Freediving Practice.

[SailNaked]

i thought I was ok to be able to hold my breath ~ 1:20 I used to see how long I could hold my breath in the tub when I was kid. Recently I talked to a free diver that can hold their breath over 5 minutes, and while I thought this was amazing she could only dive to 91ft no where near the record of over 800ft (244M).

How do you get to be able to hold your breath long enough to be able to swim a 1/4 mile on one breath?

 

[fdog]

To clarify, that's not a swim down to 800' and back to the surface (~1/4 mile), it's a freefall ride down on a weighted sled, followed by a lift bag ride to the surface. Still impressive, though.

More to your question, though, on how you get these cool skillz:

Performance Freediving Class Report

Since the class, I've been able to get quite a bit more depth and time just by practicing, and we spend whole weekends just freediving.

...I even bought new bifins, a bargain at $600!



All the best James

 

[SailNaked]

no, the record is apnea with fins, IE a swim to 244M and then a swim back. they have one without fins that I could not even dream of with fins.

http://www.impulseadventure.com/freedive/world-record.html Static apnea (breath holding) is over 9 minutes

 

[Hank49]

Some people are genetically superior for holding breath. Big lungs, chest to body ratio.
You can train to hold your breath in different ways. I've tried tables where you hold for 1.5 minutes and start with a 2 minute interval. Each interval goes less by 15 seconds. The other way is to use the same 2 minute interval but so longer breath holds by 15-30 seconds. In doing this, I can work up to holding my breath for 4 minutes....laying on my couch. In the water it's different.
Most times there is some current, waves, it's s bit cold etc so I can't relax the way I do on the couch doing the tables. I rarely do free dives while spearfishing for longer than 1 min 20 seconds. Too much movement, using up oxygen.
The best training I've found is just to free dive every weekend. And the first 4-5 dives of the day are always short. It takes a few to work up and relax.
If you're serious, and I plan to do this in Hawaii in July if I can. Take the Performance Free Diving course. Everyone that's taken it has said it was well worth it. Lots of safety tips in it.

 

[smellzlikefish]

Do it a LOT! For four months I worked with NOAA's Marine Debris Program removing derelict fishing gear from reefs down to 30 feet. 30 feet is admittedly very shallow, but we were working at 30 feet. This meant diving down, cutting/pulling/tying ropes to nets that were buried in sand and/or entangled on the reef. At the end of the 4 month contract, they took us outside the reef over ~70 feet. Every one of us could hit bottom easily and many of us could spend considerable time down there. The secret is relaxation. Before going I had a 2:30 breath hold, which isn't much compared to others. I haven't tried since, but it is probably more than that.

We had a celebrated freediver on the cruise with us who regularly hits 220 feet with only fins, mask, wetsuit and weight belt and has a 6 minute breath hold. He went for the state record without fins to 180 feet and would have made it except that he blacked out on his way up. He was amazing in the water.

 

[fdog]

no, the record is apnea with fins, IE a swim to 244M and then a swim back. they have one without fins that I could not even dream of with fins.

ImpulseAdventure - Freediving - World Records Static apnea (breath holding) is over 9 minutes

Sailnaked, I believe you have mistaken the Dynamic Apnea record for a depth record.

Dynamic Apnea is a swim for distance at a shallow depth, usually in a pool. The current record is 250 meters (820').

The record for swiming to depth, then returning, comes in a variety of flavors. IIRC the Constant Weight Fins record is 122 meters (400').

Here's a cool promo video that shows many of the apnea disciplines:






All the best, James

 

[SailNaked]

In a POOL!!!! that is not freediving that is free swimming, it should be in the swimming records. either way 400ft is really deep to swim on one breath.

 

[SailNaked]

I did not know that breath holding actually improved with practice, I assumed your first try was as good as you would get and then all tries after would be shorter because you would have less O2 in your body. I was wrong, on the way home from work I made about 5 timed tries and improved my time from one minute to three.

Not sure why this works or if it is a method to improve Sac rate or not.

 

[Hank49]

I did not know that breath holding actually improved with practice, I assumed your first try was as good as you would get and then all tries after would be shorter because you would have less O2 in your body. I was wrong, on the way home from work I made about 5 timed tries and improved my time from one minute to three.

Not sure why this works or if it is a method to improve Sac rate or not.

I don't know either but that's the way it is. Try this table while watching TV. Ventilate means just breath very deeply and slowly. (this is what I do on the surface pretty much the whole time I'm in the water). "Static" means breath hold time.
Using the O2 table, I got up to 4 minutes.
I'm not sure if this really helps you hold your breath longer in the water but it does demonstrate what you just stated.
My buddy was doing the CO2 table and cut his ventilate time down to 15 seconds and was still making the minute and a half breath hold. He's better than I am.


An example of a CO² Table:
1. ventilate 2:30 static 1:30
2. ventilate 2:15 static 1:30
3. ventilate 2:00 static 1:30
4. ventilate 1:45 static 1:30
5. ventilate 1:30 static 1:30
6. ventilate 1:15 static 1:30
7. ventilate 1:00 static 1:30
8. ventilate 1:00 static 1:30
total duration 25:15

An example of an O² Table:
1.ventilate 2:00 static 1:00
2.ventilate 2:00 static 1:15
3.ventilate 2:00 static 1:30
4.ventilate 2:00 static 1:45
5.ventilate 2:00 static 2:00
6.ventilate 2:00 static 2:15
7.ventilate 2:00 static 2:30
8.ventilate 2:00 static 2:30
total duration 30:45

 

[freedomone]

They can hold thier breath for very long time because of non stop practice holding their breath.