i dont get contractions, is this normal?

[Marwan]

hi all, although iam normally on the spearfishing side of freediving, lately i ve been training with 2 freediving buddys of mine. We are doing static training, i went up to 4 minutes and did not get contractions. 4 minutes being my personal best... is this normal, good/bad? appreciate your expert advice
cheers...

 

[Waterysmile]

From my point of view it means that you are a lucky so-and-so! They're not nice and you are in the minority in not getting contractions.

 

[naiad]

I sometimes get contractions and sometimes don't. My best statics, both dry and in the pool, have been without them.

Lucia

 

[AltSaint]

I don't get contractions, but I think if you were to take a poll, you'd find that the majority do. Unpleasant though they are, they are also a useful performance indicator.

A diving doctor once told me that smokers ( or ex-smokers ) sometimes lose the contraction reflex when breath-holding. I am an ex-smoker, so do fall into that category.

Not a good reasn to take up smoking though! :naughty

 

[Marwan]

i never smoked in my life but i am wondering about possible pros and cons of contractions, am i loosing performance by not having them, does have an efect on safety etc...? sorry if im asking novice questions

 

[trux]

Are you sure you do not hyperventilate? Unlike often mistaken, hyperventilation does not need to be too long or intensive - in fact it is any kind of breathing deeper or faster than normal that leads to lowering the CO2 level in lungs and in blood. Another possibility may be natural low blood acidity. Did you ever try doing intensive CO2 tables, or empty lung CO2 tables? Try doing a series of breath-holds during 10 minutes, with always only one single breath in between (breath-hold - 1x exhale - 1x inhale - breath-hold ...). Keep the breath-hold length, do not make it shorter, so start rather low - with a PB of 4min, I'd tell around 1min.

 

[Marwan]

hey there trux, sometimes i breathe deeper/longer than usual before a static, i have not done any tables before ( iknow of them so maybe ill give it a try), you think this 10 minute routine would prompt a contraction? again what are their benifits/cons if any?

 

[trux]

Maybe try reading this thread - that will avoid duplicating the recent discussion here again:

http://forums.deeperblue.net/freedi...ffective-waste-time.html?highlight=co2+tables

EDIT: And yes, the single-inhale series or empty lung CO2 table will almost certainly trigger contractions even at quite resistive freedivers.

 

[jimdoe2you]

Marwan,

You are not alone, I don't get contractions either. In fact I have met a couple of people who don't get them.

Short trivial story for ya: "The one and only time I ever experienced contractions was about 18 years ago in college but there was a good reason for it. I was a student instructor for the scuba program, and one day after a class a few of us instructors decided to take an O2 bottle into the pool's shallow end and do a controlled experiment complete with rehearsed safety signals. We took turns breathing pure oxygen while laying in static for about 5 minutes to purge our bodies of nitrogen, then we went for our max breath holds. During my turn I experienced two series of contractions but don't remember at what times they hit, and I was able to get control of myself after each set. I finally came up after 7:42 and heard everyone say, "Wow, you were really convulsing at one point!" This was back when my PB with air was a meager 2 minutes.......... Ah, good times!"

Jim

 

[SEDATE]

Marvan
my teory is there would be persons who say i do not get constraciton at all, this meaning is maybe they are more aqutic than others..but all human have diaphram and diaphram muscles uses more O2 than other organs if you have any way to directly inject more CO2 into diaphram muscles let says 100ml pure CO2 you will get very strong constractions ,
i here say some people says i do not get any constraction but it means they get but the ratio is very small or their body can easly eliminate in a way, i do not believe there will be any person who don not get cons, it must be imposible, another example some getiing abdominal surgery , the nurse inject C02 into stomach so as to get a good quality filming the area..the person after surgery gets strong constrations 1-2 days go ,
some people living very close to sea shore and some spearos diving very frequantly earning ability and the body not he or she finding a way to eliminate cons or ear equalitions very easly, i mean they are wining by diving and diving
as trux said you should have very very low natural blood acidity, so as to test get deep breath and directly go holding breath while closing your nostril and make your consantration to your stomach, when you close your eyes you can easly make your consantration to any point you desire..i bet you will start geting cons around 3min but will be very soft..next if you make very short hiperventilation(1min) you will the first con stronger it will be like a spark but definetaly will be stronger first test tell us the result lets talk about it later.....all the best..

