Project Vital Capacity

[AOneNight]

Hi everyone!

I have a few questions to ask about in order to proceed with my project wich is about lung capacity. So i'll start with introducing.

I'm 18 years old and therefor my lungs are most likely not fully grown, I have taken that into consideration. 3 months ago when I started this project out I had a VC of about 5500 wich i was able to increase to about 5700 during 2 and a half months of hard training using a bike. Since this increase wasn't very big I came to the conclusion that normal cardiovascular excersise doesn't increase VC. Furthermore the small increase that I recorded could just as well have been me getting better at using a spirometer. But as I'm a scuba diver and am really interested in freediving as well I looked into the freediving community witch should be experts regarding lungs and VC and all that stuff. So I came accross packing lungs.

Now I was rather excited at first, increasing my capacity over 1 liter in the first try. But as I read on more I found that there could be some serious downsides to it as well. This should of course have come to my mind at first view as a trained rescue diver... Neverless i came to the conclusion of lung packing considered as heavy when you increase your VC by 20% or more. Starting at a VC of 5800, with "10 packs" I reach a volume of 7000 witch is just over 20%. Is this safe? Consider that I'm a beginner and that when I'm up to 10 packs it feels like im full and it gets a little uncomfortable, therefore i stop, so I don't know what my maximum amount would be.

I should add that the numbers I'll primarily be using in the project is the non-packed values. But the reason behind packing then is that I read that packing lungs streches the lungs so that the non-packed state gets increased as well. If this theory is wrong then i might just drop the whole project...

My goal is to increase my VC and I'm willing to do so with a little risk to it, but of course the safer the better. What's you experienced guys thoughts on this?
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[Rik]

Dear AOneNight,

The lungs themselves are fully developed between eight and twelve years. After that, the lungvolume might expand a bit more due the growth of the ribcage, but at some point the absolute long volume will not change much more.

This is different with the vital capacity, the amount of air you can actually move by breathing in and out. Breathing exercises might learn you how to recruit more muscles to draw air in and expel air. Spirometry and any physical exercise can also increase this amount of air, but more on an subconscious level.

Those breathing exercises can be best learned form an freedive instructor, yoga instructor or some specialized physiotherapists.

Lung packing isn't suited for a beginner to use. It only works efficiently if you have a proper breathing pattern. It is also a dangerous technique, which can cause black-outs, arterial gas embolism (air in the arteries) and death.

Perhaps I can give you better advice if you explain what you want to achieve with a larger vital capacity.

 

[AOneNight]

Thank you for your post, I'll try to explain my purpose so that you and everyone else can get a better idea. The purpose of the training is of course for the project itself. Otherwise I would rather focus on running or doing tables as that would be more purposeful, I guess, to increase my breathe hold or get better at other sport activities. So my primary focus is increasing lung capacity at best and vital capacity if that's not the case, with the possibility of getting positive side effects as well, like better oxygen uptake or whatnot.

Hope that explains it

 

[Rik]

Well, it does explain its partially. Like you suggested, running and tables are more efficient to improve breath-hold diving skill compared with working on vital capacity alone.

Nevertheless you chose to focus on vital capacity, which in itself can be helpful, especially in combination with the other training methods. And there can be said a lot about breathing patterns and how you can modify it to increase your vital capacity. The downside is that in comparison with tables, it is more difficult to teach, because you would need someone who can observe your actual breathing pattern to determine what can be improved.

Lung packing is often thought as a quick fix to increase vital capacity without going through the trouble to learn proper breathing. As you might expect, I disagree with that idea. Without an proper breathing pattern, lung packing cost valuable time without much of an result. With a proper breathing pattern, lung packing can pose a serious health risk.

So, besides the direct advantage of lung packing, could lung packing be in itself beneficial and a way to increase vital capacity?

The vital capacity is determined by a combination of muscle action and possible air volume within the lungs. The strength and the coordination of the muscles of the chest do highly effect how much air can be taken in to the lungs. An increased lung volume without trained muscles won't help much.

Packing stretches might help freedivers to be able to work with the higher pressures caused by lung packing. But I dare to question if the use of lung packing alone would result in an higher vital capacity in combination with a normal flow curve and without any short-therm or long-therm negative effects.

So, that's my educated opinion. But I am probably biased, and I am curious to hear opposing views.

 

[fpernett]

I think that you need further tests to complete your project. As you want to increase your lung capacity, you need to measure your Total Lung Capacity, instead of just the vital capacity.

After lung packing there is an transient increase in lung compliance, and many people believe that after extensive use of this technique there will be an increase in Residual Volume.

I also believe that Lung packing or Glossopharingeal breathing (technical name), is for the experienced and, specially, flexible freediver.
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