Apnea training without contractions with Freediving Master World Champion Karsten Mohr
Let’s be honest, contractions are annoying.
Contractions are our body’s alarm system. It makes no sense to train in a constant state of alarm.
And the worst thing is that it is widespread to train exactly the contractions. And with the “normal” tables that we all know. Total nonsense, because:
- Without contractions you dive much more relaxed.
- You dive more safely without contractions.
- Attention, contractions are not only triggered by increased CO2 levels. Diving in particular, at depth, has its own triggers. See trigger graphic at the bottom.
The good news is that you can do this with the right exercises in the water or on dry land! Free exercise see below.
The 3 phases of diving on breath hold.
😃 In the first phase, everything is easy and happy. There is nothing to do. Except to enjoy the dive.
🤨 Then comes the second phase, in which thoughts about breathing creep in. At the end of this phase, you will feel the first physical reactions. Your tongue wants to move, an urge to swallow, a feeling of tightness in your chest … or involuntary movements of muscles that you don’t even need at that moment. The classics are fingers, toes and a tense neck.
☹️ In the third phase, the body pushes more and more to breathe. The diaphragm begins to work. Contractions, contractions and contractions …. until your motivation to hold your breath is broken.
With normal CO2 tables you mainly train this 🤨 and this ☹️.
My tip: Train the first phase of the dive!
Your goal should be to train the first phase 😃 and extend this phase further and further.
This requires a special training philosophy and method and a plan tailored to you.
With this method you can easily dive to a depth of 50-60 m, create more than 100 m of dynamics and enjoy 3-minute static times without your diaphragm fidgeting like crazy. Guaranteed! Probably even more.
This means that the concept of initially concentrating only on the phase without contractions is more relaxed and safer.
Safer, because contractions at depth mean multiple stress. Stress for the airways and tissues, stress in the psyche and stress to master equalization. So, not what we want.
Contractions are our body’s alarm system. It makes no sense to train with tables, whether static or dynamic, in a constant state of alarm.
In addition, contractions are not only triggered by CO2.
The optimal no contraction training plan
A good training plan is one that is tailored to you and your limits. The build-up happens slowly and can feel as if everything is far too easy at the beginning.
Only over time will there be an increase, where you integrate and consolidate what you have learned. At the end, there is a short “peaking phase” where you test how far you have come in a training cycle.
An effective training cycle lasts several weeks or months.
The effective training cycle in freediving
In general, with all the exercises you already know and taking your limits into account, you can build up each training cycle in such a way that you stay within your CO2 limits – i.e. below the contraction threshold.
If you would like to make more targeted and faster progress, please feel free to contact me.
Whether for a PB or simply a great basic fitness for your freediving vacation.
As a coach, I have countless different exercise units for static, dynamic and depth. Above all, I have the experience to support you so that you make progress. And that is usually not CO2 tolerance.
It is often cheaper and better to get a coach. That’s why I also have regular coaching myself. Because if you always do the same things, you can’t expect better results.
Here you can download the No Contraction PDF for free
18 pages of input for freediving without contractions.
Including the basic exercise “hiccup or puff”.
ATTENTION, IMPORTANT❗️ Contractions are not only triggered by CO2!
Can you hold your breath for 2-3 minutes or even longer … or even much longer … hold your breath?
But it still happens to you again and again that you get the first contractions at 15 m, 20 m or 30 m depth or even before the turn? With DYN, do you get contractions even before 75 m?
Then the following has extremely helpful tips for you. Because shooting classic tables won’t get you anywhere here. You have to start somewhere else.
The most important triggers for contractions in freediving.
Contractions mean ALARM!. As already mentioned in various places above, there are many triggers for this. Here is an overview for you. Get the free PDF. In the PDF, the individual triggers from the diagram are described in detail on 18 pages. Inform yourself. And then, if you like, we can support you.
