Elite surfers like the Hawaiian Mark Healy are trained freedivers. They know how to handle hold downs and thus they are relaxed and confident, even when they paddle for waves close to their personal limit – or beyond.
Keen and upcoming big wave surfers are often surprised that it’s possible to learn the basic white magic of freediving within a one day workshop. But the workshop itself is useless – it’s the following daily training that makes all the difference! It is possible to gain the same state of confidence like the pros within days, but it has to be earned.
Freediving for surfers is all about getting used to high CO2 in the body. And it doesn’t feel right at all in the beginning! We are hardwired to react on high CO2 with “the urge to breathe”, and if breathing is not possible, panic is just around the corner. Rest assured, “the urge to breathe” is nothing more than a misunderstanding. It’s nothing more than a sensation of high CO2, on which we used to react in a certain way (breathing!), but on which we can learn to react in many other ways like relaxation, save oxygen and simple endurance.
This is the basic principle of a breath hold training for surfers – learn the tools to rewire reactions on high CO2! It is important to get a basic understanding of what happens in the body during are forced breath hold – and why this doesn’t need to be a problem. Last but not least you will be trained in rescue scenarios to build your confidence in assisting a buddy in trouble.
One warning shall be mentioned here:
Surfers that undergo this training will then charge for bigger waves – and that’s what it’s all about. But fact is, surfers don’t get hurt by hold downs, they get hurt by hitting the reef or the rocks, twisting limbs or getting smashed by their own boards. So, dear surfer, the fear of drowning used to limit the size of waves you were paddling for. Now that you will be trained in breath holding, this fear will be smaller and you will charge for bigger stuff – are your skills ready for this?
Check the course program for more information and schedules.
Bali Beatings Flyer
May the dive response be with you
Oli
Freediving for Surfers – now what?!
Keen and upcoming big wave surfers are often surprised that it’s possible to learn the basic white magic of freediving within a one day workshop. But the workshop itself is useless – it’s the following daily training that makes all the difference! It is possible to gain the same state of confidence like the pros within days, but it has to be earned.
Freediving for surfers is all about getting used to high CO2 in the body. And it doesn’t feel right at all in the beginning! We are hardwired to react on high CO2 with “the urge to breathe”, and if breathing is not possible, panic is just around the corner. Rest assured, “the urge to breathe” is nothing more than a misunderstanding. It’s nothing more than a sensation of high CO2, on which we used to react in a certain way (breathing!), but on which we can learn to react in many other ways like relaxation, save oxygen and simple endurance.
This is the basic principle of a breath hold training for surfers – learn the tools to rewire reactions on high CO2! It is important to get a basic understanding of what happens in the body during are forced breath hold – and why this doesn’t need to be a problem. Last but not least you will be trained in rescue scenarios to build your confidence in assisting a buddy in trouble.
One warning shall be mentioned here:
Surfers that undergo this training will then charge for bigger waves – and that’s what it’s all about. But fact is, surfers don’t get hurt by hold downs, they get hurt by hitting the reef or the rocks, twisting limbs or getting smashed by their own boards. So, dear surfer, the fear of drowning used to limit the size of waves you were paddling for. Now that you will be trained in breath holding, this fear will be smaller and you will charge for bigger stuff – are your skills ready for this?
Check the course program for more information and schedules.
Bali Beatings Flyer
May the dive response be with you
Oli
Freediving for Scuba Divers – why?
"The Scuby", by Azam Hamid
Why is it that more and more scuba divers choose to do a freedive course, or even start to train regularly as freedivers? Freediving is not just about holding your breath. Even more so it’s about becoming efficient in the water to not waste any energy and thus, air. So, the key to the growing popularity of freediving in the scuba community lies within the tools you are given in the freedive course. Lets have a look at a few of them:
You will learn how to relax your body and mind and use your breathing patterns to do so. This alone makes your scuba adventures more enjoyable, as you can now consciously work your level of activity. Or how about this one: In a freedive course you will work on your finning technique and body positioning in the water – getting both right will make you a more confident diver, even more so when you hit a current or even choose to swim across it.
Here’s one more: Did you know that there are about a dozen different equalization techniques to help that smooth descent? In a freedive course you will have a go at many of them and find the one that suits you best. Congestions of the airways are a common reason why “scubies”, as well as freedivers, have to stop their diving adventures – but congestions can be avoided by doing daily breathing exercises that we learnt from the Indian tradition of Pranayama. No congestions, great equalization.
Come and visit us on http://www.balifreedive.com.
Lovina Deep Days announced
While running a set of AIDA courses in our base in Sanur I’m happy to add some nice variety to the schedule. We will move over to the north coast of Bali for a few days of deep training:
The Lovina Deep Days: 10th-14th of March
We expect Azam Hamid from Malaysia to be here, one of the absolute pioneers of the rising S/E-Asian freediving comunity. Already here is AIDA Instructor Trainer Jean-Pol Francois, who represents no less than twenty years of competitive freediving and teaching.
Advanced freedivers are invited to get in touch for enquiries! Please also be in touch for alternative dates.
In the meanwhile, may the dive response be strong in you!
Oli
New Media Pages
[singlepic id=4 w=320 h=240 float=right]Dear all!
