Breath training

What my question is exactly is difficult to explain but I will do my best.

I played competitive water polo for a long time, and during conditioning, we would do training drills to increase our ability to hold our breath. Things like hypoxic breathing sets, underwater laps, etc.

Now, I understand why this was something we trained to do. One reason being when you swim, you go faster the less you breathe and lift your head to take breaths. Also, it was great conditioning as it was much more tiring to do laps and sprints while you were more out of breath.

My question is, now that I’m not a competitive swimmer /water polo player, would breath training and similar drills be effective and beneficial still. I know they’d help my overall conditioning. But aside from just being more tired when I hold my breath when I swim, what could other benefits be? Is putting your body at an oxygen deficit for reasonably short periods of time beneficial in any way?

I can easily swim a 25 yard lap under water still even though it’s been years since I had to do it for training. And I find it relaxing when I do hop in a pool for a workout. But are there benefits I could still see if I’m not necessarily focused on doing it to be faster as a swimmer or a better conditioned swimmer?

Thanks!

EDIT: damn I didn’t expect to see all of these comments when I came back to Reddit. Thank you all so much for your helpful responses. Sorry I haven’t gotten back to many people, I have been away for a few hours. I have read all of the comments and appreciate all the information and help. And a huge thanks to those who gave me awards too, it means a ton!

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