Mark Healey, seconds before taking on a two-wave hold down at Mavericks. Photo: YouTube
Everyone who has ever surfed has taken beatings. We’ve probably all spent as much time tumbling around like dirty t-shirts in a washing machine as we have standing on waves themselves, if you really think about it. The paradox of it all is the more intense the waves you chase the more intense those wipeouts get, and the more experience you have being held down while taking another wave on the head, and another, and God forbid another after that.
Filling up your lungs in anticipation of riding around in that spin cycle is a natural reflex, and it’s a logical one too. If you’re about to spend time tumbling beneath the surface of the water, bringing oxygen down with you makes sense…or does it?
Mark Healey is a man who knows his fair share about surviving in heavy conditions, and he professes fighting that instinct. In a conversation with Jamie O’Brien and Mason Ho recently, Healey offered some sound advice touching on a question he’s asked often, which is whether or not taking big breaths before hold downs is a good idea.
Healey says free diving courses and breathwork techniques do teach people how to do this, but it’s counter to how a person should manage oxygen during a hold down.
“I don’t do that because free divers, they can hold that much air, because as soon as they’re down at like 30 feet on their way down, the air has come down to here, whereas surfing, getting pounded, we’re not going deep enough for that air to compress,” he explains. As a result, “you’re expending a ton of energy holding that, so your diaphragm is working really hard. And your diaphragm starts fighting back, giving you those panic signals if you tire out too fast.”
Healey simply takes comfortable, relaxed breaths.
You can find the full podcast episode and conversation here.
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