Lung capacity training

[ninetoe1969]

i am wanting to get into freediving, but i don't have a big lung capacity. i also live in indiana and can't freedive often. so i was wondering if anyone had any special tips for expanding my breath out of water.

 

[Pointyman]

Hi, this might not be 100% right because I'm no expert.

But breath holding is related to how fast your heart beats. So logically to improve it would be to lower your heart rate or in other words, make your heart pump more efficiently.

The best way to do this, and I could be wrong, is to do alot of cardio. Running or doing vigorous excercise or whatever gets your heart pumping hard and fast for a relatively long period of time should improve your fitness and heart rate.

This would take some time to develop but just waking up early in the morning for lap swimming or anything would help alot. I hate running so I prefer the pool. I usually like doing 20 mins of full on workout.

Someone feel free to correct me. Personally, I've tried the 'beat your own breath holding record' without excercise and it doesn't work. Once I got into a routine workout, my downtime improved.

 

[ninetoe1969]

didn't think of that thats a good idea thanks

 

[BDAfreediver]

Yah the better shape your body is the better your use of oxygen. So doing a good work out and getting your body healthy helps overall. I do a bit of meditation of slow breathing in and out and holding in between and just holding a little bit longer bit by bit, but always listen to your body and never ignore the need to breathe.
Good Luck

 

[Aquaholic21]

I would always recommend a formal freediving class with certified instructors if you can afford it or have access to it but if not you can start just by working on your breathing, taking deep breaths and work on getting your heart rate down. Getting comfortable with the water is a big step so go out and dive whenever you can just keep in mind that it can be dangerous and respect the sport as such.

If your not near water then work on your dry land breath holds. One good exercise is to do some breath holds to get your body into "oxygen conservation mode" or whatever you feel like calling it. Then do a 1 min breath hold on your back, flip over, and on the same breath do as many pushups as you can. This teaches your body to not only deal with the lack of oxygen but also the build up of CO2 that happens during a breathhold.

Thats a good exercise for actual freediving. If you just wanna get your statci breathholds longer then youd obviously want to stay as calm as possible and just focus on your heart beat.

If your doing freediving or breathholds in a pool you want to be especially carefull as pools often provide a false sense of security and safety which is not actually there. People have died freediving in pools and I personally have blacked out in a pool before so its important to always dive with buddies who know what theyre doing. Not to scare you or anything, people dont blackout on a regular basis but when your pushing your limits to the edge it is possible.

Good luck though and have fun!

 

[ninetoe1969]

these are all very helpful i am grateful for he advice, thanks

 

[ktownhero]

Hi, this might not be 100% right because I'm no expert.

But breath holding is related to how fast your heart beats. So logically to improve it would be to lower your heart rate or in other words, make your heart pump more efficiently.

The best way to do this, and I could be wrong, is to do alot of cardio. Running or doing vigorous excercise or whatever gets your heart pumping hard and fast for a relatively long period of time should improve your fitness and heart rate.

This would take some time to develop but just waking up early in the morning for lap swimming or anything would help alot. I hate running so I prefer the pool. I usually like doing 20 mins of full on workout.

Someone feel free to correct me. Personally, I've tried the 'beat your own breath holding record' without excercise and it doesn't work. Once I got into a routine workout, my downtime improved.

Great advice thanks, I need to get my lung capacity up again after a few years of slackin'.

 

[JennyWren]

There are some ways to slightly increase lung capacity, I think, but you're much better off learning how to do proper breath-ups, how to lower your heart rate, and how to build up tolerances to high levels of CO2 and low levels of O2. Do a google search (or search this forum) for information on freediving tolerance tables. They are a great help for increasing your breath hold times.

As suggested by others, I also recommend taking a course. There's nothing like professional instruction to get you on the right path.