Static Apnea Ultra Beginner

[marianito1234]

Hi everybody!! As you can see, this is my first post here, i'm a scuba diver, but right now i'm really interested in freediving and mostly static apnea. I was hoping some of you pros would answer some of my questions.
I've been watching a lot of stuff about apnea, and what i get as important was getting a partner, so i got one, with medical skills.
After watching this documentary [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0voNailcOg0]YouTube - QED Freediving Part 1[/ame] i've noticed that a lot of freedivers ignore the diafragmatic contractions that occur close to your "co2 wall", so i was wondering, should i do this ? After the contractions, is it true that you get a time of relaxation? Whenever i try to reach this point, i get scared and breath ... Also, which you think is the best relaxation technique?
Thanks to y'all! And greetings from Argentina!!!

 

[blueface]

It would be a lot easier if you take a free diving course. You will find a wealth of material if you use the search function but it's hard to beat direct instruction from a pro.

 

[rddk]

U can't make freediving saeftly withouth a course, i suggest ya to do one asap for enjoy this sport fully and saeftly.

 

[blueface]

By the way, that video was made to be entertaining. I don't think it should be used for any sort of instructional purpose. It is interesting but you need to study and get over the magical fuzzy feelings that the video gives you.

 

[trux]

As long as you have a partner directly surveying you (exchanging signals with you regularly to see you are still conscious), you do not need to be afraid of the contractions. They will not kill you, and you can endure minutes of them without harm. They are only a sign of a hypercapnic state, and in fact they help you to push deeper into the hypoxia (they increase both blood pressure and the PaO2 in lungs, helping so oxygenating your brain). Think positively about them - they are your friend, not enemy. And you will learn to overcome the feeling of panic pushing you to interrupt the breath-hold, as soon as you realize there is no danger in it. As for the best relaxation - look at techniques used in yoga, sophrologie, autosuggestion, auto-hypnosis, ... etc. There are plenty of descriptions available on the net. Or take a session with a local yoga teacher.

 

[Kars]

All nice and good points here above, good job!

About the QED documentary,

I have to disagree with the statement made about holding your breath and the urge to breath in a pool. It's NOT like your facing a CO2 'wall' that you need to break through.

CO2 builds up gradually, and at certain levels gives you different effects.
With normal people, on average, they will experience a 'strong urge' to breath after only 30 seconds. With this they very quickly shift from low(er) O2 - CO2 exchange to a high rate as the discomfort of CO2 drives into tension and panic mode. Resulting in a 'max' breathhold of just about 40 seconds.

What we learn as freedivers is to lower the O2 -> CO2 metabolism through learning to increase mental and physical relaxation. There for our urge to breath comes later, and softer, allowing us to 'ease' into the 'struggle-phase' and learn to relax our minds and body despite the 'local' contractions, thus extending out breath hold dive time for minutes.

I too advice you to do a freediving course (can be done over a weekend!) and honour yourself and your buddy a pole position in this new journey that will stay with you a lifetime. What you'll learn can safe you a year of 'trial and error', proper safety procedures and the directions as to what to search and aim for in training.

Like Trux said, you can practice many aspects of freediving on land, concentration, relaxation, strength, flexibility etc.
Remember in training it's important to have a gradual build up. In my experience it's easy to over train yourself in water, and even easier by doing breath holds training in water. So eat and sleep well, find your balance.

Love, Courage and Water,

Kars

 

[trux]

Well, I am afraid that the advices to take a freediving course are relatively useless - I doubt Marianito will find such a course in Cordoba, Argentina, and it may not be easy or possible for him to fly taking a course to some remote location. There are some freedivers in Argentina too, but the community is not too big yet. There is a club in Patagonia, but that's also far from Cordoba. Try contacting them, perhaps they can connect you to others closer to your location:

PATAGONIA EXTREMA

I just see there is another club in Buenos Aires, that may be perhaps better accessible:

http://www.apneabuenosaires.blogspot.com/

 

[thedodd]

I know i am new to this and asking questions in the simplest form, but here it is! So say im down on the bottom in 30 ft and i get (contractions) or that gulping/need air feeling, that is not necesarily time to go up? these are a good thing and if i push past them i wont just pass out? Right now my max breath hold is around 3:15. and im getting about 1:30 bottom time before having to come up. so can i keep these contractions going for say 30 more sec pushing it to 2 min........... Thanks a lot guys, hopefully i can afford the class soon. $700 bucks seems a little steep but i know its worth it in the end. For now i appreciate any help you can give me

 

[marianito1234]

Wow!!! You are such a cool group, i've posted in other forums before and never got this amount of replies over a night! I thank you all for your comments, you've been really helpful.
As trux said, here, were i live is really hard to find apnea courses, there are few places on argentina were you can learn freediving, and many of them are only open trough the summer, my diving instructor said he wasnt qualified to give me this kind of knowledge, so, i'm kinda on my own, luckily i have this buddy of mine who's also interested in this cool world of freediving and we can help together.
Cant believe how awesome you are!! I'd love to be closer to meet you and get tips from the pro's!!
Here's the video of the best apnea course in argentina [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GLeKqbzFJaU]YouTube - Apnea Patagonia[/ame]
Its given only once or twice a year, its really expensive but im saving money to do it, i'm dying to dive in that 10m deep pool!
Thanx again!

 

[trux]

So say im down on the bottom in 30 ft and i get (contractions) or that gulping/need air feeling, that is not necessarily time to go up?

Nobody will tell you. It depends on far too many factors. It is enough to ventilate or purge little more than usually (for example stress will make you hyperventilate without noticing it), and you can blackout when ascending even without starting to feel the contractions. And it is also possible that you can go on for 2 more minutes. However, without a buddy who watches you closely and carefully (not just some guy diving somewhere nearby), you better avoid pushing the envelope. 1:30 is already longer than enough, if you do not have any dedicated safety.

 

[Kars]

Thank you Trux for the additional warning.

People please read carefully, your life may depend on it.

Never push when you're alone.

Never hyperventilate.

Trying something new, have a dedicated capable safety diver CLOSE and DEDICATED to you.

Never do more than 1 new thing in a dive. (I learned that the hard way).

Keep new things as safe as possible, closer to the surface is safer.​

For instance Static is the safest discipline, Dynamic being at a modest depth, is less safe, and deep diving is the most dangerous. Not only because of the distance to the surface, but also because the sensations you'll get are NOT the same as your have in the pool.

THINK things through before you do!​

As you see we at Deeperblue are happy to answer even the simplest of questions.
Understanding Freediving is not an easy sport we're very careful to keep it safe. Actually some pools have banned freediving because of safety concerns.

 

[thedodd]

good call thanks