I was recently watching the Fiji Pro and just could not help but feel amazed but the strength and fitness of the surfers taking huge wipe outs and managing to get right back on the board and back on another monster wave. It got me thinking about wipeouts and how it effects everyone, pro or not-so-pro.
The feeling of absolute helplessness when you are being ripped apart in every direction and have no idea how deep you are unless you unfortunately hit the bottom. I think the ability to hold your breath and relax underwater is very heavily underrated and it wasn’t until I started to practise yoga that I found I was able to handle big wipeouts by reverting back to the relaxation methods that I learned.
This may sound a bit hippy and deep but I am not trying to get you into yoga, it is just an example of practising breathing and relaxation. I would suggest going one step further and practising your relaxation and breathe holding in the water – Using techniques that free divers use.
Here are a few tips that will help hold your breathe for longer and keep you calm…
Relax
relax your body and mind is key – don’t practise after eating or drinking red bull! Take your time, calming your body and try to clear your thoughts…
Breath
Take a few long deep breathes, do it slowly and find a nice rhythm. Make sure that after inhale you fully exhale.
Exhale
Exhaling is so much more important than inhaling. Using your diaphragm to push out every bit of air
Inhale
Try not to fully inhale so you’re ready to pop, try to breath in for 80-85 percent of your maximum. This will help you stay relaxed relaxed during the breath hold itself.
Hold Your Breath
Just hold it.
Chill
Relax your body as much as possible because you want your heartbeat to go down. Try to not look at your watch, think nice calming thoughts, a relaxing holiday, chilled music..whatever comes to mind. To distract your mind try small movements like touching your fingers together, pretend to play the piano or just play around to waste time and keep you mind of the desperate urge to want to breathe.
Recover
It is important to recover before you try again, these tips are not the be all and end all but they will help you!
Remember to be safe out there 🙂
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