Breathe Hold Exercises

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Hey I got another question :)

Whenever I hold my breathe and I feel the burn I have this urge to breathe the air out.

Should I let a little bit out or just stick with it and keep the air in my lungs?
 
SCUBA_Morg,

Re-read my posts, please. When you feel this "burn," which is the urge to breath, it's time to surface. If you get into a rythm of breath-holding, you will gradually find that this urge comes later, but when you get the urge, surface. Blowing out as you surface can clear the snorkel, and at the same time reduces the need to breath. But again, NO HYPERVENTILATING before the dive.

SeaRat
 
SCUBA_Morg:
Hi,

I was wondering if any of you know good exercises that will help build larger and more stronger lungs?

I want to stay under water a lot longer then I currently can and I haven't seen any good exercises that will help me do this.

Any info is appreciated eyebrow
Great to see another freediving enthusiast!
When I started freediving in 1989, information on freediving was scarce. In fact, I recall that hyperventilation was the theme in order to extend breath hold times. Fortunately, this is now frowned upon as simple ventilation has been discovered to work effectively. I, personally, have tried just about everything known to the freediving world to try and extend my u/w breath hold time. This includes hyperventilation (before the dangers were really known and understood), inspiratory/expiratory muscle trainers, hypoxic training, alpha wave training, biofeedback, yogic meditation and packing. Currently, the emphasis appears to be in body alkalinity/acidity adjustment and metabolism. The folks over at deeperblue get pretty in depth on some of these topics. If I were you I would research some areas of interest and simply enjoy what you may find.
You mentioned that you want to stay underwater longer. It took me a very long time to realize that in trying to make myself stay underwater longer, I was defeating the purpose. Hard to convince people of this but instead of making yourself stay u/w longer you have to be patient and allow yourself to stay u/w longer. Yea, i know it doesn't make much sense does it?
There has been some good advice given here and remember that safety is paramount. By the way, if you want some good reading material, "Freedive" by Terry Maas is good as well as "The Manual of Freediving" by Humberto Pelizzari. Both are entertaining as well as informative and written by two of the elites in freediving.
 
freediver:
Great to see another freediving enthusiast!
When I started freediving in 1989, information on freediving was scarce. In fact, I recall that hyperventilation was the theme in order to extend breath hold times. Fortunately, this is now frowned upon as simple ventilation has been discovered to work effectively. I, personally, have tried just about everything known to the freediving world to try and extend my u/w breath hold time. This includes hyperventilation (before the dangers were really known and understood), inspiratory/expiratory muscle trainers, hypoxic training, alpha wave training, biofeedback, yogic meditation and packing. Currently, the emphasis appears to be in body alkalinity/acidity adjustment and metabolism. The folks over at deeperblue get pretty in depth on some of these topics. If I were you I would research some areas of interest and simply enjoy what you may find.
You mentioned that you want to stay underwater longer. It took me a very long time to realize that in trying to make myself stay underwater longer, I was defeating the purpose. Hard to convince people of this but instead of making yourself stay u/w longer you have to be patient and allow yourself to stay u/w longer. Yea, i know it doesn't make much sense does it?
There has been some good advice given here and remember that safety is paramount. By the way, if you want some good reading material, "Freedive" by Terry Maas is good as well as "The Manual of Freediving" by Humberto Pelizzari. Both are entertaining as well as informative and written by two of the elites in freediving.


Thanks I will definatly look for those books the next time I get to Chapters or something...

Yea I totaly understand your reasoning on staying u/w. I plan on using the following equipment:

Full Body Wetsuit
Mask
Fins
Gloves
Weightbelt with 10 lbs on it or less... I just want to be semi netural..

I would like to just swim down to an achor we have that is roughly 15-20 feet down and just sit there for as long as possible. I know that I would need to calm my mind and just try to slow my heart beat and get comfortable with the small amount of compression. Then once I get comfortable with that I will slowly go deeper.

I really need to work on calming my mind....
 
For most freedivers staying above 100 feet, a moderately low volume mask that still provides a good field of vision, will work fine. The Seavision 2000 shown in the attached photo, (it's a TUSA Liberator+ clone), is about the biggest to consider. Ditto on the black silicone, especially if you're a hunter or photographer.

A competitive freediver seeking 100+ feet should invest in an extrememly low volume mask. These divers are only looking at the rope when they descend, so the limited vision is not an issue. Cressi Minima, Aqualung Sphera, etc.

A rubber weight belt is best for staying put.

The snorkel is the least important choice. Highly trained freedivers only breathe at the surface with them, and remove their snorkels to dive.

Long fins will be the most important gear choice for the freediver. Try to demo them first to find the right blades for your leg strength. Keep in mind that neoprene socks should be sized with them if you need thermal protection or just for comfort.

Chad
 
Chad Carney:
For most freedivers staying above 100 feet, a moderately low volume mask that still provides a good field of vision, will work fine. The Seavision 2000 shown in the attached photo, (it's a TUSA Liberator+ clone), is about the biggest to consider. Ditto on the black silicone, especially if you're a hunter or photographer.

A competitive freediver seeking 100+ feet should invest in an extremely low volume mask. These divers are only looking at the rope when they descend, so the limited vision is not an issue. Cressi Minima, Aqualung Sphera, etc.

A rubber weight belt is best for staying put.

The snorkel is the least important choice. Highly trained freedivers only breathe at the surface with them, and remove their snorkels to dive.

Long fins will be the most important gear choice for the freediver. Try to demo them first to find the right blades for your leg strength. Keep in mind that neoprene socks should be sized with them if you need thermal protection or just for comfort.

Chad

Thanks again for your detailed and very informative posts..

That is a nice setup you have there. How long can you hold your breathe for underwater? also what depth do you usually go?

I would very much love to try spear fishing. My father did it in the Virgin Island.

I see what you mean by the low volume mask... I think I have a similar mask that has a low volume that I will try out.

For me freediving would be more of a fun thing to do. Examples:

Just exploring and seeing how far I can go down.
Spear fish when I can.

I am not that big on just diving straight down and then coming right back up. I would want to get to the bottom and do a little exploring. :D

I have been somewhat freediving but I haven't been serious about it enough to train for it and to test my limits as far as depth goes.
 
Scuba Morg,

I usually dive as shallow as I can to find a fish or see what I want to see. And I try to stay down about half as long as I know I can. That way I'm never pushing too hard.

My mask has bifocals in it, or I would already have a slightly lower volume model. Still this one is not an issue above 100 feet, and it has a good field of view.

The best advise I can give you is to find a buddy and enjoy expanding your abilities together.

Dive safe.

Chad
 
Well I just did a successful breath old I find. However I did notice that I need alot more information. Thanks for suggesting those courses and those books. I will see if I can pick them up.

I held my breathe out of water for 1:28 seconds. I felt the burn in my lungs/throat and then I stopped. In my previous post I thought that I hit the burn stage but I was incorrect. I just had the urge to breathe.

Also I think that I was hyperventating.. I took my first 2 breathes a little to fast. I now am going to do it alot slower. I also had my hand over my chest and was monitoring my heart rate. I was trying to get it lower but I couldn't reach my goal. I found it stayed a little under moderate.

I will look into a course and try to find some of these books.

Thanks alot guys for giving me all this usefull information.

Morg
 

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