Whoa!! 17 minutes holding his breath?!?!

Hogmaster · 05-02-2008, 07:23 AM

David Blaine set a new world record.

He did cheat, filling up with pure oxygen and all.

Yeah, I could do that.

" For most non-medical people, the term "apnea" is most familiar when coupled with the word "sleep," and refers to a dangerous condition in which people inadvertently stop breathing while asleep. But the word literally means a temporary cessation of breathing and it is practiced (on purpose) around the world by an international community of extreme athletes � a brotherhood that now includes magician and stuntman David Blaine. On the set of The Oprah Winfrey Show on April 30, Blaine broke the world record by holding his breath for 17 minutes and 4 seconds � proving that just how temporary apnea can be is a question of training, endurance and will."

Just a little training and you could be up to 15 minutes in no time. Yeah right.

Check out the story:

http://www.time.com/time/health/arti...736834,00.html

flapbreaker · 05-02-2008, 07:49 AM

It is pretty impressive although they are bolusing themselves with oxygen to acheive those times. I believe the unassisted record is in the 8 minute range.

butwhymalemodels · 05-02-2008, 07:51 AM

2 minutes 35 seconds is my personal best.

Flatfish · 05-02-2008, 07:51 AM

I will forward this to the sasquatch in law. Maybe she will discover a new favorite hobby.......

Threemuch · 05-02-2008, 07:57 AM

The urge to breathe comes from a buildup of CO2, not a lack of oxygen. Teach your body to ignore this reflex response (which really isn't that hard), work on some relaxation techniques and just about anyone can hold their breath for 2-4 minutes static, especially if your body is supported by water. I used to smoke, I am not in the greatest of shape, and I can dive 80' and stay down for 2 minutes or more, and that is while spearfishing. Put me in a pool doing nothing? 4 minutes easy.

Most serious freedivers train to ignore the reflex to breathe, and sometimes this gets them into deep trouble, and can be fatal. When you go unconcious, death follows very quickly, because you are already out of O2.

As the O2 runs low, you start to see spots, your vision begins to tunnel, and you don't think very clearly.

Breathing up on Oxygen and holding your breath is a stunt (isn't that what Blaine does?) and has no real world application. Just because he didn't lose conciousness, doesn't mean he didn't lose brain cells.

I am much, much, much, more impressed by the guys who do competitive freediving. The record for constant weight with out fins is 86 meters. That's just crazy. Nothing like diving down to the bottom at the rockpile with nothing but your skivies on. The dynamic apnea record is 244m. That's absolutely nuts. The volume of air in your lungs, sinuses has decreased by 22 times at that depth.

Dave G · 05-02-2008, 08:16 AM

Either way, it is still kind of cool, me I need all the air I can get.

fishkisser · 05-02-2008, 02:20 PM

Wow ... He could limit out on Abs in one dive ...

Joe C · 05-02-2008, 02:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Threemuch

Breathing up on Oxygen and holding your breath is a stunt (isn't that what Blaine does?) and has no real world application. Just because he didn't lose conciousness, doesn't mean he didn't lose brain cells.

To be fair to Blaine, while he got his start as a street magician and mentalist, the last decade or so he's been focused solely on endurance feats.

He's been training with some of the best freedivers in the world over the last few years, and was able to do 7+ mins previously without oxygen (which is pretty admirable). This time he specifically went after the oxygen-assisted record, adhering to all the Guinness book guidelines, and beat it. Quite a feat. He legitimately owns that record. Though I doubt he'll ever get the unassisted record.

His next endurance feat is going to be attempting to break the record for days without sleep (something like 10 or 11 days straight). Probably even more dangerous than these breath holding routines as people have died or gotten brain damage trying.

That said, he's got the money and the time to train for these things. He puts on or takes off 30 pounds in no time. Has medical evaluations and input from professionals. He's got the resources to give his body the best shot at breaking records, but ya gotta give him credit for having the drive to do it.

Deandog · 05-02-2008, 02:39 PM

Joe C....yeah, I was kind of curious how he transitioned from magic to endurance stuff too.

Threemuch · 05-02-2008, 03:58 PM

I really liked his street magic shows. They were pretty cool and innovative. But the endurance feats seem too staged to me. I would be much more interested to see an endurance feat that might have a real world application. Burying ones self in ice or holding your breath after breathing up on O2 just isn't as interesting to me.

Joe C · 05-02-2008, 04:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Threemuch

I really liked his street magic shows. They were pretty cool and innovative. But the endurance feats seem too staged to me. I would be much more interested to see an endurance feat that might have a real world application. Burying ones self in ice or holding your breath after breathing up on O2 just isn't as interesting to me.

I hear ya. It's a two-way street though, I suppose the fact that they're televised and hyped up makes them “stunts” , but then, the money he makes turning them into tv specials pays for his lifestyle to be able to train nonstop for these things. Which in turn allows him to do things physically that nobody has done before.

And I find his street magic more entertaining than the endurance stuff, but his endurance feats have progressively gotten more impressive (and legit).

I've always been fascinated with people setting the bar, whether it's a world record in track, biggest wave surfed, strongest bench press etc.

Who knows if there could be some benefit down the road? Since he is having his vital signs monitored for these things, getting advice from the best doctors in the field to maximize his abilities, etc. When he set the world record a couple days ago, he dropped 30 pounds to improve the efficiency his body could process oxygen, slept in some crazy hyperbaric type chamber every night to increase his red blood cell count, and learned breath apnia techniques from some of the best freedivers on the planet. He basically is able to make himself a human experiment both before, during, and after the event. If nothing else he puts a lot of medical/physiological theories to the test.