Yes, it's a good way to get yourself killed. I cringe when I see people do this at the pool. They take a bunch of quick breaths then dive under and see how far they can go. What they are really doing is scrubbing the CO2 out of their blood and prolonging the gasping reflex. I always watch someone who does this in case I need to pull their sorry ass out. Lifeguards are trained to watch for this. Although most of them (kids) are too busy not paying attention to save someone in time.

Yea I should definitely know better and lulled myself into a false sense of security that my lane mates would be there if anything happened. Only takes a few seconds for a lot of bad things to go down. That said I never pushed it to where I felt anywhere near 'iffy', but I'd imagine a lot of people who have blacked out said 'man that came out of nowhere.'. Folks who are used to hurting a lot are probably even more inclined to push it too close to the limit too.

i didn't swim in HS(played hoops) but a guy 2 years older than me tried to do 50y (down and back) underwater. almost made it but blacked out and got a collapsed lung out of it.

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Fruit snacks are for winners

Ya, we should just push it on the surface, with plenty of oxygen breathing every cycle of the arms.

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"Anyone can be who they want to be IF they have the HUNGER and the DRIVE."

No reason to do it. It's not like we're training for long hold-downs like big-wave surfers get to deal with. If you've seen the movie "Chasing Mavericks", it's believed that shallow water blackout is what claimed the life of Jay Moriarty, the central character in the movie.

http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/ci_18272728

I know it. As if we don't get enough time in the Pain Cave during the main set. It was just one of those things I crept into when my underwater dolphin started to progress and next thing I knew 25 yards was nothing so took it to long course. All done.

I know it was stoopits. 15m is all I'm doing from now on....practice like ya play.

Here's hte other question... does holding your breath train your body to use oxygen more effciently and allwo you to hold it longer? OR are you just menatally training yourself. If so, you cna do the same thing on dry land, without the associated risk.

I find my ability to hold my breath corresponds proportionally to my fitness level (imagine that). Playing with my daughter in the pool, I'd actually shocked at how long I can hold my breath underwater now compared to when I've been less fit. Carrying less overall body mass probably helps a lot too.

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TrainingBible Coaching
http://www.trainingbible.com

Hello tigerpaws and All,

http://campaign.r20.constantcontact.com/...e3-a3f9-d4ae528eb27b

Excerpt:

"Rob Sleamaker is known by many in the swimming community as the founder of Vasa, Inc., the company behind the Vasa Trainer and Vasa Swim Erg, widely used in the United States and around the world. Recently, Rob has been on a mission that has less to do with innovative swim training and more to do with saving lives.

In August, Rob's neighbor and friend lost his 27-year-old son, who drowned during a spearfishing dive in the Bahamas. The cause: shallow water blackout, occurring from a combination of hyperventilation and prolonged breath-holding underwater. As it turns out, shallow water blackout does not affect divers alone. There have also been multiple incidents - and deaths - in the competitive swimming world as well.

Rob made a promise to his neighbor that he would do everything he could to raise awareness about shallow water blackout, and he's doing just that. We interviewed Rob to find out more about shallow water blackout, why it's an important issue in the swimming world, and what he is hoping to achieve by raising awareness about it." [read more .......]

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Cheers, Neal

+1 mph Faster

Thanks for the post. Going to forward this onto the other coaches & kids I work with.

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#swimmingmatters
Laugh hard. Run fast. Be kind.
The Doctor (#12)

So what about masters instructors that do hypoxic sets as part of their workout. For example, breather every 3 strokes, every 5, every 7, every 5, etc. For me 7 strokes is getting uncomfortable.

Hypoxic swim sets are a waste of time imo. Getting oxygen in is a good thing if you are swimming more than 50m. Many of the top 100m swimmers will breathe to the left or right every stroke cycle, but for the 50 will go almost the whole way without breathing, if not the whole way.

One of my fellow lap swimmers rescued guy in our pool. Our pool has signs prohibiting "extended underwater breath holding" which the kid ignored and blacked out. The lifeguard didn't notice but the fortunately the lap swimmer did. We now have mandatory rest breaks where the pool gets cleared to prevent lifeguards from getting fatigued and inattentive.