breathing up.

Good Topic. :thumbsup2:
I beleive the breath up is important, But is a little annoying and time consuming, We all will love to go down there and last as long all the time. But it will be risky and dangerous. I like to start the breathing at the boat. slow big gulp of airs without hiperventilate. Then when i go into the water start with low short dives around the 30's to get used to compensate and expand the lungs. Then while i make sure all my gear is comfortable. Then i start aiming at the bottom. I like to surface and stay up for a couple of minutes. Then sometimes i dont do the breath up i just go down and up like that. for a while. I dont push myself unless is necessary. Now if i see a big fish hiding, or a shaft was stuck in a cave. I breath up and concentrate on the freediving portion of the sport forgetting in the hunt for a little. I always notice a big difference in bottom time when i breath up properly. But as part as beign annoying, sometimes I like to take my time. I like deep dives, but when it comes to fishing i like to do it around the 50-60's. When i go to those 80's. I like to breath up and be sure i dont run into a black out. Is not that i know when i'm going to black out, but preparation is the best safety procedure we can have and a good partner;).

Quote from pantoja

yaeh , that's my point .I'd never talked about it before, so good to know others feel the same. core, what do you mean you don't breath up? it's like you are floating, just get a gulp of air and go down? how deep can you do that?

I haved reach around 50-60. Usually i use that for fish that are not in the bottom ( Barracudas , Jacks, Macks.etc) Now for snapper,groupers, then those bastard are in another level, I need to breath up and wait at the bottom. or stalk them to a hiding place. Those are the most exciting dives. but for a passing mack/ jacks/ barracudas. a quick dive/shoot/and ascend wont take you more than 45 sec. or maybe less. So breathing up for a long period of time just to shoot the fish at 40 feet when the bottom is at 60 is kind of irrelevant. Or waste of time IMO. With that beign said that is when you spot the target from the surface.

This is a nice post.

Breathing up is the most important part of a deep descent, second to relaxating, IMO.

I always take my time in the surface and stay at least double the bottom time. Apparently is a "rule of the thumb" to avoid tarambana or freedive bend. In the past, when I didn´t have my Suunto to monitor my surface time, I felt "weird" a couple of times. Not anymore.

I did yoga for some years and learnt the Pranayama respiration or "total lung" capacity respiration. It makes a big difference. Basically teaches you to use all your lung capacity and tells you to start filling your lungs from the bottom using your diaphragm. Relaxing to lower your heart rate before a deep descent is also crucial. When I feel "ready", I take like 5 deep and long breaths putting special attention to expell all the air in my lungs before filling them again.

Obviously, this tecnique is to be used with deep dives, for shore diving is about having fun.

Breathing up is "the dive" in my opinion. It is one of the most vital parts of diving. I also say this as I tend to err on the side of caution. I nearly always do a 2:1 ratio of surface vs. bottom time unless I'm in shallow water with lots of fish or in a tournament where some times quantity is preferable to quality. It also allows you to pace yourself so you can dive good throughout the day as opposed to getting drained or tired towards the later part of the trip. I have a little routine I do that works for me.

Quote from Rolo

I have a little routine I do that works for me.

Tell us about it...

The rhythm of gathering up/coiling the float line helps me relax and breath up. Besides that people should gather up their float line more when diving around others.

a method of breathing that i have found effective, is short relaxed inhalations and long slow exhalations holding the exhale for bout 8 seconds.

the short slow exhales does 2 things it slows your heart rate down and it eliminates c02 from your blood which could be both good and bad.

Another thing which helps is taking a full gulp of air before heading down, fill the lungs at the lowest point(done with your diaphram muscle) then fill the upper. when you this part your shoulders move apart, then finally i fill the throat and neck part before spitting the snorkel and heading down.

Ive dove 65-70 feet all day constantly with plenty of air left, using this method. I guess everybody has different ways, i guess use what you are most comfortable with.

This is a great post, I ask my cousin that she does yoga and for the past year I have tried the diaphragm method thing, also relaxing, brain is the worst enemy, with this 2 things I have being doing 50 easly, the thing is I do lots of solo diving mostly on evening after work, I know is not safe but my close diving friend are like 40 minute drive, but relaxing and a good cleaning of lungs on each breath.

Pucho

The routine is similar to what Alan posted. I try to do about 3-4 slow inhales about 4-5 sec followed by controlled exhale about 10-12 sec. I do this while singing to myself Louis Armstrong's "It's a wonderful world". I then purge three times and take two normal breaths always using belly breathing and never inhaling all the way. Then I take my final breath, belly-chest-clavicle followed with three packs.

:thumbsup2: the lung fill in three parts is what opera singers do. it maximizes air in lung capacity.
as far as purging i think 4 or 5 is enough, any more than that and your hyperventilating.
having your dive switch turned on is also important, your body activates it by the 2nd or 3rd dive.

I remember when i once dove with el viejo Jack he told me he once did a prolonged hyperventilation on the surface and fell asleep during his descent. he woke up after hitting the bottom at 80 ft over by the elbow in key largo. Those old school guys use that technique, but i think relaxed apnea is safer and the way to go.

Pantoja i used to have that issue of sinking if i stay still. My feet will sink leaving me in an uncomfortable standing position. I have to move one fin constantly very slow so i can breath up. I dont know if you all have felt so relax that it feels like you want to sleep. Sometimes it feels good to glide down and close the eyes for a few seconds. When you get to the botton is kind of like narcotic feeling been so relax, no stress etc. you feel like everything moves in slow motion. I felt like that before and i love it. But i dont know if everyone share that same experience. The only think that can brake that peace is a freaking shark coming from the blind side.:0 Then all that relaxation is gone:laughing3:, it has happen before:D. If i see the shark from the surface, i still get very relax, but trust me no closing eyes or anything i got to make sure i know where the tax man is at all times;)

Quote from pantoja

when i exale i cant stay still because i tend to sink a bit , so i have to kick a couple of times to stay afloat. I don't really have a set technique , sometimes I do one way sometimes another. I don't really know why i do it one way or another.

sounds like you have too much weight on your belt which is very common in freediving spearos.

What kinda wetsuit do you have? Open cell or closed cell

Whats your weight?

Pantoja,
tienes que sambuir en cuero. Los calzoncillos te pesan mucho broder. Una cosa, no lleves al Pargo si lo vas a probar. Esta recommendacion es por lo que dijo Rolo.:laughing3:

hehehehe

Quote from greekdiver

sounds like you have too much weight on your belt

I agree. You must be able to breath without sinkin no matter what. I like to be negative at 30 feet or so.

However, You´re an experienced diver and "apparently" manage to spear some "pargos" and chernas...:rolleyes1:

Quote from Marco

I agree. You must be able to breath without sinkin no matter what. I like to be negative at 30 feet or so.

However, You´re an experienced diver and "apparently" manage to spear some "pargos" and chernas...:rolleyes1:

El problema es que estamos en Abril y ese "Pargo" siendo de corrida nada mas se deja "Coger" en Mayo....:D