How to start Freediving

[Elduderinio]

Well, I can understand why people do it - your breath hold gets longer, immediately. Doing it as a beginner, I had amazing static times. But then I found that I cannot improve. Wile holding my breath, as soon as any reaction to rising CO2 kicked in, it kicked so hard that my breath hold was over faster than I could even think "enjoy that contraction" once (..event though I never get any contractions, but that's another story).

So, hyperventilation, apart from the dangers of low CO2 I would say that it will also keep you from improving, simply put.

Oli

 

[Kars]

Spontaneous tidal diaphragm breathing works, doing it with a specific rhythm works better, adding a supportive visualisation works best.

Thanks for the great question, it made me consciously aware of the above.

 

[bigpacific]

Hi freediving fans!!! I have just joined d/b as i am keen to do a bit of one breath diving. i am an advanced scuba diver with about 100 dives up.

i am interested in going to Palau (in the pacific) next year and was looking on youtube at some videos when i saw Herbert Nitsch's free dive movies. now this guy can hold his breath.



i do a bit of work on a scuba boat www.bigcatreality.com.au and we dive site in Moreton bay like Flinders reef (depth down to 14 metres) located at the northern end of Moreton island (Brisbane Queensland Australia)

My aim with freediving is to be able to snorkle and dive to the bottom and have a bit of time there. Obviously i can spend an hour down there on 1 tank when i scuba but that is not the same.

At 46 years young i take risks but know my limits (but push them). I have just started doing some timed breath holding, first time concentrating on it in a pool today and increased quickly from my pb a couple of days ago of 2.05 to 3.10. without too much trouble.

i have just copied the tables and will do some training with them.

Other than always dive with a buddy (sure) any other tips? i saw some where about neck weights?

thanks Allan

 

[kevtron]

Wow! That first video was just awesome! That's exactly my goal with freediving... to be able to just get a bit deep, and hang out. Thanks for the video!

 

[bigpacific]

That is video 1 of 4, so if you hop on youtube and search for Herbert Nitsch Palau 2010 you will get all of them.

Thanks Allan

www.pacificfirstaid.com.au

 

[spear0men]

Hello all!
i am new. and. i need some advice before i hurt myself.
so i started free diving recently, i cant get enough of it. i went to the water at 9 am and i come back at 12.
i got my weight and my fins and my mask...
i never freedived before really, at least not too deep. when i was a kid i always swimmed under water and competed with others how far i can swim under water.
i always made it 50 - 60m +. than nothing for a long while...
now i like to go with divers or at least follow them... and dive up and down along coral walls. even im a certfied diver i prefer the light gear the mobility and the freedom that freediving can give me. First i didnt have a depth/guage so i thought i am diving 20 - 25 meters or so but when i borrowed one quickly realized that i am diving at 35 + without any effort at all. Never really risking it, always keeping it on the safe side, never out of breath. just now i hear about shallow water blackout... is that could happen really? i never experienced it. never even being lightheaded.. but i am kind of afraid of the thought to get a blackout in the ocean because i am coming up too fast to the surface.
and i am coming up sooooo fast. often i am wondering how the heck i did got there(???) should i slow down with that? im not a youngster (37) i KNOW that safety is first.. and as far as i am conserned.. there are no stupid questions.. so. plz enlighten me with some advice.. i would like to be able to dive free of worries and safe .. so i can dive another day.

 

[fcallagy]

Hi spearomen those are great depths to be diving but also very dangerous if your on your own. SWB doesn't happen because you come up too fast but because you stayed down too long, didn't have enough rest before that dive, didn't drink enough water, didn't have enough sleep the night before, running low on energy, do you see what I mean it can be caused by a lot of different things so to dive as you feel with out the gauge was proabably safer but on your own is russian roulette. You could continue on this way for more years or have a problem tomorrow but its a lottery. Always dive with someone to watch you and who knows what to do if you have a BO, try and do a course if you can as it will expalin the dangers and a safer way of diving but should give you more confidence.

