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Newbie needs some advices...

Thread Status: Hello , There was no answer in this thread for more than 60 days.
It can take a long time to get an up-to-date response or contact with relevant users.

Eziukaz

New Member
Sep 13, 2004
21
0
0
35
At first... Hello for everyone. :t I'm 15 years old guy from Lithuania.
As you can see from my posts count (this is the first one), i'm new here, so am i in freediving techniques. I mean, i cant even swim very well, but i've allways enjoyed pure diving (without ANY stuff, except my pants :D).
So the last few days i spent thinking that it would be interesting to take longer, deeper dives, i dont know why, but the bottom just pulls me, i just want to discover new things that's underwater. So i've did lots of google searches, gathering lots of tips of freediving. And after all that... I got even more confused :confused:. So i thought, that it would be much easier and better to just ask some1 about everything...
So here i go:
What i reach, isn't longest breath hold, deepest dive or anything, i just want to improve my performance diving, because i enjoy it. I'm really curious about all those mind techniques and such (i know i wont understand them... But time does miracles), so what i want, is like a little tutorial for beginning.
Here, where i live isnt any pool near that i could train. And as you know, summer ended, and weather doesnt let me to do any diving at lakes or rivers. So all i can do now is to wait for next summer... But why to "trash" the time? I could do some breath trainings, couldn't I?
So now i need some information how to do those trainings properly, i mean, not hardcore trainings, when facing those fadeouts or something... All i want is to get information how to do simple excercises or anything, that would make my lungs stronger/biger, would help me to understand those "mind" things. I also dont know how to breathe properly before diving! So ANY info would be gladly accepted!

BTW, my current performance is bad, i can only hold my breath for 55 seconds (static apnea), and only like for 15 (dynamic apnea). I'm also encountering this problem: I cant concentrate, at the last seconds of apneas, my lungs tries to breath inside, and i cant stop it, it's so stupid because it eats my oxygen......
So how to solve it?

So as i sead... ANY info is needed, the more, the better.
 
Hi, and welcome!

0. Please find yourself a buddy since most of these things can be very dangerous if done alone. Especially if you go into water, you should always have someone look after you.

1. Learn to relax. Just lay in bed, close your eyes and breath deep and relaxed. Try to feel your body and muscles that are not relaxed and then relax them. It may help to imagine your self in water. Some relaxing music may help. Take your time, you should not be in a rush to get anywhere.

2. Practice dry apnea. Do the same as above(in bed), but include breathholding now and then. Don't do "hard practise" in water, since it can be dangerous. By relaxing and doing apnea in series you should see rapid improvement. For variation try this: first hold your breath on empty lungs as long as you can, then rest a bit and try on full lungs. The secret in concentration is to learn not to think about about holding your breath. The best is to think of nothing at all. The second best is to think something completely irrelevant to the apnea. Like what you're going to do tomorrow, or singing a song in your mind...Whatever get's your mind off the "this feels terrible"-thought. Learn to really enjoy the early stages of apnea (they are quite relaxing) and try to increase the enjoyable part. If you can do 55 sec, I'd think about 20-30 sec should be quite enjoyable.

3. A good "out of water"-practice is apnea walking. Simply hold your breath and walk, see how long you can go and try to improve. If you do this make sure you are in a safe environment, i.e soft ground and not in the middle of a highway or something, just in case you happen to black out.

4. Listen to your body, don't take it too far if you're uncomfortable. If you stress your limits, do it in a safe place (such as laying in bed).

When you practice your breathing, be careful not to hyperventilate. Keep you breathing deep, but slow, kind of like your about to fall a sleep...

You might also notice, that doing breathholds in series increases your performance (up to a point).

If you can hold for 55 sec, try this next.
-lay in bed relaxed, breath deep and slow for about a minute. Relax your self
-hold your breath for 55 sec
-rest for 3 minutes, again breathing like above
-hold for as long as you can (55 should now feel quite easy)
-repeat once more.

Just some pointers. Once you get seriously into it, it is an endless learning experience.
 
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Breathing should come only from the belly, leave the chest hanging.
5 sec in 5 sec out is a good rythm.

You could also to breath as slowly as posseble, to do so follow the air flowing in through your nose, trought into your lungs.
Buildup very gradually, and check if you can breath at the pase for say 3minutes.

Build up your training disepline gradually, try not to start of to fast.

Freediving to me is also much about learning to feel.
Feel your body, feel your mind.

Simo pointed out many nice idea's that are a great start.
Let us know how they worked for you, share and receive like we all like to do here.

Welcome to Deeperblue!

Kars.
 
Im new as well, and what these guys have posted is really good advice.
What Kars was saying is true. Untill today, I was trying to cram as much air into my lungs as possible, when doing breathholds. This caused alot if internal pressure that feels very uncomfortable. Now, whenever I do it, I fill my diaphragm as much as I can, then relax and let the air "settle" in my lungs. Your diaphragm is the lower part of your lungs. You know you are filling it, when, as you inhale, your stomach moves, and your shoulders dont. So, I fill that part, and then let the air flow to the rest of my lungs.

Is this good, or should I try to keep it in the lower parts?
 
