Free-diving student blacks out training - Taiwan

[Angelo Farina]

I get it - but what you seem to be saying is even worse? It sounds like you are saying that you trained out your body’s inbuilt safety/warning system?

Exactly. Free diving training is most about brains control and minimising any unneeded muscle activity.
After a couple of years of daily training, you improve incredibly your body and brains capability.
You go from an apnea while swimming of 40s to more than 2 minutes.
I did reach the point of swimming 25 meters (one pool) with underwater frog style (no mask, no fins) with just 4 strokes, and to be able to do easily forth and back (that is 50m of underwater path).
Despite the success in minimising CO2 production, the reduction of O2 consumption is less relevant.
So the risk of anoxy is increased. And so the risk of blackout...

 

[sea_ledford]

7 minutes would be exceptional for a trained athlete. However, if they breathe up on pure oxygen, it can significantly extend breathholds. I've never done it, but I think the world record is over 20 minutes or something absolutely insane.

I did a freediving class with Kirk Krack (the training/safety guy for Avatar), and I'm pretty sure he said they were prebreathing O2. It would be dumb not to really. I was also able to get to a 4 minute static breath hold after about 20 minutes of training. I would say that was somewhat due to my previous experience with freediving, but my dive partner, who had never freedove before, also made it to 4 minutes.

I wasn't even having contractions at the 4 minute mark, so I probably could have made 5 minutes, but 4 was the pre-determined max time. Again this was static, floating at the surface, with a buddy literally hands on, under supervision.

 

[BoltSnap]

I did a freediving class with Kirk Krack

Is it worth taking a course with him instead of others? Is he a good instructor without distracting "ego" issues?

 

[Bob DBF]

Can a mod please remove the post that says it’s hard to blackout in a pool. That varies so much from person to person and is really unsafe to leave up imo.

Press the report button at the bottom of the page and make your request there, a mod may never get around to reading your post. On a phone, the report may be in a drop down list at the bottom of the page.

 

[johndiver999]

The statement was refuted and the person making it, did nothing to further validate his claim. Do we really need moderators to sensor one erroneous comment?

I'd rather have people learn why an idea is wrong, rather than to never be exposed to it. The world is full of negative examples and they often provide the best learning opportunities.

 

[Vicko]

The statement was refuted and the person making it, did nothing to further validate his claim. Do we really need moderators to sensor one erroneous comment?

What do you mean the claim was refuted?
People who refuted it by sharing their experience of passing out in a pool were breaking the basic safety rules.
You don't do static apnea at the bottom of a pool due to the drop in pO2 as you ascend and you never hyperventilate before a dive because you get rid of the CO2 which triggers your need to breathe.

Both things are taught at lesson 1 of most modern freediving courses, at least the ones I'm holding.
Freediving in a pool is safe by all metrics you can find, the recorded deaths happen only when the person does not have a spotter, which is again the most basic rule of any freediving association that I know of.

 

[johndiver999]

You are making foolish claims, any activity that requires a dedicated and one on one supervision to avoid a fatality, is by definition, unsafe.

Why don’t you just state that you personally do not have the fortitude to push yourself to the max in a pool, while many others, both experienced and novice have paid the ultimate price for having the balls to push it?

 

[dmaziuk]

You are making foolish claims, any activity that requires a dedicated and one on one supervision to avoid a fatality, is by definition, unsafe.

For example, autoerotic asphyxiation.

 

[sea_ledford]

Is it worth taking a course with him instead of others? Is he a good instructor without distracting "ego" issues?

He is a good instructor, you certainly have to hear about everything he has done. It is an impressive resume, but... there is some self promotion. The only other freediving class I took was with Pipin in the '90's so I don't have any modern equivalents to compare to. I learned more from Kirk than I did from Pipin, but I got to ride a no-limits sled with Pipin.

I just did a one day, shallow water pool only course, so it was strictly focused on breathing patterns and static apnea.

 

[johndiver999]

For example, autoerotic asphyxiation.

yes grasshopper.