This is a post by Sanne Buurma.

In freediving air intake, consumption and efficiency are key factors in reaching longer breath holds in both dynamic as static performances. Although you might think that the more air intake you do will equal a longer breath hold, this is only partly true. There are a lot of other variables in play which make it a specialism to master as a freediver. Consider the difference between a dynamic and a static freedive on the level of aerobe or an-aerobe. Or even simpler, consider the difference in a dynamic pool freedive and a dynamic depth performance. In this article the focus is on the air intake.

Air intake
One of the variables that make a difference – in any type of freediving – is the air intake and how comfortable you are with the ammount of air in your lungs. I am not even discussing the difference in lung volume different freedivers have. I’ll dissect the air intake into three topics:

• Optimizing air intake
• Comfortable vs. Packed
• Increasing lung volume (advanced techniques)

Optimizing air intake
Optimizing the way you execute your air intake is where you want to start when you’re new to freediving (or the way you’re breathing up now isn’t working out properly). With a freediving course you will be taught the basic skills for a good breathe up, which in generel comes down to the following:

Before you start:

1. Relax
2. Put your first hand on your chest
3. Put the second hand on you stomache, just underneath the rib-cage

Inhaling (5 seconds):

1. Try and imagine that all air will go to your stomache area first
2. Start inhaling and notice that your 2nd hand (lower lung area) is moving and the 1st hand (Top lung area) is not
3. At the point where you can’t fill the lower area of your lungs, start filling the top part, check this by noticing your 1st hand now start moving outwards
4. As an extra you could look up and grasp the last bit of air in your mouth and close it.

Hold the air for 5 – 10 seconds and start with the exhaling

Exhaling (15 seconds):

1. After the short hold, slowly release the air from the top part of your lungs
2. When the top part slowly empties out, continue by gently pushing the air out with your abdominal muscles by tensioning them just a bit
3. Release the tension in your abdominal muscles and let the last bits of air slip out through your mouth

This basic guide to a good breathe up is generally used in the 2 minutes before you start the freediving discipline. Not only will this improve your breathing over time, it will be a real help in getting your body in a relaxed mode. Ultimately it will help lower your heart

Comfortable vs. Packed
Choosing the ammount of air intake is a specialism, as there are no real guidelines or specific tables. It’s because every freediver is different in it’s approach, lung volume and tactics. It depends on how you deal with comfortable air intake levels and not so comfortable levels. Plus the fact that when you start out with freediving, your lungs aren’t used to larger amounts of air residing in your lungs for breath holds. I’ll describe two examples that apply to my own experience with freediving.

My first example of a situation where comfort might help you is with a static. Although you want all the air in the world to reside in your lungs for a majestic world record breaking time, but you’re most probably feeling like a michelin puppet whilst doing so. In this case you can consider to take a bit less air for a static performance, in a way that you feel the most comfortable until the contractions start. In my own experience this has proven to be a good way of post-poning the contractions period with a minute, sometimes even up to 5 minutes without contractions. Where as I would do a few packs – I’ll discuss Packing later – to top up the total air intake and start the contraction period already on 2,5 minutes. For me comfortable levels play a large part in how I’m able to cope with the rest of my static. For other types of freedivers, this could be just the opposite. Packing all the air they can, brings them to their ultimate way of increasing a breath hold time.

Where you do want more air intake is in the depth disciplines, as in this kind of freediving your air gets compressed bigtime on your way down. At 10 meters it’ll be 50%, at 20m – 33%, etc. So having more air will help you in being able to equalize to a deeper stage without having to use advanced techniques like a mouth-fill. Even though you might want to push a lot of air into your lungs for a deep dive, please consider how well your lungs are suited for this. I’m a freediver that hasn’t done a whole lot of packing throughout my freediving journey, which in turn means that I should not over-pack my lungs just to reach that deep spot. I’ll do a few to be sure I got my lungs filled to 100%, which still enables me to reach about 40 meters using basic equalizing techniques. Where I know of freedivers who can descend to about 70+ meters on basic equalizing, which in turn I would like to be able to do ;)

Increasing lung volume (Advanced)
Lung volume can increase over time, but you should not be to eager with taking big steps to increase it. This should be a process of gradually trying to optimize your air intake, by letting you and your body get used to the larger amounts of air residing in the lungs using the basic breathe up technique. When I started out with freediving my total lung capacity was about 5,5 liters, now after a good 5 years of freediving my capacity is up to 7 liters, without the use of packing » that would take me to 8 liters or maybe more, but I haven’t ever really tried that.

