Hanli’s tips for long and safe breath-holds:
SAFETY FIRST!
- Holding your breath is a great way to practice mental control and build in-water confidence, but, any breath hold activity in the water, from holding your breath to swimming under water is potentially a risky business. Black-out can happen fast and without much warning, your only safety is a buddy watching you while you practice, and listening to your body! DO NOT PRACTISE ALONE! You can however very safely and in a relaxed way train on your own lying flat on your back on your bed, your body will always start breathing again if you push it too far on land, but in water you can drown.
HOW TO:
- Always start your breath hold session with some stretching.
A full deep breath of air means a longer breath-hold. Stretch out the muscles across your chest, your back and your ribs.
- Use a mask or goggles and nose-clip. During a longer breath-hold in water you will often find water rushing up your nose, a very uncomfortable distraction. Using a full mask or goggles and a nose-clip will prevent this.
- A proper breathe-up is essential for a long, comfortable breath-hold. Lie on your back, whether you’re on land or floating in the pool. Take deep and slow breaths into your belly. Count your inhalation and your exhalation, try to make your exhalation longer than your inhalation. After at least 3-5min of breathing, exhale all the air in your lungs, then fill up your lungs fully.
- The breath-hold starts with a feel-good phase where you’re totally relaxed. Here you need to keep your mind still, let you thoughts go and enjoy! As the carbon dioxide levels in your body increase, you will start experiencing contractions of the diaphragm. The diaphragm is the breathing muscle that is a reflex muscle you can’t control, telling you to breathe.
- Contractions are a sign from your body to be aware, listen to your limitations and see how far you can push it. If you start feeling fuzzy, seeing spots or like you’re drifting off, come up!!
Breatholding times:
From the big wave crew: From the viewers:
| NAME |
TIME (MINUTES) |
| Grant Ross |
5.30 |
| Grant Godfrey |
5.20 |
| Mike Schlebach |
4.50 |
| James Taylor |
4.45 |
| Chris Bertish |
4.08 |
| Reinhardt Fourie |
4.00 |
| Jake Kolnik |
3.50 |
| Barry Futter |
3.45 |
| Jacques Theron |
3.45 |
| Sean Holmes |
3.45 |
| Twiggy Baker |
3.30 |
| Andrew Marr |
3.30 |
| Jason Stevens |
3.30 |
| Simon Louw |
3.30 |
| Caitlin Moir |
3.20 |
| Andre Fowler |
3.00 |
| Miles Masterson |
2.50 |
| Jean Holmes |
2.40 |
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| NAME |
TIME (MINUTES) |
| John Bromley |
4.45 |
| Curtis Baverstock |
4:30 |
| Olivia "OJ" Symcox |
3:45 |
| Mark Taylor |
3.30 |
| Paul van Jaarsveld |
2:05 |
| Charl de Waal |
1:23 |
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SA Freediving record holder, Hanli Prinsloo, trains the Cape big wave crew in a gnarly pool session:
Further questions, tips or course info: hanli@iamwater.co.za
Hey Guys, be responsible while performing any breatholding and enter reasonable times. Please see the terms and conditions before entering times:
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