Enhance Breathhold: Training for Carbon Dioxide Tolerance

Carbon dioxide tolerance is the body’s capacity to control an imbalance of their habitual levels of carbon dioxide and oxygen. The higher the tolerance one has to co2, the longer that person will be able to hold their breath, which is quite a good thing to do when you want to freedive. A higher co2 threshold equals more time to dive.

Some people have a high carbon dioxide tolerance, and some others need to put some more work into it to get better, but all human beings can tolerate co2 levels and have the ability to hold our breaths for much longer times than we think. 

Carbon dioxide tolerance training is not only great for freediving, but it’s also proven to improve physical and mental health.

Carbon dioxide tolerance is important because of the physical benefits and it’s been proven to help with anxiety, stress management, depression and many other mental and emotional health issues that are so common today. 

Expanding our tolerance to carbon dioxide will not only allow us to improve in freediving, but also to have more control over our respiratory rate, emotions and overall health.

Before we start

• Do not practice breath holding when you are in the water, near water or when you are driving.
• Get comfy before breath-holding: the less tension you hold and the less you move, the longer you’ll be able to hold your breath for. Find a comfortable seat or lie down
• Track your progress! It’s a great way to find motivation.

Exercise #1: Hold your breath up to the first contraction

Instructions:

• During three minutes, practice coherence breathing: breathe in for 5 seconds and out for 5 seconds, trying to find relaxation. If you don’t know what that means, watch this video.
• Take a big, deep inhale, start the timer and hold your breath
• You will start to feel an urge to breathe, it might come up by the urge to swallow (avoid swallowing if you can), by some anxiety or contractions of your diaphragm
• When you feel the first contraction, note the time on your timer, exhale and resume breathing
• Do coherence breathing for 3 minutes
• Repeat 7 times

Exercise #2: 40 Second Breath Holds with Short Recovery

Instructions:

• During three minutes, practice coherence breathing: breathe in for 5 seconds and out for 5 seconds, trying to find relaxation.
• Take a big, deep inhale, start the timer and hold your breath for 40 seconds (you can make it shorter if needed).
• When the 40 seconds are over, let go of the air. Do two recovery breaths.
• Take a big, deep inhale, start the timer and hold your breath for 40 seconds. Repeat 10 times.
• You can increase the breath hold time by 10 seconds every time you finish 4 successful trainings to push even further your carbon dioxide tolerance.

Exercise #3: Maximum Breath Hold

Instructions:

• During three minutes, practice coherence breathing: breathe in for 5 seconds and out for 5 seconds, trying to find relaxation.
• Start a timer and try to hold your breath for as long as you can. Note the time.
• Repeat 4 times. Is best not to practice this exercise every day, give yourself 3 rest days before attempting a max breath hold. This will help improve your co2 tolerance.

Exercise #4: Breathe less

Instructions:

• Calm your breath down practicing coherence breathing
• Inhale 70% of what you would normally inhale
• Exhale
• Practice breathing “less” for 10 minutes
• You will feel a sense of air hunger building up. Try to move past this and keep on doing the exercise to improve your carbon dioxide tolerance.

Bonus: Nose breathing while exercising

Instructions:

• Go for a run/ bike ride or to your gym to do your habitual training routine
• Notice if you open your mouth while exercising, if you do, shut it and make sure you nose breathe for the duration of your workout
• You might feel you need to slow your pace at first, but in the medium and long run, this will significantly improve your performance and increase carbon dioxide tolerance.

To find out more about different breathing techniques to train your Co2 tolerance and overall breathing, sign up for our 21 day program.