Packing (advanced technique)
Although very effective in increasing the air in your lungs, it is a technique which is considered advanced. Packing is the art of pushing more air into your lungs than you would normally be able to do. Packing is also referred to as carping, because the movement made with jaw and cheek resemble the way carp’s grasp for air. These days it’s regularly used by competitive freedivers all over the world, but still requires a lot of practice and getting used to. As I’m not a regular packer, I will not go into full detail about pro’s and con’s for improving lung capacity.

This is a post by Sanne Buurma.

Other posts fmo the ‘Top 10′-series: Top 10: How To Hold Your Breath Longer.

1. Always use a buddy!
Especially important if you try to hold your breath in the water! Better yet; follow a freediving course that will teach you and a friend how to look out for each other during dynamic freediving attempts. Dynamic freediving is particularly differnt to static breath holds as it’s harder to spot when your body goes into preserve mode. Do not try to improve too much when you reach a distance, go gradually and be at peace with the somewhat slower progression.

2. Preparation

Peter Wurschy (Team Apnea Amsterdam) preparing

Of course it is important to pay attention to your breath up before you start, but also pay attention to visualize the way you’re supposed to depart. Visualize and repeat, whilst breathing up for your performance. This is a way of creating the mind-muscle-connection to control the outcome of your departure more. Visualizing aids in staying alert and aware on how to do a good start.

3. Departure/start
There are different ways to depart and they all have their pro’s and con’s, so just choose one you can perform in an efficient way and stick with it. As you’ve been visualizing the departure, you will not have so much trouble getting the chosen departure procedure right. Be keen on the execution and it’ll improve and be more auto-piloted as you progress in your training.

4. Consistent amplitude/stroke rhythm
This could have easily been called the relaxation part, which is achieved through a stroke rhythm you feel comfortable with. This differs very much from freediver to freediver. Be sure to find out what your best rhythm and speed is. This will give you a consistent amplitude while you’re performing your dynamic freedive.

5. Aligning
Another very important subject is aligning, which is also dependent  of your body composure, plus the type of freediver you are. Go out to the pool with a set of (borrowed) weights and have a buddy spot you’re kick-off from the wall. Try and glide as far as you can and see if you either ascend or descend.  Once you’ve got that first stage covered it’s time to fine tune for the rest of the alignment, by actually doing your dynamic performance and see if your legs keep descending or ascending, this might indicate the location of the weight chosen in the first step is a bit off. It’s not easy finding the right alignment, but once you do it will be a good help. Use a camera to record your alignment and see for yourself what you should alter to get it right. Check out more extensive information about step 5 and 6 in this post.

6. Balance
In the previous step you’ve seen how hard it is to find the proper alignment. When you get this wrong it will effect the balance  and stability of your performance. Try and make an equal stroke with your legs, have a buddy spot underwater when you’re swimming away from him. This way he can spot if you make a scissor like movement with your legs, which in turn can lead to an unbalanced movement.  Again use a camera to record your balance and see for yourself what you should alter to get it right. Check out more extensive information about step 5 and 6 in this post.

7. Technique
Your air efficiency will increase as your technique improves. You should optimize the technique versus the comfortable. As being strained too much to get your technique right will not improve the efficiency. Learn to pay attention to your technique overtime and the strain will decrease and technique and efficiency will improve. Using the proper technique and looking into it on underwater camera footage will help you gain the additional efficiency that you need to tweak your distance even further.

8. Turning
Turning can be done in different ways, choosing the one you can perform perfectly will help you gain distance. Also visualize that you’re about to turn and repeat the steps, before you hit the wall. Make the turn and get back into your consistent kicking technique in a controlled manner. Technique for the turn proves very important, if you leave little room for failure the efficiency will be optimal. So stick with the turn you think is best (and is also allowed by the rules) and maximize your performance by mastering it.