 

[spear0men]

Thank you very much for the advice fcallagy. from now on, I will consider the tierdness and drinking issues too. I learn something every day.
Yes i am always carefull when im alone (and i really prefer not to be alone most of the time). there is no reason for pushing it really... and there is no such a thing as "too safe" - somone always can loose a fin, get a stroke, heart attack or even just a simple muscle cramp(!) and im sure -35m is not the place to be when that happens... but again.. for me to go down to 30 - 35 meter is just feel relaxing and very comfortable. i never out of air. never. i am never in a rush. and i feel that i never risk it really. i feel that i am well within the 'green' zone.
One more thing:
I herd that free divers try to stay neutral around 10-15 meters.
Now - because of my inexperience and because i didn't know any better i started with neutral at sea level.
I use no energy to fall... it's my favorite part of the whole thing. One kick, and I'm falling, ..along the dropping wall, ..effortless, ..relaxing, ..equalizing.
Than i stop at 30 -35. not because i couldn't go deeper, but because a little voice in my head say so. Than i spend about 30 seconds there. than before i feel the need, i go back up. my long fins are (Cressi 3000 sometimes 2000) helping me a lot. i do big wide presses with a straight leg. it propelles me faster than i would think and it feels that i make it twice as fast to the top than it took me to fall down to 30.
suddenly I'm just there on the top. im still relaxed, im in control, not out of breath...
Thanks again!​

 

[red fraggle]

excellent post.........really informative and very helpful........knowledge is always the key........

 

[red fraggle]

the information being posted is indeed helpful and lends to a greater understanding and appreciation of the sport........most of the freedivers/spearfishermen............i have met learnt it the old school way............no formal training.......because that is extremely difficult to obtain on the island........scuba training yes............freediving......no.......


added to this is the fact there aren't that many of them around..........freedivers that is......as most opt to scuba


however the divers i do know are very experienced ........but i always believe that a little extra knowledge never hurts anyone......

thanks for the info


regards....

 

[kevtron]

This is a cool summary list. I had a couple questions about a couple of points though if you don't mind.

6
Do not exhale, or stop on the way up (it enhances the risk of Shallow Water Blackout). Swim straight up.
7
Your lowest level of oxygen is 20 seconds after surfacing.
Keep breathing (or observing the freediver).

My guess for number 6 is that, as you said, when surfacing the oxygen is leaving your blood and brain to go back into your lungs. If you're also expelling it from your lungs it would be leaving your blood and brain even faster, causing a black out. yes?

Number 7 though I don't get. I took a basic Apnea Total class in January of this year, and remember being told that after surfacing we should not exhale completely, but rather halfway to keep some oxygen in our lungs. But immediately after that we'd be breathing in of course. Why at this point am I still at even lower levels of oxygen than the second I'm exhaling right before that first gulp of air?

Thanks!

 

[trux]

Well, the topic with exhaling is a bit controversial one. Some freediving schools teach exhaling shortly before surfacing, others ban it completely. Both methods have advantages. Not exhaling at all may be slightly more safe, except at packing freedivers. From the point of view of SWB, the brief exhaling before the surfacing does not have any big impact on the change of partial pressures in the lung, so unless you exhale along the whole ascent, losing so the buoyancy, and oxygen, the chances of SWB will be about the same.

As for the delay after surfacing - the blood needs some time before it diffuses from the lungs to the blood and reaches the brain. The oxygen or the blood do not move with the speed of light, it does not work like electronic circuits. Its a chemical and a mechanical system, so it takes some time before the oxygen reaches the brain. In the meantime, the hypoxia aggravates.

 

[azapa]

7
Your lowest level of oxygen is 20 seconds after surfacing.
Keep breathing (or observing the freediver).

I would say this sounds too long. The problem different: the surfacing freediver often exhales too strongly (like for example, very bad, clearing an unremoved snorkel) and then forgets to inhale properly. One or two good breaths bring the colour back to a purple diver in 2 seconds.

On my only blackout to date, caught on video:duh, I don't breathe for 20 seconds after surfacing and then collapse to the side.

