bottomtime/holding breath, how to train??

Because im quite new in uwhockey I have to train my bottomtime.
In my team im the second youngest and playing for only 6 months. The other teammembers play hockey for at least 12 years and can hold their breath for ever.

I really want to know some good excercises to train the time i can hold my breath during swimming.

Does anyone has good ideas/theories/excercises/tips to train?

There's a couple of breath-hold exercises that I've come across that you might like (or not like... the second one is pretty hard). One is to swim a length underwater that is a little bit challenging for you, as slow as you can. The more times you do it the more you can relax and stretch the time out. We do 50m usually and some guys take up to 2 or 2 1/2 minutes, but if you are getting pushed by 25m breath-holds then start with that. I find the benefit of this is that it helps you relax in situations when you are on the bottom but maybe not moving that much.

The other good one is to swim 87.5m flat out on the surface, then do 12.5m underwater as slow as you can. Your lungs will be screaming at you to breathe but that's just the CO2 talking rather than a lack of oxygen.

Probably the biggest thing holding back your breath-hold when you are starting out is your mind rather than your body. Remember to have someone watching you when you're pushing it. You don't want to drown eh

really great tips thanks!!!

because im an attacker i have to wait sometimes a bit longer underwater. Im going to start with the 25m breath hold next week.

I have already practised with 1 other excercise. First i'm swimming 10 meters in sprint, then im going to lay down for a while and then swim the other 15 meter to the other site.

Delayed starts are a popular training technique in freediving and to a lesser extent in hockey. Hold your breath for 15 seconds, then swim a 25. Keep increasing the amount of time you hold for before the length to improve. They're reasonably safe, mimic the case of going down and waiting for the puck as a forward and are a good way to teach your body to relax when you're not active on the bottom.

I have already managed to hold my breath for 1 min and then swim 25 meters
but i was very very concentrated (sort of tunnelvision). So I know its possible.

Due the advise you gave me i know i have to relax more underwater.
Thanks alot all, more tips are very welcome

Good job Robbert, just dont get too relaxed

hahaha

Indeed. One of the guys in our freediving club is the NZ static breathhold record holder (PB > 8min), who's prone to packing blackouts (backing out after usually 5-15sec due to 'packing' too much air in your lungs). Being his safety can be a bit stressful, you keep thinking he might have blacked out and the first signal we generally agree on is somewhere between four and five minutes.

First, the 3 rules of breath-holding in our club (mainly for kids):
- never do breath-holding alone
- never do it static
- never try to beat the world record (no search for blackouts)

We do the following exercises:
- warm-up: swim 12.5 surface and 12.5 underwater, this is to introduce breath-hodling exercises
- the hunter way: as another warm-up, players have to manage their time to cross the 25m pool. Give them 60 sec to cross, then give another start at 55, 50, 45, 40, 35 and 30. They can swim as fast as they want and use that extra time to recover, but recovery time is gradually decreasing
- the cleaner: go to the bottom of the pool and find some dirt (there always some). With your hands, try to make this little dust move forward without touching it (you need to do some retro-paddling with your hands). You can come to surface when you want, but the goal is to make it travel the 25m. If you put 5 kids in a row and start a competition, you'll see their performance improving. As a variant, use a coin.
- push him: take 2 players of the same size and tell them to stand on the surface holding the other guys shoulder. They have to come down to the bottom and push the other guy to make him go backwards. You really have to push hard and stick to the bottom to win this game
- stop & go: (my favorite) leave some pucks at 10, 15 and 20 m on the bottom. Players have to start at the wall and kick as fast as possible to the first puck. There, they have to wait, standing still for 3 seconds. Then, kick fast to the second puck and wait again. Finally, kick fast to the last puck and wait the last 3 seconds before reaching the last wall. Gradually make it harder by increasing the time to stay. Our local record is 8 sec, I think
- the counter: players have to cross the 25m pool underwater as much as they can in a 5 min timeframe. They can take as much rest as they want but then they can do less laps ...

Just to reiterate the 'don't train alone' mantra. One of AIDA's (freediving association) International A-level judges died on a spearfishing trip this weekend. You don't get much more experienced than him, yet he was found unconscious on the bottom by his dive buddy, probably a victim of shallow water blackout. It clearly came without warning, otherwise he would have dropped his weightbelt and floated to the surface. He and his buddy had split up to try different areas.

For training, if you can't find someone to train with, dry statics in bed can help with CO2 tolerance. It's not quite as effective as wet dynamics for hockey, but it's better than nothing.

Example CO2 table:
Hold for 1 minute
Breathe out, Breathe in
Hold for 1 minute
repeat for 10 holds. Pick your hold time based on your skill level. It should be horrendously uncomfortable, but isn't likely to cause blackouts (you're never very hypoxic and not many people can will themselves through to hypercapnic blackout).

CO2 table 2:
Hold 2 min
Breathe 2 min
Hold 2
Breathe 1:30
Hold 2
Breathe 1
Hold 2
Breathe 45s
Hold 2
Breathe 30s
Hold 2
Breathe 15s
Hold 2
Again, the hold depends on your skill level.

O2 tables are designed to help with dealing with hypoxic symptoms, but aren't really applicable to UWH, as you're never going for max attempts in the same way as freedivers.

Oh, and it helps a lot to document your progress. Probably applicable to everything, but a good training diary that records what you did, when, how your were feeling, how you felt afterwards, when contractions start and how many contractions will let you track your progress. Good luck.