 

[Kimmo]

Hi,

I´ve seen many kind of freedivers during these years I´ve done it. I have categorized these freedivers in three differend categories regarding contractions:
1. no contractions (it seems that only few people are this kind. These people get quite easily BO:s or sambas),
2. easy contractions (I call them baby contractions, quite normal, many people are this kind),
3. hard contractions. (quite normal, almost impossible to get bo:s).
It also seems that O2 levels has something to do with the feeling of contractions.
With the pure O2 statics contractions comes as usually but these are not uncomfortable (subjective feeling) and it is quite easy to take contractions for minutes (5-7) quite easily. But I do not suggest to test this. It may be possible to get a coma with serious CO2 poisoning.

- kimmo

 

[TRITON]

Marvan
my teory is there would be persons who say i do not get constraciton at all, this meaning is maybe they are more aqutic than others..but all human have diaphram and diaphram muscles uses more O2 than other organs if you have any way to directly inject more CO2 into diaphram muscles let says 100ml pure CO2 you will get very strong constractions ,
i here say some people says i do not get any constraction but it means they get but the ratio is very small or their body can easly eliminate in a way, i do not believe there will be any person who don not get cons, it must be imposible, another example some getiing abdominal surgery , the nurse inject C02 into stomach so as to get a good quality filming the area..the person after surgery gets strong constrations 1-2 days go ,
some people living very close to sea shore and some spearos diving very frequantly earning ability and the body not he or she finding a way to eliminate cons or ear equalitions very easly, i mean they are wining by diving and diving
as trux said you should have very very low natural blood acidity, so as to test get deep breath and directly go holding breath while closing your nostril and make your consantration to your stomach, when you close your eyes you can easly make your consantration to any point you desire..i bet you will start geting cons around 3min but will be very soft..next if you make very short hiperventilation(1min) you will the first con stronger it will be like a spark but definetaly will be stronger first test tell us the result lets talk about it later.....all the best..

As i understand from your post , if i lower the acidity of my blood ,I can postpone the contractions?And if it's true what are the ways to achieve that?

 

[SEDATE]

Alex
low acidity of blood increase binding 02 to hemoglobin ,it simple means hemolobin is a carier and caries 02 to cell or to brain
simple way to increase of hemoglabin in blood is run very slowly long way or swim long period in sea or in pool or also cardiovascilar traing can help..if you measure a prof swimmer hemoglobin ratio in his/her blood will be higher than normal person , postpone the contractions is different , 70% how much you trained your brain and rest 30% is how much you believe yourself , if Tom or herbert did not belive the break 9+ mark they do not manage it, cheers..

 

[TRITON]

So you say that there is no physical way to postpone the contractions besides hyperventilation(which leads to a blackout)?

 

[DeepThought]

My first suspicion would also be the lack of CO2 (due to hyperventilation).
Another option is that the contraction reflex "is not yet learned" by you, even though you are an experienced spearo (the 'learned reflex' is just a theory).
The first times I tried static I didn't have contractions, I hit 5 minutes without them (I was probably also hyperventilating a lot). But after I started doing tables and having a more "proper" breathup I started experiencing them (and they never left since then).
Try repeatitive max breathold with no breath up at all or one of those consecutive 1min one breath sets and see what happens.

 

[joe123321]

Ive never had contractions either, or atleast not the ways you guys describe them. If anything I have really small ones. :/

 

[naiad]

I´ve seen many kind of freedivers during these years I´ve done it. I have categorized these freedivers in three differend categories regarding contractions:
1. no contractions (it seems that only few people are this kind. These people get quite easily BO:s or sambas),
2. easy contractions (I call them baby contractions, quite normal, many people are this kind),
3. hard contractions. (quite normal, almost impossible to get bo:s).

I have experienced all of these at different times. I don't know all the factors that affect it, but if I have been doing a lot of training, I am less likely to get contractions. I have done max statics and hard CO2 tables without getting a single contraction, but also sometimes I get really hard ones.

I don't know of anyone else who sometimes gets contractions and sometimes doesn't, under the same conditions.

Lucia

 

[SEDATE]

So you say that there is no physical way to postpone the contractions besides hyperventilation(which leads to a blackout)?

yes my trick is to postpone the constraction not physical but mental , i find out a way to live them together ,i mentioned my way how i doing it a few privious post of mine , i play simple games, hope this helps..

 

[TRITON]

I ask that because my pb is 5:10 and the contractions start at about 2-2:30. I've never had a samba or a blackout during static,so the only thing that is a limiting factor at the moment are the contractions.I think i could do more if the contractions start later.

 

[Marwan]

thanks for your input everyone, i think i relate most to maybe what michael said about my body not learning about them, yet, i will also try out the advice by trux and sedate for the small breathups in my next session, maybe i have been breathing harder than normal in the past sessions, so in essence hyperventilating unintentionally, ill give it a try on wednesday and let you guys know... cheers