No contractions, should I be concerned?

[verticalsoup]

Hi everyone

I've been freediving for two seasons (dry STA: 4 min, CWT 90ft) and I have yet to experience contractions. On a static I can only feel a very light rumbling in my upper chest area as I get close to my maximum (plus the intense urge to breath).

My freediving buddies tell me I'm lucky - but I wonder if I should be concerned?

Are there any risks associated with not getting them? If I were to black out in the water (or on the couch doing statics) would the absence of them prevent my body from "kick-starting" breathing again?

Any input would be helpful.

Rik

 

[Simos]

No reason to be concerned as far as I know - people get contractions of different intensities...

As far as I know they have nothing to do with your ability to recover after a blackout...

Out of curiosity, what is your breathup? Ie how do you prepare before a static or cwt dive?
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[verticalsoup]

My breath up looks like this:

A few 3-4 seconds inhale + 10-15 seconds exhale.

Then 4-5 purges (2 sec inhale + 2 sec exhale).

I typically pack (4-5 times) in the water (never on land) if in a thicker suit or to compensate if I feel I didn't get a good final inhale.

 

[deanspahic]

Simos is right in saying that people have contractions of differing types and intensity. Some people have physical contracions while others have a slight burning sensation like you would get after a long run. Your breath up look more or less ok, but the "purges" that you are doing may be a little too much. The US navy did a study that concluded that more than 3 such breaths can significantly effect the body's physiological balance. This could be causing you to be having a delayed breathing response (contractions) which is why you have not felt them yet.

On that same note, you said that you had a strong urge to breath. What do you mean by that?? What sensations do you feel. This may be your body's version of contractions.

At the end of the day try and avoid Hypervent. and increase your dive times and depth slowly. This is the best way to gain an understanding of how you work in the water and its a good way to avoid a bad black out.

All the best

Dean

 

[verticalsoup]

Dean --I hear you about the purging. I typically do a couple of cleansing (normal) breaths after the purges and before the final max inhale. Honestly don't notice much difference in performance - purges or not, so it's prob safer not doing them since I'm only a recreational freediver.

To you point regarding delayed breathing response, it doesn't make a difference whether I do the purges or not.

Not sure how to describer the urge to breath emotion. With no contractions it's the only thing telling me it's time to breath. It's prob similar to what other people feel at the end of their hold.

 

[Cynder]

Hi 'Soup,

Your post caught my eye because I nearly posted the exact same thing myself.
When I started getting interested in freediving I started doing tables and dry static practises. On the couch I was getting times of around 4 mins, similar to yourself...
But after seeing all these posts about contractions I was was sure I wasnt getting them. I posted on here asking people to describe a contraction. All I was feeling was the natural 'urge to breathe'. To this day, now with fairly regular pool sessions and dry practises, I still dont think I've had a contraction (there are have been a couple of weird 'possibles') but that's fine, you dont have to get them, it doesnt mean you're doing something wrong.
In terms of safety I havent heard anything to suggest a problem, you are still getting the 'urge to breathe', this is your guide and is much more predictable than contractions which are different (or non existent) for everyone.
Dont let worrying about it stress you and affect your times, you seem to be doing fine.
-Cyn-

 

[fabikp]

Hi Soup, I belong to the same minority with no contractions. Instead I feel some kind of pressure or pain on my chest (very unpleasant), which starts after about 4'30'' (of 5'30'' hold) and is constantly getting worse till it's unbearable.As I can judge from many descriptions here, to endure contractions may be a little easier, but they start sooner, so the result can be about the same. Pavel

 

[Simos]

I used to get no contractions either - in my case, the best way I can describe what was making me come up is the feeling that my blood pressure was sky high and I was about to burst.

Oddly although I was never getting contractions (since the first day I started) I recently had to take some time off because of an injury and being too busy and now I strangely started getting contractions as early as 1 min into the hold. Go figure. Lol

 

[cdavis]

Risk associated with no contractions? Depends on the diver. I would not worry about dry statics. Since you get a strong urge to breath when in the water, lack of contractions doesn't seem to be a problem, but be careful.

Contractions and urge to breathe reactions vary hugely between divers. Doing the various tricks to surpress contractions gives me a huge and very uncomfortable urge to breathe. Contractions are much easier for me to tolerate, especially when using a minimal breathup approach where they come on soft and slow. One or the other should be fine(normally) as a signal to come up. (buddy present, of course). However, not every diver has those reactions. I dive with two guys who get no or minimal contractions and very minimal urge to breathe. One has B0ed three times in recreational diving and the other almost B0ed during training as he began to stretch his limits. Both are real careful now and I still watch'em very close. No doubt there are other combinations.

Connor

 

[tauchen]

same here.. I am just starting out, and I don’t feel any contractions at all.. my max static is 2:00, which is very little, and I wish I can double it soon. but after 1:30 I am getting a terrible unpleasant feeling an it’s becoming difficult to hold the air in without the urge to exhale., still no sensations of contractions other than a general fire felt in the chest area. so, the next 30 seconds is pure agony and I am pretty much maxxed out at 2 minutes.. I will keep training on relaxation and the state of mind to see if I can extend my static hold longer.

In the pool, I can do 25M no fins swim. Also, no sense of contractions. The final feeling is that I have an urge to go faster (or when doing static, to jump up and start running), which of course, I try to resist.