The new media-page is now online: Pics and videos will follow frequently, so make sure you check back!
Even though there’s not all too much on it for now, the pages already show nicely how freediving covers the whole range from very relaxed, almost meditative states to pure fun and silly moments. Isn’t that what life is supposed to be?
May the dive response be strong in you!
Oli
Premiere: First ever AIDA Freedive Certifications in Bali!
This is the best start we could ask for and we are looking forward to all the courses on Schedule.
Don’t hesitate to get in touch with freedive instructor Oli for more information, we are looking forward to get you wet!
Oli
The safest place on earth – freediving
Safety first - always! (c) P. Lambreth
2011 is coming to an end – and frankly speaking, for the freedive community it is about time. Here are the facts:
Now the media and thus regulators are all over freediving, as it obviously is a dangerous extreme sport that has to be banned. It is not. Freediving is the safest sport in the world. But you have to stick to one simple rule: ALWAYS FREEDIVE WITH A QUALIFIED BUDDY.
Why is this so important?
The human body and mind are like the weather – there are good days, and there are bad days. On one day everything falls in your lap, the other day you struggle for every little step. Be it in the office, in your meditation or while jogging. On a slow day you get tired, you breathe hard – no problem, you just rest for a moment. It can be a problem when you are in the open water – that’s when your buddy steps in. She will tell you that your lips are purple and you should not push it today, maybe he tows you for a few meters back to the boat to help you over that leg cramp, maybe she comforts you by just being there. There’s so many reasons why not being alone out there – or in a pool. And all of them are easily helped by a good buddy.
This means in consequence: No buddy, no breath holding in water. Simple, right? To make it clear: Never ever a freediver got hurt when sticking to basic freedive safety rules – alway freediving with a buddy is arguably the most important one of them. To argue differently is nothing more than a display of lack of knowledge. This makes me angry.
And not only me. The Belgian freedive pioneer Fred Buyle did the right thing: Together with the graphic designer Pierre Lambreth he developed a logo – simple as the rule! Please read up Fred’s blog in french here and his initial blog about the topic in english.
The only answer is this: Join a freedive course to learn how to assist a freediver or snorkeler in trouble and to get to know yourself better, also as a scuba diver. It’s so simple, so easy to learn and so much more fun to share the experience!
Let’s make 2012 safe!
All the best
Oli
Be a Snorkeler, not a Killer
It happens every day, right in front of my very eyes. They gear up with masks and snorkels, shoes and gloves. Yes, SHOES and GLOVES! Then the killing starts – step by step.
I guess every coral island has low tides where the water barely covers the reef, which makes it impossible to swim off the beach. But even on small islands with little tourism I see dozens of snorkelers every day that go “well, that’s not my problem, I want to snorkel NOW”! So, off they walk right over the reef – some of them flippers-correctly-backwards – all the way to the drop-off, where they finally can start with some beloved nature-gazing. I guess they are not aware that they left a trail of death behind them to get there. Or are they?
To say it again: If you step on or even touch a coral it will take years to grow back – if it doesn’t die right away. So: No steps, no touches, only pictures, starry-eyes and bubbles, ok? Not hard to memorize. And if you really have to walk, maybe to reach a boat, do it like the locals: barefootn’!
I strongly believe it’s our responsibility as freedivers and dive pros to ask each of every one of these people if they are just unaware or purely ignorant. Please help raise awareness and.. uuhm, drown the others.
All the best
Oli
So, how do they do it?
How can you possibly hold your breath for 3Min, face down in water? How about 4Min? How about the world record of 11Min and 35Sec ? Freedivers do things that seem to be impossible to the non-adept and it’s got to have something to do with that special breathing we all saw in Luc Besson’s “Le grand bleu (The Big Blue)”.
Remember that hilarious scene where the Japanese guy faints? Well, I guess he got it all wrong – because it actually is wrong.
Yes, freedivers do a lot of breathing exercises, including but not limited to yogic breathing exercises called Pranayama. You want to do daily breathing exercises for several reasons:
– cleansing of the breathing apparatus
– training of the muscles involved in breathing
– improve suppleness of the chest
– and more.. (save that for later)
This sometimes is hard work. E.g. the English name for one of the basic exercises called Bhastrika is “breath of fire”, and this for good reasons: It’s inhaling and exhaling with your diaphragma as fast and hard as you can, using your nose as a bellow.
But there’s the important notice: This is what you do in training, NOT before freediving.
Before holding your breath under water you don’t want your body to work hard, you want it to relax. And so should your mind. If you get this right, you will not waste any oxygen – neither by uncalled-for moving your body, nor by unnecessary thinking.
THIS is it. This is what will get you these unimaginable long breath holds.
Take care and always share the fun
Oli
Three thoughts to safe freediving
To be safe in the wet:
1) Always share the enjoyment with a trained buddy, never hold your breath while you are alone in the water.
2) Stick to your natural, relaxed, “tidal” breathing pattern before a breath hold. There’s no voodoo, shamanic or yoga breathing that will buy you breath hold minutes in the long term.
3) When you experienced a black out, you most likely messed around with 2), but as you are still alive you obviously payed attention to 1). Learn from your experience, don’t let it happen again.
Share the fun
Oli