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im new to freediving, i dont know how to breath up properly, please help
- Thread startertennis.africa
- Start date
Thread Status: Hello
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Hi Tennis Africa,
Welcome to Deeper Blue!
First of all I think the term 'Breath-up' isn't a good description of what freedivers do to prepare for a breath-hold, apnea, freedive.
How do to prepare?
Well it's different for beginners then for experienced freedivers, and from person to person. The goal is to, relax mentally, physically, to mentally program oneself to do all the routines correct, to focus on the world within, to prepare the mind for a different world.
Since you're new to it, you need more time, more steps too maybe.
Try to have an empty belly, be comfortable and warm. Be in a private silent place. Lay and close your eyes. First put your legs etc in a relaxed position, then lay 1 hand on your belly, one on your chest.
With your eyes still closed, observe your body and feel how you breath. What order things take place, etc. Now try to breath only from your belly, aim for 5 counts in, 5 out, fluid and medium shallow breaths. Follow the air travel through your nose, smooth out the in and exhale, and find a balance in the depth of the breath. - I find that with increased relaxation my breaths become very slow and very light and shallow.
Enjoy how your body and mind feels. You can imagine your bodyparts to become heavy, which helps to relax all these muscles. If you're good at it you'll find that you need 'boot-up' time to respond when suddenly people enter your room.
Now if you feel really nice and relaxed you can do also a nice breath-hold.
Just exhale slowly (retain the relaxation!) and inhale from the lower belly al the way up to upper chest and or the throat. Then hold and relax again. Because you're not used to holding so much air you may feel 'pressure'. This can be countered with mental relaxation of the chest, doing chest muscle warm-up and stretching before the breath-hold, or simply taking in a bit less air.
When you're holding you can do that mental body journey to relax all the parts, including the heart, the muscles in your head, etc. When the urge to breath comes, become an observer, and notice the body's reactions. Do not try to block contractions - swallowing, but just let or even help them happen. Keep your big muscle groups relaxed. Every time a contraction goes you relax again.
Now don't wear yourself out on the first try, just shoot for something easy, like 50% effort level. I mean to start breathing when you feel you've done about 50% of your maximum.
The next hold is another 50%, the next 70%, and the last two are ~85%. This is a schedule I used for my 5- 6'30" breath hold levels. I had my buddy record and remember the times, but he would only tell me after the whole session.
For beginners training however I recommend Doing Table A, the CO2 training table.
It's a table where your increase the CO2 by doing repeated 1/2 max breath-holds with decreasing rest time in between.
Example:
Maximum time: - 2'
CO2 Schedule:
2' preparation
1' Breath-hold
1'45" preparation
1' Breath-hold
1'30" preparation
1' Breath-hold
1'15" preparation
1' Breath-hold
1' preparation
1' Breath-hold
0'45" preparation
1' Breath-hold
0'30" preparation
1' Breath-hold
0'15" preparation
1' Breath-hold
0'15" preparation
1' Breath-hold
0'15" preparation
1' Breath-hold.
I recommend doing these daily, or very often.
The O2 schedule, Table B, is mend to help you learn to deal with low O2.
It has the same 2' preparation time throughout, but has increasing breath-hold times.
Safety:
Never do these in water alone. Always have a buddy who knows freediving safety.
Make sure you're normal and healthy. Illness, dehydration etc will change your feelings and perception, making judgement of when to come up very difficult/impossible.
With training you're programming you mind and body. I see it a bit like stretching, doing some every day will have better results then doing a hard session once a week. Also hard sessions aren't good for having a pleasant association with breath-hold.
We would love to hear of your experiences. And how come someone from middle Austalia wants to learn freediving?
Love, Courage and Water,
Kars
Welcome to Deeper Blue!
First of all I think the term 'Breath-up' isn't a good description of what freedivers do to prepare for a breath-hold, apnea, freedive.
How do to prepare?
Well it's different for beginners then for experienced freedivers, and from person to person. The goal is to, relax mentally, physically, to mentally program oneself to do all the routines correct, to focus on the world within, to prepare the mind for a different world.
Since you're new to it, you need more time, more steps too maybe.
Try to have an empty belly, be comfortable and warm. Be in a private silent place. Lay and close your eyes. First put your legs etc in a relaxed position, then lay 1 hand on your belly, one on your chest.
With your eyes still closed, observe your body and feel how you breath. What order things take place, etc. Now try to breath only from your belly, aim for 5 counts in, 5 out, fluid and medium shallow breaths. Follow the air travel through your nose, smooth out the in and exhale, and find a balance in the depth of the breath. - I find that with increased relaxation my breaths become very slow and very light and shallow.
Enjoy how your body and mind feels. You can imagine your bodyparts to become heavy, which helps to relax all these muscles. If you're good at it you'll find that you need 'boot-up' time to respond when suddenly people enter your room.
Now if you feel really nice and relaxed you can do also a nice breath-hold.
Just exhale slowly (retain the relaxation!) and inhale from the lower belly al the way up to upper chest and or the throat. Then hold and relax again. Because you're not used to holding so much air you may feel 'pressure'. This can be countered with mental relaxation of the chest, doing chest muscle warm-up and stretching before the breath-hold, or simply taking in a bit less air.
When you're holding you can do that mental body journey to relax all the parts, including the heart, the muscles in your head, etc. When the urge to breath comes, become an observer, and notice the body's reactions. Do not try to block contractions - swallowing, but just let or even help them happen. Keep your big muscle groups relaxed. Every time a contraction goes you relax again.
Now don't wear yourself out on the first try, just shoot for something easy, like 50% effort level. I mean to start breathing when you feel you've done about 50% of your maximum.
The next hold is another 50%, the next 70%, and the last two are ~85%. This is a schedule I used for my 5- 6'30" breath hold levels. I had my buddy record and remember the times, but he would only tell me after the whole session.
For beginners training however I recommend Doing Table A, the CO2 training table.
It's a table where your increase the CO2 by doing repeated 1/2 max breath-holds with decreasing rest time in between.
Example:
Maximum time: - 2'
CO2 Schedule:
2' preparation
1' Breath-hold
1'45" preparation
1' Breath-hold
1'30" preparation
1' Breath-hold
1'15" preparation
1' Breath-hold
1' preparation
1' Breath-hold
0'45" preparation
1' Breath-hold
0'30" preparation
1' Breath-hold
0'15" preparation
1' Breath-hold
0'15" preparation
1' Breath-hold
0'15" preparation
1' Breath-hold.
I recommend doing these daily, or very often.
The O2 schedule, Table B, is mend to help you learn to deal with low O2.
It has the same 2' preparation time throughout, but has increasing breath-hold times.
Safety:
Never do these in water alone. Always have a buddy who knows freediving safety.
Make sure you're normal and healthy. Illness, dehydration etc will change your feelings and perception, making judgement of when to come up very difficult/impossible.
With training you're programming you mind and body. I see it a bit like stretching, doing some every day will have better results then doing a hard session once a week. Also hard sessions aren't good for having a pleasant association with breath-hold.
We would love to hear of your experiences. And how come someone from middle Austalia wants to learn freediving?
Love, Courage and Water,
Kars