9. Re-surfacing
Planning the way you resurface by training it every training, helps you when you’re in a competition. The movement will be automatically like you have it on auto-pilot and the room for error has just gone down again. This leaves you with the concentration you need for your recuperation. The technique for resurfacing can differ to your own liking and might differ from pool to pool as the sides of pool tend to vary a lot. If there is a side where you can rest your arm on, then plan to get your elbow over the edge as you resurface and remember to not touch the wall as you’re about to resurface.

10. Recuperation
Knowing how to recuperate will teach you how to control longer dive times. Making a habit out of the recovery and repeating it with every freedive you do, will hard-code it into your system. If you’re having a performance with some extra factors to pay attention to, you’ll notice that the recuperation will start to go on auto-pilot, which in place let’s you focus more on the extra factors. In this case there are different methods to a good and steady recovery, find a technique that suits your needs and stick with it.

Check out this small video from a performance in the Coupe des Dauphins for a good example how you can use the side of the pool to rest your arms and do a steady recovery:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Things for myself to improve in this video are the balance, alignment and turning technique. As an extra note to myself, do not look for your end goal!

This is a post by Sanne Buurma.

Sanne swimming with the Leaderfins Flyer mono-fin.

…or actually how we think we should choose a mono-fin. As Jorg  and I were training last week, we tested a few different kinds of mono-fins. We wanted to see the difference between the fins in areas like;

• if they were comfortable
• how they performed
• what the efficiency is
• how the balance is using the mono-fin

The tested mono-fins were three kinds, two were from Leaderfins and one was from Special fins.

1. Leaderfins Freediving Sport
2. Special fins ‘Dolphin‘
3. Leader fins Flyer

Comfort

The first thing to notice when putting on a mono-fin is the difference in foot-pockets. All three mono-fins, differ very much in how comfortable they are when you put them on.

1. The least expensive one form Leaderfins, wasn’t all that tight around the feet. Supposedly making it a good to wear fin as it goes easy on the feet, but the thing to note here is that your feet are in direct contact with the foot pocket – although so it feels.
2. The special fins mono-fin was already a bit more comfortable as the foot pockets are surrounding the feet with a layer of rubber. They have a somewhat tighter fit and in this part of the test they feel they nicest to wear.
3. The Leaderfins Flyer mono-fin has extra tight foot pockets to improve the efficiency when bringing the freedivers power to the water to propel. This is also what you immediately notice when putting them on your feet. They are as tight as you can expect them to be. In the beginning I could only wear them for 20 minutes or less. Over time this seems to be a thing you can get used to, but this is a process we’re still going through.

Performance

Specialfins - Dolphin

Testing the performance comes down to how we feel and see each other perform a good technique with the fin.

1. For me personally the Leaderfins Freediving Sport was the lesser one of the three, because I could totally not feel that any the effort I put in, was going anywhere… In my experience this fin was just dangling from my feet and making me all unbalanced and Jorg’s feedback on the technique was even worse. The other way around Jorg could say the same and I spotted the same lack of technique in Jorg’s runs.
2. This mono-fin already has a way better feel and with proper training it is feasible to improve your technique and thus your performance. For me personally I think I still better of with a slightly harder blade, Jorg could already find a good balance and technique with this fin.
3. The weight in the arch of this mono-fin -about 5 kilograms – makes it easier to control the performance, because once the proper motion is executed the weight is behaving somewhat like a damped movement. Not that the amplitude is dampened, but actually no real peaks and no excessive movements. As if you’re movement is filtered.  Once the fin is set into motion, it feels as if your guided into your next stroke either up or down.

Efficiency
When it comes down to how much force you put in compared to the output that the blade delivers we’re talking about efficiency to see where the least amount of energy is lost into things like footpocket clearance, blade surface, stiffness of blade and rubber.

1. As I mentioned above in the comfort, this mono-fin has a minimal layer between your feet and the blade. Furthermore the rubber used on this fin is supple and the blade is soft. For me these factors are not ideal and proved to be making it hard for me to effectively make a full mono-fin movement. Overall it felt like having to really put all the energy into the blade through the tip of my toes. Which made my feet and ankles hurt after only 4 lanes. Jorg could make easy movements with these fins, but had to agree that you have to put energy into the fin with your toes.
2. The footpockets on this mono-fin are already a big improvement compared to the first one we tested. You feel that more power and energy is put into the blade, but for me the stiffness of the blade is slightly on the soft side. We tested different kinds of techniques on this one; kick-glide & constant kick. Overall Jorg and I both have a good impression about this mono-fin, but the somewhat loose foot pockets and supple rubber still makes us believe that not all of our power was transformed into propulsion.
3. With the 2 preceding mono-fins we’ve experienced foot-movement and supple rubber and soft blades, but this type of mono-fin really excels on the area of efficiency. The arch with added weight, keeps the motion going. The foot pockets are really a tight fit, which makes it feel like all energy put into it is transformed into propulsion. The rubber used for the pockets and arch are pretty rigid, combined with a stiff blade makes this feel like you’re being efficient when executing the mono-fin movement.

