Breath Holding tips wanted!

[MermaidAqua]

Hey! I know this is a topic that has many threads, but searching through the forum I couldn't find any ones :/ I remember there being one here sometime last year as well... so if anyone knows any good breath holding threads I would love a link!

If not, I was wondering if anyone has any breath holding tips. I can barely manage 10 seconds and in the one pool in my area where I can swim in my monofin I can barely hold my breath at all, its sooo cold! I just find my chest is so tense all the time...

Any tips would be greatly appreciated, thanks so much!

~Mermaid Aqua

[Aziara]

For starting out your practice, I find it helpful to sit in a comfortable chair or lie down in bed. Spend a few minutes breathing slowly and deeply, to relax and fully oxygenate your body. Then try holding. If you simply try to hold your breath without relaxing first, it will be very difficult to get a good breath hold time. Try running some short O2 and CO2 tables. There's apps to make them easier: Static Apnea Trainer for Android, or iApnea for iPhone. Both are free!

[Echidna]

if you can only hold your breath for 10 seconds, it could be you're having too little surface time.
for a long, uninterrupted underwater time, you need preparation.

try to relax at the surface, breathing deeply for a long time.
only once you feel totally calm and quiet and your heart is beating slowly, dive.

being calm and relaxed is the key point.
I know it's hard if the water is too cold.
they say cold water enhances your diving reflex, but all it does to me is shivering, and my body going into "freeze arrgh I'm dying"-panic mode.

Do you have a warmer pool, maybe shallower?
I can hold my breath way longer in warmer water because I'm more relaxed in there.

also, you can try to inhale less deep before diving.
packing air tightens the chest, puts pressure on the heart, and can feel very uncomfortable, especially if you're moving/swimming.

[Chrissy]

Yoga helps too!!! I practice but taking air in for 5 seconds and breathing out for 5 seconds getting as much air out of my lungs as possible and I do that for about 2 minutes, then I slowly practice holding my breath longer taking a minute of two break between breath holds

[AptaMer]

Hey MermaidAqua, the very best thing you could do would be to find out whether you have a freediving club where you live, join them and take lessons. It's been the best for me & all my friends who've done it.

Also, if you're getting cold in your pool, pick up a thin wetsuit. About 1/2 of the people at club nights wear wetsuits (the thinner ones, it really does help to have a little bodyfat if you want to be warm in the water) It really does help to stay warm when you're training still in the water.

The Aquaskin 1mm suit by AquaSphere is one that is pretty cheap online, and gets good reviews
21937

[MermaidAqua]

Thanks everyone for your tips! I totally get the breathing in too deep and too little surface time im swimming again tomorrow so ill be sure to take notes :)

[Thessalonike]

A technique that I use is called "Breathing up". Breath in for a few seconds (counting). I usually do 4. Then breathe out for twice asd mutch. in: 1..2..3..4.. out 1..2..3..4..5..6..7..8. Once you get comfortable with that, try tripeling the exhale time, so on, and so forth. Try to breathe in for as short time as you can, then breathe out for as long as you can. This will help to expand your lungs. Another thing that helps is to blow up balloons repetidly. This has helped me to reach a static breath-hold of 2 minutes and 38 seconds. Hope this helps you! :)

[MarkF]

I would add that time can be harder than distance. For me I need to measure distance. The time passes and I'm less preoccupied by it. For now forget breathing techniques, just swim and next time just go a little further. As your swimming improves your need for air goes down. The younger you are the faster you'll need to come up. Plus swimming will make the temp more bearable. Everyone starts small and the more you can do it the better you'll get. :)

[Mermaid Narina]

I spend 2 hours a day on public transport, and last year I spent nearly all that time using a Static Apnea training app on my samsung!!! Within about 6 months my breath hold got up to 2 1/2 minutes (originally 30 sec)!
i like to listen to enya music while I'm doing it to relax :phew:

[Nicky-Katz]

The key to a long dive is calmness. And the dive reflex, that all mammals have. Dive reflex is triggered when your face contacts water. The colder the better. When dive reflex is triggered, your body gets the message from your brain to slow metabolism down, slower your heart and breath rate. It does take time to adjust. When practising in a pool I take a snorkel and do my "breathe in" with my face in the water to trigger the reflex.

The first rule of safety: NEVER EVER practice alone. Even if you're laying on the couch or the beach and do dry practice, always tell someone what you're doing. A blackout can happen any time.

Breathe in technique is easy to learn. First, practice dry. Lye down so that none of the muscles are tense and you feel nice and comfortable on your back. You might want to close your eyes. Put your palm on your stomach and the other one on your chest. Inhale into your stomach pulling the diaphragm down helping it gently with your abs. Then widen your chest still inhaling to the maximum lung capacity. When exhaling, press your tongue against the roof of the mouth and exhale under pressure so that you make a snake-like sound. The time of an exhale should be twice the inhale time.
Continue for three or four minutes. Then take your last inhale into the stomach, lower your diaphragm, widen your chest and hold.

You'll be surprised by the result.

Remember not to eat at least for three or four hours before you practise: digestion requires a lot of your body resources. So one breath will be used faster as your stomach needs energy to digest food.

Also, there are a lot of good books about freediving. http://www.deeperblue.com/10-essential-books-freedivers/ here are some of them. I've got myself one from the German author, that is not listed there.

Have fun and be careful!

[Nicky-Katz]

Also:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-bCgqcMh9xA

[Merman Chatfish]

The key to a long dive is calmness. And the dive reflex, that all mammals have. Dive reflex is triggered when your face contacts water. The colder the better. When dive reflex is triggered, your body gets the message from your brain to slow metabolism down, slower your heart and breath rate. It does take time to adjust. When practising in a pool I take a snorkel and do my "breathe in" with my face in the water to trigger the reflex.

The first rule of safety: NEVER EVER practice alone. Even if you're laying on the couch or the beach and do dry practice, always tell someone what you're doing. A blackout can happen any time.

Breathe in technique is easy to learn. First, practice dry. Lye down so that none of the muscles are tense and you feel nice and comfortable on your back. You might want to close your eyes. Put your palm on your stomach and the other one on your chest. Inhale into your stomach pulling the diaphragm down helping it gently with your abs. Then widen your chest still inhaling to the maximum lung capacity. When exhaling, press your tongue against the roof of the mouth and exhale under pressure so that you make a snake-like sound. The time of an exhale should be twice the inhale time.
Continue for three or four minutes. Then take your last inhale into the stomach, lower your diaphragm, widen your chest and hold.

You'll be surprised by the result.

Remember not to eat at least for three or four hours before you practise: digestion requires a lot of your body resources. So one breath will be used faster as your stomach needs energy to digest food.

Also, there are a lot of good books about freediving. http://www.deeperblue.com/10-essential-books-freedivers/ here are some of them. I've got myself one from the German author, that is not listed there.

Have fun and be careful!

Wouldn't blacking out on a couch be safe since your consciousness stop breath holding and your body's automated system cause you stop start breathing again?

[Mermaid Lilium]

Wouldn't blacking out on a couch be safe since your consciousness stop breath holding and your body's automated system cause you stop start breathing again?

It's more don't do it alone anywhere, no matter what. Cause even on the sofa if you black out alone, there's no one to try and bring you round or do cpr and/or call an abulance.