Hi! I asked a question about frenzel recently, but I discovered something I want to ask about.

I can do all T, K and H frenzel versions.my diaphragm is not moving and I’m controlling with my tongue and throat. But I just discovered I can build pressure with either of those tongue positions, and still keep pressure when opening my mouth. I can make the t, k and h sounds during that, while my nostrils are still flared up and there’s still trapped air. And somehow I can release the pressure without using my tongue or throat.

First question: is this possible / normal?

Second question: how does it work? Is it my soft palate blocking the air escaping? I’m not sure about the different muscles so I’m clueless.

Hello guys, so I'm a beginner with this sport and got a question about equalization. I never tried something like this and got my apnoe class starting in the end of october, but would like to try some equalization techniques to get fit. I remember trying a Valsalva when I was sick with a middle ear infection, so of course this ended quite painfull, since that I developed smth like a psychological barrier, so do you have any recommendations how I should try my first equalization? Can a normal Valsalva with clear ears be painfull for starters? I always close my nose and start to build some pressure, but get a bit afraid to damage my ear when I feel that I have to continue with more pressure to actually equalize. I know, that sounds a bit strange, but any experience / recommandation would be very great!

I finally hit a 4min+ dry static. About half of it was under contractions. I felt really, really good this morning and I had no idea I could push through so much. I do think this is some sort of mental fluke and I don't know if I can replicate it any time soon, but it still feels nice. I noticed some new things happening to my body.

-About half the time was under contractions. I lost count after 20 (previously, at my 3:11 PB, I counted to 13). -I didn't really feel like I had to stop at any point. Sure my body was screaming at me to breathe, but mentally I felt like I could go on forever. This kind of scares me; I may one day be capable of pushing myself straight into a blackout.

-My heart rate and sp02 dropped steadily right when my contractions started. My resting pulse is 60-65 in the morning when I'm relaxed. It averaged 70 during the hold, and after the contractions, steadily dropped to 56. It didn't spike up until my recovery breaths were done, about ten seconds after I started breathing again.

-My spo2 stayed in the high 90s (my resting is 98-99) all the way until contractions started. then it dropped steadily for a minimum of 72.

-Honestly, I only stopped because I needed to go to the bathroom pretty badly. I didn't want to wake up in the middle of my carpet with soiled pants lol (obviously every good PB attempt in anything freediving can feel like this; where you feel like you can go on forever)

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Is this what it looks like to finally have a strong MDR kick in? I know fingertip spo2 meters read higher due to blood vessel constriction. Did the blood vessels relax and start giving an accurate reading after my contractions? Or did my sp02 actually drop enough (maybe my diaphragm was using o2 quite a bit) to actually start reading lower o2 levels? This is all a strange new experience to me where for the first time I felt like I could push on and on. Relative comfort the whole time. Even the spo2 alarm didn't bother me. A bit scary, really!

EDIT: adding some photos -- check out the little dip at 10 seconds in then the following momentary rise. Then the continued dip after I start my recovery breaths.

Actual graph (unedited)Theory graph (edited)

I'm AIDA level 2 with a PB of 26M. My dry static breath hold has been improving quickly (I just got past 4 minutes this morning). My pool distances was improving quickly too, but I have been stuck at 75 yards (US yard pools) in both my bifins and DNF for months now. I think I'm getting myself in a rut where I keep failing to go past 75 and it just reinforces the subconscious belief that I can't ever make that turn.

Convulsions seem to come sooner in recent weeks. I don't feel relaxed, and I have trouble focusing on relaxing during breath ups. My ADD tendencies kick in when doing the dynamics itself and I find myself drifting off in my thoughts quite a bit. Although I have a great DNF turn with a very good glide, my fin turns are crap and that psychologically throws me off as well.

I read somewhere never to end a dynamic training lap at the end and to always at least do a turn; I imagine this would help but would love it if someone really experienced could pick apart my training program;

x2 times a week me and my dive buddy do DYN; we alternate DNF and bifins. One one set of dayswe will do max - 1 lap (so for me, 50 yards) with 2 minute or greater recovery. On some days when we are doing this on the 2nd set of laps we will go for a new PB. On other days, we do 45 second recoveries with faster pace to work on CO2 tolerance and lactic acid buildup.

x1 or x2 a week I do CO2 and O2 tables, alternating days.
x1 week I just do surface swimming, sometimes what I call 'power days' where I'm doing shorter distances at higher speeds or using paddles/training fins, or I'll go for distances of 2000-3000 yards. I'll throw in a breath hold surface lap or two at high pace at the end.

once or twice a month we go line dive (sometimes with a bigger group) at a lake.

My family is going to be visiting Vietnam by the end of the month and we'll be going to Danang. I looked it up and they some freediving places and wa swondering if anyone has had any good/bad experience there? And also recommended places would be great

Any freedivers in Panglao? Would love to meet some dive buddies and new friends in the area :).

