AIDA2 Manual

AIDA2
FREEDIVING MANUAL
By Oli Christen v1.00 10/2015
AIDA2 MANUAL INDEX
INDEX
AIDA2 Freediving Manual

Chapter 1 Introduction to Freediving 4
1.1 Freediving is... 5
1.2 AIDA International 9
Chapter 2 Introduction to AIDA2 12
2.1 Paperwork 13
Chapter 3 Freedive Breathing Cycle 18
3.1 Relaxation Phase 21
3.2 One Full Breath 22
3.3 Breath Hold 25
3.4 Recovery breathing 29
Chapter 4 Basic Physiology of Freediving 31
4.1 The Respiratory System 31
4.2 The Circulatory System 32
4.3 The Mechanics of Breathing 33
4.4 The Regulation of Breathing 34
4.5 Hyperventilation 39
4.6 Safely prolong Dives 41
Chapter 5 Equalisation 43
5.1 Pressure 44
5.2 Air Spaces 45
5.3 Equalisation Technique 46
5.4 Facilitate Equalisation 48
Chapter 6 Freedive Technique 50
6.1 Duck dive 51
6.2 Finning technique 53
6.3 The Descent 54
6.4 The Turn 55
6.5 The Ascent 56
6.6 Surface and Recovery 57
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AIDA2 MANUAL INDEX
Chapter 7 Safety in Freediving 59

7.1 The Buddy System 59
7.2 Static Buddying 61
7.3 Signs of a freediver in need of help 64
7.4 Loss of Motor Control (LMC) 66
7.5 Blackout (BO) 67
7.6 Rescue a Freediver 69
7.7 Risk Reduction 72
7.8 Freediving and Scuba 75
Chapter 8 Equipment for Freediving 77
8.1 Mask 78
8.2 Fins 80
8.3 Snorkel 82
8.4 Weight belt 84
8.5 Wetsuit 85
8.6 Lanyard 87
8.7 Freedive Buoy 89
Chapter 9 Freediving Disciplines 92
9.1 Static Apnea (STA) 93
9.2 Dynamic Apnea (DYN, DNF) 94
9.3 Free Immersion (FIM) 96
9.4 Constant Weight (CWT, CNF) 97
9.5 Variable Weight (VWT) 99
9.6 No Limits (NLT) 100
Chapter 10 Freediver Code of Conduct 102
Appendix A Knowledge Review 103
Credits 110
3
CHAPTER 01
Introduction to Freediving
Millions of people around the world enjoy snorkelling. Many of them will also take a
big breath and dive down for a few brief moments to have a closer look at a colourful
coral, a shy turtle or just for the fun of it. That is where freediving begins. If you
read this manual it is very likely that you have taken that big breath already many
times before. In fact freediving is a very common activity and by far more than an
extreme sport as it is often depicted in the media.
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AIDA2 MANUAL CHAPTER 01
Freediving can be learned

New born babies enjoy being under water simply for the fun of it. Holding our breath
and allowing the water to carry us seems to be part of human nature. Learning to
freedive as adults is a way to re-discover these forgotten abilities.
Your first lessons in freediving are mostly about letting go of unneeded physical and
mental activity in order to allow yourself to relax. This might take time, but it will
come. Relaxation is probably the most important word in freediving.
Recreational and Extreme Freediving

The AIDA Education Program teaches recreational freediving. Competitions and
record attempts are part of extreme freediving. Somewhere in between recreational
and extreme freediving is a blurry line that separates the two.
Looking for personal limits and taking a peek beyond them is probably part of human
nature. This is exactly what you do when staying under water just a little bit longer
than you would without a basic knowledge of freediving you are exploring your
own self. Freediving is very much about discovering new sensations by learning and
developing new capabilities. Going one step beyond and shifting your momentary
boundaries in a relaxed, comfortable manner this is recreational freediving.
Going for a world record, developing an even faster sled for deep diving this means
not only going beyond your personal boundaries, but also pushing the known limits of
human capacity. Freediving in these dimensions requires total devotion to the sport
and a deep commitment to the lifestyle of an athlete. This includes a strict training
schedule, a rigorous diet, healthy sleeping patterns and so forth. In short, being a
freedive athlete will outline your whole life. This is categorized as extreme freediving.
1.1 Freediving is...

Freediving = Apnea
In certain countries such as Spain, France, Italy, Belgium or others, freediving is
also referred to as apnea. It is derived from the Greek word apnoia and literally
translated stands for without breathing.
Technically, freediving starts when you hold your breath in water. The importance
of this simple definition cannot be overstated. All safety procedures that you will
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Fun freediver exploring a reef
learn in the AIDA Education System become valid in the very moment a person is
doing a breath hold in water. Obviously this is the case in open water, but it is equally
important to keep this in mind when holding your breath in swimming pools, or even
in your bathtub. The primary directive in is thus:
Always freedive with a qualified buddy
In your AIDA Education you will learn how this simple rule, along with a few more,
make freediving a very safe and enjoyable experience.
A diverse activity
Freediving begins when you hold your breath in water. This encompasses a great
variety of activities and explains the existence of the large range of specialities.
Underwater hunting or spearfishing is just as much freediving as is underwater rugby
or underwater hockey. The latter two are even getting played in leagues. Indeed, very
different sports, but after all, all of them belong to the freedive family. All of these
activities or sports have one point in common: Peaceful silence under water. No matter
if you are hunting, or going for a world record in deep freediving, or if you take your
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camera down to a few meters; the way to approach freediving is to let go, becoming
absolutely silent and focused on the moment.
As freedivers we become one with the underwater world. It is the most natural way
of being under water on a breath hold just like any other mammal that lives in
water. If we move gracefully and steadily and do not exhale bubbles, underwater life
is much less scared of us. Curious fish will approach us. We do not need to chase,
we only need to wait to be approached.
Whatever your choice of freediving is, you can be assured to learn a great deal about
yourself. Freediving confronts us with one of our deepest fears: The fear of drowning.
In your AIDA Course you will learn why this will not happen. But fear is unlikely
to diminish just through knowledge. Since the time we were babies, the urge to
breathe has been drilled into us as a command of our body. We have learned to obey
immediately, or damage will be done, as we assume. In freediving you learn that the
urge to breathe is not hard wired it is information about what is happening in
your mind and your body. You will learn to deal with that information in a new and
safe way.
This takes some time and repetition. Soon you will get to the point where you would
usually want to breathe. But you purposely decide not to, even if it is just for another
few moments. This is where the freediving journey begins.
Freediving can be done literally everywhere where you can find water: It certainly is
a beautiful experience to visit warm and clear tropical waters to go down on a breath
hold, but just as many apneists dive and train regularly in lakes, pools or even rivers.
A way of life
Maybe it is hardly possibly to explain the fascination of freediving to someone who has
never tried before. Too often freedivers are talked down as thrill seekers or daredevils
by people who have never experienced a single breath hold dive. Without doubt, it is
exhilarating for freedivers to be amongst people who do not need an explanation for
the inexplicable. That is why freedivers like to mingle with other freedivers in real
life as much as on the web to exchange their experiences, tips and videos. This way
a worldwide freedive community has established. Nowadays you can find freedive
buddies and schools almost anywhere you go.
The human body adapts to freediving. The more you freedive, the greater this
adaptation and the more enjoyable freediving becomes. Even when you are not in
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the water you can perform a great variety of exercises and activities to support these
adaptations. It may be by starting a regular - or change your existing - yoga practice,
change of diet or dry apnea exercises. Soon you may also change your travelling plans
to be in the water as often as possible.
To some of us, freediving is a fun activity to do on holiday, for others however, it is
a way of life.
A social activity
Freediving always happens in a group of at least two people the buddy team. You
will discover that freediving connects you with your buddy in a very intense way.
Through the trust you have to build up and responsibility to watch each others back,
many friendships have been formed.
Whatever it is you see in freediving, through the AIDA Education Program you will
quickly discover how freediving is enjoyable and if you want it to be a school for life.
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1.2 AIDA International

The acronym AIDA
Established in 1992, AIDA stands for the French term Association Internationale pour
le Dveloppement de lApne, the international association for apnea development.
The organisation was initially French and it is now based in Zrich/Switzerland.
AIDA is committed to paperless administration as much as legally possible. The
organisation thus uses the website www.aidainternational.org as its major means of
communication.
Non-profit organization
AIDA is a non-profit organisation. In their day-job, most people working for AIDA
are specialists in their fields of trade. For example the AIDA Medical Commission
consists of leading Emergency Room specialists, trauma experts and experienced
diving doctors. Their day job keeps them up to date in their respective topics, which
in turn allows AIDA to be at the forefront of latest science and experience.
The national AIDA organizations largely rely on volunteer work to organise meetings,
courses and competitions. Apart from experienced instructors or judges, these events
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always ask for a lot of manpower in administration, printing, driving around, helping
hands here and there and good souls. Volunteering in an AIDA event is great fun and
a perfect way for you to get to know your local freedive community!
You can find your national AIDA organization through the official AIDA website.
Freediving education program

The goal of the AIDA Education Program is to share the knowledge and skills to
enjoy freediving in a safe and responsible way. It caters for absolute beginners as
much as for advanced freedivers and takes you through a comprehensive, professional
qualification structure all the way up to AIDA Instructor level.
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Freediving has probably been around since the dawn of mankind. Just look at the
phenomenal Japanese pearl diving Amas, the Greek sponge collectors or the Filipino,
Indonesian or Malaysian water tribes with their spectacular underwater hunting
capabilities. Compared to that, recreational and competitive freediving as we know it
today is still a very young phenomenon. Because of that, the learning curve in modern
freediving is still steep. Techniques get introduced, refined, adapted, and replaced all the
time.
The AIDA Education Program is kept on top of this rapid development by regular
revision and adaptation to the latest research in order to remain the standard of
worldwide freediving Education since its inception in 1992.
Freediving safety standards

Best practice in safety standards is obviously the most important part of AIDA
Freedive Education. Competition rules and education programs always follow the
latest safety standards, which cannot be compromised. It is well possible that you will
have encounters with freedivers, spear fishers or snorkelers that enjoy their freediving
in a completely different way from what you are taught by your AIDA Instructor.
Different knowledge and opinions of these - sometimes very experienced - water(wo)
men does not qualify them as incapable, but it shows how quickly modern freediving
still evolves!
Freediving competitions & world records

Last but not least, AIDA oversees all official freediving competitions as well as
national and international records. Trained and certified AIDA Judges implement
and supervise the application of all valid safety standards on various levels from a
small local competition up to the yearly AIDA World Championships.
Chapter 01 Knowledge Review
What is the primary directive in freediving?
How to make contact with your local freedive community?
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CHAPTER 02
Introduction to AIDA2
The goal of the AIDA2 Freediver Course is to allow you to gain a good understanding
of freediving. From the duck dive, over finning technique to equalisation you will
learn all basic skills, step by step. Many freediving novices are concerned about
numbers, such as minutes of breath hold or depth of a dive in order to become a
certified freediver. In fact, the numbers show that you have mastered the basic skills
and thus meters and seconds are not the primary concern.
Prerequisites
To enroll in an AIDA2 Course you must be able to swim at least 200m non-stops
without fins and at least 300m non-stops with mask, fins and snorkel.
The AIDA2 Course is designed for beginners with no previous experience in
freediving. It is not required having completed the AIDA1 Course.
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Not only for divers

Freediving is for everyone and there is no specific diving background needed. All
other forms of diving (scuba, technical, etc.) mainly focus on how to handle your dive
equipment in a safe and efficient way. In freediving the primary skills you learn is how
to handle yourself, and then how to deal with gear.
The greatest advantage for beginner freedivers is to feel comfortable in water, to
allow it to carry you, and to be able to let go. Being comfortable in water is of course
related to how much time you already spent in water, be it as a scuba diver, a surfer or
a swimmer the more, the better.
Be a safe Freediver
Freediving is a very safe, enjoyable and very common activity in water. Still, it often
is depicted as an extreme sport, meant for only a daring few. This is how freediving
is often portrayed in media and results in a huge gap in perception. Freediving is in
fact very safe if and that is a very important if - you stick to a few basic but crucial
rules. The most important ones are:
Always freedive with a buddy

Relax before you hold your breath
Be correctly weighted
To properly learn and apply these rules is the main goal of the AIDA2 Course.
Higher-level follow-up courses will then build up on these basic techniques to take
you deeper into water, deeper into the experience of yourself, one step at the time.
2.1 AIDA Instructor

Diverse backgrounds of freedive instructors
For most AIDA Instructors, teaching freediving is not what they do for life, but what
they live for. They offer training on a club basis, mostly in pools, sometimes in lakes
or the sea freediving is so diverse that you can find an AIDA Instructor almost
everywhere on the planet. Only a few instructors actually make their living from
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Introduction to freediving during a pool session.
teaching and thus, live and work in a place where open water freediving is possible on
a daily basis.
Part of AIDA Instructor Training is to write a paper about freediving. The candidates
are asked to make best use of their personal or professional background and add to the
already existing body of knowledge. A physiotherapist for example may add specific
valuable techniques and information to his/her teaching, and so can an engineer in
hydrodynamics. Hence, it is a great advantage that AIDA Freedive Instructors come
from very diverse backgrounds and often stay in their daily trades.
The relationship between teacher and student always depends on the personalities
involved. A certain AIDA Instructor might be perfect for you in his/her competitive
thinking and approach, while the same instructor can be daunting to others. One
student prefers to be instructed hands on on how to use muscles correctly, while
another one does not like to be touched at all. Instructors are not machines, but
professionally trained individuals with a variety of characters and backgrounds. An
open communication between the instructor and the students is key to a pleasant
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experience on every level of freediving, but especially in the beginning when you take
your first steps into liquid. Do not be ashamed tell your instructor about your fears
and let him know about your anxiety or how exited you are. It is perfectly fine to be a
little bit on the edge, but not over it. Your instructor can handle it and will take care
of you.
Standardised education
Since its inception in 1992, AIDA developed a comprehensive set of standards and
guidelines how to teach freediving. The AIDA Education System is growing and
constantly evolving due to over twenty years of teaching experience, competition
results and record surveillance, combined with the latest research in the field of water
related science.
The AIDA Education System provides a comprehensible framework for teaching
freediving in a safe way. This framework allows and asks of every AIDA Instructor to
add (but not omit) information, techniques and teachings, and make best use of his/
her personal background and experience.
The AIDA Education System gets reviewed and updated regularly.
Athlete Instructor
While the Instructors performance and experience as an athlete can be a plus, the
best athlete is not self-evidently the best coach or instructor. Encountering obstacles
in ones own education and training helps the AIDA Instructor later to understand
students needs and problems.
The AIDA Education System is a framework that defines sets of skills, which have to
be taught in every AIDA Freediving course. To some extent it is then up to the AIDA
Instructor, how to teach you these skills. A competitive and directive instructor will
probably be a very good teacher for you if your desire to become an athlete and to
train on a full year basis. If you are more interested in breath-hold photography, you
might want to look out for an instructor who does exactly that, and so on.
All AIDA Instructors will teach you the same basic knowledge and skills that are
defined in the AIDA Education System and what they will add to that, what you will
learn beyond the written word, that is up to you and your instructor of your choice.
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Multiple instructors possible

