, therefore holding your breath longer
10) if you start feeling dizzy, seeing clouds, feeling good, then stop, that’s the verge of a blackout, at least what happen to me (I got “This” feeling at the 5 minute mark

I have never used a CO2 table or an O2 table I don’t know how they work and I don’t understand them. If someone can help me out, point me in the right direction that would be fantastic.
I Hope this helps, Let me know of anything I am doing wrong. Or I can change. I have found 95% of this info out on my own by just exploring how my body works.

-Cody
 
Hey Cody, I think your experience with static was explained very well. However, you talk about controlling your contractions. I understand what you're trying to say (I think), but I personally have been taught to not control contractions. Just kind of roll with them, instead. Controlling them would take too much energy/O2. The more one practices, sometimes the contractions come later. They also do get easier to deal with...at least in my experience they have. Anyway, that's my two cents.
Also, please note that there are other ways to prep during the breathe-up. Different strokes for different folks, right?
 
Im was just explaining what has worked for me, my contractions tend to be wierd, well i think there abnormal, i put my arms behind my head and all my muslces star flexing kinda like getting arm pump when working out. everything i explained i have self taught my self, i havnt taken any classes nore gotten any real advice from legit divers, just trail and error.
 
However, you talk about controlling your contractions. I understand what you're trying to say (I think), but I personally have been taught to not control contractions. Just kind of roll with them, instead. Controlling them would take too much energy/O2.

I find that true too. I first tried to control contractions, but its hard to control the diaphragm and the chest, and if you do, then more pressure builds in the throat, and in the head. Then i let the contractions go as normal, and managed to count 44 contractions, and achieve 3'02".

Cody, how long did you hold your breath before contractions started?
 
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