I enjoy freediving for fun, my ultimate goal is spearfishing to feed my loved ones, AIDA 2 certified, have zero interest in line diving or making this an endurance sport for myself.

Greetings!

I am not a driver myself, but a university professor of kinesiology. I am currently designing a study with a small team to explore some concepts in the context of freediving. I'm being intentionally vague about the study and its purpose in this message because this is NOT about recruiting; instead, I have just a couple preliminary questions to help inform our direction. We appreciate any responses and we will likely be recruiting participants early 2024.

1. Why do you participate in freediving?

2. How much time do you spend diving and/or in activities related to freediving?

I can share that the goals of our study are scientific in nature - not commercial.

Cheers and thanks for your time!

Has anyone found a seller for these in the UK?

Hey, I notice how fast I lose weight since I’m fasting most of the time during my session.

does anyone know about any good supplements and nutrition packs that can assist me before, during and recover faster after Freediving?

Hey I just have a simple question about frenzel equalization. I’m sure I got it right, but I wanna explain how it feels. The first time I do it, I hear a pop and then if I continue I only feel both of my ear drums moving up and down, when I build pressure with my tongue and let go of it again. Now my question is: Is that the right feeling? I feel like I can control it pretty well, but I’m not sure if my ears should be popping each time I build pressure. Thanks!

I'm new to breath-hold training and have been doing CO2 and O2 tables 2-3 times a week for around two weeks. My baseline before training was a 1:40 maximal hold while after a week I managed 3 mins and haven't tested a maximal since.

I record my HR during training and have noticed that after the initial spike - that's perfectly normal - on the dot of 1 min my HR spikes again. I have looked at a bit of literature and I don't see this effect being normal: any ideas?

My first hypothesis is that the app I'm using (STAmina) has an alert after each minute of breath-hold and that might have been triggering. On my PB attempt there were no notifications and the effect wasn't there. I then tried removing the notifications during normal training but still saw a similar effect so now I'm not sure it might have been because of the psychological effect of the notifications.

I've also noticed that I don't seem to be getting any contractions: the closest thing I feel is the urge to swallow around 1:30-2 mins of breath-hold.

Any ideas?

https://preview.redd.it/pxsj2f64hkrb1.png?width=2024&format=png&auto=webp&s=5c65b2a78ed43f86b6fe5880cc1ab20402d3ba44

https://preview.redd.it/jkcl01jmhkrb1.png?width=2040&format=png&auto=webp&s=0342ba337f8721bde0c44764087872b0d15815b2

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Hi! I am looking for a freediving buddy to frequently go to Nemo33. I am currently working towards AIDA 3-qualification. I know I can just ‘join in’ but I’d prefer to know someone before going.

Hi everyone,

I'm a recent joiner to the pursuit of freediving (~6 months, got my AIDA 2) and wanted to share a video of a breath hold I did recently near our local beaches in Sorrento, Victoria Australia. I was very lucky with the conditions, as it's an ocean beach so not recommended for beginners or people that get vertigo / motion sickness easily (due to the typical swell).

Video

Best to watch full screen (supports 4K) with speakers or 🎧

You'll see a bit of particle in the water initially which clears up down the bottom and completely disappears at the swim thru =)

Depth is approx 10m, breath hold is about 1 minute.

Feel free to ask me any questions about this beach or my freediving in general.

​

Hi there! Am interested in taking up this new sport. Any recommendations for freediving schools/certifications in Coron, Palawan?

• any recommendations for purchasing fins & masks? Gonna do this for a long time to come, anything sustainable to get, yet practical enough for amateurs?

Mabini, Batangas PH

Yesterday I was doing some depth training.

I did about 10 dives to around 15m - 20m with no issues and then took about a half hour break on the boat.

On my first dive after getting back in the water, I went to 10m and heard a squeak in my sinuses, followed by a sharp pain behind my right eye, radiating down my face and into my teeth. I took about a ten minute break on the surface and then tried to dive again and was aiming to get to 5m and hang so I could see how I was feeling.

It turned out that I couldn't get below 2m without incredibly serious pain behind the eye and in my face, so after trying twice I decided my diving day was over and got back on the boat.

I didn't have any blood in my mask yesterday (I have little from my nose today) but I have a slightly black eye and some tightness in my sinuses today.

So I'm assuming I had some congestion that I wasn't aware of which has caused a sinus squeeze.

But my question is: why did this only come on during my second session? During my first session my EQ was better than it's been for a long time, and overall I was feeling really good (I was thinking I might aim for a PB in the second session, because I felt so good).

Given how quickly the squeeze hit me at the start of the second session it seems strange that I felt so good in the first session.

Has anyone else ever had this sort of situation?

This is the monthly thread to ask any questions or discuss ideas you may have about freediving. The aim is to introduce others to new ways of thinking, approaching training or bringing up old basic techniques that still work the best and more.

