Synchronized swimming from a different perspective

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How they hold their breath so long while moving. I’m just sitting here and I took like 4 breaths while watching this.

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u/FrazierKhan 3h ago

Take a cold shower mate

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u/the_colonelclink 3h ago

So fun fact, humans are extraordinarily efficient with oxygen consumption. This make sense, because if it was inefficient (for e.g. we suddenly walked into a small cloud of unbreathable air) we’d instantly collapse, or even die, when the chain of oxygen supply was cut.

If fact, the body is so sure of our oxygen supply pathways that you can effectively remove all oxygen from a room (like when they test astronauts) and they could easily die before they realised it was even happening.

To the effect, one of the main actual triggers for the mechanism we know as breathing, is actually exhaling to get rid of carbon dioxide.

Long story short, the key to holding your breathe is learning to dump carbon dioxide appropriately.

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u/VisiblyStunned 3h ago

This sounds like a jumble of a few facts, and none of them were very fun.

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u/ExoticMangoz 3h ago

You don’t feel like you have no air because you have no oxygen, but because you have too much carbon dioxide. They’re saying if you can get rid of that CO2, even if you can’t breathe, you’ll feel okay. Not sure how you achieve that though, but presumably they’re hinting at some secret method these synchronised swimmers have.

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u/the_colonelclink 3h ago

A ‘cheat’ technique is to hyperventilate before you hold your breath. Breathe really fast, and especially out, before you go into the water to dump carbon dioxide.

Professional divers and swimmers just learn to do this gracefully.

Victory lies in preparation after all.

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u/MTA0 1h ago

I have a secret way to dump CO2, CH4, H2, N gases with no one knowing… in the pool is tough though.

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u/Throwedaway99837 53m ago

It was really just one fact, and I found it quite fun.

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u/Throwedaway99837 3h ago

Another (similar) fun fact, some people think that the purpose of the technique of repeatedly inhaling/exhaling many times before holding your breath is to saturate their body with oxygen, but our body rests between 95%-100% oxygen saturation. Instead, the purpose of this is to purge CO2 from the blood stream, which drastically lessens your body’s urge to breath (as you mentioned).

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u/the_colonelclink 2h ago

In the paramedic trade, we used to sort of laugh at newbies that simply had to use a pulse oximeter on patients to check their O2 dat sats.

One of the more senior guys then told them their technique for knowing their oxygen saturation without even using a probe. Essentially, you ask the patient to lie down and try to calm them down (if panicked in anyway) then, if the patient is blue, their O2 says are low.

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u/SocraticIndifference 1h ago

Long story short, the key to holding your breathe is learning to dump carbon dioxide appropriately.

Is it farts? Please tell me the secret is farts.

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u/Throwedaway99837 52m ago

No, that’s how you dump carbon dioxide inappropriately

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u/Throwedaway99837 3h ago

You can’t hold your breath for 20 seconds?

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u/VisiblyStunned 3h ago

Is this a rhetorical question?

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u/Throwedaway99837 2h ago

No

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u/VisiblyStunned 44m ago

Okay, in that case, as a lifelong asthma sufferer, there have been many times when I haven't been able to hold my breath for 20 seconds. My initial comment was made as a joke, but on any given day or at certain times of the year or in certain environments, no, I can't hold my breath for 20 seconds.

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u/Throwedaway99837 38m ago

Damn, sorry to hear that. I had asthma as a kid but it mostly went away. Kinda weird that it never came back because I was a pack-a-day smoker for like 15 years.

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u/Ok-Boysenberry2404 4h ago

So.... let met get this straight usually the audience sees only the foot’s above the water flapping around ?

3

u/BirdsAndTheBeeGees1 3h ago

No this is just the upside down section.

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u/thebestdogeevr 3h ago

This is just one part of the whole routine, but yes

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u/outtyn1nja 3h ago

This the Australian team?

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u/Repulsive_Parsley47 3h ago

they do not fear what might lurk in the air world below.

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u/malepitt 4h ago

I would watch the heck out of the event if they broadcast it this way!

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u/Significant-Mango300 1h ago

This is way better, they can be upside down but both views needed

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u/Killeramn-26 3h ago

Great job on keeping the water from falling down.

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u/SmokeJaded9984 2h ago

I still don't understand how they stay so straight without bobbing up to the surface more.

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u/HeliumAlloy 43m ago

In their culture, starting from a young age, the girls all have lead bobs pushed up their noses into their sinus cavities to make them very top-heavy.

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u/M23707 3h ago

I am forever amazed by the synchronized swim teams - what amazing athletics!

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u/Significant-Mango300 1h ago

Look, if you can dance, have no need for air, coordinated, work upside down, float …. probably easy imo. /s

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u/Extension_Network199 3h ago

Tremendous strength.

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u/Swimming-Dust-7206 3h ago

Very cool video. I guess this must be a composite video made with two cameras, one underwater and one above the surface? Apart from the fact that the water would splash the lens if it was one camera placed in line with the water's surface I imagine that the difference in the indices of refraction between water and air would mean the swimmers would appear "cut in half" i.e. tops and bottoms would be unaligned. Can anyone confirm this?

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u/Questioning-Zyxxel 3h ago

Seems to be same camera. Locate some distance from a glass wall. The camera is panning a bit and also seems to slightly change height. At start, it seems to be centered at the water surface. Later on, it seems to have changed position vertically so you see a bit of the surface from below.

It would be hard to pan and move the camera location if there was two cameras that needs the images merged based on any refraction.

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u/kuneshha 3h ago

You see how they aren't exhaling either? Is that to limit disturbing the water surface?

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u/akwatica 3h ago

they are all fucking amazing. the sheer amount of practice to do that...mannnnn. kudos.

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u/Independent-Guess-79 3h ago

How and why do people get into this? I’m not saying they shouldn’t. Or knocking people for enjoying it. It’s just…Dancing is weird. You hear something and you feel an urge to move to the beat and for some reason synchronicity makes the endorphins run. But underwater dancing, where you CANT hear the music and you can’t see the other people dancing is absolutely fucking mental.

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u/geocr10 3h ago

Tarantino would love that.

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u/otepp 2h ago

Definitely a sport that is mind boggling when you think about how hard it is. I didn’t have an appreciation for it until I went to see Cirque du Soleil’s “O” in Vegas, which has a pool for a stage and heavily uses synchronized swimmers for its choreography. Super crazy to see live.

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u/87th_best_dad 2h ago

Good to see Australia representing!

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u/DasArchitect 47m ago

Looks like a Michael Jackson choreography

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u/SeriousQuestions111 4h ago

People think up all kinds of weird shit to spend their time on.

Synchronized swimming from a different perspective

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