Increasing Time

[Freedive WI]

There are many things that you can do but you must remember to have a buddy with you anytime you try something in the water.

Something to do at home, while laying on the couch, is to practice your breath-hold. You can breath slow and deep for two minutes, exhale completely, and then inhale in a three step process- stomach, chest, shoulders. Follow this with a good swallow, to hold the air in more comfortably, and hold until you feel that first contraction. Now, breath slow and deep for another two minutes and repeat. Your first two or three attempts probably won't be that great, but by time you get to your seventh one you'll be surprised how well you've done. 8 Attempts is more than enough per training session.

Another thing to try on the couch is what's called a "negative" hold. THese take much less time and kick in your dive reflex faster. Start by doing the same 2 minute breath-up and then EXHALE everything you can, and hold your breath on the exhale. Breath up for another two minutes and repeat. Your breath hold times with this method will be much less, maybe only 30 seconds. The more you exhale, the shorter they will be, and the more effective the training is.

On dry land you can also do yoga, to stretch out your rib cage and improve your breathing. Actually, a good yoga breath can almost double the time you can get out of a scuba tank without the dangers of skip-breathing.

There are also many other stretches that you can do, but this should be a good start. Fred and I can post other things we do if your still interested.

I train in the pool, on the tread-mill, with weights, on my bike, and in the lake. I don't so everything all the time, but choose to switch things around when I start to get bored with one acitivity. Underwater hockey starts next week and that will be a great way to workon my CO2 tollerence and recoveries.

Jon