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eliminating contractions?

Thread Status: Hello , There was no answer in this thread for more than 60 days.
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Since I started training to fight my contractions rather than eliminating them I feel that i get more consistent in my results. I have not manage to set any new PB this way (6+mins), but i seem to be more consistent this way. I have never done so many holds past and close to six minutes as now. In DYN i se a difference to, more consistant. I guess for that extra edge to set new PBs one has to add an extra element.
 
My dynamic increased in less than 2 months from 85m DWF to 125m..Now I have to start training again, I just need the right motivation, but can easily push it to 100 still..
 
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Is that with no warm-up/breath-up?

I find that for dynamics, the method that works best for me is the no warm-up/breath-up. Doing warmups just makes me tired and has no positive effect on the next attempt, and I only do a minimal breath-up, because the limiting factor for me is low O2, so getting rid of CO2 doesn't make it any easier. If I am going to do a max dynamic, I just go for it.

Lucia
 
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King and Oboy are you doing no warmup/breatheup for constant aswell?
Ive been getting very consistant results doing this in static and dynamics but still feel the need to do some prep dives in the ocean and more of a breathe up compared to the pool. Do you find this the case aswell? Maybe i just need more time in the ocean. :p
 
I'm gonna try the plugging the nose and gently exhaling thing.

But, I have noticed that counting my contractions does help with my breath holds, so maybe it's not such a bad thing
 
glennv said:
Eric,

Can you give me any scientific explanation why my body suddenly started to react so differently to static apnea and why for such a long period I was able to do without contractions.
Do you have any ideas how it would be possible to achieve the reverse ?

(p.s. I did not make any significant changes in my lifestyle, food pattern, training pattern etc. It just happened 1 specific day and never stopped since)

It sounds to me like you have accepted the mental programming that contractions exist. Yes, I know, it sounds stupid. Remember anything that you believe you can achieve. For example, how many parents go out and tell their kids that if they sit too close to the TV that they are going to go blind, or if they don't use enough light while reading that they will go blind. What happens next, the kid does exactly what the parents tells the kid not to do. The kids conscious mind doesn't believe but his subconscious does and it starts the process of eye sight degeneration. With Emotional Freedom Technique they can reverse the process and gain back the eyesight that they lost, even many years later. They have been using EFT for many physical and mental ailments, including sport performance problems.

I tend to think the same thing may very well have happened to you. You have read/heard so many talk about getting contractions that you are now getting them as well.

Has anyone tried Emotional Freedom Technique as a way to eliminate/control contractions. Heck, it could even potentially be used to extend your breathhold times for that matter. I just thought about it while reading this thread, it hadn't occured me until a few minutes ago to try it. It might very well be worth the effort. My problem is that I never have had a contraction, I always end up pussing out long before the contraction hits, even on dry land.
 
I know of several people, including myself, who didn't get contractions in the beginning, and then started getting them, EVEN WITHOUT EVER HEARING OR KNOWING ABOUT CONTRACTIONS. For this reason I don't think it is the expectance or belief that is causing the change.

When I first started doing breath-holds it was in 1993 from a yoga book. The yoga book never mentioned anything about contractions. Yet, eventually after some months I started getting them, but I had no idea what was happening.
 
I aggree. I don't believe that me knowing contractions existed did anything to me suddenly getting them. I fact I was proud to not have them and bragged about it to everybody suffering around me ;-)
I believe more in the "triggering/firing the neuron pathways long enough to get them to wakeup and start fighting back" theory. That also would explain why I started getting them after i crossed a certain limit a couple of times (after a couple of 6:30+ breatholds).

I still hate them but learned to live with them now. In fact , it has jumpstarted my dynamics, since i get them there too now. Before i bailed out just before (75m) and now hit 137 m a couple of weeks ago (bifins).

So idealy i would loose them for statics and keep them for dynamics. If only you could control your body to that extend . Life would be so much better. ;-) ;-) ;-)

Am going to pick up pranayama again (bit more serious this time) to give me some more control over some breathing aspects. See what that does to me (and my contractions)
 
I also got contractions before I even knew what they were.

