Freediving Question

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Iguana Don

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Those of you that Freedive can help me out here.

1) If and how long did you practice in the pool before venturing out into blue water?

2) How hard is it to overcome the "mamalian reflex", is it merely a mind thing?

3) What exercises did you use to overcome this?

Thanks

ID
 
Don,

The first two pool sessions in my OW class are devoted to the swim test and then free diving. Each pool session is about 2 hours long. My guess is 3 - 3½ hours of pool time (if properly directed) should be plenty to get a beginner ready for the ocean.

You don't want to "overcome" the mammalian diving reflex. This is what makes free diving more efficient.

The mammalian diving reflex is:
Bradycardia, or slowing of the heart rate to conserve energy;
Vasoconstriction, to increase blood available to the lungs;
Preferential shunting, to direct blood to only the most critical body areas;
Elevation of red blood cell count, to extract and carry more oxygen;
Thoracic filling, with plasma to prevent lungs and chest from collapse as pressure increases.

HTH,

WWW™
 
Walter,how nice to see you.ID,Walter is correct in that the"reflex"increases your ability to stay under longer.I take three full breaths,completely emptying my lungs and filling them till impossible to inhale any more.This lowers the CO which is what triggers the breathing reflex.There are many books and videos out there that teach more advanced techniques.
 
I've been free-diving sice I was about 10 years old. I never practiced in a pool, just started in the sea, not to far from my house.

The mammalian reflex, like mentioned, is not something you need to fight, it helps. You probobly ment the breathing reflex (whatever it's name in english). Like mentioned- the best way is to take 2 deep breathes, that refresh the lungs and take out CO2 and than a third one, very deep, and dive. remeber though not to take more than 2 breaths before the dive, becouse it may couse "Shalow water loss on concienceness" (again, dont know the reall english name)that is coused by to low CO2 levels.

You need to practice relaxing, and controling your breath, which are things you can actualy do out of the water. You also have to learn how to use the minimal amount of energy possible to prolong your stay (I can hold my breath while not moving for about 4.5 minuets, but if I swim I can stay less than 2 minuets).

One last thing- For a precoution, if you plan to do deep freedives, alwais have a buddy that can rescue you if you lose conscisness. All it takes to rescue usualy is diving 3 meters and bringing you to the surface. Once you get to the surface you'll get ok quite soon.
 
Apneic diving needs no practice time to get started... it will take many years to perfect. See Walter for the dissertation on the mammalian reflex (I had something TOTALLY different in mind) and I know thats why we let him stick around. The problem (danger) with breath hold diving is the hyperventilation. It actually reduces the feeling that makes you want to breathe. Consequently you can be out of o2 and not really know it and then black out because of the CO2 concentration in your lungs. Three breaths MAX before you dive and you should stop if you feel light headed or your fingers or toes feel tingly. It will help you with air management while on compresed air, and so it's a great excercise to do!

:tease:
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/swift/

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