You can start any AIDA Course with one instructor and finish it later with another.
The only constraint is that you have to continue your education within one year. It is
also quite common that several instructors share the teaching during one course.
Registration with AIDA / EOS

Your instructor handles your registration with AIDA International and you will
receive an automatically generated message to the email-address you have supplied
to your instructor. This message contains a link to EOS, the AIDA Education Online
System, in which you mention some personal data, including your postal address.
This address is where your certification card will then be sent to after successfully
finishing an AIDA Course.
Please check if you have received an email from EOS right after you handed in your
details to your instructor. It is well possible that you will have to also check your
spam-folders, as automatically created messages tend to end up there. It is important
that you provide accurate and up-to-date information, also by logging in to your EOS-
account anytime later in case you need to change some details.
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Paperwork
Before starting your AIDA Course you will need to provide some important paperwork
to your instructor. This way AIDA makes sure that you are fit for and aware of the
risks of freediving.
Medical statement
Download here
The AIDA Medical Statement states potential reasons for not making it possible for
you to freedive. It is similar to the list of questions used in scuba diving. All questions
ticked NO means you are set to start your freedive course. Any answer ticked YES
means you will have to provide written medical clearance by a qualified doctor. For
this, ask your doctor to use the designated part of the form. Be honest about your
medical condition and mention previous minor surgeries or mild cases of asthma. In
case you are embarking to a remote island for doing your AIDA Course, please make
sure that you are in possession of any needed paperwork BEFORE you leave your
home destination.
The medical statement must be filled in, signed and handed in to your AIDA
Instructor at the beginning of the course.
Liability release (where applicable)

Download here
In many countries you will have to hand in a signed AIDA Liability Release prior to
any in-water activity. This form is to emphasise that freediving is an absolutely safe
activity as long as you follow the rules indicated and taught by your instructors. AIDA
Courses have an impeccable safety record in more than 20 years of teaching, and we
would like to keep it that way. This waiver says that you have understood that you are
the most important part of freediving safety.
When you start a course with one instructor, you have to complete it with the
same instructor? True or False. Explain.
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CHAPTER 03
Freedive Breathing Cycle

Here is an important fact about breathing in freediving: It is overrated! There is no
magic breathing technique that will give you a safe breath-hold of several minutes.
The word safe is a very important one in this context. The still young history of
freediving is overflowing with discoveries and teachings of spectacular breathing
patterns, but experience and modern science shows that they all have one thing in
common: They are unsafe for beginners.
In this chapter you will learn how to achieve great results in the safest way. The key
to a long breath hold can be summarised in one word: relaxation.
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Oxygen (O2) saturation

At any given time of resting your blood is fully saturated with Oxygen. You can easily
prove this to yourself by putting an Oximeter (device to monitor level of oxygen in
your blood) on a finger. The reading for a healthy person is always between 96 % and
99%, which is the achievable maximum. If your reading is not within these limits,
it is either because you are exerted or you have a specific health condition. Both are
indicators that you should not freedive or even hold your breath at this moment.
Being fully saturated with Oxygen at any given time leads us to a striking conclusion:
The preparation for holding your breath has nothing to do with oxygenating the body!
Instead, the last phase before a breath hold is about physical and mental relaxation
and focus. The more relaxed you are physically and mentally, the less Oxygen you are
using. This is what enables you to hold your breath safely for an extended time.
The breath hold cycle

Every breath hold is a cycle of four phases:
1. Relaxation Phase
2. One Full Breath
3. Breath-Hold
4. Recovery Breathing
These four phases will be explained step-by-step in this chapter. You can try out
everything as you read, and then go into your first full breath hold cycle. Feel free to
explore in the dry while lying down on your bed or on a yoga mat.
As soon as you feel like holding your breath in water, the first and most important
safety rule of freediving applies: Always freedive with a buddy. A lifeguard at the
other end of the pool is not good enough. A person qualified to perform freediver
rescue techniques needs to watch over you at all times!
Belly vs. chest breathing

We differentiate between two ways of breathing: The more common way of breathing
is happening in the upper part of the chest and is consequently called chest breathing.
The more unknown other part of breathing is happening below your chest and expands
your belly on every inhalation. It is thus also called belly breathing.
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Awareness exercise for belly breathing

Awareness Exercise:
Sit upright or lay down on your back. Put your right hand on
your belly and place your left hand on your chest. Relax for a few
minutes and follow the air that you inhale all the way to your belly.
Feel how your right hand moves slightly in and out, while your left
hand is not moving at all. This is belly breathing.
It is important to know that you can apply belly breathing at any time, most likely you
do it unconsciously while you are sleeping, and for sure you did it in your very early
days: Babies can only breathe into their bellies. Their muscles have not yet developed
to be able to breathe also in the upper part of the torso.
When you read belly breathing keep one of these pictures in your mind, either the
happy baby with the round, soft belly, or imagine yourself sleeping peacefully.
In advanced freediving you will learn spectacular exercises to enhance the
functionality of your breathing muscles. It is important to note that these exercises
are only intended for your dry training, but should not be applied directly before
diving.
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3.1 Relaxation Phase

The relaxation phase is the time before your breath hold. The goal of this phase is to
become completely relaxed, physically as much as mentally. Being physically relaxed
means to let go of any unneeded muscle tension, while mental relaxation implies to
be focused on the task at hand, to be in the here and now. Thinking uses Oxygen, so
being focused also means to keep the mind from wandering.
In other words, you are preparing for a breath hold by doing less and less, until you
do nothing at all anymore.
As your physical and mental relaxation gets deeper and deeper, you will notice that
also your breathing gets calmer. The more relaxed you become, the less air you need.
Your body will always breathe the exact right amount of air in and out according to
the current state of activity. There is no need to interfere with that perfectly balanced
mechanism. All of a sudden it becomes easy not to breathe for a moment.
Belly breathing
Apply belly breathing at all times during the relaxation phase.
Relaxation exercise
It sounds simple, but it is quite a difficult task to stop the mind from thinking for
more than a few brief moments. As keeping the mind from thinking is probably not
possible, second best is to focus the mind: Apply a relaxation exercise.
A relaxation exercise is a form of mental training, a process of a few brief moments
up to several minutes where the mind is kept focused on a task that is physically
relaxing. This way both goals of the relaxation phase are achieved: The mind is kept
from wandering or worrying by focusing on the task at hand, and as a consequence
the body in fact gets gradually more relaxed.
Examples for relaxation exercises are the Body Scan, Mental Torch, Point of
Contact or Changing Colours of Breath. There are literally thousands of relaxation
exercises, which you can learn from your yoga teacher, the Internet, or a plethora of
books.
Pick a relaxation exercise and apply it several times before every breath hold. The
more often you apply an exercise, the better it will work for you. After a few repetitions
it feels like pressing a relaxation button with almost instant effect.
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Example Relaxation Technique: Body Scan

Lay down on your back, hands apart, palms facing up, legs apart.
Close your eyes. Imagine yourself in complete darkness. Then you
find that little light and guide it to shine on the big toe of your right
foot, it gets warm, heavy and soft, and you allow it to sink down
towards the ground. You shine the light onto then next toe and
feel how it sinks down to the ground, warm, heavy and soft. You
move the light from toe to toe.. etc.
You instruct yourself through every muscle group of your body

until reaching the face, especially the neck, eyelids, eyebrows,
eyeballs, jaw, lips and tongue.
Gently bring your mind back to the exercise when you catch it
wandering or worrying.
Final instruction: Feel the whole body as one.
3.2 One Full Breath

Comfortable, focus on relaxation
The one full breath is a long and deep inhalation to fill our lungs with as much air as
possible. The focus remains on relaxation. It makes not much of a difference if we can
access the very last bit of our lung capacity but pay for that with the build up of a lot
of tension.
Breathe in slowly
Filling the lungs completely takes time. You can try this yourself: Inhale as much
air as you can in one second. You will notice that only the chest expands and you
can only access a part of your lung volume. So, again, take your time. Top freedive
athletes allow themselves up to one minute to fill their lungs completely. Of course
you do not need to go that far, but go as slow as you comfortably can. You will notice
that you will slow down even more after a few repetitions.
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There can be only one

As the name says, you take only one full breath. Remind yourself that your bodys
saturation with Oxygen was already at its maximum even before you started your
relaxation phase. Taking more breaths does not mean storing any more Oxygen
there is no space for more tea in a cup that is already full.
Two stage full breath

Start your one full breath with an exhalation that reaches a little bit deeper than it
naturally would. This way it will be easier for you to feel the air flowing deeply into
your belly once you start inhaling.
Stage one: belly breathing. Focus on your belly, feel how it is

expanding softly and steadily. Take your time and keep your total
relaxation. When your belly is fully expanded, then you switch to
stage two.
Stage two: chest breathing. Keep inhaling in a steady flow by

expanding your chest. Keep your relaxation also in this phase and
make sure that only the muscles on the side by your ribs are active.
Become aware of keeping your shoulders and neck soft, while you
go on inhaling into your chest until you feel comfortably full.
Remember: There is no gain in pushing in the last bit of air into your lungs if this
happens at the sacrifice of your relaxation.
Tip: While doing your one full breath, try pursing the lips. It feels
and sounds as if you where inhaling through an invisible straw.
For training purposes you can actually use a real straw to lengthen
your full inhalation and work towards a steady airflow from the
bottom to the top of your lungs.
You have finished your one full breath. Note that inhaling is a process that takes
muscle activity but holding the air in is not! You achieve this by shutting your
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Two steps, one full breath
throat, or, to be precise, you are tensing the muscles surrounding the vocal cords.
If you are not sure what this means, then try this: Imagine you are lifting a heavy
weight. When mobilizing all your strength you will automatically exhale and then all
of a sudden lock your throat with a loud sound similar to hhhhak!. That action in
your throat will keep the air from flowing out despite the pressure you apply by lifting
the heavy weight.
After finishing the one full breath, shut your throat the same way to keep the air in
your lungs. This allows you to let go of any tension that you built up during inhaling.
Now, as you hold your breath, return to your relaxation exercise, check for any
tension and enjoy the moments of pure silence!
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3.3 Breath Hold

While holding your breath in water you will always keep your air in your lungs until
surfacing. This is true for every form of freediving. There are a few exceptions to that
rule in advanced training, but then a freediver will always announce to the buddy that
he or she will exhale. If there is no such announcement, escaping air is considered a
sign for a freediver in trouble.
Relaxation
The first moments of a breath hold are very blissful and quiet - not even the sound of
breathing is disturbing the silence. Put an unnoticeable smile on your face and enjoy it!
If you have not yet done so, now is a good time to resume your relaxation exercise.
Check your body, muscle by muscle you might detect tension you have built up
unnoticed. Let go of it, find your absolute relaxation again and keep smiling at yourself.
CO build up
Some freedivers say that this first part of their breath hold feels like a wide-open
window through which they can see a beautiful landscape. After a while, this window
starts to close upon them and this is the moment when we usually would breathe. The
question is, why breathing?
There are actually two reasons why we breathe. First, it is a habit. We are used
and very well trained to breathe. Most likely the first thing that you will notice after
holding your breath for a while is a thought in your head which might say something
like hang on, I used to breathe at this moment, I think its about time to resume that!
Secondly, you feel the build up of Carbon Dioxide (CO2) in your body. Our breathing
is to a great extent regulated by the tendency to maintain a steady level of CO2 in the
blood. So, when we are physically active, for example while jogging, we automatically
breathe more to exhale that excess of CO2 produced by our muscles. CO2 is the waste
product of any activity. The more active we are, the more CO2 we produce, and the
more we breathe. To say it clearly: Breathing is largely regulated by the need to exhale
excess CO2, not by the need to inhale fresh Oxygen!
This means, during a breath hold the CO2 level in our body will rise. The more
relaxed we are, the slower it rises but still it will rise. After some time it will reach a
level that is noticeable to us and we get what we would call the urge to breathe.
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Total relaxation during a static breath hold (STA)
Holding your breath is a re-assessment of the sensation of rising CO2: For the
untrained person, rising of CO2 is an imperative to breathe. For a trained freediver, it
is a sensation, or, information. It does not mean that you are already low on Oxygen.
Even if you have held your breath before, it is quite unlikely that you have felt or
experienced a lack of Oxygen. The urge to exhale CO2 is usually much more noticeable
during a breath hold. In this course you will start to create an awareness of rising
CO2 levels. How to deal with low O2 will be a topic in the more advanced AIDA
Freediving Courses.
Contractions
At a certain point into your breath hold you might start to feel a first contraction
of parts of your breathing muscles. This is your body trying to resume to breathe to
exhale the accumulated CO2. Again, it does not mean that you are low on Oxygen!
Allow the contraction to happen and stay relaxed, so that the muscles can release the
tension and become soft again.
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Tip: Relax into your contractions. You cannot and you should not
try to avoid contractions but rather look at them as your internal
timer for your breath hold: Maybe your first contraction will come
as such a surprise that you end the breath hold right there. That
is perfectly fine because now you can prove to yourself that
you are fine, your lips are rosy (which is a sign of normal blood
oxygenation) and you feel good. The message to yourself is this:
I feel good with one contraction I wonder what happens next!
Now make a plan for your next breath hold. How about first
contraction and then count to ten. So after a nice long relaxation
phase you take one full breath and start your second breath hold,
very relaxed and with a fantastic view out the window. Then
the first contraction comes again, so you start counting, slowly
and steadily. At the count of ten you lift your head out of the
water and resume breathing. The message to yourself is now the
following: I feel good with one contraction plus counting to ten
I wonder what happens next!
So you make a new plan for the third breath hold maybe you
will count to fifteen, or twenty? Choose a number that you are
comfortable with and prepare for the next round.
Maybe in this round, maybe in the next one you will get your
second contraction. Your contractions become your timer: You
can plan your breath holds by the number of contractions. Always
increase the number a little bit at a time, end the breath hold at the
planned number of contractions to prove to yourself that you are
fine with that number as well.
Before you know it you will count up to very large numbers of