Thanx for helping me to fully understand what Kars have sead, thanx Parapsycho ;) . Thanx to Kars! Thanx to jome! Thank you guys very much again... My progress is : 1:20 (i'm not pushing myself to the end, and i wont i think). I'll try with that technique when not inhaling too much air as i did most of the time... So we'll see new results.

Ow, and BTW, is it OK if my hands are a bit shaky after those breathholds? (nothing more, just hands, everything is ok, except them). I was wondering, maybe i'm overdriving my abbilities a bit, or is it normal?

And yes... More tips are allways welcome! :D
 
I just found this site called "apnea mania". It has some very good tips of excercises for beginners. Rest of the site is very nice as well...

Click here
 
Anyway... I've asked about hand shaking, is that ok? I dont have any other bad feelings after the apnea, except the hand shaking... Maybe i'm overruning my abbilities? Is that safe?
 
It's hard to say without seeing how bad your hands shake. It is usually ok to feel a bit disoriented, out of breath and perhaps minor tremors. But if you get heavy shaking, spasming and lightheadedness (ringing of the ears, changes in vision), it propably means you've pushed too far.

Getting clear, visible spasms or shakes after breathold is called "samba" or LMC and while occuring once or twice is not dangerous it should be avoided. Also if you get samba, it means you were quite close to blacking out, which obviously is a very bad thing.

That being said, I don't think most people would samba from 1:20 breath hold. If the shaking get's more severe with longer or repeated holds, maybe you should slow down. It is of course possible, if unlikely, that you may have some other medical condition that you're unaware of that is surfacing because of apnea. In that case, you should see a doctor about it...
 
I havent faced any other bad simptoms, except... as i sead, only some hand shaking... Now about it, it's shaking when i hold a bit heavier thing, and the shaking is not very hard, it's like half of milimeter diametres, or maybe less... Anyways it's discomfortly.
Now about other thing, i dont think that i could get samba from 1:20 too, because it's just nonsense... But i wanted to discuss the feeling when you hold your breath for the last seconds... Do you just wait for first little discomfort? And then stop? Or do you wait, and what's that feeling? Could you somehow describe it? Because i'm not very sure if my feelings arent "critical".

Anyways, for me the feeling is like breathing inside for last seconds, i cant "leash" them, it's very hard, so do you feel the same?

Thanx for spare time, thanx for advices!
 
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I think those feelings are called contractions. I dont know much about them, being a newbie and all, but some people are able to work past them, or are able to supress them. Now, Im not sure how you would do that. Ill leave it up to the more experienced divers here.

Anyway, have you tried breatholds without 100% filled lungs yet? I find that i can do just as well, if not better, when I dont try to pack as much air. My question for those more experienced still stands. Is it OK to only fill your lungs up part way, or do you want to cram as much air in there as you can. I worry about overstretching and over exertion.
 
from another newbie

Contractions are on odd feeling. They usually cause people to feel that they must breathe immediately. 'Contraction' is a very good word for it because it does indeed feel like your abdomen is clenching and releasing. Mine usually starts in the lower chest area and works up into the upper respiratory system. Probably one of the best things you can do is to notice when they begin, then count them. You can also keep track of when they begin (at 55 seconds, etc.). It can be a way to chart your progress. Some people can hold on for lots of contractions, and some people don't. I am usually one of the latter. It's all different, too. Some people only experience light flutters, while others feel like they're being squeezed by a giant hand. It depends. Mine tend to start easy, then get worse.

Just know, they aren't anything to be afraid of. Relax and don't try to fight them, because that can tense you up and make it worse. There are also gobs of threads in this forum about contractions. The info on this thread, plus that, should give you a pretty good idea what you're experiencing. Good luck!:)
 
Parapsycho:
If it works for you to not fill completely, then why not do it?

I have experimented with some quite heavy packing and am starting to lean towards no packing or very light packing for static. I tend to do on "stretching" hold before the actual max attempt, where I fill my lungs as full as safely can, and for the next attempt I only fill up to what feels comfortable. I find it much easier to relax if I havent crammed my lungs really full.

Of course it depends on the person, what ever works...

That being said, I think it would be pretty much impossible to injure your lungs by just inhaling really full. That would require some actual "packing", where you force overperssure to your lungs by sort of swallowing air.
 
After some practicing, i managed to keep my breath holded and walk for 40 seconds.
I havent practiced static apnea in these days... I'll do it later.
 
hey Eziukaz,

I am also 15. You have come to the right place if you want to learn about free diving...When I frist started I could only hold my breath for 1min, but after lisening to what all of these nice people have to say to help me. I can hold my breath for 4:30....Well any way good luck.

-David
 
Aight, thanx, anyways, i'm still not doing all of those advices, but i'm progressing slowly, like adding some new techniques every week, so i can kinda master them a bit, before i start to learn another one.
 
That is a very good attitude Ezi!

You may also want to write down your findings in an eleborate (big) agenda, to keep tract of the new things you discover and your progression.

Cheers,

Kars
 
Thanx! I'll keep up the work! :)
Right now i'm trying different inhales BEFORE going apnea, i mean how much air is comfortable to me... Next step i'll take, will be relaxing my muscles totaly!
 
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