How to increase lung capacity

[trinityu]

I just wanted to know if there were any ways that could increase how long I can hold my breath under the water. I know that holding your breath is a main part of diving in SEALs. If someone could please reply back then I would be most appreciative.

[SpecSEALs]

TRINITYU, WHAT I DO IS TRY TO HOLD MY BREATH AS LONG AS I CAN, WHAT THAT DOES IS EXPANDS YOUR LUNG CAPACITY SO YOU'LL BE ABLE TO HOLD YOUR BREATH LONGER, ALSO WHAT I DO AND HELPS ALOT IS WHEN YOUR AT THE LAST NERVE TO LET YOUR BREATH OUT AND TAKE A BREATH OF AIR INSTEAD JUST LET THE AIR OUT VERY SLOWLY IT HELPS ALOT!

[k9gsd]

The best way is to pratice. Your body adapts and adjusts itself to the enviroment it is in.

Start in a pool and always be with a buddy! Avoid shallow water blackout by not hyper-ventilating before diving under the water. Get used to breath hold diviing with and without mask, snorkle and fins.
A SCUBA class is a great way to get used to aquatic enviroment. As are Lifeguard classes, WSI, swim team, triathalon training and etc..
Check programs at the YMCA, JCC, Red Cross and etc..

Pools are good, but sooner or later you need to be in salt water. The wide open ocean blue. The Sea can be your best friend or worst enemy. Learn to go with the Sea and use it's power to your advatage and never fight against it.

The more comfotable you learn to be in the water, the less air you use. Anxiety causes you to waste air.

Cold water, warm water, zero visability, or 100 ft visability. Learn to love it!

Robin
Albany, NY

[BigTex05]

I take a lot of short breaths and then one big one and swallow it. Is this not good?

[MP5-PDW]

The amount of time you can hold your breath also depends on the condition of your cardiopulmonary system. The better and longer endurance you have with cardio workouts like running / swimming / biking etc, the longer you'll be able to hold your breath. The body's drive to breath depends on how well the lungs exchange oxygen, how efficient the body is in using the oxygen, and how much carbon-dioxide by-product is made by the body/muscles. So the better you get with aerobic-exercise endurance, the more efficient your body becomes. Also, if you smoke, that will decrease the efficiency of your lungs too, so quitting smoking would be a key thing too. As with one of the previous posts, I also find that exhaling some of the air slowly when I get tired helps relieve some of the anxiety to surface for air. I find that exhaling relieves the excess tension in the chest-wall muscles, and the fewer muscles you have to use, the longer you stay under water. Other than that, practice makes perfect.

[ColdSteel180]

I take a lot of short breaths and then one big one and swallow it. Is this not good?



NO this is not good if you hyperventalate you lower the CO2 in your body. This in turn makes your body not think to breath, this in turn could make you black out. You don't want to die, take 2 deep breaths then on the 3rd hold it and go down.

[k9gsd]

I take a lot of short breaths and then one big one and swallow it. Is this not good?


This could be very, very bad. Doing this may cause shallow water blackout. This is where you blackout suddenly without warning and will cause drowning and death.

If you doubt this, please call or stop by your local Dive Shop and ask about cause of shallow water blackout!!

Robin
ARC LG, ***'t LG Instructor, Water Front, CPO (Certified Pool Operator),
NAUI OW-I, OW-II
Albany, NY

[swimmer12]

Hey Bro....... What really worked for me was to 'run poles' with this you don't have to worry about shallow water black out. What you do is find a street that has telephone poles at an even distance apart and run at an even fast jog don't sprint yet. you run from one pole to the next then run to the next pole holding your breath then goto the next pole breathing deaply then run to the next pole holding your breath repeat this for a two mile distance and log your time. Try to get the same times every time until you are able to do this with ease. Oh yea time your under water breath hold now and then time it in two weeks I bet you'll see a differance. E-mail me and let me know if this works for you as it did for me.

[tuckbag]

Holdong your breathe is easy. Many people can do it for a while. What the hard thing to do is move while doing it. Which is honestly what you need to work on. One of the guys I worked with that is a SEAL told me the best way he knows to improve this was to do pushups, flutter kicks or while jogging. Hold your breathe. When you can't exhale and push your limits a little. Then finally Hold the position and take another breathe. I have tried. When I started I could do about 15 pushups with one breath. Now after a few weeks I am up to about 30. It does work. As for exhaling underwater a little. The reason this helps is that pain you get is a CO2 build up and when you exhale you you are sending out CO2. So you decrease the CO2 levels in your blood in turn making it a little easier and less painful.

[MattH]

My name is matt and i'm 15-freshman. going to be a SEAL after high school. what i do is swim underwater in the pool. i swin 25 meters, and do this about 10 times in a row with about 30 sec. rest in between. i also try to swim underwater in the ocean, lake, anywhere i go where there is water. have competetions with your friends in the pool is a good way to get good. also run alot, calistenics(pushups, situps). another good workout is swim 25 under water then immediatly swin back to the other side on the surface, rest, then do it again. when you can do this without the rest period about 5 times, you are very good.