contractions they are your new best friends.
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Mind game
By this time you have already figured out that holding your breath is less of a physical
and more of a mental challenge. Your mind is simply not used to not to breathe.
Despite better knowledge, your mind will come up with all sorts of reasons and
excuses why you cannot go on holding your breath right now. It is maybe because you
are not perfectly relaxed, or your one full breath was not actually that full, or today
is a bad day in general. Whatever reasons your mind comes up with in order to stop
that breath hold right now; convince yourself that you can deal with it despite all your
thoughts or opinions about the current situation.
The fact that your mind will try to convince you that you need to breathe right now
imposes a very interesting question: Who is in charge your mind or you?
Without going too deep into that fundamental philosophical question: You are in
charge and it is your decision when to end a breath hold. It is fair to say that this is
a game that you play with your mind. When thoughts pop up in your mind, look at
them as an unattached observer and let them pass. Just like you are looking at clouds,
how they form, change shape and disappear without your involvement. This is the
mind game of holding your breath.
Tip: Not to think is not easy, so try feeding your mind with positive
thoughts. While holding your breath, create your personal happy
place. Maybe this is a childhood memory, a fantasy, or even a real
place that you have visited recently: Recreate that place in your
mind as realistically as possible, count the steps, smell the scents of
the flowers, hear the voices of people that might be around.
Tip: Use the sounds that are actually there, in the pool or confined
water, while you hold your breath. Build these noises into your
happy place: A propeller of a boat nearby becomes a beautiful bird
that you can see dancing in the air, or the sound of the pools water
pump becomes a cable car, lifting you up to the top of a mountain.
See video here
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3.4 Recovery breathing

As we learned earlier, your breath hold does not end when you surface; it ends when
you have resumed breathing.
Safety concept
Recovery breathing is a safety concept. It is the technique how to breathe in order to
properly finish a breath hold. What you need now is to inhale fresh Oxygen.
Make it a habit to end every breath hold with recovery breathing!
And this is why: As you progress and train as a freediver, it may happen that you
surface from a dive and have pushed it a bit too far which means that you are actually
low on Oxygen. In such a situation, rational thinking does not happen anymore, you
will simply do what you trained your body to do recovery breathing. This is the
reason why recovery breathing is an integral component of every dive: You train your
body that every breath hold be it a dive at the surface or to depth ends with
recovery breaths. Once you get into that low-Oxygen situation and your rational
thinking comes to a halt, your body will automatically do what you trained it to do:
Recovery breathing to restore the gas levels in your body to normal in the shortest
possible time!
Relaxed passive half exhalation

As you always surface with all your air still in your lungs remember, a freediver
never exhales during the dive the first exhalation is nothing more than opening
your airways and letting the air flow out from your lungs.
Quick full inhalations

After the passive exhalation, a quick inhalation follows, just as if you would say hope
on a big inhale. This quick inhalation will not fill up your lung completely, but a big
enough quantity of fresh air will enter your body.
This hope inhalation is followed by another passive exhalation just let the air
flow out from your lungs again.
Repeat 3 times
Repeat this sequence of quick inhalations and passive exhalations at least three times.
Do more of them if you feel like it.
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Recovery breathing is a very active way of breathing with big breaths and lots of
noise. Of course when you do that for example right now, it might make you dizzy, as
you are breathing way too much air in and out. But after a breath hold, the situation
is a different one as you are high on CO2 and low on Oxygen. Recovery breathing is
the best way to reset these levels in the fastest and safest way.
Dry breathing exercises

It is perfectly ok for you to do this full breath hold cycle relaxation, one full breath,
breath hold and recovery breathing while laying down on your bed. The more often
you do it, the better. Make sure that the relaxation phase takes at least two minutes
between two breath holds.
There are many breathing exercises available, offering different sets of rules for
training purposes. You will learn about these in the AIDA3 and AIDA4 Courses.
The preparation for holding your breath has nothing to do with oxygenating
the body True or False. Explain.
What are the goals of the relaxation phase?
What should be the points of attention when performing one full breath.
Explain.
Why is escaping air considered a sign for a freediver in trouble? Explain.
What are contractions?
Holding your breath is a mind game. Explain.
Describe the safety concept of recovery breathing.
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CHAPTER 04
Basic physiology of Freediving

4.1 The Respiratory System See video here
Elements of the respiratory system

The first stage of the airflow into our body is the nose and the mouth. In general
it is good advice to breathe through the nose, however, in freediving the breathing
happens mostly through the mouth. In most cases you will wear a mask or a nose clip
to keep water from entering your nose, thus, making it necessary to breath through
your mouth.
After passing the mouth the inhaled air travels through the windpipe or the trachea,
which is a fairly rigid tube made of smooth muscle and several c-shaped rings of
cartilage. At its lower end, the trachea divides into two main bronchi.
The bronchi are structurally similar to the trachea, but are the first part of the lungs,
or what is also called the bronchial tree. Through several stages the bronchi branch
off into tiny bronchioles from which we have about 30000 in each lung. At the end of
the branches lie the alveoli where the gas exchange in the lungs takes place. They can
be considered as the millions of leaves of the (bronchial) tree.
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Gas exchange
The gas exchange in the alveoli has two main purposes: Absorbing Oxygen (O2) and
releasing excess Carbon Dioxide (CO2).
For every action in the body Oxygen is needed. Bodily functions are fueled from
stored forms of energy, but it takes Oxygen to replenish these energy reservoirs. With
every inhalation we allow fresh air to enter our lungs, carrying a good amount of
Oxygen.
Almost every action in the body creates Carbon Dioxide as a waste product. Every
muscle that we move, every thought that we think, every image that we create,
everything we hear, see, taste or touch creates activity in the brain, which in turn
creates CO2. With every exhalation, we get rid of a certain amount of excess Carbon
Dioxide accumulated in our body.
4.2 The Circulatory System See video here
Two cycles: lungs & body

The circulatory system of the blood is made of two loops. The systemic circulation
delivers Oxygen to all tissues in the body, and returns excess Carbon Dioxide back to
the heart. The pulmonary circulation delivers this excess CO2 to the lungs where it
can be exhaled. With the next inhalation, Oxygen is collected and then carried back
towards the heart, where the blood enters the first circulation again.
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O2 bonded with haemoglobin

Every red blood cell carries the protein hemoglobin, which bonds with Oxygen. The
total amount of Oxygen carried by our body at any time is thus:
O2 stored in the air in the lungs plus the O2 stored in the blood
CO2 dissolved in blood plasma

CO2 gets transported dissolved in the blood plasma. This is similar to gas dissolved
in soda water.
4.3 The Mechanics of Breathing See video here
Diaphragm
The main breathing muscle is the diaphragm. This large muscle separates the upper
thoracic cavity from the lower abdominal cavity. As the diaphragm contracts, the
thoracic cavity increases in volume and air flows into the lungs. At the same time the
volume below the diaphragm gets compressed which looks like the belly is getting
inflated. This is why abdominal breathing (breathing by just using the diaphragm)
is also called belly breathing. The belly looks like it is inflating and deflating, even
though there is no air flowing into it of course.
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Intercostal muscles & accessory breathing muscles

Breathing especially filling the lungs completely is supported by the action of
the intercostal muscles and other accessory breathing muscles. These are groups of
muscles that expand and shrink the chest cavity and thus help to fill or empty the
lungs.
A combination of diaphragmatic and thoracic breathing will allow you to access a
great majority of your lung volume in a simple and very effective way. Your instructor
will teach you two stage breathing in order to access your diaphragm first, and then
fill up your lungs by activating the intercostal muscles. This is referred to as the one
full breath, which you take before you hold your breath (see AIDA1 for a detailed
description).
Inhale - active, exhale - passive

While the process of inhaling is active, exhalation is mainly passive. Exhaling simply
happens by relaxing muscles involved in breathing. This allows the diaphragm to
move upwards towards the thorax and thus pushes the air effortlessly out from the
lungs. Also, once the (external) intercostal muscles are relaxed, they will return to
their resting position and also push air out from the lungs.
Inhaling efficiently is a skill to be learned, while exhaling is more about just letting go.
4.4 The Regulation of Breathing

Neutral level of CO2
All physical and mental activity creates CO2. This Carbon Dioxide gets dissolved in
the blood plasma and is transported back towards the lungs where it will be exhaled
with the next breath. While being dissolved in the blood plasma, CO2 raises the
acidity of the blood (= lowering the pH of the blood). This change of acidity is then
registered by chemoreceptors in the brain stem, and further in the aortic and carotid
bodies. Once registered it automatically initiates an increase of breathing volume and
frequency to offload the surplus of CO2.
For example, when you are jogging you produce more CO2 than when resting. This
surplus of CO2 gets dissolved in the blood, lowering its pH level slightly. After the
34
blood has been pumped around your body it will eventually reach your brain stem.
Once this slight change in pH is registered you will automatically start breathing
more deeply and at a higher frequency. The body starts to maintain the neutral level
of CO2 by exhaling a bigger volume of air.
Once you stop jogging, the breathing will slowly calm down and finally reach its
normal rhythm when the CO2 in the blood has returned to its neutral level.
An important note before we start: If you hold your breath in water

you always need to have a trained buddy watching over you. There
is no exception to this rule. But it is safe to do breath holds alone
in the dry, for example while resting flat on your back.
Triggered by CO2 not O2

For a healthy person that has not undergone breath hold training it is not possible to
stop breathing for a very long time. Lie down on your bed and try for yourself. Even
fully relaxed you produce a certain amount of CO2 in your body. Now that you have
stopped breathing and thus have also stopped exhaling this surplus of CO2 you will
see that the CO2 level in your blood will soon trigger what is commonly called the
urge to breathe. If you choose to still go on a few moments longer with your breath
hold, the CO2 rises past the level that your body and mind can tolerate. That is when
the urge to breathe gets irresistible.
What is commonly called the urge to breathe is mainly information about the
current CO2 level in our body. Once you have started training your breath hold with
your AIDA Instructor, you will experience that the signs of rising CO2 are not an
absolute imperative to resume breathing as quickly as possible. You will learn that
rising CO2 in your blood is a sign that can be interpreted but not necessarily needs
you to resume breathing automatically.
Learning more about the role of CO2 in our body leads us to an important conclusion:
Our breathing is regulated mainly by CO2 and to a smaller extent by Oxygen. To
some degree our body has means to detect the current level of Oxygen, however in
recreational freediving we make use of the signals occurring due to a rising CO2 level.
Experienced recreational freedivers end a breath hold long before suffering from low
Oxygen levels by reading the signals of rising CO2 and draw correct conclusions
from that.
35
Breath hold instructions in the pool.
Physical aspects: Contractions

Breathing is a habit. Your body is well trained to maintain its neutral level of CO2 and
to react on the slightest change of blood acidity by altering the breathing volume. In
a breath hold, you still register these changes of blood acidity, but choose not to react
to them immediately.
The physical reaction on rising CO2 might be a burning sensation, or tightness in
your chest or throat. This can be due to muscular tension that you build up during
the breath hold, but it can also be a messenger of an upcoming contraction.
After some breath hold time, the level of Carbon Dioxide in your blood will be high
enough that the body tries to exhale it by contracting and releasing muscles related
to breathing. These contractions do not mean that you need to breathe right now. As
already mentioned, they are mere information. Contractions are a very individual
experience. Some freedivers describe them as relaxing and easy to handle, while
others say that they are so strong that they hardly can keep the air in their lungs. For
some, the contractions appear as far apart as 30 seconds, while others get rocked by
pulsating, almost continuous patterns of contractions.
No matter how your personal experience of contractions is, the most productive
36
reaction to it is to relax. The less tension you allow to build up in your body, the easier
the contractions will pass by.
Even though CO2 in very high doses works as a narcotic, the levels as we experience
them in recreational freediving do not harm our bodies. Besides a raised breathing
volume and contractions, another symptom of elevated CO2 can be headache. While
this is certainly not a comfortable experience, there is no indication so far that this is
dangerous. The headache will disappear after regaining normal breathing.
Mental aspects
As much as the duration of a breath hold is limited by physical aspects it is also a
mental challenge.
The less we think, the less cerebral activity occurs leading to less Oxygen used and
less CO2 produced. The ultimate state of mind for a breath hold is to allow it to go
blank. Unfortunately our mind is not very good at doing nothing.
The goal in a breath hold is to keep the mind from unneeded tasks; mainly from
worrying. After all, you know that everything is alright. You did not get any contractions
yet and you have been to this length of a breath hold already many times before. So
your task is to convince yourself that you are ok and that you can go on with your
breath hold.
Tip: Focus on the one important thing: Relaxation. Continue with

your relaxation exercise while holding your breath (see relaxation
phase). Applying relaxation exercises gives your mind a task to
perform and it will easily be possible to detect physical tension
built up during the breath hold. Let go of it and enjoy your breath
hold for a few more moments. When your mind goes wandering
again, bring it gently back to the one task at hand relax and
reward yourself with a little smile for staying in control.
Some freedivers say that breath holding is meditation with feedback or also
meditation without cheating. There is a certain true aspect in these statements.
If your mind keeps spinning and you cannot hold it back from losing focus or even
worse, worrying, you are literally losing your mind. You are more likely to end your
breath hold quite quickly.
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Relaxed waiting for CO2 to rise
O2 = Gas in the tank, CO2 = Gauge in the cockpit