Now that I don't normally get them, when they do happen it usually means that something is wrong. When I am cold, or tired from repeated dynamics, I get very strong and sudden contractions. This is a sign that I should stop.

Lucia
 
you know, i have no huge problem with contractions, and they are sort of a relief up until around 3:30. the reason i try to ease, not be rid of them is because i often get a pain even after its over, i think im fighting them to hard, and its hurting my other muscles. i also make "mini-contractions" for myself after about 1:45, but they arent from the diaphram but rather upper chest and throat. they relieve the pressure in my chest, and the reflex to suck in air that i always feel in back of my nasal cavities. of course this is very temporary, and after 2-3 seconds, the feeling is back.

my biggest problems with apnea is the warmth and pressure in my head, feels like i got a cold or something, and also the urge to breath in my nose, it makes me really want to breath in with my nose, like theres a void or negative pressure in my nasal cavities (near the back). i notice wearing a noseplug eases this alot, so i always keep a pressure in my nose, so that urge to suck in water dies down a bit, but it interferes with equalizing when i keep too much pressure up there.

that is basicly what i want to eliminate, and if you watch people that dont do apnea try and hold their breath, around 35 seconds (like 5 seconds before they take a breath) they start shaking and clench their fists and seem to be in a violent panic. that happens to me at the 2:40 area, and its a real problem because my heart rate surges. anything i can do about it? taking my mind off it doesnt seem to work, it almost as though i was to lose all volountary motor control, and as i "fight it" i seem to be clenching even harder and stuff, its realy annoying and it seems to be a mental barrier, do you get it to? mabye i just cant focus good enough or something.

EDIT: also, i have issues wth coughing. you see, after holding it in for like 10 seconds, i feel a pressure near the back of my trachea area, then i have the urge to cough, and i usualy end up actualy coughing, and i keep coughing and the pressure in the back of my throat continues for many hours, even the whole day.

anyway, if you have any advice on what i can do about these issues, ill appreciate it

-Matt
 
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Hi, Im a new guy, just been readin all your posts about contractions, I guess this isnt the same thing as doing the breathing motions when you're practising a hold ? Ive seen some guys who are experts they can breath-hold for ages and ages by breathing out hard and then sucking in their stomachs, is this easier or not recommended for practising?
 
superhornet59 said:
EDIT: also, i have issues wth coughing. you see, after holding it in for like 10 seconds, i feel a pressure near the back of my trachea area, then i have the urge to cough, and i usualy end up actualy coughing, and i keep coughing and the pressure in the back of my throat continues for many hours, even the whole day.
A discussion on how to hold the air...

[ame="http://forums.deeperblue.net/showthread.php?t=53914"]Epiglottis training[/ame]

speedoglyn said:
Hi, Im a new guy, just been readin all your posts about contractions, I guess this isnt the same thing as doing the breathing motions when you're practising a hold ? Ive seen some guys who are experts they can breath-hold for ages and ages by breathing out hard and then sucking in their stomachs, is this easier or not recommended for practising?
Contractions are like automatic breathing motions which happen during a hold.

The sucking in the stomach thing is for improving flexibility and is more useful for deep diving, I don't think anyone uses it for long breath-holds.

More about contractions... Sometimes, if I am not getting any contractions naturally during static apnea, I start them by doing one deliberately, and this sets them off. This can make it easier, but sometimes I wish I hadn't!

Lucia
 
"You can stop the contractions by pinching your nose and exhaling extremely gently against your closed nose. If they don't stop, then you are not exhaling gently enough. Of course, no air comes out when you exhale against a pinched nose." -efattah

omg that's sooo tricky hahah! i'm going to try that now.
'


ps:i don't know how to use that quote thing? i was going to check the box, but it wouldn't check so i dont know lol im gonna search i guess. cya!
 
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