I'm very curious about a few things:
1) Average lung capacity of a competitive swimmer vs average population and other competitive athletes from different sports.
2) Comparisons of same groups ability to exhale with force. Are swimmers in the top percentile of watermelon spitting champs?
3) How this relates to cardiovascular health.
4) What are your favorite drills or workouts to help with the ability to spit watermelon seeds? (or gain lung capacity to swim faster and longer)
I sat nervously watching competitors at our County Fair Watermelon Spitting Contest last weekend. The 300lb guy that looked like he could eat the entire watermelon in one bite, the skinny girl full of energy, and many others went to the line to top my first shot of 49 1/2 feet. The closest was an average looking teen that fell 2ft short.
Extra Credit Question:
Do swimmers have a higher incidence of sleep apnea then then normal in the population? If so does all this holding of breath contribute? this seems more serious...
I've done a fair amount of lung function testing on age group swimmers recently...They've all had lung volumes and forced expiratory flows about 20% greater than normal. Naturally, I am in no position to postulate as to whether they have increased lung function from swimming or whether they gravitate to the sport because of their larger lung capacity. It does occur to me, however, that people with larger lung capacity may float easier than those with smaller lung volumes.
Sleep apnea, and control of breathing during wakefullness and sleep, is a pretty complicated topic. I wont touch that except to say that those rare individuals with blunted sensitivity to carbon dioxide can hold their breath much longer (and sometimes forever). They may also gravitate towards swimming or free diving (a strange sport that also goes by the name apnea).
Maybe I should add watermelon spitting to our procedures in the Pediatric Pulmonary Function Lab....
I've done a fair amount of lung function testing on age group swimmers recently...They've all had lung volumes and forced expiratory flows about 20% greater than normal. Naturally, I am in no position to postulate as to whether they have increased lung function from swimming or whether they gravitate to the sport because of their larger lung capacity. It does occur to me, however, that people with larger lung capacity may float easier than those with smaller lung volumes.
Sleep apnea, and control of breathing during wakefullness and sleep, is a pretty complicated topic. I wont touch that except to say that those rare individuals with blunted sensitivity to carbon dioxide can hold their breath much longer (and sometimes forever). They may also gravitate towards swimming or free diving (a strange sport that also goes by the name apnea).
Maybe I should add watermelon spitting to our procedures in the Pediatric Pulmonary Function Lab....
