BREATHING!

[freedivernd]

Hey Josh, welcome to the board!  Great to see another freediver join us... just aren't enough of us around and always good to add to the group.

Just complete exhales and complete inhales work the best for me...and of course it takes several breath holds to build up to longer relaxed holds.  I don't train like I used to (I actually hate holding my breath for personal bests).  I can tell you about a buddy I have who just started this sport this summer.. he's tall so has a lung capacity advantage (yeah, I'm making excuses) but struggled with breath holding early on, was stuck below 2 minutes and then started working different techniques and was at 4 1/2 minutes in a matter of 2 weeks and expects to hit 5 minutes very soon if he hasn't already.

I have told many people over and over of tailor made Eliossub suits.. can't be beat for price, quality, and service.  sweet, sweet.. no comparison to any scuba suit.. and those that have them swear by them.  Prefered setup is high waist pants, zipperless jacket with incorporated hood... they must have 100 different types of neoprene and linings if you want.. but my nicest suit is superstretch inside and open cell outside..and yamamoto or heiwa medium density I believe and 3 mil.. next is 5mil closed cell inside and open cell outside but needs lube to get on.. very reasonable in econoline neoprene, but not as stretchy of materail as the 3mil.. my 1 1/2 mil is closed cell outside, nylong inside.. econoline neoprene, pretty stretchy at 1 1/2 mil, nice for thin suit but doesn't get used near as much as the 3 mil suit.  You can generally drop about 2 mils when comparing the warmth of a freediving suit to a scuba suit.  I am pretty much still dry after diving with the suits on, especially with the unlined 5 mil.  I would say Eliossub suits rule in the freediving community right now.
Fred