3 Things that helped a beginner "Breath Holder"

I never thought I could really hold my breath long enough to go freediving.

Honestly I would struggle to hold it for 45 seconds.  One minute was a distant goal to try and reach.  The times where I was snorkeling I would see something below and not believe I could get down there to see it.

A few months ago I came across Ian Donald's article "How to hold your breath for 5 minutes in 1 month".  It seemed impossible but I decided to try it.  I read through the entire article and followed each of the links.   I started with a baseline breath hold and somehow managed to make it to 1 minute!!  It was quite the struggle to get there but there was no way I was going to breathe before then! 

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1 - "Kinda Relaxed" isn't good enough

When I really started to read more about freediving and holding your breath and the over arching theme was RELAXATION.   I had heard about being relaxed but never really realized how much it affected my time.  When I went from "sort of relaxed" to "really relaxed" I made a pretty big jump in max time.  Within a few weeks I was already holding my breath for about  1 min 30 sec a 50% overall increase.   This was the first thing that helped with my breath hold times.

​2 - Training Tables really do work

In Ian Donald's article he stresses training tables and how they can help you achieve your goals.  I wasn't convinced at first because I didn't see the difference between that and holding my breath any other way.  I was wrong.  By using CO2  tables I was able to get used the feelings in my body as it started the urge to breath.  With the knowledge that I wasn't in danger I was able to make baby steps into more and more intense desire to breath.   Once I became more comfortable with controlling the urge to breath I could Use the O2 tables to help me push my time longer and longer.  

3 - The rule of thirds

The article referenced the "rule of thirds" in relation to how long someone could potentially hold their breath.  This really helped me.  Once I began to visualize my potential breath hold time this way I could combat the urge to breath depending on where I believed I was on this line.  I could start to work through the "urge to breath" and push all the way to the first contraction.  I had never done that before.

Well,  It has barely been two months of part-time training and  my current Personal Best is 2min and 16sec.  I feel like I have plenty of room left to go and am excited about pushing it farther.  I am looking forward to putting my new breath hold times into action once we start our adventure in a few months.

Find out more about us and our adventure on the "About" page on this site.
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btw - To read Ian Donald's original article go to www.Freediveuk.com or just click on the original reference in this post.