Balance

Leaderfins - Freediving Sports

Swimming with a mono-fin is particularly difficult when it affects your balance, Jorg and I witnessed this effect with Sandi Bitenc’s world record attempt last week.

1. In my experience with this mono-fin the balance was very hard to find, because of the toes having to put in all effort. The thing I spotted when Jorg was doing his test runs with this one, the movements to the side were very much present, not looking like a controlled motion at all. This also influenced the position of the upper body making it tilt and roll during the test runs.
2. For me the balance with this fin comes down to putting more exercise into the technique. I dislike the somewhat soft blade, which makes it less controllable for me. But this can also mean a lack of experience in mono-fin swimming from my side. Jorg seems to get away with this mono-fin easily and makes the movement look controlled and balanced.
3. For me this mono-fin was first up in the test runs, making my previous judgments very clear and pointing out that I really have the need for a rigid mono-fin and a stiff blade. From the start this mono-fin makes a normal movement and does not tilt me or roll me over when applying force. After exchanging thoughts, Jorg’s experience after he tested the other two fins was almost the same as I had felt it. Of course we have to put more time and effort into our technique, but this goes for all the mono-fins.

Concluding

Leaderfins - Flyer

To conclude our small test with these types of mono-fins, is that we’re now continuing with the Leaderfins Flyer mono-fin. Not because of the comfort, but of excelling in all other test areas that really matter when doing a distance performance in the pool. Our conclusion on the test areas we picked is that we’ve setup a pretty good test method to find a fin to continue our training. Having tested the different mono-fins, makes us realize that technique is everything with freediving with a mono-fin, not because we’ve just started using the mono-fin, but because efficiency is really all that matters and makes a mono-fin excel the bi-fins for most freedivers.

Next review/test

Leaderfins - Hyper

We’re very keen on testing a mono-fin which features the foot pockets that are placed on the mono-fin blade more, like the Leaderfins Hyper. As we refer to them as rocket-pockets ;). These are more likely to have a better angle for your feet  and the fit should be better, but still in the efficiency area. All these are assumptions are based on feedback we received from the freedivers who already wear them. This will be a topic for the next test/review we do in our quest into choosing a mono-fin for the pool.

This is a post by Sanne Buurma.

Cressi Superocchio

Freediving material is all about the right equipment for the best experience. As for freediving masks, there is a wide variety of masks available. What do you want to look out for and how did we come to our choice of freediving mask.

I think that if you narrow it down, a freediver will choose a mask and go by this mask for a long time. A good example of this is that I met Jorg in the end of 2003 and cressi superocchio was his choice, today he’s still using that same type of freediving mask (he actually bought this mask in 1998 and is using it as his primary mask since 11 years, the same one!). Although you might have different masks for different applications, your experience is improved by choosing a freediving mask of your liking. In the process of making a choice, every freediver has different reasons to choose a mask over another. Our choices were based on and influenced by the parameters; comfort, volume, material & durability. Ultimately these parameters also lead to a good freediving experience, which is the base for our choice.

Comfort
The comfort of a mask will impact a great deal of the way you experience your freediving with it. In our experience you should execute the following tests with a mask, if you want to see if a mask is for you.

1. Testing on land
So the silicon/rubber that is used for the mask should have a good fit to your face profile. A good way to test if a freediving mask fits you is to stand on dry land and press the mask against your face, suck a small amount of air out by your nose. See if the mask will stay on your face while you let gravity try and pull the mask off your face by tilting your head down and look at the ground. Be sure to catch the mask if it doesn’t fit your face profile and before it plummets to the ground ;)

2. Spot pressure points
If the silicon/rubber has a good fit, also check if your nose doesn’t get any pressure points from the frame of the mask. If this is the case, it will lead to an unpleasant felling and it will not benefit your freediving experience.

