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fookisan

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I don't do much freediving since my breath holding ability is poor. Any tips on improving this. I can hold breath fair if I do not move much, maybe a minute if still underwater, but once I swim this drops off. The most I can jog is about 2 miles or so and this is with some effort and steady practice. I'm 51 and in fair shape, but have never had a great deal of "wind" when it comes to exertion.

Dan T
 
fookisan:
I don't do much freediving since my breath holding ability is poor. Any tips on improving this. I can hold breath fair if I do not move much, maybe a minute if still underwater, but once I swim this drops off. The most I can jog is about 2 miles or so and this is with some effort and steady practice. I'm 51 and in fair shape, but have never had a great deal of "wind" when it comes to exertion.

Dan T

hey Dan, great to see you in the forum!
My first advice for you would be to continue working on your core fitness such as cardio-respiratory training. Activities like walking, jogging, cycling. After you have a reasonable conditioning level attained there you can begin to "refine" your breath holding. Of course the most logical way to improve this would be through freediving itself but there are some things you can do on land. Considering your age (no offense at all partner) and the fitness level you gave, i would focus on land activities before going full force in the water. By what you said it sounds like your endurance isn't quite where you want it. The earlier mentioned activities will help along with some dry land lung exercises. I would suggest getting a book on Yoga (or some simple internet research) and learning how to breathe correctly. This is where it all begins. You can progress from there by investing in a lung resistance trainer (or a coffee straw). This will help in utilizing and strengthening your diaphragm to be able to draw in adequate breaths.
I will start posting some tips on what has worked for me over the years. Please remember, however, any activity, whether breath-holding or not can be dangerous if not done correctly or if performed without supervision. It goes without saying (although i am) that any water and esp. water apnea activity should be done only under ideal situations, this would include your physical feeling and also the necessity of qualified supervision. Keep us posted and be safe.
 
Hi Dan...
This isn´t a very interesting answer for you but it may help..I was never very good at holding my breath for a long time, so I started practising, I litterally breath about 5 or 6 shallow breaths, then take a big deep breath and dive down, get to the point of where I want to be, and concentrate on what I´m doing( I usually have to be pointing out a grouper or morray eel to my clients on the surface) once I´m concentrated on the object, I find that my mind sort of takes over the thoughts of how long I can hold my breath for and is more interested in whether the clients can see my find, and if I´m still going to have my hand on the way up!!! I found that the more times a day I do it, the better you get at it. It may help you or it may not, but give it a try anyway. Just make sure you don´t push yourself to much. Remember you still have to come up.
 
Hi Dan, I'm about your same age and don't have a great breath-hold ability, but I still enjoy easy freediving. The fact that your breath-hold drops when you move underwater is very typical -- when I took a freediving clinic, we were taught that max time on a "working" dive is usually about half the max time you can hold your breath in the water without moving. The most important things I've found to help improve this are (a) relaxing totally in the water, (b) doing a proper breath-up before freedives (which doesn't mean hyperventilating, and (c) practicing "dry" breath-hold at home on the couch (optionally using training tables). Needless to say, as was pointed out, any breath-hold in the water should be done under direct supervision of a buddy.
 
Some freediving specific training might help. Try doing "dry" statics, holding your breath while in an easy chair. That way if you accidentally pass out you won't be injured. You can download some training tables here . You can use these tables to build up both your tolerence to the CO2 that builds up during a dive and the lack of O2 that you will experience during a dive.

I also find that doing laps in a pool with fins on helps. If your doing any in water breathhold training you should be directly supervised, a lifegaurd doesn't cut it I normally just have my wife hang out and watch. Again, when doing underwater laps focus on either building a tollerence for CO2 buildup or O2 deprivation. For instance to target CO2 buildup, do laps underwater at high speed with a constant rest break between laps, say 30 seconds. For O2 do laps slowly underwater, and have a decreasing rest break between laps. I normally count breaths, something like 10, 10, 9, 8, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3.

You can also try apnea walking, this is very good for building your apnea times. It's also relatively safe if you pass out in a nice grassy field it's not likely to be as terminal as passing out in a swimming pool if your lacking supervision. Just hold your breath and walk as far as you can, breath and repeat.

Hope that helps! Pm me if you need any more specific advice.
 
Thanks for all the input - planning on working at it as suggested.

Dan T
 
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