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...
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Former Member
I claimed it's not sleep apnea because it's voluntary breath holding, not an obstruction. Or at least as voluntary as it can be when I'm sleeping. It only happens very rarely, from what I can notice. But every once in a while (maybe once a month) I'll wake up and realize that I have been intentionally holding my breath. I don't have any of the other symptoms of sleep apnea (loud snoring, waking unrefreshed, daytime sleepiness, etc).
I'm no medical doctor, though. I should probably get sleep tested.
You should be sleep tested. No question. There is nothing "voluntary" going on while you are sleeping. Sounds like something I had. There was no "obstruction" to me breathing, I just wasn't taking a breath, far as I could tell. After 2 sleep studies (One cheap one--which led to tons and tons of more VERY involved tests--then finally a GOOD sleep study) which led to NO apnea diagnosed, but Upper Airway Restriction, fixed by a dental appliance.
I claimed it's not sleep apnea because it's voluntary breath holding, not an obstruction. Or at least as voluntary as it can be when I'm sleeping. It only happens very rarely, from what I can notice. But every once in a while (maybe once a month) I'll wake up and realize that I have been intentionally holding my breath. I don't have any of the other symptoms of sleep apnea (loud snoring, waking unrefreshed, daytime sleepiness, etc).
I'm no medical doctor, though. I should probably get sleep tested.
You should be sleep tested. No question. There is nothing "voluntary" going on while you are sleeping. Sounds like something I had. There was no "obstruction" to me breathing, I just wasn't taking a breath, far as I could tell. After 2 sleep studies (One cheap one--which led to tons and tons of more VERY involved tests--then finally a GOOD sleep study) which led to NO apnea diagnosed, but Upper Airway Restriction, fixed by a dental appliance.