3. Testing submerged
Now take the mask testing into the water, put it on and submerge your head. Do a small static and see if the fit you checked on land, also proves right when you’re submerged. If there is no water is leaking into your mask, the silicon/rubber is doing it’s job. It might be when you put a smirk/smile/grin on your face that some water leaks in at the nose area, but I think no silicon/rubber can withstand every face motion, so don’t let that influence the overall test.

4. Testing the mask strap
Every mask has a strap that is adjustable to ensure a comfortable fit. Keep in mind that when you’re using a mask for dynamic ways of freediving, speed will prove you need to adjust the strap configuration. You can test this by putting on the mask, adjust the strap to a comfortable level, put on your fins and submerge for a flat out dynamic with fins. Some mask have a low profile and proof to be comfortable even under high speeds, others leak in water and you’ll have to tighten the strap. Be sure to check if you’re still comfortable with the tighter fit of a mask.

Volume
Freedivers from all around are usually looking for a mask with a low internal volume, that way you don’t loose too much air to equalizing the mask. If you’re really keen on checking out what internal volume a mask has in combination with your face profile, you should:

1. Put on the mask
2. Submerge your head into water
3. Let the mask fill with water
4. Reemerge from the water
5. Let excess water drip from your face, or dry your face with a towel
6. Release the water from your filled mask into a bowl
7. Measure the volume
8. Compare it to other masks

If you do not wish to take it to the extreme, just find yourself a low profile mask. Low profile means it’s a mask with the lenses close to your eyes. Lens size is smaller than the regular scuba masks. Also the frame size of a low profile mask is smaller than a regular scuba diving mask. Be sure to know what your application for the mask is, because low volume only really counts when you’re freediving into depth’s. Low profile (thus low volume) could be helpful while doing dynamic freedives as discussed before.

Material
The choice of material, especially the see through materials for lenses, is important in making the right choice. Some lens applications are directed at flexibility of the mask, where-as other designs focus on no distortion. The material choice for the frame is subject to the design purpose; flexibility or rigidity. So you might want to choose a design where rigidity is a focus, to ensure there is no distortion in your view. On the other hand you might want to go with the more flexible design, as you’re into deep freediving where the frame will follow your face profile more under the high pressure.

Besides the purpose of the material, the color of the lens can be an issue as well. However these are personal opinions and as far as I know, there are no rules or tricks to find a proper lens color until you’ve tested a mask in your application area. To the readers who do have a tip or trick about this issue, I would like you to comment about it.

It’s quite hard to really determine the material used for the silicone/rubber for the interface with your face and the strap. When you’re testing a mask, you can not test the longterm effect UV and water have on the material. However the things you can check is the flexibility and stretch of the material.

Durability

The material discussed in the paragraph above greatly influences the durability of a mask, but how long you’re able to use one mask depends on the way you use it. The way you treat your mask greatly influences the durability of your mask. Pay attention to the following:

• Be careful with it and your lenses will stay clear of scratches or cracks.
• Don’t leave it in the box while it’s still wet
• Don’t leave the silicon to dry in the sun for hours.

Freediving Experience
All of the parameters will ultimately lead to a mask which will improve your freediving experience instead of ruining the moment. What are the things that can ruin your experience:

• Negative feeling from the pressure points hurting your face.
• A high profile mask, which slips down because of the speed in dynamic » thus loosing it during your performance.
• Water leaking in, while you’re on the verge of breaking your personal best in static
• An imploding mask at depth

Our choice
Because we can’t deny that we own more than one mask, but only use a few types. We will list our favorite masks and why we like them.

Sanne’s favorite masks

Aqualung Sphera

Aqualung Sphera
+ Flexible frame, good for deformation when diving deep.
+ Flexible lenses, good for deformation when diving deep.
+ Low Volume
+ Silicon fits good, because of flexi frame
+ Low profile, great for dynamic runs without ever slipping off.
- Lens material (scratches easily)
- Lens assembly design, could lead to lens coming out of frame after extensive usage.
- Low durability

Sporasub Samurai

Sporasub Samurai
+ Rigid frame
+ Low volume
+ High durability
+ Lens material glass
+/- Silicon sometimes doesn’t totally fit, because of the rigid frame
- Medium profile, would slip if I swim fast during dynamic
- Has some pressure points to my face, but minimal.

