[Ragnarok]

Originally posted by narf poit chez BOOM:
side note: the book mentioned a technique where you breath heavily a few times then expell the air from your lungs. i tried this and was able to hold my breath for 20 seconds at the start and after some practice, 35 seconds. it really is easier, despite sounding counter-productive.

Competition free divers use this technique I believe. They basically hyperventilate themselves by taking deep breaths for a couple minutes. What this is doing is it expands the lungs and makes them larger, giving you more storage for oxygen. If you do this technique too long though you could passout from the hyperventilation. I did it once and was able to extend my ability to hold my breath to somewhere around a full minute, perhaps even longer.