Holding their breath for hours on end

[Jinx]

How do they do it? Why can only some people do it?

[Ayen]

I like Jiro's explanation of water and anti gravity tech the best so far. Although that leaves you to wonder if it wouldn't contradict the anti-machea stance that most people in Spira grew up with. Unless that wouldn't count as machea.

Apart from that I have no idea. I don't think they ever explain it.

[Sephex]

It's easy to hold your breath when you have no brain! AH HA HA HA HA HA HA!!!

Actually, I wondered that, myself. I just generally assumed that Blitzball players and the Al Bhed do some sort of endurance training to build up the tolerance to hold their breath for awhile.

[Karifean]

People of Spira can undergo some really awesome training that allows them to hold their breath underwater for long periods of time.

Any more explanation necessary?

[Ayen]

It's easy to hold your breath when you have no brain! AH HA HA HA HA HA HA!!!

Actually, I wondered that, myself. I just generally assumed that Blitzball players and the Al Bhed do some sort of endurance training to build up the tolerance to hold their breath for awhile.

Good assumption. I never thought of that myself.

[Rantz]

I was expecting them all to have gills that just weren't possible to see in the original version, but I guess the HD remaster debunks that.

[Slothy]

The play periods in Blitzball are only a few minutes aren't they? Considering the world record for a free dive, as far as I know, required the diver to hold their breath for a bit under five minutes, I suppose it's doable. A dive isn't quite the same as constantly swimming and passing and stuff in Blitzball, but people in Spira have also had more than 1,000 years of playing Blitzball and living on the water to lead to some impressive adaptation to extensive immersion in water.

[EtcherSketcher]

The stadium (sphere) itself is a machina as far as I remember. It gets mentioned during the moonflow section when Tidus asks about why the Shoopuf lift is allowed but other machina aren't.

[Tavrobel]

How do they do it? Why can only some people do it?

Because they are athletes, it's their job, they've trained from childhood to do it, or otherwise in excellent physical shape? It isn't unheard of for people to hold their breaths for a very long time; it's only slightly more of a stretch for people to learn how to hold their breaths while exerting themselves in other ways.

Spira brains might have greater tolerance for oxygen deprivation. It could make sense as an evolutionary adaptation.

Alternatively, blame it on pyreflies. They do everything.

Unless that wouldn't count as machea.

It is, but it doesn't count, because it's entertainment (explicit statement through in-game lore). Generally, Sin responds to weaponized machina. Incidentally, it helps Yevon keep the general population down by distracting them from the prospect of a very violent death, sometime before the 11 o'clock news.

The play periods in Blitzball are only a few minutes aren't they?

5 total, 2:30 with a halftime. I don't believe that there are any pauses or timeouts.

Then again, the version of Blitzball we are playing as a minigame in FFX could be an abridged version, in the same way that Madden shortens most football games down to 5 minute quarters, instead of 15 minute quarters. For comparison, most NFL games are 60 minutes long, but most actually take 3 hours, with 10 commercial breaks per half mandated by the NFL agreement with its broadcasters and advertisers. Playing a full version of Blitzball may have similar issues.

[black orb]

>>> They have the Oxyale..

[Skyblade]

It's 10:00 total, 5:00 per half, though the timer ticks faster than real time. Definitely beyond the peak of normal human endurance for that exertion level.

Not that it really matters. There are so many problems with the scenario it's kind of ridiculous.

They aren't normal humans. They exist and evolved in an ecology vastly different from our own. Pyreflies, fiends, multiple sentient races, and who knows what other changes. Holding their breath for that long is still a struggle, but it is one they can train past. It's just a part of the different world, in the same way life in the Song of Ice and Fire novels can survive multiple year winters.

[Dat Matt]

I remember reading a fan theory that (SPOILER)Tidus never truly faded at the end of FFX, that he was just in a deep slumber in the ocean. That's why he woke up after the credits, which is linked to the "good" end of FFX-2. The same scene plays where he emerges from the water near Besaid to meet Yuna. That would mean that Tidus, best blitz player in the world held his breath while unconscious for 2+ years.

[DMKA]

Well, Blitzball games only last five minutes per session, so it's not too far fetched that they would be able to train themselves to hold their breaths that long.

That doesn't explain how they held it in the Via Infinito though. Unless Rikku still had some of those little breathing apparatuses handy.

[Jiro]

I think Datto mentions that the best Blitzball players can even sleep underwater. Clearly, they have improved their lung capacity to where they can function underwater and exert themselves. I wouldn't be surprised if we just don't see them "surfacing" in case they get hit too hard and drop their breath. While I call bulltrout on sleeping underwater, after seeing those crazy free divers on Youtube, I have to say that it is very plausible.

[Mirage]

I think it's just a physiological difference between earth humans and spira humans. It's not impossible even in our world, after all. Some mammals can do it in real life, just not humans. Dolphins and whales are two examples.