Jorg’s favorites

Cressi Superocchio

Cressi superocchio

In short, this is the same mask as the Sporasub Samurai. Here are Jorg his points why he favors it, written down by him:
+ Lowest volume for my face
+ Best fit for my face
+ Great durability of mask strap: already used it for at least 2000 freediving sessions
+ View is good enough, allows you to concentrate with not flashing lights from the sun
- Profile is not ideal, but then again, nor am I

The need for a freediving suit is highly recommended where ever you go , for sure when you’re freediving the dutch waters. But what kind of freediving suit do you want, as there are so many different out there. For me goes without saying that a suit can make a freedive or totally ruin it…

When I first got into freediving me and my buddy got a scuba diving suit from about 7mm thick, the one with a zipper pushing up against my chin. The hood, arm and ankle seams were far from tight, so water came in immediately as we entered the water. Even though our motivation to check out the underwater world was high, the experience was far from relaxed or comfortable. But back then we didn’t know any better…

Now, a few years in with more experience with different suits, I like to share my findings. The whole deal with a proper suit is that it’s totally dependable on the freediver who wears it. Every freediver has other boundaries when it comes to cold and warm, but by explaining my own findings when choosing a suit might make your search a bit easier…

Layer thickness

2,5mm Smooth skin & Open Cell

You can vary the thickness of your suit ranging from 1mm to 10mm suits. The determinant factor is the types of water temperature you want to use the suit for. So ask yourself: “Am I going to use it in a sea, a lake or a swimming pool?”. Also keep in mind that the temperature of these can also vary throughout the season or location, which make it hard to go by only one freediving suit to do the job. When you’re selecting your first ever suit, choose it for the situation you’ll be in for 90% of the time. In my case I started out with a 5mm suit for both pool and lakes here in the Netherlands, but nowadays I prefer a 2,5mm for the pool competitions and a 6,5mm for the outdoor sessions. This change has to do with how comfortable I feel in those situations. Going to the seas in Egypt, Dominican Republic or other remote locations, I’d go by either 2,5mm for warmer waters and 5mm when I’m early in the season.

Surface types
Different sets of surface types are available for freediving suits, ranging from lining, smooth skin to open cell structure surfaces. The choice here also depends on what you’re going to use the suit for, or in which conditions or surroundings you’re using the suit. The first freediving suit I ever had, was an Elios with smooth skin on the outside and the inside featured open cell structure. In between I bought another similar type of suit, but this one was 2,5mm thick and from a slightly better neoprene. The last one I bought is a 6,5 mm, but now with lining on the inside and smooth skin on the outside.

Inside: Lining or Open cell?

Inside: Open Cell structure

At first I wasn’t very keen on the whole lining principle, but now since I tested one and eventually own a freediving suit with lining on the inside, I can say it’s just as comfortable as an open cell structure, but with less of a hassle to get into. Because an open cell structure will “suck” itself onto your skin with only a thin layer of water in between, you’ll have to keep in mind that by changing into this suit, you’ll need to have a bottle with soap water to prepare your suit before you put it on. Never the less an open cell structure on the inside is also very comfortable.

Outside: Smooth skin or Lining?

Inside: Lining | Outside: Smoothskin

I’m the type of freediver that likes the outside to be smooth skin, this sololy to the fact that a smooth skin surface will dry fast when you’re at or above the water surface. On the other hand lining on the outside will better protect your suit from tearing when putting it on or swimming in rocky underwater areas.

Tailor made or standard size
Until now I’ve been a lucky guy, where I’d be able to send my body measurement over to the suit maker and they’d suggest one of their standard sized suits to go with. Only my 2,5mm suit I have is a tailor made suit, which fits very nice.

The only reason why I should consider going with a tailor made suit is the fact, that a tighter fit will improve the ability of the suit to keep the water from coming in and keep the water from flowing through your suit, thus keeping you warm for a longer period of time. A standard sized one will be cheaper than a tailor made suit. So if a standard size is within your options, then my suggestion would be to try one from a fellow freediver with the same body measurements, to see if you’re able to go with the standard sized one.  Otherwise the tailor made is the best alternative.

