I was watching this documentary on free diving, and was wondering how it was possible for these guys to hold their breath for so long compared to every one else
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Your subjective experience of needing to breathe isn’t the same as your physical need for oxygen. You actually can hold your breathe much longer than you think you can without blacking out.
This is partly because (for most people but not all) your need to breathe is based on carbon dioxide building up in your body rather than lack of oxygen. If you take deep enough mouthfuls of air, and just force yourself to not breathe, you can physically tolerate some of that CO2 buildup for awhile. The O2 won’t drop to dangerous levels until a bit later.
Final point though, this is assuming you aren’t moving (and therefore not needing oxygen more). So the final thing is that they’re physically prepped for it. Good cardiovascular efficiency.
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