Experienced freedivers use their contractions as a timer. Counting contractions
gives them an indicator of how far they have already gone into their breath hold. For
example, if a freediver ended his last breath hold after four contractions to resume
breathing without any problems, then it is a safe assumption for him/her that he/she
can go to one or two contractions more in his next breath hold without jeopardizing
his or her Oxygen levels.
You can think of it as driving an old car: You cannot see how much gasoline you still
have in the tank (Oxygen), but you can deduct from what the needle on the fuel gauge
says (CO2) how much there must be left. The more often you drive that car, the more
precisely you know how to interpret the readings on the gauge. Every breath hold
leaves another mark on your CO2 gauge; marks that give you confidence to end your
breath hold well in time.
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Feeling the water carrying you helps to relax
4.5 Hyperventilation
Definition
Simply defined, hyperventilation is in- and exhaling more air than you need to
maintain a neutral level of CO2 in your blood.
Of course this definition depends greatly on your current state of activity. In a
relaxation exercise while lying on your bed you are barely producing CO2, whereas
in a 400m sprint you produce such big amounts that your breathing cannot catch
up with exhaling enough of it. In the first case any audible breath would already
considered to be hyperventilation, while it is not possible to hyperventilate during the
400m run.
No additional O2 storage
With an Oximeter the Oxygen saturation of your blood can be measured by attaching
it to your finger. At at any given time your blood is saturated with Oxygen levels at
around 95-99%. If you are significantly below that reading you are either exerted and
need to rest or you are sick and should consult a doctor.
You can prove to not be able to increase the readings by hyperventilating with the
Oximeter still on your finger. The reading remains more or less steady. You cannot put
more tea in a cup that is already full. Sometimes the blood saturation with Oxygen
might increase by one percent, but at a great cost: You have to literally over-exert
yourself with breathing!
After all, hyperventilation does not store more Oxygen in your blood!
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Negative effects of hyperventilation

In the breath hold exercise mentioned earlier it was not possible to do extend the
breath hold indefinitely because of the rising level of CO2. But by hyperventilating
before the experiment it is possible that you pass out from low Oxygen levels without
even feeling the first signal of rising CO2. Hyperventilation can postpone the signals
of rising CO2 to such an extent! Hyperventilation does not store more Oxygen, it
actually lowers the level of CO2.
If you pass out while your face is submerged, you will not unconsciously inhale
water, but simply die after a few minutes. Only a buddy watching over you at all times
and performing a timely rescue if needed will save you from this ill fate. This is the
main reason why hyperventilating before freediving is so dangerous.
Apart from the potentially fatal danger, hyperventilation has other disadvantages
for breath holding. Hyperventilation raises the heart rate, which goes against the goal
of starting a breath hold in the most relaxed state as possible. Hyperventilation also
reduces the blood flow to the brain while increasing it towards the extremities. Once
you have started your breath hold, your body will need to reverse this process to
conserve Oxygen (see the chapter about the Mammalian Dive Response in AIDA4).
In short, in a breath hold after hyperventilation, your body will not conserve Oxygen
as much as it potentially could and is thus using up its Oxygen reserves faster. You
can black out earlier than you would have in a completely relaxed state.
Symptoms of hyperventilation
It is thus important to know and carefully watch out for the symptoms of
hyperventilation:
Euphoria
Tingling in the extremities
Lightheadedness
Dizziness
Numbness around the mouth
A metallic taste in the mouth
Semi paralysis of the hands
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If you experience any of these symptoms, do not dive and resume your relaxation
exercise until they go away.
It is also quite easy to point out if your buddy is hyperventilating by listening to his
breathing sound. If you can clearly hear the breathing of a freediver at the tip of his
or her snorkel, remind your buddy to relax and extend the relaxation phase until the
sound disappears.
Relaxing face down requires a snorkel
4.6 Safely prolong Dives

There are ways of prolonging breath holds without compromising your safety.
CO2 tolerance
The more often you hold your breath, the more used you will get to rising CO2 levels,
mentally as much as physically. The more tolerant to CO2 you get, the longer you can
hold your breath. This is where your CO2 tolerance training starts.
You will still notice rising CO2, but you will learn to apply a new interpretation.
41
Rising CO2 becomes mere information about the status of your breath hold and it
gradually looses the imperative to breathe immediately.
Specific CO2 tolerance training will be a topic in your AIDA3 Course.
Relaxation & efficiency

Relaxation technique is a major key to modern freediving. Relaxation is a skill that
can be learned and needs to be trained. The better you become at it, the more effective
it will become. In the beginning it might take a bit of patience to find relaxation, but
after a few dozen times of applying a given relaxation technique you will be able to
switch off almost instantly. The better you get at relaxing, the less Oxygen you will
use and the less CO2 you will produce. This allows for increasingly longer breath
holds.
It takes training, it takes time, but results will come and you will always be safe.
Once you start moving under water, the goal is to do this with as little effort as
possible. Efficiency in movements is less a question of specialized gear but one of
perfect technique.
Describe the journey of the air from outside into the lungs.
What are the main muscles involved in breathing?
Our breathing is regulated mainly by CO2. Explain.
Hyperventilation is increasing oxygen saturation of your blood. True or false.

Explain.
What is wrong with decreasing CO2 level in your blood.
How can you safely prolong your dives?
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CHAPTER 05
Equalisation
If you tried to reach the bottom of a swimming pool without equalisation, you would
feel discomfort or even pain in your ears and forehead. What you would feel is the
build up of pressure. It can hurt your ears very quickly, even only one meter deep, so
it is not advised to actually try this.
This chapter explains the basic mechanisms that are at work here and you will learn
how to equalise in order to avoid discomfort, pain or potential harm due to the build-
up of pressure.
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5.1 Pressure
Builds up with depth
At the surface we have an atmospheric pressure of roughly 1 bar. For every ten metres
we go under water, 1 bar adds to that. So at ten meters, the pressure has already
doubled to 2 bar, at twenty meters the environmental pressure rises to 3 bar and so
on. This is what Boyles law expresses:
If the temperature remains constant, the volume of a gas is inversely proportional
to the absolute pressure. Boyles Law
Sensing pressure, but not pain

Your eardrums are very sensitive to pressure changes as they start to bulge inwards
as soon as you start to descent.
There is a difference between the sensation of pressure and pain whenever you sense
pressure, then you equalise. Never descend in a way that this sensation of pressure
gets painful, as it would mean that you have stretched your eardrums beyond their
capacity and potentially damaged them.
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5.2 Air Spaces

Ears sinuses mask
There are four air spaces you need to consider when freediving: Ears, sinuses, lungs
and the mask. As you descend, the increasing pressure compresses the air in those
spaces. Apart from the lungs these air spaces are rigid containers, they cannot give
in like the balloon in the example of Boyles law, thus, we have to move more air into
them to balance the rising water pressure. This is equalising.
On your way back up to the surface, there is no need to equalise anymore. The now
dropping pressure will allow the air to leave your ears, sinuses and mask automatically.
At this point it should be mentioned that in contrast to scuba diving there is no speed
limit in recreational freediving other than your capability of equalising you can
dive to depth and surface at your own speed.
Sinuses seen from the side
Lungs
Lungs are as well air spaces, but they react more like the balloon depicted to explain
Boyles law: They get smaller the higher the environmental pressure rises and thus
equalise themselves. If you are relaxed and do not create any tension to resist, you
will not even notice it until freediving to greater depths.
However, the lungs must be considered when freediving. If you are very tense, or
force an equalisation, or have strong contractions at depth, they can get damaged.
This is one of the most important reasons why freedivers of all levels must slowly
progress over time, diving to deeper levels, dive by dive.
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Un-equalised ear: Water pressure bulges the eardrum inward Equalised ear: Eardrum is relaxed
5.3 Equalisation Technique

There are several techniques to equalise the rising environmental pressure while we
descend in water.
The easiest one is equalizing the mask: Gently exhale through your nose into your
mask. Make sure that you only allow enough air into the mask to equalise it, but that
no air escapes from your mask as you equalise. After all, you want to keep as much
air in your lungs as possible.
There are two techniques for equalising the middle ears and sinuses: The Valsalva
and the Frenzel manoeuvre. Sinuses equalise together with the (middle) ears, as both
are connected with each other.
It is important that you decide which technique works best for you and then apply it
as relaxed and precisely as you can. Note that equalisation gets easier the more often
you do it.
If you already know how to equalise but are unsure which technique you are actually
applying, you can check it yourself: Pinch your nose and equalise, maybe several times
in a row. Now figure out where the pressure to equalise comes from, or in other words,
which one is the active muscle in your body:
Pressure comes from abdominal or thoracic movement: You are

applying the Valsalva manoeuvre.
Pressure derives from tongue / cheek movement only and you

can do it while the belly stays absolutely soft: You are applying
the Frenzel technique.
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No matter which technique you use, make sure that the respective muscle group is
the only active one. Mixing the techniques and thus creating pressure with your belly/
chest and your tongue simultaneously will create opposing forces, which ultimately
keeps you from equalizing successfully.
Valsalva: The epiglottis is open Frenzel: The epiglottis is closed
Valsalva manoeuvre
With the mouth closed and the nose pinched, you exhale through your nose. As
the air cannot escape out of your nose, it will automatically be moved through your
Eustachian tubes into your middle ears. Your ears will make a popping noise this
is an equalisation.
This technique is very popular with scuba divers, as air supply is not an issue. As you
will progress as a freediver you will prefer to use the more efficient Frenzel technique.
Frenzel technique
In broad strokes, the Frenzel technique works like this: Pinch your nostrils, then place
your tongue at the roof and back of your mouth and move the back of your tongue
gently upward as when starting to swallow. This moves the air up into your middle
ear as well, resulting in the same popping sound in your ears.
If you can equalise your ears without any abdominal or thoracic movements, then
you are doing Frenzel.
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Practice equalisation
During your equalisation exercises, make sure that your head and neck are completely
relaxed. You can slightly tilt your head forward to ease relaxation and equalisations.
Most importantly, use only the muscles that should be active in your chosen
technique. All other muscles need to stay relaxed during the whole equalisation
manoeuvre.
The more often you train your equalisation, the easier it gets. Equalise 500 times a
day, while sitting on the bus, reading a book or walking home from work.
Other techniques
There are many other equalisation techniques, most famously the hands free
technique, also called BTV (Bance Tubaire Volontaire, French for Voluntary Tubal
Opening, VTO). This advanced technique can also be learned, but is not part of the
AIDA Education System.
5.4 Facilitate Equalisation

Clean technique
Equalisation should be easy! When you are sick and congested, then equalisation
will be more difficult or slow. In the worst case, simply no air will flow through the
Eustachian tubes to your middle ear and/or into your sinuses. Wait a few days until
the congestion is gone and resume practicing.
Any equalisation technique works best when you stay completely relaxed while
equalizing. Pulling faces, or rising shoulders are a signal of too much activity in
places of your body where there should not be any.
Outer ear filled with water

Make sure that you outer ear is filled with water while diving. Any air trapped
between your eardrum and a hood can make equalisation hard or even impossible.
Equalise frequently enough

Equalise when you feel the rising pressure but never wait until the pressure becomes
painful to your ears.
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Slow down
Slow down your descent if necessary. It is ok to hold on to the diving line to slow
down or stop your descent. Wait, relax for a moment, equalise and then resume your
descent. Do not resume your descent if you cannot equalise.
Dive healthy
If you are sick and/or congested, wait until your airways are clear before going back
to water. As soon as your equalisation works effortlessly again on dry land, it will also
work in water.
Avoid decongestant medication

Decongestant medication works for a few days during which you will feel ok to dive.
However, after that time the medication stops working and you will feel sick again,
taking you much longer to restore your health.
Stretching before diving

You can stretch your neck and jaw muscles before your dive session. Your AIDA
Instructor will guide you through a gentle stretching exercise for doing so. Keep this
relaxation of your mind and body while you freedive. The more relaxed you are, the
easier equalisation becomes for you.
How is Boyles law defined?
What is equalising?
What should be your focal point when practicing equalization techniques?
Cite three ways to facilitate equalization.
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CHAPTER 06
Freedive Technique
Importance of technique
The key to successful freediving is the optimization of O2 consumption. The way
to achieve this is learning and applying a good freediving technique. The better the
technique, the easier the dive becomes. Hence, the numbers in freediving such as
meters, minutes and seconds are more a result of good technique, and less that of
physical performance.
When it comes to extreme freediving, such as in competitions and record attempts,
physical and mental performance undoubtedly become important factors as well.
Recreational freediving however is about good technique.
The mental part of freediving is fairly simple: You need to focus only on the skill or
technique at hand, and maybe prepare for the next one. E.g. during the relaxation
phase you focus on your relaxation technique while keeping the mind from wandering.
It is simple, but not always easy. Especially when your mind is restless and if it is one
of those days. Just be patient, take your time and allow the mind to settle. You cannot
force your mind to rest, but you can provide the space.
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6.1 Duck dive

After the relaxation phase and the one full breath, the duck dive is the next skill of a
freedive. It enables you to start a dive and move underwater in the most efficient way.
ATTENTION: A strong duck dive can get your head as deep as five meters, before
you even start using your fins. This is a depth where you would usually have to
equalise your ears to not experience pain in your eardrums. But as your hands are
busy during the duck dive, you cannot equalise without compromising the technique.
The solution is to equalise once before you do your duck dive. In fact it means to over
pressurise your ears to give yourself more time until you are able to perform the first
equalisation under water.
This is the full sequence to start a freedive in detail:
1. Relaxation phase
2. One big breath
3. Snorkel out
4. Equalise (over pressurise)
5. Duck dive
Duck dive sequence

After taking your one full breath, removing the snorkel from your mouth and optionally
equalising (over pressurising) you are ready to start your duck dive.
The sequence of a duck dive is:
1. Stretch out on the surface

2. Bend from your waist
3. Conduct a full arm pull
1. Stretch yourself out on the water surface from your fingertips to the tips of your
toes to make yourself as long as you can. Make sure that your head stays in body
axis, which means you are looking vertically down into the water and your arms are
stretched out behind your ears.
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2. Bring your upper body to a right angle with the surface, bending at the waist in a
dynamic, strong move, while keeping your arms stretched out behind your ears. Keep
your lower body and legs straight.
3. Pull your extended arms down towards your legs, using a breaststroke movement
that ends on the outside of your thighs. This will make your legs sink bellow the
surface. Once your fins sink bellow the surface you can start fining.
After the arm pull you should start equalising immediately.