Comfort & Warmth
The most important thing you want to achieve by selecting your suit, is a balance between comfort and warmth. Although a thick suit may make you feel like a Michelin-man, if you really need the thickness in terms of not getting cold, this is a concession you might have to make. Believe me when I say that a very comfortable suit, like my 2,5mm, just didn’t do the trick for me in terms of staying warm whilst freediving outdoors at Panheel. This makes a freedive not only uncomfortable, but even dangerous. It’s all about the best experience and finding a balance between the different parameters is a very personal choice.

Concludig
By selecting the proper combination from the points described above, you should be able to find a suit that is a balance between comfort and warmth. Furthermore it must be functional and practical as well, because you’re going to be freediving with it for about a year or two. Making the selections is a process where you’ll have to decide for yourself what you like and where you want to use your suit. These are all personal decissions, so I hope this article will aid you into selecting the right freediving suit for you.

PS. I haven’t discussed the different types of material, because this differs so much, I’d be writing a whole new page. Plus the different manufacterers feature enough information about the materials on their websites.

Buoyancy

Balance and alignment all originate from the buoyancy you have whilst freediving at a certain depth, with a certain are intake. To find your balance and alignment underwater the altitude and air intake are the parameters you can play with.

The buoyancy is a very important part, if you don’t want to become a jig-saw DNF swimmer that is. A jig-saw DNF originates by the fact your buoyancy is positive or negative, which will make you ascend or descend. A normal respond to this is to help yourself is by swimming down or up when you make the arm-stroke. But again you’ll ascend or descend and this will lead to the jig-saw movement when you look at it from the side.

Exercise
To counter-act this behavior you must play around with the altitude and air intake, to find a point where you’re neutral or slightly buoyant. A great exercise for this is to push-off from the wall and see how far you can float, whilst doing so you can check if you ascend, descend or remain neutral.  Before even making any neck-weights, you want to see if you can vary any of the parameters to help you find the buoyancy you need.

Altitude
If you’re in the position where you normally would swim at 1,5m depth, but the pool itself is 3m deep. Try and drop down to 3 meters deep and prepare for a push off from the wall at that depth. Once you made the push-off, just let yourself glide until you are completely stopped. If varying the depth isn’t helping you to stay at 3 meters deep, you’ll have to change the air intake.

Air intake
This relates to how much air you take in before starting your DNF freedive. As a lower air intake will result in less buoyany, try and do a DNF freedive at 3m’s deep with a neutral air intake. If you still float up, try with a smaller ammount of air intake, but most definately you’ll find that a neutral air intake should already be pretty close to finding your neutral buoyancy.

Variation
Varying with both of these parameters will result in a perfect way to find out, how a good balanced DNF should feel like. When you know how it should feel, the freedive itself will feel totally different. You no longer have to swim down or up, so now you can fine-tune your DNF freedive by paying attention to other aspects i.e.  streamlining.  In the end variation with the altitude and air intake will help you in making the neck-weight, waist-weight, etc. to suit your needs. Every freediver has a different body composure, thus a different setup is required as well.

Spotter
Most importantly to all of the information described is a good spotter, with preferably an underwater camera to aid in your goal of finding a good balance and alignment.

Good luck on finding your balance and alignment and if you have some other tips or remarks, be sure to comment about them.

Combining them into a lanyard was the next step in the “making of…”, so by the rules I figured that a cable length of approximately 500mm would do the trick. So we took a plasticized wire rope and fixed a cable-guide (for a minimal bending radius) and mounted the carabiner and the quick release to the 500mm wire rope. The wire rope is clamped and shortened, leaving no loose ends to scar me or tear my suit.

The quick release is attached to a ankle/wrist band with quite a large D-ring, but it suits the design in proportions. This band is also used for fitness exercises for the legs and covers the working load as well. As an extra safety measure, as seen in other lanyard designs, I added the quick release and attached a rope with a ball to that (of course I still have to shorten it).

With all things mounted together the distance between the center of the 15mm cable and the center of my wrist will be approximately 700mm, which seems like a good length. The total weight of the lanyard is just under 300 grams, so I reckon I’ve thought of all the points described in the regulations. I hope the lanyard gets considered valid to AIDA regulations and does it’s job when the emergency poses.

