Freediving is a sport that can be enjoyed by people of all ages and experience levels. Whether you’re looking to freedive for recreation, competition, or simply to explore the underwater world, there are a few things you need to do to get started. In this blog post, we’ll cover six tips to help you get started in freediving. Keep reading to learn more!
1. Determine Your Goals
The first step to getting started in freediving is determining your goals. Are you looking to freedive for recreation? To compete? Or simply to explore the underwater world? Once you know your motives for wanting to freedive, you can better tailor your training and gear selection to fit your needs. For example, if you’re looking to freedive for recreation, you might want lighter diving gear so that you can move more easily underwater. Whereas if your goal is to compete, you might want gear that is specifically designed for competition freediving.
2. Find a Teacher or School
Whether you’re new to diving or have plenty of experience, it’s always a good idea to find a teacher or go through a formal freediving course. A qualified instructor will be able to teach you proper technique and safety protocols so that you can enjoy your dives while minimizing risks. If Freediving courses aren’t available in your area, there are plenty of online resources that can help get you started.
3. Get Diving Gear
One of the most exciting parts of getting into freediving is selecting your gear! While many people assume that all you need is a pair of fins and a mask, there is actually quite a bit of specialized freediving gear on the market. In addition to fins and a mask, consider investing in a wetsuit or drysuit (depending on the water temperature), gloves and booties (to protect against cold water and stings), weight belts (to help offset the buoyancy of your wetsuit), and diving weights (to help with descending).
Of course, if you’re just getting started, you don’t need all of this gear at once. Start with the basics and gradually build up your collection as your experience and interest level grows.
4. Read the Theory
Freediving is as much about understanding the physiology of breath-holds as it is about holding your breath underwater. In order to make informed decisions about safety while freediving, it’s important that every diver understands the basic principles of how our bodies respond to breath-holds and extended periods underwater. Once again, there are plenty of excellent books and online resources available on this topic. We recommend starting with one of these resources before taking your first breath-hold underwater.
5. Talk To Professionals
If possible, talk to other experienced freedivers about their sport before taking the plunge yourself. These conversations can be helpful not only in terms of learning more about what’s involved in freediving but also in terms of finding out what type of gear and training methods they recommend. Experienced freedivers are usually happy share their insights with newcomers so don’t be afraid reach out and start a conversation!
6. Be Healthy
Because breathing is such an integral part of freediving—both literally and figuratively—it’s important that all divers pay close attention to their overall health and wellness leading up to their dives. This means eating healthy foods, staying hydrated, getting enough sleep, managing stress levels, etc.. Essentially, everything that contributes to good health also contributes to good freediving performance so make sure that you’re taking care of yourself both inside and out!
Hopefully these tips have inspired you to give freediving a try! As we mentioned at the beginning of this post, Freediving can be enjoyed by people of all ages and experience levels—so what are you waiting for? Go out there and start exploring the underwater world!