Stick to that sequence. If you skip one step, your duck dive will be less efficient or
might not work at all.
Elegance is efficient
The more elegantly you execute a duck dive, the more efficient it will be. Pay special
attention to your head position. It should stay in axis with your body at any given
time. Before the duck dive you look straight down into the blue (and not to your
fingers), and after the duck dive you look horizontally to the diving rope. This is a
major difference to scuba diving where you usually look in the direction where you
are going. In freediving, you know where you are going: Downwards along the rope
and there is no need to look.
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Many possible techniques

There are many ways of doing a duck dive. You can do it with an arm stroke or without
it, with one or both leg(s) actively lifted in the air, etc. These techniques have all their
advantages and, given they are executed well, do all work. The discussed technique
with full arm pull works great to start a constant weight (CWT) dive with bi-fins.
You will have to modify the technique for other disciplines like diving with a mono
fin or without fins.
6.2 Finning technique

Action starts from the hips
Swimming with fins is using muscles that are not very active in our every day land-
bound lives, which is the main reason why finning might feel a bit awkward in the
beginning. A good finning technique starts from the hips and uses the hip flexor to
move the leg forward and the buttocks to move the leg backwards. Most other leg
muscles are used to propagate that action towards the fin by keeping the leg and foot
as extended as possible. It is quite normal that the hip flexor is not flexible or strong
enough to allow for a good finning technique right from the beginning. In order to
develop strength and flexibility it is recommended to start with pool training in the
discipline of dynamic apnea.
Ascending from a deep dive with perfect finning technique
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Legs straight to the point of the toes

Knees and ankles stay as straight a possible throughout the whole range of the finning
movement. This makes finning a somewhat stiff experience in the beginning.
However, in order to avoid a bicycle style kick remember to always keep your knees
and ankles straight.
Wide, strong and steady kick

How wide and how fast you kick depends on several factors like the length and strength
of your legs, the length and stiffness of your fins and the level of your technique. In
general you should apply a strong, steady and symmetrical kick with a continuous
rhythm.
6.3 The Descent

Minimum effort
During your descent the goal is to get to depth with minimum effort and ensure easy
equalisation. In this phase of the dive the focus rests on two things: Streamlining and
good finning technique.
Keep your body straight from the crown of your head to your tiptoes while working
your fins from your hips with straight legs. One hand rests on the side of the thighs,
while the other is pinching the nose to equalise when needed. In the beginning this
might feel a bit awkward, but after a few repetitions you will find out how comfortable
this body position actually is. If your finning technique is symmetrical, or even,
then there is no need to use your hands as flaps to control any wiggling, or rotation
along your body axis.
Dynamic apnea is a very efficient form of training for this phase of a freedive.
Equalise frequently
It is important that you equalise before feeling any discomfort in your ears or mask.
However, a sensation of pressure (your eardrums slightly bulging inwards) is different
from experiencing pain. Equalise when you can feel the pressure and always before it
hurts.
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Most people will have to pinch their nose with one hand in order to equalise, while
the other hand stays on the side of the thigh. Keep the elbow of the pinching hand
close to your chest to produce only minimal water drag.
Stay relaxed
The relaxation you found at the surface ideally stays with you throughout the whole
dive. Think of the descent as a static breath hold plus finning and equalizing.
Your body stays relaxed and your mind is completely focus on the moment.
6.4 The Turn

The turn allows you to stop your descent and start your ascent with minimum effort.
Extend one arm

Near the end of the descent, extend your arm the one with the lanyard, if you wear
one towards the dive line and let your hand slide along it.
Grab to stop
When you want to stop your descent, grab the dive line with your hand. This will
induce the turn.
Forward tumble turn

Ideally you will do a forward tumble turn. Avoid doing the skydiver turn as arching
your back at depth can lead to injuries.
Tip: Grab the rope with your thumb pointing to the sky. This allows
you to do a full forward tumble turn without twisting your arm
or changing your grab. Try for yourself a few times at a depth of
around 5m to find out how this works.
Pull the line to start ascent

The end position of the turn is one hand still on the rope and the rest of the body
hanging downwards from it. Start your ascent now by pulling on the dive line once.
Then let go of the dive line and start finning again.
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6.5 The Ascent

Resembles the descent
The ascent looks the same like the descent minus the need for equalisation.
Focus: Finning technique & streamlining
Good finning technique and streamlining are again key to minimize your energy
consumption. It is of special importance to keep the head in body axis at all time.
Tilting the head back to look up creates a great amount of water resistance and thus
reduces streamlining considerably.
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No turning
Once you have started to ascend you should go all the way back to the surface. Especially
after an aborted attempt you might be tempted to stop your ascend and give it a
second go to reach your targeted depth. Dont do this! If you had to turn early, maybe
because of a failed equalisation, it is important that you stay focused on finishing the
dive in a controlled manner. Keep on ascending! There will be more dives, and if not
today then maybe tomorrow you will reach your goal.
Use of buoyancy
You might feel quite heavy at the beginning of the ascent. Thus, in the beginning of
the ascent your finning must be quite strong. As you are getting closer to the surface
the fin-kick can then gradually become less intense. You can feel how buoyancy
increases. For the last few meters you can then stop kicking and allow buoyancy to do
all the uplifting work for you.
Gliding up the last few meters of a dive
6.6 Surface and Recovery

Keep your air
Keep your air in your lungs until you have surfaced. You should not exhale while your
head is still under water.
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Grab the float

After you have breached the surface with your head, bring your body under control by
holding on to the float or the dive line of the platform. If no floating device is in place
you will need to start finning now to keep your head above the water.
Recovery breathing
A freedive is only complete once you have taken a minimum of three proper recovery
breaths. After you have resumed normal breathing, indicate to your buddy that
everything is all right by showing the OK-sign and sharing a big smile.
The OK-sign is the thumb and index finger forming a circle, while the other three
fingers are kept straight. Note that thumbs up in diving has a different meaning,
indicating that you or your dive buddy wants to go back to the surface.
Finish recovery breathing first before you or your buddy start talking.
Why should you equalise once before you do your duck dive?
How could you develop strength and flexibility for your finning technique?
On which three parameters should you focus during the descent phase?
Why should you preferably perform a forward tumble turn when turning in
depth?
Comment the following sentence: Once you have started to ascend you should
go all the way back to the surface.
What is the OK-sign?
58
CHAPTER 07
Safety in Freediving
7.1 The Buddy System
Every year we lose dozens, maybe hundreds of snorkelers and spear fishers to the
sea. No one knows the exact figures, we even do not know what the victims exactly
did, because they broke knowingly or not the first and most important rule in
freediving:
Always freedive with a buddy!
The buddy system is the basis of safe freediving.
First level of safety: You!

It is the main goal of the AIDA Education System to create safe freedivers. From the
absolute beginner to the deep diving athlete your reasonable and educated behaviour
is the first and most important safety system in freediving. Conservative freedives,
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correct weighting, correct choice of gear, good freediving technique, finding the best
spot for a freedive session or judging the conditions correctly these are a few of the
many skills that make you a competent and thus safe freediver. The AIDA Education
System is geared towards your safety: In every AIDA Course you will learn the skills
that fit your level of freediving.
Second Level: The buddy team

Every breath-hold dive has two participants: The freediver and the buddy. There is
no exception to this rule, freediver and buddy are two sides of the same medal. Your
level of buddying has to be on par with your freedive skills. Every AIDA Course aims
at making you a more competent freediver and simultaneously at developing your
buddy skills to the same level.
Take buddying as seriously as your own dives

Take your buddying as seriously as your freediving. This approach is the foundation
of every efficient buddy team. To do so you always need to know what your buddy
wants to do next in order to prepare yourself accordingly. For this it is essential to
establish efficient and continuous communication within the buddy team.
Communication in a buddy team

The first talk in a buddy team happens before entering the water. Make a plan about
the session ahead. A deep training session with a float and a line will be very different
from a fun exploration dive on a shallow reef. Make sure that both members of the
buddy team get to attune their plans for the session.
After entering the water, keep in touch. Reassure your buddy that you are fine or
inform him if something troubles you. Together you might find a way to eliminate
the trouble.
If you feel that your buddy and you do not connect for any reason or you feel
uncomfortable with each other, consider the option of finding another buddy.
Forms of buddying
Depending on the dive plan, buddying will look very different. In any case it is ideal
to bring a float as a safety tool.
For a fun freedive on a reef or wreck, one up, one down is a good plan: While you
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dive down to the reef to explore, your buddy will follow you on the surface, pushing
the float in front of him. After surfacing at the float and reassuring your buddy that
everything is alright, it is his/her turn to dive and yours to follow on the surface.
Tell your buddy what you expect him or her to do. Is supervision from the surface
for your next shallow dive enough or do you need deep safety for a dive close to your
personal best? It is up to you to communicate about your dive as precisely as possible
so your buddy can be of best assistance.
In a training session with a float and a line you inform your buddy about the objective
before every single dive. This includes estimated dive time, depth and if you plan to
do a hang, which means you plan to stay immobile at depth for a certain time.
Buddy team in static apnea
7.2 Static Buddying

When doing static freediving in a pool or confined water, your buddy has an additional
role as your coach and motivator. Again, it is crucial to communicate and tell your
buddy what you expect and how much you want to be talked to. He or she can call out
the time for you, talk to you, helping you to forget your worries and relax. He or she
can point out tension in the body for you to let go of or simply be silent. All this can
be done while taking care of your safety.
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Safety check
The main task for static buddying is to make sure that the diver is ok at any time. You
and your buddy will agree on a checking procedure and communication before the
first dive. These are possible ways of checking:
Verbal: Ask the diver to raise the index finger of one hand (or agree
on any other hand sign). There is no need to move the hand out of
the water as the sign can be seen clearly from above the surface.
Verbal: Ask the diver to hold up fingers for simple questions, e.g.
5+3-4=? or How many children do you have?
Non-verbal: Give the diver a little squeeze on the right shoulder,

which should be answered by a outstretched index finger of the
right hand
Agree with your buddy on your own checking procedure if none of the above suits
you.
As a buddy you will always confirm the actions of the diver. That way you can
reassure your diver that you have everything under control and he or she can let go of
any worries. Again, the confirmation can be done verbally on non-verbally:
Verbal confirmation: Thank you, Ive seen that ok sign, you look
great, go on!
Non-verbal confirmation: Repeat the agreed check-sign twice, e.g.

double-squeeze on the shoulder again. Doubling the agreed signal
avoids confusion of checks and confirmations.
Every safety check in static apnea is done in three steps:
Check (verbal or non verbal)

Answer (the agreed sign: e.g. outstretched index finger)
Confirmation (verbal or twice non verbal)
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Tip: Answering checks by signalling the OK-sign by forming a

ring with your index finger and thumb can be confusing because a
completely relaxed hand looks already very similar. Thus it can be
hard to tell if a freediver is just relaxing or actually forming the OK-
sign.
Buddy team plan

Before starting a session of static freediving, it is important to communicate within
the buddy team. Tell each other what you like, do not like and what you expect from
your buddy. The more clear you are about your expectations, the easier you make it
for your buddy to be of his/her best service to you.
Check: Agree on how to do safety checks.
Touch: Even in the calmest pool there are little currents from the water jets. One of
the tasks of your buddy is to keep you in place, with your head about one hand span
away from the edge of the pool. Tell your buddy how you would like to have this done:
Do you like to be firmly touched with one hand between your shoulder blades? Or do
you want to be held in position by absolute minimal physical contact, e.g. by holding
just the zipper of your wetsuit?
Time: Do you want to be constantly informed about the length of your static - and if
yes, in what intervals? If you are doing a target dive to a certain breath hold time it is
quite popular to announce the time to go until the defined target.
Talk: Some freedivers like to be constantly talked to during a static breath hold, while
others need their total silence. Tell our buddy what you expect!
Sequence: How will your buddy team go through the session? It is recommended
that you keep one role diver or buddy for a whole sequence before switching.
Announce your sequence of dives to your buddy, finish your dives and then switch
roles.
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Reliability
Buddying in static freediving can be a demanding task. It is a good idea to bring a
pencil and a waterproof board, e.g. a dive slate, to write down the sequence of dives
exactly the way your diver expects you to guide him / her though. Always take your
buddying as seriously as your own freediving and you will quickly become a popular
freediver to have on the team.
Write down your buddy team plan
7.3 Signs of a freediver in need of help

Signs of trouble
In freediving, trouble usually does not turn up suddenly. A freediver who has stayed
down too long will gradually get low on Oxygen and the consequences of this are
visible to the observing eye. You as a buddy can anticipate trouble by looking out for
the following signs:
Change of finning style: When a diver with a usually strong kick all of a sudden
becomes sloppy in his/her movements, it should be interpreted as a sign of trouble.
A diver that stops kicking on ascent at an inappropriate time or while swimming
horizontally without any obvious reason (e.g. watching marine life) should be suspected
to be in trouble.
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Unfocused eyes: A freediver returning from depth close or beyond his/her personal
maximum should always be escorted on the last few meters of his/her ascent. As a
safety diver you will stay face to face with the freediver in such a way that you can
always see his/her eyes. If these get unfocused the lights are on but no ones home
and the diver looks right through you, it is a strong indication that the freediver is
in trouble.
Grabbing the rope in an uncontrolled way: An ascending diver who tries to grab
the rope in an uncontrolled way may indicate that he or she is in trouble. Note that
uncontrolled grabbing of the rope will look different from a diver at depth suffering
from leg cramp and thus holding on to the rope to ascent with strong arm pulls. It is
an expression of full control, while uncoordinated grabbing at the rope is clearly not.
Speeding up at the end of a dive: Towards the end of a dive, your buddy might have
accumulated a lot of CO2. The well trained and in-control freediver will slow down at
this point in order to avoid wasting any Oxygen and producing excessive amounts of
CO2. Speeding up to be able to breathe as soon as possible is unwise and thus a sign
of a freediver losing control.
Escaping air: A freediver never exhales under water. In freediving to depth you still
might see a few bubbles around your buddys head on ascent. These come from the
expanding air and are perfectly normal. But if your buddy clearly exhales, you know
that he or she is losing Oxygen and buoyancy and is thus more likely to black out.
Inability to keep the head above water (after surfacing): This is a clear sign that your
buddy is in a low Oxygen state. The same is the case your buddy shows uncontrollable
twitches and/or reduced responsiveness. All these signs indicate that your buddy needs
your immediate support.
Anything abnormal: Pretty quickly you will develop a feeling for what looks like a
normal dive and what is a sign of trouble. This is true in general, but especially when
looking at your buddy for a few dives in a row. If there is any unexpected change in
the way your buddy dives that makes you uncomfortable, you are most likely right to
step in and help.
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If you think you should act act!