 

[Kars]

I was told it takes about 6-8 second before the inhaled O2 reaches the brain.

I think it's prudent to learn to hook breath and a good recovery breath and protocol you'll do all of the time.

What I do is just 2 seconds before surfacing exhale a tiny bit and than take a big breath in upon surfacing, hold it as I stabilise and concentrate, take another breath in about 4 seconds after the initial and hold, and maybe I'll do this a 3rd time. During this I'll keep the pressure in my lungs up, as well as my blood pressure and my concentration. For recreational dives I still do this, but when I know it's an easy dive I'll allow myself to apply less pressure on the lungs.
The benefit of having my eyes closed at the surface is that I get to remain in focus and really feel the echo of the good sensations of the dive, such as the blood shift effect.

Doing the same recovery all the time ensures you can do it even when your consciousness is fading, allowing you to come through where you normally wouldn't.

 

[4444]

Deepwater Blackout:
1)During descent bradycardia occurs and heartrate and pulse fall to very low levels. However, we are head down and that makes it easier for oxygenated blood to reach our brains. When we turn upright at the bottom of the dive we momentarily interupt blood flow to our head and we may black out. One should be very careful at this phase and spend a moment in the horizantal position before one slowly inverts oneself.

Has anybody experienced deep water blackout?
Why is it easier for the blood to reach the brain when we're upside down?
Sea water is as dense as blood so it doesn't matter if you're upside down or right side up or sideways, does it???

 

[kuma]

Hello all ! , I am new to the sport of freedivind and spearfishing , and have recently been working hard on the theory side of things just to try and get a little clued up in advance as to my first in the water experience.
( I do have an experienced mate who's promised to 'buddy up' and keep an eye on me , he's a fully qualified diver and dives for Scallops for a living , therefore , I trust him with my life , at least in this case ! ;-) ).
I think I understand everything I have read , and believe me , I'm happy to read the same paragraph over and over until I almost know it word for word , when I realy want to learn about a particular subject.
But theres one thing that I have still yet to come across , the line between speargun and spear , is it 'wound' during use , i.e. wrapped on somthing attached to the gun , or is it simply drifting or hanging below the diver ?? Also out of interest , line length ?? ,
I hear that the sort of effective range for the length and type of speargun more suited to me and my location only has an effective range of around 4 meters or so , what impact does this have on line length , i.e. does that mean its not going to be mega long , or is it ??
I have no idea.
Regards and many thanks ,
Kuma , Jersey , British Channel Islands

 

[fcallagy]

Hi Kuma I am not a spearo but will do my best try posting in the spearing section if this doesnt do it for you. The line on some guns is wrapped around part of the gun up the sides and obviously falls out when the spear is fired so it doesn't hold the line in place. on other guns they use a reel that needs to be rewound after firing and taking off the fish. It allows you to resurface holding the gun and letting line play out off the reel, breathe up againa nd then go and finish off the fish etc. On line leanght I guess it depends on the gun but off the top of my head and seeing other spearing its probably 2-3m but there can be differnt types of line and guns and would depend on what your shooting I would guess.
Should be plenty of advice it the spearo section and there is a section for the channel Isles, maybe hook up with some of the guys on there and they could show you the ropes and what to hunt and what not to etc.

 

[kuma]

Cheers for the reply !! That's cleared up a couple of thing's for me , turn's out that we have a pretty cool dive shop over here (Apnea) dealing with spearfishing and freediving , so might pop down for a brew and pick their mind's for a while !!
Cheers for now and best regards ,
Kuma

 

[Vas]

Hello to everyone! I have a question. What is Dive reflex? Is that only when your heart rate is slowing down when face is in the water or it includes a vasoconstriction too? I am a little bit confused...

 

[fcallagy]

Hi vas, Dive reflex is just a term used to describe several effects on the body to help it adapt to apnea so bradycardia ( heart slowing) vasconstriction, blood shift, spleen contracting, changes to the ph of the blood etc all come under the term dive reflex.