Freediving Noob! (kinda)

[AIChris]

Hey guys new to the forum and would just like to say hey and also ask for some advice!

Im kinda of new to Freediving, im a seasoned Dive Master but that really has no validity when your talking freediving, so to put it simply im a noob

me and my friend like to do a spot of freediving in the sea near us, its nice and clear calm etc so its a nice place to get wet, i seem to be quite comfortable doing breath hold diving, often get 15m dives with ease and nice bottom times, my max depth was just over 20m, i only ever prepare by doing some nice deep relaxing breaths and a small bit of, for lack of a better word "meditation" floating head first breathing into my snorkel (i find the sound relaxing) maybe 5 mins before each dive, never push myself, and never get a strong urge to breath so i dont think im doing anything to risky (feel free to slap me if im wrong) and always come up nice and slow!

i have also been practing my dynamic and static apneas, got my dynamic upto 54m (18 metre pool) no fins etc and static 3:14 i think!

what advice can anyone give me!?

im looking into a course near me and think i have found one!

Chris!

 

[Hyscore]

Good questions and I look forward to seeing the replies!

 

[AIChris]

just done a small bit of reading ( im at work and rather rushed) and it seems hyperventiation is a difinate NO NO!! which is not what i have been told! though i dont do it as i was told " it tricks your body into not wanting to breath"! being the sensible person i am and knowing how volatile freediving/apnea can be the last thing i thought you should be doing is "tricking" you body! and the post i just rad proved this

the same article talked about begginers should just forget about breathing techniques etc and just relax and let your body do whats comfortable! sounds like what im doing

any help on my next point would be great,

i read (i think this is the jist of the article) that breathing deeply and slowly for too long prior to a dive is not a good idea!

can anyone expand on that???

 

[foxfish]

Hi Chris, Fergus is our freediving forum mentor & he also runs a free diving course in Ireland - send him a pm View Profile: fcallagy

 

[Simos]

Hi AIChris - there are plenty of threads and info on DB on hyperventilation but to put it simply, it's a NO NO there are many reasons but the main is that it does delay the urge to breath by lowering your co2 levels while your o2 level is unaffected, so you just end up really low on oxygen before the urge to breath and run the risk of blacking out.

Hyperventilation does not only refer to fast breathing, any kind of breathing that ends up in excess exchange of air than your body needs is hyperventilation, hence why really deep breathing can be bad too.

The best thing to do is just breath normally prior to your dive. Make sure you are ALWAYS diving with a competent buddy that can save you from depth and knows what to do if you black out.

Also make sure you have decent surface intervals as too short surface intervals are a recipe for BO. Above all, listen to your body, don't push and remember that at depth the urge to breath is less so leave plenty of time to comfortably surface. Once you are on the surface, make sure you always take your recovery breaths before doing anything else and also remove the snorkel from your mouth when diving

There are lots to know, i would really recommend a course too. If there are two safety tips to take away I would say would be to never dive alone and dive well with your limits.

 

[AIChris]

just had a thought!

prior to going down should my final breath be a

really deep somewhat "forced" breath
just a full comfortable one
normal lungfull
less than normal ie. shallow

from the vids iv seen of pro divers like Tanya Streeter and Gullieme Nery (forgive the spelling) they all seem to do some funny small "sucking" breaths on the last one, like they are forcing are into the lungs!

whats that called!? i hope my description is ok haha

 

[pthread]

just had a thought!

prior to going down should my final breath be a

really deep somewhat "forced" breath
just a full comfortable one
normal lungfull
less than normal ie. shallow

from the vids iv seen of pro divers like Tanya Streeter and Gullieme Nery (forgive the spelling) they all seem to do some funny small "sucking" breaths on the last one, like they are forcing are into the lungs!

whats that called!? i hope my description is ok haha

That's what is called "packing" or "carping" (for the french), it's nothing you would need to be doing at your stage or even in recreational freediving.

It is designed to load the lungs with even more air than the diver would take in with a normal deep breath. The human lung is amazingly flexible, this flexibility can be trained with specific exercises over time, so the lungs can hold more air. This requires a lot of specific exercise and is *dangerous* to perform without proper supervision.

 

[deanspahic]

The advice you have been receiving from people so far has been good solid recommendations. The most important being never dive alone, and make sure your dive buddy and yourself know Black out rescue practices. It does you very little good to dive with someone who doesn't know how to rescue you in case of a black out. An addition to that I would strongly recommend some kind of course. Most course provide the information that you need with practice so that you become confident and safe in the water. If you have some time visit www.aidainternational.org. There you can locate an instructor close to your area. There are many levels of AIDA programs available so it is possible to gain the knowledge you need or are lacking from these programs.

All the best,

Dean

 

[AIChris]

good input Dean! thanks! you have brought something to light actually about the buddy, although i do have a buddy! hes not CPR/EFR trained such as myself (being a PADI Assistant Instructor) so hes ok but what about me??

 

[Simos]

good input Dean! thanks! you have brought something to light actually about the buddy, although i do have a buddy! hes not CPR/EFR trained such as myself (being a PADI Assistant Instructor) so hes ok but what about me??

In my opinion it's much more important for the buddy to be a good, responsible and confident freediver than to know CPR.

If your buddy is keeping a good eye on you and in case things go wrong can get you quickly to the surface, chances are that he won't be needing to give CPR.

He does need to know what to do once he gets you to the surface though and this they do teach in freediving courses (not CPR though). It's not rocket science really and even if all your buddy does is take off your mask, keep your face out of the water and blow air to your face you will most likely just come round in a few seconds...

In case of a problem, time to get you to the surface is obviously really critical so it's important your buddy is confident about diving comfortably and consistently (ie no EQ probs etc) to say 10-15m and be able to bring you up from that depth.

 

[Simos]

By the way, it goes without saying that knowing CPR etc will mean you are safer and obviously, all the normal diving precautions like knowing where the nearest hospital is etc apply.

Also forgot to mention: if you or your buddy never saw a samba or blackout, I would recommend that you at least see a few sambas and black outs on YouTube so that you can start recognising the signs when you see the first sign of trouble. It's very common to not realise someone's in trouble until it's late - the sooner you can spot it (ie before they black out) the quicker you will be able to help. You can often tell from their eyes that they're not ok, so wearing masks with clear lenses (instead of the ones with dark ones or mirror ones) for me is a must.