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Free diving and holding your breath.

El Guaraguao

El Guaraguao

Diamond Member
I got invited to do some spear fishing. Free diving style, no air tanks. Just goggles and your spear. Thing is, I suck at holding my breath, so I went online and checked out on some ways to help me hold my breath longer. I came across this article;

http://www.ehow.com/how_2062129_hold-breath-longer.html

The first day, which was yesterday, that I tried ehow's technique, That night, I kept waking up to this really odd feeling in the back of my throat. If you took a deep breath with your nose and held it, that pressure you feel at the veeeeery back of your throat? its in that area. also that odd feeling im talking about kinda feels like a headache. I know weird, that odd feeling pulses like a severe headache. It doesnt hurt and i dont get light headed from it. Just feels odd.

I jog\run 2miles mon-fri and love to swim. I dont smoke. So Im wondering if this is something you have to go through or if im going to die.
 
ferchrissake dude, you probably just stretched some tissue back there and have some inflammation, it'll get better.

The way to hold your breath longer is to practice as in the article you linked and get more aerobic exercise.
 
You'll just have to train your body and mind. Because you're not on scuba there is little harm.

To hold your breathe a long time first get oxygen rich. Long deep breaths before you go under. Once you're under you'll. Feel that sensation that you need to take a breathe

You don't. That is the co2 in your lungs. Just let out a quarter of you air and keep going. Repeat each time you feel that sensation. Surface only when there is no mote air in your lungs.

I can stay down 90-120 seconds. And I smoke. The less energy you exert the better.

Edit - that article is full of shit
 
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You're going to have sex with Rosanna Arquette then dive so deep that you can never return to the surface. Jean Reno will envy your dedication.
 
mofoe2001 said:
I got invited to do some spear fishing. Free diving style, no air tanks. Just goggles and your spear. Thing is, I suck at holding my breath, so I went online and checked out on some ways to help me hold my breath longer. I came across this article;

http://www.ehow.com/how_2062129_hold-breath-longer.html

The first day, which was yesterday, that I tried ehow's technique, That night, I kept waking up to this really odd feeling in the back of my throat. If you took a deep breath with your nose and held it, that pressure you feel at the veeeeery back of your throat? its in that area. also that odd feeling im talking about kinda feels like a headache. I know weird, that odd feeling pulses like a severe headache. It doesnt hurt and i dont get light headed from it. Just feels odd.

I jog\run 2miles mon-fri and love to swim. I dont smoke. So Im wondering if this is something you have to go through or if im going to die.
Click to expand...

Where are you going freediving? I've been looking for people to freedive with around Monterey. I've got a wetsuit and fins and weight belt and everything. Freediving alone kinda sucks and it's not recommended due to shallow water blackout.

I say you probably pulled a tissue or something. I don't get that feeling, but then again I've been breath holding for a while now, and may have felt what you're feeling now when I first started.
 
spidey07 said:
You don't. That is the co2 in your lungs. Just let out a quarter of you air and keep going. Repeat each time you feel that sensation. Surface only when there is no mote air in your lungs.
Click to expand...

Its the CO2 in the blood. Letting out air is going to make you feel better, but its going to deprive you of any oxygen left in your lungs.

Best way to do it is hyperventilate with long deep breaths for 20 sec or so then take a final big dose of 100% oxygen. This will get much of the CO2 out of the blood and you will feel better longer.
 
fuzzybabybunny said:
Where are you going freediving? I've been looking for people to freedive with around Monterey. I've got a wetsuit and fins and weight belt and everything. Freediving alone kinda sucks and it's not recommended due to shallow water blackout.

I say you probably pulled a tissue or something. I don't get that feeling, but then again I've been breath holding for a while now, and may have felt what you're feeling now when I first started.
Click to expand...


Somewhere on the east coast of Florida, haven't decided exactly where yet.
 
If you've never free dived before, I'd be more worried about making sure that you can equalize the pressure in your ears quickly while underwater.
 
Also, it's better to take a deep breath, but without stretching your lungs. Like 2/3 or 75%, or the urge to cough or exhale will take over.
 
Lots of people do this here. Never heard of the issue you have. Maybe you got some weird botfly living in your sinus cavity.....
 
mofoe2001 said:
Is it the same way you can pop your ears when you get up into a high altitude area?
Click to expand...

It's similar, except the pressure change occurs much faster and you have a limited amount of time and air. You probably know the Valsalva maneuver intuitively. When done correctly underwater under pressure, you'll hear a pretty loud squeak in your ear as it equalizes. Just make sure you equalize before feeling significant pain and don't try to force it too much. Everyone is different, so you may not have much of a problem with equalizing naturally. Also, if you aren't planning on going deeper than 10 ft, you probably don't need to worry about equalizing regardless.
 
CottonRabbit said:
It's similar, except the pressure change occurs much faster and you have a limited amount of time and air. You probably know the Valsalva maneuver intuitively. When done correctly underwater under pressure, you'll hear a pretty loud squeak in your ear as it equalizes. Just make sure you equalize before feeling significant pain and don't try to force it too much. Everyone is different, so you may not have much of a problem with equalizing naturally. Also, if you aren't planning on going deeper than 10 ft, you probably don't need to worry about equalizing regardless.
Click to expand...

You're supposed to equalize often and frequently. For me, I have to equalize about once every 5 feet and I have to do the pinching the nose method.

Just pinch your nose and blow out. This will cause the air in your sinuses and ears to expand outwards, counteracting the inwards pressure from the water. Practice getting your heartrate and your mental state to a place where you can breathhold for a long time and understand how to properly dive downwards so that you expend as little energy as possible (google it). Also realize that the process of expanding your mask as you go deeper underwater consumes air as well, so it's very important that you get a low volume mask for freediving.

Also be wary of blowing out your air while deep underwater because you'll be losing bouyancy while doing it. The last thing you want is to be 35 feet deep with a weight belt with no air in your lungs because you blew it out and you're expending a lot of energy simply to prevent yourself from sinking like a stone from your lost bouyancy.
 
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