After finishing your first AIDA Freedive Course you will already be well educated
about best practice in freediving. If you think you should act then act! There are still
not that many trained freedivers around, so the non-reaction from other people in a
certain situation that looks dangerous to you is actually not a reason for you not to
step in! Support a snorkeler or freediver if you feel it is needed. Better help one time
too many than not.
Supporting a freediver that suffers from Loss of Motor Control (LMC)
7.4 Loss of Motor Control (LMC)

Hypoxic fit after surfacing
Loss of Motor Control, or LMC, is a hypoxic fit that occurs after surfacing if Oxygen
levels are too low. A LMC happens only after a dive. It is not the same as a black out,
it can be described as the red zone of low Oxygen before falling unconscious.
Jerky movements of limbs and head

A clear indicator that your buddy suffers from LMC are jerky movements with the
limbs or the head. This is why a LMC also often referred to as Samba. A light LMC
will just last a few seconds and will mainly induce light uncontrolled eye and/or head
movements, while severe LMC can affect your whole body and leads to an inability to
maintain your airways out of the water.
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Last warning signal

A LMC may or may not result in a full black out. The cause of a LMC is a lowered
level of Oxygen in your blood that has reached the point where normal cell function
cannot occur. This means the metabolism is disturbed and normal functioning is
reduced, hence the jerky movements and lack of responsiveness.
A LMC can result in a full black out or not this depends largely on correct application
of recovery breathing as explained in chapter 3. When suffering from a LMC you are
not able to think straight and your body will do what you trained it for. As already
mentioned, make recovery breathing an imperative habit after every breath hold to
condition your body to that special technique. In other words, a freedive is not over
when you surface, it is over after at least three recovery breaths.
After recovery from a LMC, you may not be aware of what just happened. Trust
your buddy, he or she will tell you.
Stop diving for the day

As a consequence of a LMC you should stop freediving for the rest of the day.
Find out why it happened

It is of utmost importance to find out why you suffered from a LMC. There may be
many reasons: Hyperventilation, stress, feeling unwell or bad finning technique just
to mention a few. Most likely it is even a combination of several of these reasons. If you
cannot point out for sure why you suffered from LMC, seek coaching from an AIDA
Freedive Instructor. Discuss the dive in detail and provide video footage if available.
Together with your buddy, find out what went wrong, learn from your mistakes and
change your freediving accordingly.
7.5 Blackout (BO)

Loss of consciousness
A Black Out or BO is the loss of consciousness caused by lack of Oxygen (O2) towards
the end of a breath hold or immediately after.
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Hypoxia
During a dive you may have used up Oxygen until the point where there is not
enough left for the body to function normally. At this point your brain enters into a
state of survival mode and you fall unconscious. The brain gradually shuts down all
processes that are not needed for immediate survival.
If you push your limits too far, this can happen in a swimming pool during your
static or dynamic training, in a dive to depth, or during a dry breath hold. It can
happen everywhere and this is why you must always have a trained buddy supervising
you when holding your breath in water.
Brain damage?
There is absolutely no benefit in blacking out. This must be clearly stated to oppose
certain believes that training to the edge creates the greatest results. It does not.
To hold your breath to significantly lowered Oxygen saturation is probably associated
with a mildly increased cell death well before blacking out. In every situation that
affects our brain negatively (like heading a football, being drunk or even sneezing),
the significance of the damage is a question of dosage. Repeatedly experienced black
outs will certainly have negative consequences and should thus be avoided.
After recovery from a black out, a freediver may not be aware of what just happened
and at times acts erratically. It is very important to supervise a freediver recovering
from a black out until you as a helping buddy have the clear impression that the victim
has regained full control over his/her mind and body.
Stop diving for the day

After suffering from a black out, a freediver should stop diving for the rest of the day
to allow the body to fully recover from the incident.
Find out why it happened

As after a LMC, it is very important to find out the reason(s) why you suffered from
a black out. Seek coaching from an AIDA Instructor if you cannot clearly point out
what went wrong. Once you found the reason, change your freediving behaviour
accordingly in order to avoid the same incident to happen again.
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Rescue of an unconscious freediver
7.6 Rescue a Freediver

Support in LMC
If your buddy suffers from Loss of Motor Control (LMC):
Gently hold the freediver so his/her or her airways are out of

the water
Remove facial equipment if needed
Reassure and coach him through his/her recovery breathing
Remind him to stop diving for the rest of the day
Check for any injuries as a result of the LMC
The jerky movements of a Samba can lead to serious injuries e.g. when hitting the
edge of the pool with the teeth, nose or any other part of the body. This is why you as
a buddy will have to be very close to the surfacing freediver, ready to move one of your
arms as a bumper between the freediver and the pools edge.
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Rescue of a blackout: The SAFE-rule

If your buddy suffers from a black out (BO), you will act SAFE:
Surface: Get the freediver to the surface

Airways: Hold him so the airways are out of the water
FE: Remove all Facial Equipment (mask, goggles, nose clip)
Slower is faster, do every step correctly without haste. Then follow up with:
Blow Tap Talk (cycle for Max 10-15s or until regaining

consciousness)
This is how to approach the SAFE rule and the Blow Tap Talk cycle:
Surface: Approach the unconscious diver from behind. Your right arm slides under
his/her right arm to his/her face. Shut his/her mouth with your palm and secure his/
her mask with your fingers. The left hand holds the back of his/her head. Keep the
head straight in line with the body axis no tilting back or forth. You should also
rehearse to apply this grip with swapped hands and put the left hand to the face and
the right hand to the back of the victims head. In a real situation you will use the one
that is more available to you, depending on your relative position to the victim.
After establishing this grip, get yourself in a position where you can use your fins:
In a pool, roll yourself off the victim until your heels touch the bottom of the pool.
Then you can push off and start the ascent towards the closest edge of the pool or any
floating device.
In open water, make the victim look over your shoulder first and then you twist
away your whole body until the outside of your hip is in touch with the victim. In
this position your fins are clear for kicking. Additionally you can lift the victim away
from you by simply straightening your arms. Now ascend and bring the victim to the
surface.
End your ascent whenever possible next to a floating device to support the next
steps. If you are using a flat-topped freedive float you can use the speed of the ascent
to fly the victims torso onto the float, on his/her or her back.
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Airways: Once the airways (nose and mouth) are above the water line, they have to
stay there. Use the buoyancy of the victims body and wetsuit and drop all weights
from the victim and yourself if you have not done so already before.
Remove all Facial Equipment (mask, fluid goggles or nose clip) now. The skin around
the airways is very sensitive to humidity. Once dry, this area of the skin will signal
the unconscious body that there is air to breathe. This process is most effective in
connection with air movement with all facial gear removed that could restrict the
contact of the face with air.
Blow Tap Talk (BTT-Cycle): Blow on the skin below the eyes to dry the skin and
signal thus to the unconscious body that there is now air to breathe. Tap alternatively
both cheeks of the unconscious freediver with your open hand. This is not a hard slap,
but should still be executed with enough strength. Talk to the still sub-consciously
active mind of the victim: Tell him to breathe in and use the first name of the victim.
For example Peter, breathe in! in a very directive tone.
Repeat the BTT-Cycle.

If the victim does not resume breathing within 15 seconds or earlier, give up to five
rescue breaths with the victims nose pinched and the head tilted back to open the
airways.
AIDA advises you to consider attending a first aid course. This is

also a prerequisite for the AIDA4 Advance Freediver Course.
If the victim still does not resume breathing:
Call for help

Start CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation)
Evacuate to the nearest medical facility
These are the basic steps of a rescue.
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Remember: Although practicing the rescue techniques with your instructor will
make you a reliable and confident buddy, it does not qualify you as a certified rescuer
or emergency first responder. AIDA strongly recommends that you follow a complete
first aid course as conducted by many specialised agencies. This will be particularly
useful if you intend to continue your AIDA Education.
Note that your instructor, as a fully qualified professional rescuer, has to update his/
her rescue training every two years and must regularly practice these safety skills.
Rescuing a freediver that suffers from a Black Out (BO)
7.7 Risk Reduction

As a safe freediver, LMC and BO are unacceptable outcomes for your dives. Your
main goal is to reduce all circumstances that lead to ending a dive in a hypoxic state
to an absolute minimum by applying best practice of freediving as follows:
Relaxation
Mental and physical relaxation means to preserve your energy. Especially in the last
phase before a dive, relaxation is the most important task at hand, hence it is called
relaxation phase. The more relaxed you are, the safer and more enjoyable freediving
becomes.
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Conservative freediving
Never push your limits. There is a simple check for you: If you feel stressed or sense
a rising feeling of panic, then you are exceeding your limits already. In this situation
you should not dive. If already under water, abort your attempt and go back to your
relaxation exercise until you feel ready, or change the goal of your dive.
Apply good technique

The safe way to achieve great freedives is by focusing on moving gracefully and
relaxed, not by pushing. Application of good freediving technique as you learn it in
every AIDA Freedive Course is key to the reduction of effort to move under water,
and thus enhances your safety.
Recovery breathing
Always perform recovery breathing. Make it a habit that a dive is not over after
surfacing, but after finishing at least three correct recovery breaths. This way you
train your body to do it automatically in case of an emergency (e.g. in a hypoxic state).
Hydration
Stay well hydrated. Being physically active while swimming wrapped in a wetsuit
makes us sweat. Also through immersion diuresis (effects of pressure changes on
the kidneys see AIDA3 Freediver Course) we lose a certain amount of liquid while
freediving. In a tropical environment, the heat from the sun combined with the high
water temperature may constitute another cause of fluid loss. Increased breathing
rates also add to dehydration. The amount of fluids required is easily underestimated
and thus re-hydration while or after freediving is important. Always bring a re-usable
water bottle to your session and also have drinking water / electrolytes ready to start
drinking immediately after the session. You need to drink even if you are not thirsty.
This also means having drinking water available on boats is essential.
Always freedive with a trained buddy

There is simply no excuse to omit the first rule of freediving: Always freedive with
a buddy. If there is no buddy available it means no freediving for you. Being under
water without a buddy is not freediving, it is being irresponsible. Sadly, even very
experienced freedivers have ignored this basic rule at the highest possible cost. This
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clearly demonstrates that being aware of the risk does not minimise it. Only acting to
minimise risks by having a buddy will increase your safety.
Correct weighting
Apply both rules of thumb to weight yourself correctly:
You should not sink from the surface when exhaling forcefully.
Your head might go under water, but you should then stay there.
Weigh yourself in order to be neutrally buoyant at a minimum of
-10m. Deeper is safer.
By correctly weighting yourself, you save energy while freediving and buddying.
Also, you will not be over weighted in a case of emergency.
Snorkel out
Take the snorkel out of your mouth before you descend. This is probably the easiest
difference to spot between a trained freediver and an untrained snorkeler who takes a
casual breath-hold dive. In case of a black out the snorkel is an open water pipe to the
victims airways, making an effective rescue much more challenging and complex.
Rescue technique practice

You will learn and repeat rescue technique in every AIDA Course. As your level as a
freediver increases, so will your level as a buddy and freedive rescuer. You will be able
to perform rescues from greater depths, while the rescue technique itself stays the
same.
Bring a Float
Grab hold of something as soon as you reach the surface. If no freedive buoy is available,
two life vests wrapped together or a lifebuoy from the boat can be used. While a float
is of course essential in an open water training session, it is also very practical and
a great safety device in a fun freedive session e.g. on a reef. It can carry snacks or a
water bottle, as well as being visible to boats and providing a resting surface.
Apply the rule of one diver down, one up!
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Lanyard
Use a lanyard for dives deeper than 20 meters or when freediving in visibility less
than 10 meters. Here is another rule of thumb: Use a lanyard when diving out of sight
of your buddy.
7.8 Freediving and Scuba

Allow enough time between scuba diving and freediving. After diving with compressed
air (scuba), the body has accumulated a certain amount of Nitrogen. When directly
moving over to freediving, the quick pressure changes of freedives can then lead this
gas to cause decompression sickness (DCS).
No fly sign
If you are using a dive computer, wait until it clears you to fly before freediving.
Freediving after SCUBA diving

If you do not use a dive computer, the following two rules of thumb will give you a
conservative estimation how much time you need to allow before flying or freediving:
At least 12 hours after one scuba dive before freediving

At least 24 hours after multiple scuba dives before freediving
Scuba diving after freediving

