I'm new to freediving

[LightningGShep]

Hi I was wondering how long I should do apnea tables in day and how often should I do them

 

[Stephan Whelan]

Hi @LightningGShep - welcome to the forums. There is a ton of info here that can help. Do a search of the forums to find more threads.

We also have some advice in our Beginners Guide to Freediving - Training for Recreational Freediving chapter.

 

[BatRay]

Welcome to Deeperblue! Lots of great info here.

 

[Cap'n Blutooth]

Hi I was wondering how long I should do apnea tables in day and how often should I do them

I’m no expert, but the following are the notes I made for myself a few years ago. There’s probably some threads or forums here on the subject too. Following the notes below, I was able to go from only 1 minute hold to being able to do 3 fairly easily and occasionally up to 4 (in dry, calm, practice situations):


Typical CO2 table HOLDS breath 2 min each time; but breathe up decreases by 15 sec each round, starting also at 2 min. Takes about 23-25 minutes, plus few to relax. Besides breathing properly, this is the MOST IMPORTANT training for someone w/ under 4 min breath-hold. Do it at least twice per week, and remember it is easiest on an empty stomach - I usually do mine before breakfast, and with a lighter dinner the night before. I was doing mine daily, which might be slightly better, but realized 2-3 times per week was enough to maintain the 3-4 minute holds for me.

BETTER AND FASTER method is only SINGLE SLOW recovery breath, and hold until 25 involuntary diaphragm contractions (or 45-60 sec beyond 1st contraction), and repeat this 8-12 times - 1st hold can be shorter to ease into it; ok to take 2nd slow breath if 1st was fast (but really try not to do this).

Another training method is SINGLE 30s inhale, hold 30s, SINGLE 30s exhale. Repeat 8-15 times.

 

[Retto]

I know you’ll run into some varying answers and different opinions on this, but I wouldn’t recommend doing apnea workouts(breath hold exercises, excessive diving etc) more than 3 days out of the week. I’m not going to give you how much time/day to spend on it or anything like that because it’s so subjective. Personally I found it useful to use this set of tables as my base. I’d do A table one-three times per day, and each week is alternate between o2 verses Co2. The table I have written down here is for if your max hold is 2:30 because it made for easy math. For your o2 tables, your max hold you do in the table should be 80% your max, and for Co2, I’d say 50% As soon as you finish your prep(You know, breathing getting ready for the hold), jump right into the hold and vice versa. Hope this helps!

(2:30)
Tables: prep/hold
o2: (80% max)
1:00/1:00
1:00/1:10
1:00/1:20
1:00/1:30
1:00/1:40
1:00/1:50
1:00/2:00

Co2: (50% max)
1:10/1:15
1:00/1:15
0:50/1:15
0:40/1:15
0:30/1:15
0:20/1:15
0:10/1:15

 

[Chris Ellem]

You probably want to have two to three days rest between sessions if your doing O2 or CO2 tables. Lots of great apps for Android and iPhone. I use Apnea Pro on Android. You will make gains if you do at least one session a week. Most tables are calculated as a percentage of your Max breathold. So that is the first place to start.. Check out my instagram for more info on statics.. ellem_fins

 

[LightningGShep]

You probably want to have two to three days rest between sessions if your doing O2 or CO2 tables. Lots of great apps for Android and iPhone. I use Apnea Pro on Android. You will make gains if you do at least one session a week. Most tables are calculated as a percentage of your Max breathold. So that is the first place to start.. Check out my instagram for more info on statics.. ellem_fins

But I have been doing training but I can hold my breath longer on land and relax more easily compared to in the water

 

[LightningGShep]

But I have been doing training but I can hold my breath longer on land and relax more easily compared to in the water

Why is that. I've heard that it is supposed to be easier in the water but I feel the opposite

 

[J Campbell]

Why is that. I've heard that it is supposed to be easier in the water but I feel the opposite

Not everyone finds it easier underwater. I find it easier in my bed.

 

[LightningGShep]

Not everyone finds it easier underwater. I find it easier in my bed.

Same but how do I get myself to hold my breath just as long underwater?

 

[Retto]

Same but how do I get myself to hold my breath just as long underwater?

Sadly, you don’t. Because your underwater hold isn’t a static hold so you’re expending energy and using oxygen faster in the process

 

[LightningGShep]

Sadly, you don’t. Because your underwater hold isn’t a static hold so you’re expending energy and using oxygen faster in the process

How do I increase my breath hold underwater if i was not moving?

 

[Retto]

How do I increase my breath hold underwater if i was not moving?

By increasing your breath hold in general. Your breath hold while diving will obviously not be as long, as your static hold, but it will still get longer as you increase your static hold. And honestly, it’s probably better if you are saying doing static holds in water isn’t as long because you have far less room for error in the water. Just work on it and practice, it’ll improve. No need for it to always match. Just focus on enjoying it rather than desperately trying to get *insert number*. if you’re miserable, you’ll usually start to mentally associate that with diving and backslide.

tldr: it doesn’t matter so much what the numbers are, just keep practicing and you’ll improve.
(I hope that answers your question)

 

[Chris Ellem]

But I have been doing training but I can hold my breath longer on land and relax more easily compared to in the water

Hi, I am at the same boat atm. I am very comfortable doing dry statics because I have done so many of them. So you will need to train more wet to get comfortable. Its a procrss. Just increment slowly and you will find it is much easier to progress.