This all seems a little over-bearing... any advice?

[1145climber]

Hey all -

I'm an advanced certified scuba diver, a diver on my high school's swim team, and i've always been more than comfortable in the water. Recently, as i've been browsing through these scuba forums, i've come across more and more free diving material, and am becoming really interested. there's one major thing holding me back though:

i've always prided my ability to hold my breath longer than my friends can. for me, though, that means like 45 or 50 seconds while fooling around in a pool with kids. my record is 1:25 after being in a completely relaxed (read: lazy) state for half an hour before i timed it. my problem is, all this talk seems so overbearing in the fact that people discuss going to depths of 25 meters... i barely go that deep on my scuba dives! and then they swim around for a while before they head back to the surface?!? i dont know about you guys, but i burn oxygen so much more quickly if i'm exerting (swimming) rather than just holding my breath underwater while floating around...

it seems like i'll never be able to go that deep and swim around on a single breath. i'm willing to train a bit, doing apnea walks and breathing tables and all, but to me it seems like thats so far off. will i be able to attain anything even moderately close to that any time soon, or does it take months of training like it seems...

any tips or advice for an intimidated beginner would be much appreciated

 

[Waterysmile]

A very brief word of assurance to say that in a few weeks (or even days) you will be able to hold your breath for over 3 minutes after you start to practice.

 

[Spaniard]

Just like with any other discipline you get out what you put in. You can't bench 200lbs the first day at the gym either! Plenty of spearos I know will never go deeper than 10m but stay down for over 2 mins whilst they practice ambush fishing; the more comp. oriented freedivers want to go much deeper and therefore they train using some of the tools you mentioned to do just that. Try booking a freediving course if there is one near, you'll learn more in 2 days than in 2 years on here. This is still an excellent reference site but nothing beats interaction with instructors; training will do the rest.

 

[vali]

the equipement is also important
and don't forget....
swimming under water with scuba is verry hard comparing with freediving immersions...
i never felt such grace and freedom like in freediving.
with scuba gear on me i'm just a big and slowly thing
without scuba gear i'm really alive under water
25 meters is a depth that i cannot reach now, but i can tell u that 10 even 15 meters is a reacheabla one....
it is v important to be rested and focused on what u are going to do...

 

[naiad]

I am the opposite - I have been doing freediving (pool training mainly) for about 4 years now, and thought I was comfortable and relaxed in the water. A few weeks ago I tried scuba diving. It was so scary! I still think that jumping into deep water with scuba gear on, and mask removal/clearing, are things I really don't want to do again.

Maybe both are difficult if you are not used to them...

I agree with everyone else that you will almost certainly improve with training.

Lucia

 

[vali]

lucia....
wayt and see when you'll must take of all your scuba gear [including ABC] at 7 meter depth....leave it and go up...take a breath...and go down and put it on you again....
as far a s i know you are a good freediver...normally u don't have to have any difficulties with this sort of things....

 

[cebaztian]

Skip training, go for the breathhold extension tool:

Breathhold extension auxilary balloon

Sebastian

 

[hteas]

You should probably start with reading threads from here. There are a lot of them that deal with breathhold improvements. The other is to practice some form of table. There are several sites with O2 tables. I prefer 1-1, 2-2, 3-3...(breathe for 1 minute then hold for one, then breathe for 2 and hold for 2 (or whatever you can) Another simple version for starting is to hold for as long as you can, breathe for 2 minutes, then repeat. Do this for 20 minutes and you will probably see "instant" improvement. Most of us take a while (up to 20 minutes) for the diving reflex to kick in and increase the hold time, so give yourself some time to adapt during each practice session.

Do keep in mind that freediving, including floating around in the pool, can be dangerous, so never push yourself too hard without a trained buddy nearby (one who is paying attention only to you).

 

[vali]

i started scubadiving recently [about 2 years ago i guess]. and the main problem with me was that i used to held my breath in scuba...because i was used only with apnnea diving
now it's not a problem anymore, but you can see what some habbit can do

 

[naiad]

lucia....
wayt and see when you'll must take of all your scuba gear [including ABC] at 7 meter depth....leave it and go up...take a breath...and go down and put it on you again....
as far a s i know you are a good freediver...normally u don't have to have any difficulties with this sort of things....

That scares me even more... rofl

i started scubadiving recently [about 2 years ago i guess]. and the main problem with me was that i used to held my breath in scuba...because i was used only with apnnea diving
now it's not a problem anymore, but you can see what some habbit can do

That was one of the problems I was having. I automatically hold my breath when I feel water on my face. :head

 

[cdavis]

Hi climber,

Welcome to Db and be reassured. If you get into it, you will improve very fast. Recently, I helped a young guy with zero previous training go from less than 20 m dynamic to 50 m in one hour. Some of the stuff that looks almost super human to non-freedivers is really pretty easy with good technique.

Connor

 

[freedivinmike]

Hey Climber, I think one of the best ways to learn is to have someone experienced work with you a little one on one. Post your location and maybe someone on here lives near you that could help you get started. We are a very friendly bunch!

Mike

 

[1145climber]

wow, thank you all sooo sooo much for your encouraging advice. i can definitely feel the enthusiasm in the freediving community, and that makes me want to become a part of it even more.

i think i'll start off doing simple training exercises that i can fit into my everyday life conveniently (for example, i'm holding my breath while i type this post... hahaha), see if i can extend my limits a bit, and work from there.

if i feel good after a week or two of just casual exercises like that, and think this is a sport i would enjoy exploring, then i'll def look for a local freediving course or some help from the forum members... i live in massachusetts, twenty minutes west of boston. not exactly the most tropical place in the world, but i'm going to the BVI to scuba in late august! maybe i'll practice my freediving there with some more experienced people...

 

[kmo]

Hey climber,

After a couple of years of freedive spearfishing, I was finally getting reasonably comfortable hunting in 20m of water. Very short bottom times, but just enough to look for a ledge, stick my head under it, and shoot a fish. Other than diving regularly with experienced guys, I didn't do a lot of training to get that far.

A few weeks ago I did a course with Apnea Total (Thailand) and on the second day of the course, people who'd never freedived before were getting to 20m in scuba length fins. It was just a matter of learning a good breathe up routine which allowed them to relax and raise their oxygen levels. On the 5th day of the course I did a comfortable dive to 34.5m, well past my personal best.

I'm not suggesting that you'll have it all worked out in 2 days, but it was inspirational to me to see absolute beginners doing so well. I think that the lesson out of it is that for beginners, some of improving your results will come from training, but you can achieve a heap more with improvements in technique which you learn first hand from courses or experienced freedivers.

Good luck!