The amount of Nitrogen you accumulate while recreational freediving is quite small,
but existing. If you are going to scuba dive after freediving, your dive computer has no
information about this residual Nitrogen in your system and might give you readings
that are not conservative enough to be absolutely safe.
At the moment there are no conclusive studies on how much time is safe to allow
for scuba diving after freediving. However, the scientific community recommends a
minimum of 12 hours if you want to scuba dive after freediving.
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Do not accept air from a scuba diver

When freediving do not accept air from a scuba diver underwater. Despite it being a
popular diver joke to offer you the octopus to take a breath: Say No t(h)anks.
The first breath of compressed air entering your lungs underwater switches your
diving mode from freediving to scuba diving and you consequently have to end your
dive as a scuba diver. If your mind cannot follow that switch, you put yourself in great
danger.
Communication is important within a buddy team. Please comment.
Why make the distinction between verbal and non-verbal communication in

static apnea (STA)?
As a safety diver meeting your buddy at depth, how do you detect that your
buddy is in trouble?
What is LMC?
What is a Black Out (BO)? Why is it so dangerous?
What is the SAFE principle. Explain.
How do you reduce the risks of a LMC or BO? Give at least 5 examples.
How much time should you allow between scuba diving and freediving?
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CHAPTER 08
Equipment for Freediving

To start freediving you need a mask, a snorkel and a pair of fins. A wetsuit might also
be needed, depending on where you go freediving. Some waters are very cold and
make it necessary to wear neoprene. In other places the sun is so strong that you need
a suit to protect your skin.
Have you heard the quote It is the photographer that takes the picture, not the
camera? Freediving is much the same. Acquiring a good freediving technique is
more important than buying the latest gear. For example, it is easier to learn a proper
fin kick with short fins, before moving on to longer freedive fins. Consequently many
freedive schools will hand you snorkelling fins to start with.
For other parts of gear, only the best is good enough. For example, when buying a
mask, take the one that fits you best, regardless of the price. A compromise in fit will
result in an unpleasant experience every time you use the mask. If you take good care
of your mask you will have it for years, making it a good initial investment.
Depending on what kind of diving you are planning, in the pool, the sea or in lakes,
you may want to choose different equipment. In the following, we will indicate the
most important points to consider when buying freedive gear for different purposes.
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Delicate material
It is important for the longevity of your equipment to keep it out of the sun. Most
freediving equipment is made from materials sensitive to heat and UV light.
All freedive gear will last longer if it is rinsed thoroughly in fresh water after every
use. Fins usually come with small plastic shoe trees for the foot pockets. Do not throw
these away and use them anytime you transport or store your fins. Always put your
mask away in its box. If the mask came without a box, get one at your local dive shop.
8.1 Mask
Enclose nose
A freedive mask must enclose the nose. This enables you to equalise the rising
pressure in the mask on descent. It is impossible to dive with other types of masks,
e.g. swimming goggles, as they will lead to injury of the eyes when descending.
Assure good fit

This is how you check at the dive shop if a mask is fitting perfectly:
Flip the strap of the mask around so it is out of the way. Tilt your head back, look to
the ceiling and place the mask on your face without any wiggling. Now try if you can
suck the mask to the face by inhaling through the nose. If you can bring your head
back to normal position and the mask stays in place, you have found a your mask.
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Low volume
The volume of air between the face and the lenses of a freedive mask should be as
low as possible as it will make the equalisation of the mask easier at depth. Masks
with bigger volumes are used for scuba diving, where air is not a limiting factor for
equalisation in general.
Clear lenses
For safety reasons, you want to see the eyes of the freediver you are buddying. Mirrored
or tinted lenses can make eye contact difficult or impossible and are thus unsuitable
for freediving. While most masks have lenses made of glass, there are a few with
plastic lenses. Glass is easier to be kept clean and scratches are less likely to occur. On
the other hand, plastic lenses are more flexible and do not alter your vision. After all,
glass or plastic is your choice and is of secondary importance. More importantly, pick
a mask with a good fit for you!
Flexibility
The softer the skirt (the rubber part that is in touch with your face) the more forgiving
the mask is on descent into the deep. A very rigid mask needs to equalised almost
constantly to avoid pain from the rising pressure, while a freedive mask with a soft
skirt will simply compress a bit to your face until you equalise it.
Taking care
Before going freediving, spit on the inside of your mask lenses and rub it in thoroughly
in order to avoid fogging of the mask. Anti-fog drops work as well but are much less
environmentally friendly.
Like all freedive gear, after every use rinse your mask well with fresh water. Allow it
to dry in a place not exposed to direct sunlight. Put it back in its protection box before
packing it away. Watch out for damaged straps. Replacement straps are not always in
stock at your favourite dive shop. Thus, it is recommended to get a spare strap right
away and store it in the protection box together with your mask.
For general cleaning of your masks with plastic lenses, use toothpaste and a
toothbrush or a few drops of dishwashing liquid and water.
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8.2 Fins
Bi-fins
You need a set of bi-fins to begin freediving in a swimming pool or open water. It is
recommended to start with a pair of short fins to learn the proper finning technique
first, before moving on to a longer set of freedive fins. Consequently using snorkelling
fins is perfectly fine in the beginning.
Length = Power
While short bi-fins are good for training and developing your finning technique,
longer fins are more powerful. As soon as your finning technique and your muscular
strength and flexibility are ready to handle the greater resistance of long fins, you will
create a lot more propulsion with them and thus be more effective in water.
Techniques and training

Training is the key to efficient use of bi-fins. It takes time to achieve a good finning
technique and working with a coach on a regular basis will improve your performance
gradually. AIDA focuses on both, open water freediving and pool training. Most
freedivers do not live by the sea and will train in pools throughout the year before
going to open water on holidays. This is a very efficient way to train and get your
finning performance to the next level enabling you to go deeper every time you are
back in open water.
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In case you change from using one type of fin to another, allow for some adaption.
You might even consider some pool training with your new fins before going into
open water.
Full foot
In freediving we use full foot pockets for bi-fins. Booties combined with scuba fins
and ankle straps are not recommended for freediving as the connection between foot
and fin is not very direct. Consequently the transmission of energy towards the fin
blade is not very effective.
The foot pockets should be tight but not painful, even after several hours of usage.
If there is play between your foot and the pocket it is likely that you will get blisters.
To avoid any friction use neoprene or Lycra socks. Wearing socks also contributes to
a good insulation in cold water. There is a wide range of foot pockets on the market
offering very different shapes. Invest enough time in your research to find your
personal best fit.
Plastic fibre glass carbon

Freedive fin blades are made of a great variety of materials such as plastic, carbon fibre
or Kevlar. As a rule of thumb it can be said that the more advanced the construction,
the more delicate the fins are. Plastic fins are perfectly fine all the way up to professional
level and they are virtually unbreakable. A feature, which is very welcome in daily
freediving. A pure carbon fin is a very efficient tool in water, but it can break by only
putting it down on the ground the wrong way.
Note that fin blades come in varying grades of stiffness and can often be bought
independently from the foot pockets. However, not all fin blades will fit every foot
pocket making it necessary to ask before buying.
Taking care
Rinse your fins after every use and dry them in a place not exposed to direct sunlight.
Always transport your fins in a padded fin bag. When traveling by plane you usually
have to check in your fins. Make sure your fin bag is stable and ready for rough
handling.
Always put your fins out of the way and never leave them on the ground. This way
you avoid people stepping or dropping diving weights (or tanks!) on them.
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Monofin
Monofins derive from the sport of fin swimming. Fin swimming is a speed contests
in swimming just below the water surface. Today, many freedivers own a monofin
and appreciate them for allowing for better performance. Almost all competitive
freediving is done with monofins.
A monofin asks for an entirely different technique than bi-fins, which should be
learned from scratch with a coach. The monofin technique activates a different set of
muscles and asks for a great deal of physical flexibility. This requires a lot of practice,
but once the technique is mastered, a monofin is more efficient than the best bi-fins.
Dedicated companies in the field push the development constantly forward and
produce more powerful monofins every year. Technology is constantly adapted
by using our understanding of fluid dynamics and biomechanics to reproduce the
functionality of flukes and foils from marine mammals and fish. Considering this, we
are in for a constant stream of great surprises and astonishing inventions!
8.3 Snorkel
Safety tool
The snorkel is a basic safety tool. It allows you to breathe while watching your buddy
from the surface in the pool or in open water.
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Rigid
The best snorkel for freediving is fairly rigid. Snorkels with too much flexibility have
to be either firmly attached to the mask strap or be held upright with one hand.
With/without purge
It is easier to purge a snorkel from water when there is an according valve. However,
valves tend to leak and are usually quite bulky.
Snorkels sink! It is a good advice to attach a floating device to your snorkel, such as
a bit of neoprene or insulation foam. This way a stray snorkel will not sink right away
but can be spotted drifting at the surface.
Remove before diving

Always remove the snorkel from your mouth before diving.
A snorkel kept in the mouth while freediving is a direct water entry to your airways.
This makes a rescue in case of a black out almost impossible.
Take the snorkel out of your mouth after your one full breath and leave it with your
buddy at the surface. You can also hold it in your hand or slip it under your weight
belt while diving.
Attached to the mask?

It is not absolutely recommended attaching the snorkel to the mask. The mask should
be worn as loosely as possible while still ensuring a good seal to the face. When
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attaching a snorkel, you run the risk of flooding or even losing your mask due to the
drag produced by the snorkel.
Still many freedivers are content to have their snorkel attached to their mask. If you
choose to do so, attach the snorkel at the back of your head where the mask strap is
often separated into two parts. Attaching the snorkel at the back of your head will
make it stick up vertically when you relax face down in the water. Attaching the
snorkel on the side of your head (as most snorkelers tend to do) will drop the tip of
the snorkel forward into the water as soon as you put your face in water. This is to be
avoided, Try it in the pool or confined water first.
8.4 Weight belt

Flexible
A freedive weight belt is made of flexible material such as silicone or rubber.
Worn on hips
Freedivers wear their belt on the hips rather than the waist to not interfere with belly
breathing and duck dive movements. Pulling the flexible belt tight also keeps it in
place and prevents it from sliding up and down along the body while upside down on
descent.
Small weights
To offset the buoyance of your wetsuit rather use a greater number of small weights
than only a few big chunks of lead. This way you can adjust your buoyancy in small steps,
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and symmetrically distribute the weights on your belt to avoid a rolling momentum.
Quick release
A freedive weight belt needs to have a quick release buckle which enables a one-
handed removal in case of emergency. Make sure the tip of the loose end of the weight
belt is tucked under the belt in a way that it is not blocking the release of the belt. This
is the same procedure as in scuba diving.
Seals suit
A flexible weight belt can be worn quite tightly without being uncomfortable in any
way. It also creates a seal between your pants and jacket to prevent water from flushing
into your suit. This feature is essential when freediving in colder conditions.
Taking care
As all freedive gear it is best to rinse the weight belt after usage and keep it away
from direct sunlight. Watch out for your feet and the ones of your buddies when
manipulating weights. Always hold the belt at both ends or with the buckle closed
when transporting it. If you can find them, use environment protection weights.
8.5 Wetsuit
Protection from cold and sun
You definitely want to feel comfortable when training in water. Feeling cold will make
your relaxation inefficient and starting to shiver will keep you from freediving. As
you spend most of your time at the surface, your wetsuit is also a means of protection
from the sun.
Different thickness
You choose the thickness of your suit depending on the water temperature. 1-3mm
neoprene thickness is used in the tropical sea, while 5-7mm of neoprene will protect
you comfortably even in cold lakes. Be aware that thickness and quality of the material
will greatly affect your buoyancy.
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Close fit
The closer the suit fits your body, the better it will keep you warm. Ideally your suit
should be tailor made to avoid any water flush between the skin and the suit.
Full body
Always wear a full body suit, even in tropical waters. This is to protect you from the
sun, from stinging organisms like jellyfish and floating debris. Shorty-wetsuits can be
sufficient in combination with rash vests.
A freedive suit can have an integrated hood, which protects your head and neck
from the sun and keeps you warm. Water augments the loss of body heat through the
head. Covering the head with a hood allows us to use thinner neoprene while having
the same overall insulation capacity.
In cold water an additional swimming cap can be of great help.
No zipper
Freedive suits are made of two pieces: High waist or long john pants plus a jacket
with a beaver tail. As they are tailor made, no zippers or Velcro seams are needed to
prevent water flush. Having no zippers also means more mobility, less water drag and
consequently better streamlining.
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Mobility
A freedive suit should be made of high quality neoprene. A good stretch ability of
the material will make your movements easier, but will also show signs of wear more
quickly. Extremely soft material will be more affected by pressure changes in open
water freediving and thus will lose some of its flexibility and insulation capacity over
time.
Fragile
Depending on the material, you have to take special care when putting on and taking
off your wetsuit. For instance, a competition suit can only be put on using a lubricant
like soapy water or talcum powder, as it will immediately break if you try otherwise.
Choosing the neoprene according to your needs is part of the ordering process
of a custom wetsuit. A competition suit is probably made with open cell on the
inside, combined with a very smooth and slippery layer (slick or smooth skin)
on the outside. This makes it on the one hand very efficient in terms of low water
resistance and high insulation capacity, but extremely delicate on the other hand. You
can increase the durability of your custom suit by adding linings, both on the inside
and outside. However, this will add some water resistance and you will loose some
insulation capacity.
There is no perfect suit for every purpose. You will have to design and order your
suits to your personal needs, performance and temperature of water you want to dive
in. The first time you order a custom made suit, the sheer choice can be daunting. Ask
your AIDA Instructor for advice on choosing a wetsuit that suits you best.
8.6 Lanyard
Attaching to the dive line
With a lanyard you can attach yourself to the vertical dive line. When using your
fins for diving you will attach the strong strap or Velcro of the lanyard to your wrist
usually the one where you do not wear your dive computer. In free immersion (FIM)
it is more comfortable to attach the lanyard to your ankle, so it does not interfere with
your arm movement. When diving without fins (CNF), the lanyard is mostly attached
to a D-ring on the weight belt.
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The carabiner at the other end of the lanyard is then clicked in to the dive line
so it can freely glide, without creating any noticeable friction. It is important that
your lanyard complies with the AIDA standards in terms of stability and stiffness.
Improperly produced lanyards can easily tangle with the dive line.
To keep the bearings

