EPTThis is going to be my last in a series of blogs about free diving, or competitive apnea.
You can find part 1 here:
http://www.teamliquid.net/blogs/viewblog.php?id=151543
And part 2 here:
http://www.teamliquid.net/blogs/viewblog.php?id=152318
Today i am going to be writing about free dive training, and some of the ways that you can teach yourself how to hold your breath will in excess of 2 min.
The first and some may say the most important aspect of free dive practice is getting into the right mindset. Most would agree that free diving is a type of meditation, and many top athletes are known to practice some forms of yoga, or meditate before doing dives. Here is one such example:
(take special notice of the trance like state all of the divers enter at the surface, before going under.)
This is what is called as a breath up, and is the time spent directly before a dive to help the diver get 'in the zone.' Normally a breath up is a special set of breathing techniques that help to ready the body and mind for a dive.
Doing proper breath up, with proper mental conditioning allows for the athletes to achieve some amazing results, and today i am just going to give you a small glimpse of what some of that entails.
Before one undertakes a breath up, we first need to understand how to breath properly. Now babies breathe with their core mostly, while adults breath with the upper chest. These are two distinct ways of drawing in air to the lungs, however one is very in-efficient. When performing deep breathing- it is imperative that we practice filling our lungs from the bottom up.
In other words, we need to try and breathe like a baby again, and not rely on our intercostal muscles (ie the muscles found inside of your rib cage) The goal is to try and fill your lungs from the bottom up, with as little effort as possible. (You don't want to break your relaxed / concentration state) Over time you will become more elastic in the lungs, and like all things practice makes perfect.
Taking a few slow deep breaths while lying down, and trying to feel the breath coming from your diaphragm up through your lungs is the feeling that we are after. After you feel that you have gotten a grasp on this we can move on to the next step.
Now that you hopefully understand the concept of deep breathing a bit more, we can finally turn to the breath up technique. While this is just one of the many (and a very basic one, i still use it to this day, because it is my preferred and most comfortable.) Before attempting a hold, try the following:
Take a long and easy inhale, until your lungs are full. Once they reach that point, you should hold your breath for 2 heart beats, and then SLOWLY let the air escape from your lungs through your mouth. When i mean a slow exhale i am talking around 45 seconds. (now if you feel the urge to breath, you are going to slow- and need to go a bit faster) After you have released the air, keep going until you feel as if your lungs are empty. Rest in this state for another 2 heart beats and repeat.
Normally i like to the above 3 times, and when i get to my last inhale, i inhale deeply and quickly exhale, inhale deeply and quickly again and then hold my breath.
Now congratulations- your holding your breath! at this point the mind takes over- and thinking is going to make or break a good breath hold. staying inside of your trance like happy place is key. Negative thoughts are going to destroy your time, and keeping those at bay takes many weeks of practice. Breathing is a very very strong urge of the body, and learning to suppress it are key if you want to hold your breath.
Here is a breath hold that some one has put online, and has added a bit of commentary. he goes into some fairly advanced breath holding techniques (like packing) but on the other hand, he has some excellent commentary on his breath hold.
I don't want to go into to much depth here- because i suspect that most readers are only going to be taking a passive interest in this, however if any of you want some more information, or places to go- don't hesitate to Pm me!
I could talk about this forever, and have some excellent free diving training software, and online resources available upon request.
DO NOT HOLD YOUR BREATH ALONE IN THE POOL, IT'S A GREAT WAY TO DIE. THE ONLY TIME YOU SHOULD ATTEMPT THE FOLLOWING IS LYING ON YOUR BED, SAFE IN YOUR ROOM. DON'T BE STUPID.
well hope you enjoyed it TL, in a few days i will hopefully be introducing you to another one of my favorite hobbies! (the best part is- you can use this one to pick up chicks! it worked on my current gf lol)
