Hi newguy101,
Where are you from? I live in the Netherlands, so 'real' freediving for me is limited to my holidays in Mediterranean and Egypt. Can't wait till my next holiday.....
Almost everything I know about freediving, I learned from the many forums at deeperblue. A very good book is the book from Umberto Pelizzari, of which an English translation is available. If you understand German, I can also recommend another book. Just let me know, and I will look it up for you.
Of course I would like to help you starting up, but I would not know where to start and where to stop. Maybe it is better that you just start reading the many interesting posts at deeperblue. If you have specific questions remaining, you can of course e-mail me, and I will try to answer your questions.
The most important tips are:
- never dive alone
- never hyperventilate before you dive
Holding your breath longer, is all about total relaxation and getting accustomed to low O2 and high CO2 levels. For this, the training tables are perfect, but don't overtrain. One table a day, so one day O2 and next day CO2, should in my opinion be followed by at least one, but preferably two days rest. At least this works for me at the moment.
Furthermore, I go running 3 times a week to increase my overall fitness. This enhances the capability of your body to efficiently use oxygen. The less oxygen used, and therefore the less CO2 produced, the longer it will last before you feel the urge to breath again.....
When you get accustomed to higher CO2 levels, and you stay relaxed, you will notice that the contractions you experience are just an alarm of your body which can be ignored for a certain period. The CO2 level rises when O2 is consumed by your body. It is not the decreasing O2 level that rises the urge to breath, but the increasing CO2 level. To some extent you can therefore ignore the urge to breath, and increase your breathhold times.....
Hope this is something for a start.....
Good luck, Rai
