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Question CO2 and O2 tables question

Thread Status: Hello , There was no answer in this thread for more than 60 days.
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Jim1264

Member
Aug 18, 2018
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Hello,

I like to snorkel and explore underwater whenever I go on vacation and am really interested in upping my maximum breath hold time (which currently stands at a rather unimpressive 1:30). I had a question about practicing the CO2 and O2 tables...is there any danger in doing a table more often than a few times a week? Maybe like doing 5 tables a week. I saw a few other sites recommend no more than 3. All of my training will be dry training as I don't have access to a pool, so I just wanted to make sure that I wouldn't do my lungs or body any damage by doing them more often. It wouldn't be mentally taxing on me as I actually really enjoy doing the exercises. So again, is it safe to do more than 3 tables a week? And also is it even beneficial to do that?

And while I have you ...in doing the tables, should I increase the breath hold portion if I'm getting through the 8 rounds fairly easily? Or should I stay where I started? For example, in the CO2 table, 50% of my PB is 45 seconds. On my first day of training (2 days ago), I did the 8 rounds of the CO2 tables quite easily. Is that how it should be or should I push myself at least a little bit? Say by maybe increasing the breath hold to 50 seconds?

Thanks!
 
Good Afternoon Jim,

I know this has gone a long time unanswered but thought I would share what I know.

From what I have read doing breath hold training everyday can deplete your iron levels in your body which hemoglobin uses. I'm not sure if that really applies to doing a CO2 table everyday or if it aimed more at competition freedivers who might be doing breath holds all day long. I tend to think that holding your breath 8 times a day probably wouldn't have a big impact on your iron levels but I'm not an expert.

As far as the tables go you would want to increase your breath hold time and keep your recovery intervals at the same decreasing increment. Again I am not an expert but I like the very last hold to be a little challenging so if I finish a session and that wasn't the case I will bump my hold up by 5-10 seconds and see where that gets me.
 
Since you enjoy doing the practicing, keep it up. Just don't get to rigid (I must do them X times/week)
 
To piggy-back off Jim's original question of practicing CO2 and O2 tables, is there a "best way" to go about training your maximum breath hold time? If the answer is CO2 tables, where is a good place to look for ones to use? I'm also new to the sport and trying to get a feel for what others do, and I've heard a variety of vague answers that haven't really gotten me anywhere.
 
The simplist answer is anything is better than nothing. You will need to try a few techniques. The O2 and CO2 tables are good for starting. An online search should produce them. Try alternating with both, since they work different parts of breathholding. They should be readily available online.
 
There are also less formal alternatives you can try:
1) hold your breath fore as long as you can. Then breathe for 1 minute, then hold for as long as you can. Keep this up for 20-30 minutes.
2) empty your lungs and hold for as long as you can. Start each negative on 1 minute intervals, and continue for 10 minutes
 
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Thank you! It's good to know that there are many varied ways to increase breathing abilities. I'll try them both and see what works best for me.
 
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