Freediving Theory is invaluable. Full stop.

Imagine you have never done a freediving course before but you love snorkeling and can touch the bottom of the ocean on a breath hold. The plan is to get certified/better at it. As a beginner it is hard to understand how to judge teaching standards. Therefore, instead of looking at Instructor credentials or the school’s reputation and such things, your dream holiday destination will be the factor that drives decision making. Right, not for everyone, but in my experience the majority will first decide where to go and make a vacation out of it.

Now look at your holiday to-do-list: Hike to the waterfalls, drive to the viewpoint, be in the ocean, sit in a classroom for hours – wait WHAT? Classroom? No way, I am on a holiday!

A lot of my students see this as an unnecessary few hours of boredom that will allow them to finally get into the water and freedive. But if you’ve ever sat through a theory session with a good instructor like I was lucky enough to, you know it is neither boring nor - especially not - unnecessary!

This obstacle really comes to play a role in my job when someone self-thought just wants to get better, wants to dive deeper and stay longer. Especially when they find out that there is no magic trick involved in improving performance.

So why do we need to know so much before we get in the water?

As we all know, a huge part of freediving is a mind-game. Not a single moment in our sport can stand unaffected by relaxation. And relaxation happens in the head, before it happens anywhere else.

Sure, I have had many students who claim to have been completely relaxed throughout their freediving career prior to have ever learnt anything of freediving theory – and I believe they are being honest, well, some of them, but the same students tend to be very surprised when they see video of their dives and realise what it looks like when they thought they were relaxed. - One of the hardest things in any sport is to have an even remote idea of the difference between what we think we are doing and what we actually do.

A fully relaxed person might know more of what they are doing, might be talented and/or put a lot of effort into their progress of whatever it is they are doing. They are competent. They are reasonably cautious, aware of most risks, aware of themselves (somewhat).

But beware: It is also very possible (and not uncommon) to be relaxed for the wrong reasons: Complacency and/or unfounded confidence. It is easy to relax when you believe you are in control of a situation and you believe you have understood the risks involved.

For both safety and increased potential for improvement we need to eliminate the possibility of these reasons and it doesn’t only demand an instructor’s efforts, but of course the freediver’s as well – and this is where theory is necessary, and that is best done in a classroom session.

It Takes Some Effort to Become Effortless

Freediving is not simple and is not easy. Yes, it might come easily to some in the beginning – and I find that very talented freedivers are at the highest risk of negative experiences when the beginning part is over, and the true development begins.

• Talent makes some things come easier for some - and that can tempt us to drop knowledge itself to the background – complacency.
• Also there is the Dunning-Kruger Effect: If you do not know how much you don’t know, then it's easy to think you know all there is to know – and this will lead to unfounded confidence.

Both these scenarios leave a diver unprepared for a freedive that they might be able to complete a number of times – but a small change/surprise can result in anything from discomfort to a disaster, risking the health of everyone involved.

Without knowing what to expect on a dive, without understanding what’s happening in and around us during a dive, the possible outcomes can be incomplete dives, unpleasant dives, concluding “it’s not for me after all”, capped performance/lack of improvement, injury or worse. Scary! It is, and it should be in this scenario.

Knowledge is the basis of not only safety and performance but also of a more fundamental level of these: Relaxation – and the right kind of relaxation. With knowledge we can get much closer to full relaxation.

With knowledge we can eliminate the scary bit.

When we’re holding our breath and explore the depth we come across so many unusual sensations that are mostly unprecedented in our terrestrial lives. Without knowing what to expect and know how to interpret these sensations of course fear is bound to sneak in somewhere. This is why some people think of us freedivers as “insane adrenalin junkies”. And you know what? Some of us are – those who don’t have the knowledge.

People lose relaxation due to the change or unknown, because they believe they might lose something of value - they fear that they will not be able to adapt to new ways and they fear what the unknown might mean. The unknown is deeply emotional because it threatens the level of safety and security. Ultimately this will affect relaxation, thus in freediving – safety, performance and often pleasure.

Knowledge expels fear

One of my favourite quotes is from a former navy seal friend of mine. This was written above the main entrance of their training building. I like quoting this when someone thinks freediving is a sport for daredevils. “Objection! You have no idea!”.

If you want to call it an extreme sport you can get away with that because of the limits we are redefining. But once you discover what your body does for you to help you holding your breath or to undergo extreme hydrostatic pressure without injury

• … when you learn this new language that your body speaks to you so you can interpret these sensations to their true meaning
• ... when you know how to prepare yourself for a dive
• ... when you learn how to react to an adverse situation to overcome it
• ... when you understand how your limits change
• ... when you learn what to do to mitigate risks and how to deal with tricky situations

... You then realize that if you build your freediving onto a solid foundation of knowledge it should be the ride to the dive site you should be scared of.

I like asking people if they think driving a car is dangerous (in general, not in Thailand). Usually the answer is “no”. Then I ask them to imagine driving a car to the city for the first time in their lives, not ever taking a lesson beforehand, the signs being in a foreign language they don’t speak, the lights being different colors from what they are used to as pedestrians, etc. If they say “well, I learned to drive my dad’s car in our backyard when I was 12 and could probably get away with just following other cars in the traffic” – they probably already learned how to hold their breath from YouTube (which has equal chances of being good news or bad news) But most students would then understand that yes, almost anything can be dangerous if you have no clue really what you are doing.

Another example I like is Alex Honnold, the best freesolo climber who ever lived (and still does). He climbs extremely difficult routes reaching up to several hundreds or even over a thousand meters above the ground with no protection gear, no ropes. If he cannot complete the climb he dies. If he falls, he dies. No question about that. Is he a daredevil? Hardly. He is a person redefining human limits for sure but he isn’t a daredevil.

Alex Honnold learns his routes. He’s learned how to tie dozens of different knots, learned what gear to use for which situation. He knows the features of different kinds of rock texture. He knows angles and techniques and many different ways to get through the rock. He studies for his climbs. He knows complex sequences - hundreds of moves long - by heart. He understands the sensations he experiences in his body. He knows when he is ready to lose the ropes and go for it. He climbs the same routes over and over again with all the safety in place. He sets up similar moves in indoor climbing gyms and practices there (think of this as the confined water session in freediving). Would he ever look at a rock face for the first time in his life and say “yeah, I’ll just go for this one”? No. He’ll get the ropes and all the gear and learn the route, learn the moves, take notes, visualize, rehearse, and do everything he needs to do in order to eliminate risk, expel fear, be prepared.

I find that freesoloing and freediving aren’t that different after all.

So let’s take our theory seriously and remember and use it when we’re diving. Let’s be aware of what’s about to go down (no pun intended) so we can mitigate surprises. Once we’re under and experience all sorts of sensations – let’s know exactly what they are. If still there is – and there’s bound to be – a surprise during the dive let’s have the knowledge that will help us react the right way.

Let’s eliminate complacency, let’s be confident for the right reasons. Know your stuff so you can perform your best, improve if you want to and enjoy diving safely. Understand the importance of theory in freediving and be the best freediver you can be.