Okay everyone, sorry this is going to be a long post: :duh
I'm glad to know that Tom Sietas is not the only one doing statics at around 9 minutes. I think in the next year or two, we'll see other freedivers figuring out what works. Tom and Karl have at least a one year head start on the rest of the field.
I think we are missing the point here with all the discussion of CO2 tolerance (earlier posts on this thread). Certainly, it's important within the whole formula, but what strikes me most about Tom Sietas' 9-minute statics is that when he finishes he is in complete possession of his mental faculties when he finishes. In Vancouver, at 9'24" he was SMILING and breathing easily as his face came out of the water.
To me, this signifies that he has adapted his body to doing long breath-holds and has actually increased his capacity by a good 20-30%, rather than just making what he could do previously "easier." He still has oxygen left in the tank and his body is not disabled by hypoxia. It is a complete package, with many elements in combination, dependent on each other.
CO2 tolerance to me is a misleading concept. Here's what I think increasing CO2 tolerance means for most people:
-easier, less psychologically difficult contractions
-smaller amplitude contractions, or same amplitude, but greater time between them
-a lessened feeling of suffocation
-delayed start of contractions
-contractions do not get unbearable at the end
Notice how CO2 tolerance refers to minimizing negative sensations and effects. I believe when we get contractions, most of us feel like the breath hold is going downhill. Since contractions and the CO2 "burn" are interpreted by most as painful, unpleasant, undesireable (wow! you endure 4 minutes of contractions? how horrible!), and detrimental to the breath hold, that's why so much focus is applied to avoiding or minimizing contractions. And with this focus on what we are feeling, we choose practise and training methods that avoid this kind of discomfort, especially since they to help with achieving longer breath holds.
I think this way of seeing apnea comes from beginner courses in breath holding, in which hyperventilation is often encouraged, even if it is euphemised as "ventilations" or "a breathe-up", and progressive breath holds before going for maximum are encouraged. Everyone can identify with the progression of ten seconds at a time, and in the beginning instructors stress the learning of one's limits to be safe. What is ironic, is the possibility that if students were taught to breathe normally and do breath holds without a "warm-up" and without hyperventilation, they could indeed get a better knowledge of how apnea is affected by daily variables. For sure, in the beginning, it would be more likely that they would not black out because their tolerance for hypercapnia would be so low. But as they developed that tolerance and gained experience with longer breath holds, they would be better able to recognize the signs and symptoms of hypoxia when they start to occur(unlike the beginner who can rapidly progress well beyond the point where hypoxia will affect them with hyperventilation techniques).
Warm-ups I think are also less useful to a beginner in learning their own response to apnea because if they are relatively easy, say 2-4 minutes, these breath holds provide very little information about how they are doing for that day. Then, the maximum attempt is a shot in the dark. I have experienced this in past with static apnea. One two separate days, warms ups are fine and normal for each, but on one day, I am able to reach a good time and on another I am not. What is the point of the warm up? Did it really help me achieve the good time on the good day (I no longer believe so). Regardless, it didn't tell me anything about how well I would do on my maximum effort for that day. It is akin to a beginner diving to 20m twice and then suddenly going for 55m. Unsafe because there is no way of knowing how someone will do based on those 20m dives.
Viewing contractions and CO2 tolerance in this way prevents us from seeing what might be most important in increasing our apnea ability: specificity of adaptation.
I believe the success of Tom Sietas and Karl Pernett is due to the fact that during the course of their training they communicate to the body exactly what is required of it to achieve a maximum breath hold:
-maximum splenic contraction
(with a maximum first breath hold, the spleen would have an intense stimulus to contract as much as possible and this would be reinforced with repeated training sessions vs. warm-up style, the stimulus is not as intense as the freediver warms up with gradually more intense statics--> thus the one-time stimulus for splenic contraction is less. Additionally, in one-rep max static, the body learns that the task at hand is an long breath hold, not a short exhale static or inhale warm-up, and so the spleen reacts specifically to long one-rep max statics)
-maximum hypoxic tolerance
(How long do Karl and Tom spend at below 80% SAO2? I'll bet it is much longer than you or me. It would be interesting to note their saturations throughout the breath hold. I would guess it is around 2-3 minutes, at least. Again, this is a lot longer than any exhale static or inhale static I've ever been able to do WITHOUT hyperventilation. If you hyperventilate, I believe you are not training with specificity.)
-maximum oxygen conservation
(If each time you hold your breath, you are going for maximum, your body must necessarily adapt by anticipating this and lowering your oxygen consumption. I believe this is a huge factor for Tom's static. Whereas my saturation begins to drop rather quickly after reaching say, 70% SAO2 or 65% SAO2, I believe that his saturation decreases at a much slower rate (more linear progression, rather than a sharp, downward curve). I think that the majority of freedivers who have pbs under 6 minutes have not provided their bodies with much if any stimulus to conserve oxygen.)
-maximum vasoconstriction
(Stimulus is intense. Vasoconstrict or black out! See above)
-normal pH equilibrium to start and maximum systemic buffering of carbonic acid
(When Tom Sietas holds his breath for 9 minutes, why do his contractions start at 3-4 minutes? If he has "high CO2 tolerance" shouldn't his contractions be delayed? More than half his apnea involves contractions. I think that contractions are a sign of something else that is very complex that goes on beneath the surface. First of all, Tom Sietas' blood pH is more likely to be at an equilibrium before his breath hold than someone who has either hyperventilated or done a number of breath holds. Also, he has not accumulated any oxygen debt in his tissues or metabolic junk: clean slate. While we know that the buffering and other systemic reactions to increasing carbonic acid starts as soon as you begin to hold your breath, I wonder if it may be easier for the body to perform this important task starting from a normal resting state rather than after a few warm ups. Question: Does the body's reaction to apnea consume more oxygen or not work as well if the body is already depleted or if the blood/body pH is too acidic or too alkaline? Question: What does a late contraction really mean? If it means that the buffering and coping mechanism is delayed or hampered, then perhaps it is not such a good thing. Question: The body is not comprised of seperate systems. Hemoglobin is a buffering agent along with bicarbonate and some others blood substances. If a one-rep max static releases the most hemoglobin (with established training) it may be working in concert with other blood buffers and the effects of vasoconstriction to keep up with the accumulation of carbonic acid. One more reason not to look at elements separately and to train them all simultaneously.
The irony here, if I am right in my theories, is that static apnea will become more enjoyable as you train with maximum effort because the body will take over what needs to be done to cope with the new stress. You won't have to do CO2 tables anymore! So while many of us may opt to avoid the Tom Sietas training style because it might be arduous and mentally draining and slow to yield immediate results, those of us who stick with it may soon find that it is enjoyable to watch the body figure out what it needs to do. And I look forward to the day when I can do 3-4 minutes dives underwater or sit on the bottom for five or six minutes on my first breath hold of the day.
I can do a max constant weight dive and dyanmic apnea without a warm-up, now static apnea is the only thing left to make me into a freediver who can dive like a seal.
To summarize what I've explored above:
1. Max static attempts with no warm-up could be the best way for the body to learn how to adapt most favourably for long breath holds
2. Warm-ups may confuse the body or be simply less than optimum
3. The idea of CO2 tolerance has mislead us, there are other elements that are perhaps more important, but ultimately they are all linked
4. There are specific adaptations needed for max breath holds that probably cannot be achieved without training with maximum statics (specificity)
5. Body's reaction to pH may need to start from "rest" to be most effective (reasons unknown)
My 2 cent theory.
Pete Scott
Vancouver, BC