Info for our members, we are working to improve the community by gathering information for FAQs and Wiki - so go ahead and ask about topics which you would like to know about

Check out our FAQ, you might find your answer there or at least an overview to formulate more informed questions.

Need gear advice?

Many people starting out with freediving come for recommendations on what equipment to purchase. As we are starting out to introduce regular monthly community threads again, we might add a designated one for purchasing questions and advice. Until then, feel free to comment here(Remember, when asking for purchase advice, please be specific about your needs i.e. water temperature you want to dive in, so that people can help you quicker)

Monthly Community Threads:

1st Official Discussion Thread

~ Freediving Mods (and ModBot)

Hi all,

I’m looking for some advice. Without any prior training/experience I can perform a 1m breath hold(out of water), so I’m a bit concerned about the 2m requirement.

• What if I’m not able to meet that requirement?
• Is it realistic to go from 1m to 2m within the lvl2 course?

Hello!

I'm looking for a good ultra low volume mask for freediving, specifically for smaller Asian faces with small noses.

I started out with what is basically a Chinese dupe of the Technisub/Aqualung Sphera X that my freediving school sells. I never liked it but I didn't really know how much I wanted to get into it at the time so just went with it because it was the cheapest option. Shortly after, I decided to do my scuba stuff with PADI and made the best decision ever by getting a Cressi Calibro after the worst experience in the pool with said dupe.

The Sphera X dupe doesn't fit my face right. If I don't tighten it like crazy, it just doesn't wrap and seal around my cheekbones properly, so when I do tighten it adequately, I end up getting mad headaches and mask markings. The Calibro has been super comfy for scuba, but annoying at for freediving because the damn Italian nose pocket is so huge hahahaahha. For reference, I can literally fit a tube of lip balm into the space remaining above my nose bridge. This makes it really hard to properly find and pinch my own tiny little nose when I'm trying to equalise.

I've done some looking and found some options like the Seac Raptor and Cressi Nano that seem popular. My worry is that the Nano will likely have the same massive nose pocket, and I can't see much about the Raptor so far, since it seems relatively young on the market. I've checked out Gull as well since they're a Japanese brand, but even their smallest mask has a higher internal volume than my Calibro, so I'm not sure that'd make sense.

If anyone here has any recommendations for a tiny Asian spud nosed hobbit like me I'd be mighty appreciative.

I'm settling down in LA, would be cool to find some people to get in the water with to dive or spear

I'm wondering how much weight I should expect to buy for casual snorkeling/spearing - nothing competitive. I weigh 180 pounds. Is 10 pounds too light for me in a wetsuit?

Hi everyone,

here's the thing, my finny little friends:
my sister and I are building a new brand called "stilleSee" that revolves around freediving. We're designing and producing freediving suits and freediving themed fashion and I'm telling you: It's a wild ride and I'm anxious AF

You all know Vertical Blue right? We typically watch it each year and every single time I think the same thing: I hate the suits. I'm sorry...but also...I'm not. You can do so many awesome things with skin tight neoprene, it's and ENDLESS POOL OF HOTNESS. But when you look at it, they're all boring and not fashionable at all.

So my sister, who's a fashion designer and seamstress and I sat down together and well long story short we now quit our jobs to pursue this full time (but not without backup funds, no worries...). We even sent out a survey to competitive freedivers to find out more about what someone who does this professionally would need in a suit. One of them was so excited about the idea, he decided to join us and help us make the suit, which is really fucking cool.

HERE'S THE MASTERPLAN:
Right now, I feel like freediving is a sport that's very isolated from the rest of the athletic world, which is why I think it's very difficult to really do this professionally for so many athletes.

We don't just want to sell fancy freediving suits, we want to create a community around it. I think freediving deserves so much more attention and a much broader audience.

Those are my intentions. Dress divers, dress fans, make this a club. Like Harley Davidson isn't just a motorcycle, it's a feeling and a community and a lifestyle.

You know?

I'm also thinking about starting a vlog, documenting the process and more.

What do you think? Would you be curious?

Hi! I’m a relatively new diver, started in April of this year. Around two months in I tried to equalize too hard for too long at around 20 m — and I think was still not on top of my Frenzel then — I ended up feeling like there was water in my ear for a couple of days, then had intense ear pain, and found out I had a pretty bad infection a few days later. It went away with a course of antibiotic drops but I had to stop diving for around 4-5 weeks till the inflammation fully went down and cleared.

Ever since then I’ve been SUPER aware of my ears. Just, like, that I have ears. I don’t know how to explain it in a better way 😅 but every time I’m in the water, even if just for fun dives around 10 m, I feel light pressure or fullness in my ears? I’ve run to my GP a few times but nothing would come up in the check up. Sometimes it’s because I have some light chronic sinus issues. But, I think I just think about my ears all the time 😄

I wonder if anyone also feels this? Like having a sudden more anatomical awareness? Now that you know more about this organ, you can “feel” it more?

Ch-EARS 😄