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Empty lung traning?

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Jun 5, 2017
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Hi!

As I was searching for some different co2 tables, I stumbled across something. For dry training to get a better static breath hold time, you should warm up by emty you're lungs and hold you're breath.
I have read before about people holding there breath on empty lungs for faster and better mammalian dive reflex.
How does is work? Will my dry PB get better? Should I warm up on empty lungs? Or is it something that I will learn and have better use for later in my freediving career?( Doing PADI Freediver soon)
 
I warmup for dry O2 tables by doing 2 empty holds of about 1 minute each (first hold in my tables is about 2:00), it is just more time efficient to get to a state of hypoxia.
 
I usually start my freedive workouts with a few minutes of calm relaxation followed by 4 or 5 negatives (empty lung breath holds).
The effect is rather dramatic - the first one is uncomfortable at 20 secs, but by the last one 20 secs comes and goes easily and I usually go 1 to 1:15.
 
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So why you do this, is to get low c02 quick to get the contractions faster? So you can train to handle you're contractions better and faster?
So if I understand right, you only use this when you train to hold you're breath longer/tables, and not really when you dive?
 
Empty lung dives are not normally done in regular recreational diving except as a warm-up exercise.
Its not done to get LOW CO2 - but to get HIGH CO2 faster, and not to get contractions, but to kick in my dive reflex. For me, it tells my body that "we are getting ready to dive now, lets get into dive mode". Contractions may occur, but that is not the goal.
Another reason folks do empty lungs is to simulate real world deep diving, only in a pool. If you empty ALL your air and then do a dive to say 12 feet, then your low lung volume combined with the water pressure does a good approximation of doing a real full lung dive in deeper water -i.e. your lungs get compressed the same way. A word of CAUTION, many on here have said that doing negative dives, even in a pool, can lead to "squeeze". "Squeeze" means that you actually get tissue tearing or damage - something that you don't want. Empty lung dives are a more advanced technique and probably should not be attempted without a knowledgeble guide.
When I do a set of warm-up empty lung dives at my pool I go to about 10 feet, and I'm not finning or moving a round (which can increase the chance of squeeze), I just drop down on the side of the pool and hang until I need to come up. So its not really a dive so much as an underwater breath hold - with no air.
 
Empty lung trainings , like empty lung walking apnea training prepare your muscles to work in low O2 situations. And i think if you want to adapt your body to low O2, it is good idea to work with empty lungs.
 
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