Let me know what you think of my lanyard…

1. Always use a buddy!

Especially important if you try to hold your breath in the water! Better yet; follow a freediving course that will teach you and a friend how to look out for each other during breath hold attempts. But at the minimum let your buddy check you every 15 seconds or so by tapping on your shoulder. You can then give him an okay sign, and if your buddy sees an okay sign then it’s time for some rescue techniques. Even when you’re doing a breath hold on land, it’s wise to have a buddy. Best position is sitting on a nice sofa, so that if you pass out you don’t fall on the ground. Lying on the bed is not wise, as it’s possible, if you’re in bad luck to swallow your tongue. So, never ever try it alone and if possible educate yourself by following a course. That being said…

2. Relax

If you want to hold your breath for a long time it’s best to relax your body and mind before trying. So first of all take your time for this and don’t try it between lunch and coffee. Just sit down on your knees in the water or sitting down relaxed on the sofa. Take your time just sitting there, calming your body and mind. And after a few minutes it’s time to…

3. Breath!

Do 2 minutes of breathing with a 5 second interval breathing in, and a 5 second interval breathing out. Just do it slowly and find a nice rhythm. Make sure that after inhale you will fully…

4. Exhale

Remember, exhaling is so much more important than inhaling. Just push in your belly to push out every bit of air out of your lungs, so when you inhale you have the maximum amount of fresh air in your lungs. Remember, used air has to get out, fresh air has to go in. After those 2 minutes of breathing just take a nice full…

5. Inhale

The trick, especially for beginners, is not to fully inhale so that you have blown cheeks and are ready to pop. It’s important that you only breath in for 80-85 percent of your maximum. This way you can still be relaxed during the breath hold itself. Just try it! Breath in as much as you can and feel how tense you are. Breath in only for 80 percent of your maximum and you can still relax. After your last inhale you only have to…

6. Hold Your Breath

That’s the easy part, just hold it. Close your mouth and if your in the water let yourself float. After this just…

7. Relax

Probably one of the most important things. You have to relax your body as much as possible. This way your heartbeat will go down as well, also one of the reasons why you shouldn’t inhale to your maximum. If your in the water, just float on top of the water, and don’t use any weights to put yourself on the bottom. Floating at the surface with your face down is an excellent way of relaxing. If you’re in the water on the sofa, just try to relax your complete body. Start with your toes and work you way upwards. Try to relax everything, from legs to your fingers. One of the most common problems is the inability to relax your neck and shoulders. And last but not least, try to relax your mouth and your tongue, so that you don’t have a forced breath hold. Keep a continues feel to your body if you’re relaxed and remember to…

8. Concentrate

You’re lying or sitting there while holding your breath. If you want to make sure that it is a short time then start counting in your head or looking at your stopwatch! Don’t do such a thing, you main goal is to forget time! Remember that when you’re doing something pleasant times go by very fast, and if you’re doing something awful time goes by so slowly… So don’t look at your watch, it’s time to have nice thoughts going on in your head and try not to think about the fact that you’re holding your breath. Guys, just don’t think about all those great bed stories, because then the blood goes to the wrong place and your heartbeat goes up. Try to think of something calming. Nice vacation, a good experience, some music, etc. Be creative with this. And when you can’t relax or concentrate yourself anymore it’s time to…

9. Distract

At one point while your hold your breath, relaxation is over and you can’t think about anything else then the fact that you have to breath and why oh why you’re doing this. Then it’s time to distract yourself. Use a small physical movement to distract. So don’t start swimming around, or walking around, just slowly move your fingers together and make small figures with them, touch each finger with the opposite finger, just play around. This way time passes by like crazy and makes you forget about the horrible pains your enduring. It’s fun to hold your breath, or so they say. And when you can’t hold your breath anymore, just hold a little longer and then…

10. Recover!

Before you start cheering about your new record, first you need to recover. You’ve hold your breath for a long time, so first things first; get all the used air out of your system by blowing out a little bit of air (20%) and then quickly fill it again to maximum. This makes sure that you give oxygen to the most critical parts again fast! After that you can exhale completely and for at least three times make a complete deep breathing cycle. Then you look at your watch and you can cheer about your time!

Remember, there a literally hundreds of methods to increase your time, but the most important part is that you’re safe! So always obey rule number 1 and never train alone. If you got some additional questions you can leave them in the comments.