Hi Soup, I belong to the same minority with no contractions. Instead I feel some kind of pressure or pain on my chest (very unpleasant), which starts after about 4'30'' (of 5'30'' hold) and is constantly getting worse till it's unbearable.As I can judge from many descriptions here, to endure contractions may be a little easier, but they start sooner, so the result can be about the same. Pavel

 

[cdavis]

tauchen, Just a shot in the dark, but try making your own contraction voluntarily when the urge to breath starts. i.e., keep your epiglottis closed and contract your diaphragm as you would when inhaling hard. You might find that reduces the urge to breath. If so, let us know.

Connor

 

[Simos]

I think it's quite normal Tauchen, once you build up enough CO2 tolerance some contractions will come I believe. If it helps you can try what Connor suggested - I sometimes do something similar but instead of my diaphragm, I just get air into my cheeks, inflate them and then I 'breathe' the air from my cheeks and repeat. I 'tricks' your body into thinking it's breathing, I think I also read that some people swallow instead and that helps a bit but I've never tried that.

 

[cdavis]

Swallowing works quite well, but the timing is tricky, too late and it does no good, too early and it does almost no good. Discovered that by accident and played with it for a long time before I understood how to make it work best.

 

[fabikp]

Hi all, maybe I am starting to feel something like contractions and I have a question: Are they somehow syncronized with heart beats or are those two things completely independent on each other ? I feel "contractions" during the last phase of hold but they occures exactly together with almost every heart beat. Thanks for opinions. Pavel

 

[Azrael3000]

I'm also only a fresher (3 min sta) with contractions. I can first of all confirm that a minimal breath-up helps with softer, though earlier, contractions.
Secondly, I am happy to see that there is somebody else that does the swallowing. I started it fairly soon when I was doing tables and more or less involuntarily. Good to see that this actually helps other people as well. I first wasn't sure whether it's a good thing due to O2 consumption, but it relaxes me quite a bit when done at the proper time.

 

[Simos]

The only issue with these 'tricks' (getting air into cheeks, swallowing etc) is that they won't work for depths below RV but for pool I think it's fine, don't think the O2 wasted is too significant especially if it helps you relax during contractions

 

[Siku]

My experience is the same as yours Simos - never got contractions till this summer (holds up to 4mins). Had a bit of a break and now I get them aroung 90" - 2'). For me the strangest thing is that the first one feels like it's done deliberately and then they just continue. I can't resist doing the first one though - it's a bit like scratching an itch i.e. within conscious control but you often find your self doing it without realising, or unable to resist the desire to do so.

Verticalsoup, I wouldn't recommend inducing contractions or training your body to have them. I wish I could go back to the time when mine didn't. I recommend just trusting your body and seeing what happens.

Branko mentioned his don't start till after 6mins, but then that's a 10 min hold! maybe yours will kick in when your STA times get up to 5 or 6?

 

[verticalsoup]

Thanks for the input guys. Since my original post i've added 25 sec to my max to 4:25 but stil no contractions. Haven't done much statics to this point but am starting a new exercise program buildin in regular statics so should be fun to see where this will take me as far as my max and perhaps contrstions down the road.

I also feel som sort of relief when swallowing, it also helps relaxing the throat/tounge during holds.

 

[azapa]

I am very skeptical about the "no contractions" claims, although it's due I am sure to my cynicism more than hard proof, I just can't believe it. Contractions must (should) be as deeper rooted physiological impulse as breathing. My ideas about "no contraction" sufferers :

1. Hyperventilation (unintentional in many cases) before the hold makes them appear after the psychological barrier is already broken: ie you never get to that bit
2. Listening to a different internal rhythm (maybe the throat, the extremities) makes it hard to feel the contraction.

I would ask one of those "no contraction" guys to do this:

- lie down on bed with your head propped up a little and no shirt on. make sure you can see your stomach
- take a full breath and hold as long as you can. If you know you can do 4:00, aim for at least 3:00 (no warm up or preparation, just lie down and do it)
- watch your upper stomach area.

If you can see a "twitch" after 1:30 to 2:00 or so, that will be a contraction.

Let us know!

 

[Simos]

I am very skeptical about the "no contractions" claims, although it's due I am sure to my cynicism more than hard proof, I just can't believe it. Contractions must (should) be as deeper rooted physiological impulse as breathing. My ideas about "no contraction" sufferers :

1. Hyperventilation (unintentional in many cases) before the hold makes them appear after the psychological barrier is already broken: ie you never get to that bit
2. Listening to a different internal rhythm (maybe the throat, the extremities) makes it hard to feel the contraction.

I would ask one of those "no contraction" guys to do this:

- lie down on bed with your head propped up a little and no shirt on. make sure you can see your stomach
- take a full breath and hold as long as you can. If you know you can do 4:00, aim for at least 3:00 (no warm up or preparation, just lie down and do it)
- watch your upper stomach area.

If you can see a "twitch" after 1:30 to 2:00 or so, that will be a contraction.

Let us know!

It depends what you term a contraction - in my case I sometimes used to get a very light 'flutter' that I could stop at any time and was not unpleasant at all.

In fact in static I used to just stop at the first sign of any uncomfortable contraction or feeling and could get close to 4mins like that (always super clean etc)

However whenever I used to do exercises that build CO2 I would get strong contractions early eg 50m crawl sprint followed by immediate static.

The conclusion I came to is that I must have been unintentionally hyperventilating to a degree and also when I used to train more I had better CO2 tolerance.

If I ever manage to go back to training I will try to test the above theory with some tests I have in mind and let you know.