O2 Table Generator
Enter your current maximum breath hold and get a conventional O2 table: the rest between rounds stays the same, the hold gets longer. Practise alone only on dry land.
Enter your best breath hold time. If you're unsure, try our breath hold timer first.
How to read the table
Every row is one round: a hold, then a rest. The rest stays the same length the whole way down the table. The hold gets longer each round. Because the recovery never changes, the difficulty comes from the growing hold rather than from shrinking rest.
The name describes the structure of the session. It does not measure your oxygen level, and it does not guarantee a particular adaptation. Read the whole table before you start so you know what the last round asks of you.
Picking a starting time
Enter a maximum you have actually reached while relaxed and seated, not a personal best from a single good attempt. The final rounds of an O2 table are the longest holds in the session, so an inflated input makes the end of the table unreachable rather than challenging.
If you complete the last round with room to spare, raise the input by 10 to 15 seconds next session. If you cannot finish it, lower the input rather than cutting rounds.
Common mistakes
- Hyperventilating before a round. Breathing hard to extend a hold removes the urge to breathe without adding oxygen. Never do it. See the safety guide.
- Using the table in or near water. This is a dry-land session. A breath hold in water needs a trained buddy watching you, every time.
- Running O2 tables back to back. The long holds at the end of the table are the demanding part. Leave recovery days between sessions.
Where to go next
An O2 table holds the rest fixed and stretches the hold. A CO2 table does the opposite: the hold stays fixed and the rest shrinks. The two train different parts of the same session, and the comparison between them covers when each one belongs in a week. Generate the counterpart with the CO2 table generator, or read how to train CO2 tolerance.