The lanyard allows you to keep a perfectly vertical direction along the dive line
even in very bad visibility or when diving with closed eyes. Many deep dives are done
without a mask, so the vision of the divers is quite reduced. The lanyard will give the
freediver immediate feedback if he/she is loosing his/her bearings.
For rescue purposes with a counterweight

In a competition setup or for deep freediving in general the dive line is not simply
attached to the buoy, but will run over a mechanism with wheels and breaks. The other
end of the dive line is a counterweight attached which is considerably heavier than
the weight on the dive line. In a case of emergency, e.g. when a freediver is not within
vision of the safety divers in due time, the break can be released. The counterweight
descends immediately and pulls up the smaller bottom weight. The lanyard of the
overdue freediver is caught by the rapidly ascending bottom weight and the diver is
hoisted back to the surface.
Quick release at the wrist

It is important that the lanyard can be released immediately in case it gets tangled.
Velcro straps usually use the same quick release as used in surfing leashes, while
lanyards that use fabric straps must be combined with a quick-release shackle.
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8.7 Freedive Buoy

The freedive buoy, or float, is an integral part of a freedive teaching setup. But also for
training and for competition some form of setup with a vertical dive line is essential.
Safety feature
For good visibility you want your float to be made of a bright signal color like orange
or red. As an additional safety feature a diver flag can be attached to the setup. This
might be even compulsory if you are freediving in an area with boat traffic.
The freedive buoys that are in use today have a flat surface, which enables buddy
teams to keep eye contact across the float after surfacing. A flat surface is also ideal
if a freediver needs to rest and in a case of emergency a victim can be positioned face
up on top of the float if no other means of in water transport is available.
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Dive line firmly attached

Every freedive buoy has a central mounting point on its lower side, where the vertical
dive line can be firmly attached. It is important that the buoy is constructed in such
a way that the dive line and bottom weight (see below) cannot be ripped out by a
simple failure of material. The dive line is a static (non-stretchy) rope with a diameter
of 8mm or more.
Tethering line
A shorter and thinner tethering line allows you to attach the buoy to a mooring line
for the duration of the freedive session. A 4mm thick and 10m long line is just fine for
this. Also, such a tethering line is essential to daisy chain several freedive buoys to
each other.
Carabiners
Ideally there are two large carabiners available at the mounting point below the float:
One carabineer allows a secure connection between the dive line and the float, while
the second carabineer makes it easier to shorten or lengthen the rope.
Handles to hold on to
Firmly attached handles around the buoy make your relaxation phase easier. In an
open water session performed in the sea you always want to be in touch with either
the freedive buoy or the tethering line between buoys: Even on the most quiet day
there is a little current which can slowly drag you away from your freedive group
while you are relaxing with your eyes closed. Also, the handles can be used to hold
a pair of fins in case you choose to switch to no fins freediving during the session.
Light bottom weight

The bottom weight pulls the dive line to a vertical position. It should be as light as
possible to make handling easy. For a teaching session a somewhat heavier bottom
weight of 7kg is fine, an even heavier weight can be more effective for example for
free immersion dives. The bottom weight can be built with a scuba weight belt and
normal diving weights, but any block of led is ideal as well.
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Tennis ball to stop lanyard

For dives deeper than twenty meters or in bad visibility AIDA advises the use of a
lanyard. Upon your descent along the dive line, the carabineer of the lanyard will
be stopped by a tennis ball, which is attached 1.5-2m above the bottom weight. This
avoids entanglement of the lanyard with the bottom weight or bottom plate (see
below).
Bottom plate
In a freedive competition the target depth of each dive is indicated by the bottom
plate. This is a horizontal round plate made of any sorts of material. For example a
Frisbee can be modified for that purpose. Many freedive instructors and buddy teams
have a bottom plate permanently built into their setup to simulate the competition
situation.
What are the main characteristics of a freedive mask?
With what sort of bi-fins should you start your freedive training?
Why do you need a snorkel when practicing freediving?
How should you wear your weight belt?
One of the main features of a freediving suit is flexibility. Please comment.
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CHAPTER 09
Freediving disciplines
From recreational to extreme/competitive freediving
Within AIDA there is a total of eight freediving disciplines. In the AIDA2 Course,
you will be introduced to four of them already: STA, DYN, FIM and CWT.
Reminder: In some parts of the world, freediving is often coined with the term
apnea. Literally translated from the Greek apnoia it means without breathing
and can be used as a synonym for freediving. Due to AIDAs French origin the term
apnea is used frequently.
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Competition team in static apnea
9.1 Static Apnea (STA) See video here
Breath hold face down in water

A breath hold performed face down in a pool or confined water is called static apnea
(STA). It is a popular competitive discipline as much as an important form of training.
Most accessible training form

While it is often allowed to do static training in pools, the usage of fins and suits
frequently are not. This makes static training in water the most accessible form of
training. Furthermore, there are many forms of dry static training. Static is thus a
very versatile tool to work with on a daily basis.
Mind game
Holding your breath for an extended time is as much a physical task as it is a mental
game. Your mind does not like to stop working and it has a hard time doing nothing.
But that is exactly what we ask our minds to do during a static breath hold: Stopping
to think, and not wasting any energy on unneeded activity.
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Contractions
After a while in static breath hold, the mind game also becomes a physical one. Some
of your breathing muscles will contract and release to initiate the exhalation of excess
CO2. Sometimes this is also referred as convulsions, but that is not very accurate. If
you are able to allow the contractions to happen, they are no more than muscles tensing
up and releasing in a more or less rhythmical pattern. As such, these contractions can
be used as a timer to gauge ones breath hold. As they are indicators for rising CO2
level in the body, they can be counted and thus provide valuable information about
how much longer you can go on with your breath hold (see a description on how
and why counting contractions can be useful in chapter 3.3).
9.2 Dynamic Apnea (DYN, DNF) See video here
Horizontal distance covered on one breath

Dynamic apnea (DYN) is about the horizontal distance covered under water on one
breath. Like STA, dynamic apnea is introduced in the AIDA2 Course.
This discipline is mostly done in pools. It is also possible to perform dynamic apnea
in any confined water, such as a sheltered beach, or a lagoon. As long as there are
no waves, no currents and reasonable visibility, dynamic can be performed almost
anywhere.
Dynamic with fins: DYN

There are two forms of dynamic apnea in AIDA: With fins or without. In a competition,
monofin and bi-fin divers compete with each other in the same category.
Dynamic no fins: DNF

The other form of dynamic apnea is performed without fins, with the abbreviation
DNF (dynamic no fins). With the use of arms and legs the freediver propels himself/
herself in an extended breaststroke movement. DNF is a very demanding discipline
from a technical standpoint. DNF is not taught in the AIDA Courses, but your AIDA
Instructor will provide you with additional training possibilities if you wish so.
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Freediver performing dynamic (DYN) with a monofin
Important training discipline

Dynamic apnea is an important general training discipline in order to work on body
posture, finning technique, CO2 tolerance and so forth. For many freedivers with
limited or no access to open water this discipline is their main activity between
trips.
Pool operators quite often do not permit fins, wetsuits or even masks in the pool
during public hours. If you want to train in a pool for the first time, make sure you
ask about the local regulations. In many places, however freediving or apnea clubs
with dedicated training hours can be found. Ask your AIDA Instructor about local
freediving clubs, where you can find fellow freedive buddies and a fun group to train
with.
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Freediver during dynamic no fins (DNF) freediving
Tip: If there is no freedive club in your area yet, you can also contact
lifeguard organizations or swimming clubs with regular non-public
training sessions and ask them about the possibility to share the
pool for training purposes.
Lifeguard is NOT a buddy

Remember that you need a dedicated and qualified buddy to do in-water apnea
training in a pool (STA, DYN, DNF), there is no exception to this rule. A lifeguard on
duty does not qualify as a buddy.
9.3 Free Immersion (FIM)

Pulling yourself down and back up a line
In free immersion you pull yourself down and back up the dive line without the use
of fins. Competitive FIM is often performed without wearing fins, however during an
AIDA Course FIM, dives are performed with fins due to safety reasons.
The discipline is introduced both in AIDA1 & AIDA2 Courses and is further trained
on every following course level.
96
Coming up from a dive by pulling the dive line: Free immersion (FIM)
Good as warm-up
Free immersion is a vital part of every open water freedive session. It is the most
common way to start your session by slowly pulling yourself down to a comfortable
depth. By doing so you can spend time under water without exerting yourself while
giving your body and mind time to switch into freedive mode.
Athletes in a competition get ready for their dives in a similar way. Quite often they
will use a perfectly timed series of FIM dives to adapt themselves to the water while
still saving their legs. After this warm-up process with FIM, the athletes are ready
for their deep competition dive with fresh legs for CNF or CWT.
9.4 Constant Weight (CWT, CNF)

Swim down and back up using the same amount of weight
This is probably the most known discipline of freediving. In this discipline you will
swim down and back up along a dive line, using the same amount of weight. Hence
it is called constant weight (CWT). It is introduced to beginners both in AIDA1 and
AIDA2 Courses.
97
Left: Constant weight with fins Right: Constant weight no fins
Constant weight with fins: CWT

Constant weight freediving can be performed with fins or without. In competition,
freedivers using bi-fins or monofins share one category called CWT.
Constant weight no fins: CNF

Diving to depth without using fins is called constant weight no fins, in short CNF. As
this form of freediving is often depicted as the purest form of freediving it gets a lot
of well-deserved media attention.
Grab the rope only to turn

Both disciplines CWT and CNF share the rule of grabbing the rope only once, and
that is when you turn. However it is allowed to glide along the dive line, using one
hand to feel the rope to keep your orientation. Athletes diving without a mask often
apply this form as their eyes are more or less closed during their dive.
98
Freediver on a sled performing a dive in variable weight (VWT)
9.5 Variable Weight (VWT)

Descend with weight or sled
In the simplest form of variable weight (VWT) a freediver descends holding a weight
in his hand. The weight is attached to the dive line and will be stopped at the targeted
depth. More sophisticated setups use a weighted sled to which the freediver holds on
to during descent.
Ascend without weights

After reaching the targeted depth, the freediver will ascend using his own propulsion.
In VWT the freediver commonly does not use a weight belt to offset the buoyancy of
your freedive suit, which makes the ascent easier.
Ascend swimming and/or pulling on the line

The freediver can use the rope to pull himself up or use his fins to get back to the
surface. Also a combination of both means of propulsion is possible.
99
No competition discipline
Variable weight is a great tool in advanced freediving to adapt to depth. VWT is
also done for pure pleasure or for record attempts, but there are no AIDA ratified
competitions in this discipline due to the risk factors involved.
VWT is introduced in the AIDA4 Course.
Freediver deploying a lift bag during a no limits dive (NLT)
9.6 No Limits (NLT)

Descend on a weighted sled
In No Limits Freediving (NLT) the freediver descends most commonly by holding
on to a weighted sled.
100
Ascend using lifting device

At the target depth, the freediver will often use compressed air to fill a lift bag by
opening the valve of a tank attached to a sled. Any other lifting devices are allowed as
well. The propulsion of the lifting device lifts brings the athlete back up and close to
the surface. He will then let go of the lifting device and ascend slowly in a controlled
way along the dive line for the last meters of the ascent.
No competition discipline
This discipline has been made popular by the movie Le Grand Bleu (The Big
Blue). Unlike depicted in the movie there are no competitions in NLT anymore, as
the discipline has serious risk factors to be considered. Record attempts have to be
approached carefully and in a controlled environment, supervised by experts. The
development of a functioning NLT-setup is a task that takes a maximum amount of
experience. Furthermore, it takes years of adaption for the human body to handle the
extreme depths that must be reached for todays NLT records.
However, done under the supervision of an experienced instructor, NLT to moderate
depths is great fun and safe.
Define static apnea.
Dynamic apnea is an important training discipline. Please comment.
Free immersion is the most common way to start your depth session. Please
comment.
101
CHAPTER 10
Freediver Code of Conduct

Mind your surroundings
Mind your long fins
Mind marine life
Do not remove anything from the sea / Do not leave anything in the sea
Mind the dive site
Be a role model
102
APPENDIX A
Knowledge review
1. Introduction to Freediving
What is the primary directive in freediving?
Answer: Always freedive with a qualified buddy.
How to make contact with your local freedive community?

Answer: You may volunteer in AIDA events like meetings and competitions to meet
your local freedive community.
2. Introduction to AIDA
When you start a course with one instructor, you have to complete it with the
same instructor? True or False. Explain.
Answer: False. You can start any AIDA Course with one instructor and finish it later
with another. The only constraint is that you have to continue your education within
one year.
3. Freedive breathing cycle

The preparation for holding your breath has nothing to do with oxygenating the
body True or False. Explain.
Answer: true. At any given time of resting our blood is fully saturated with Oxygen
(between 96 % and 99%). The last phase before a breath hold is about physical and
mental relaxation and focus.
What are the goals of the relaxation phase?

Answer: The goals of this phase are to be physically and mentally relaxed, avoiding
any unneeded muscle tension as well as being focused on the task at hand. Thinking
uses Oxygen, so being focused also means to keep the mind from wandering.
103
AIDA2 MANUAL APPENDIX A
What should be the points of attention when performing one full breath. Explain.
Answer: The main focus is relaxation as you should avoid the built-up of tension
when willing to take too much air. Second, you should take your time to fill the lungs
completely. Third, perform a two stage breath, meaning belly breathing followed by
chest breathing.
Why is escaping air considered a sign for a freediver in trouble? Explain.

Answer: While holding your breath in water you will always keep your air in your lungs
until surfacing. This is true for every form of freediving.
What are contractions?

Answer: Contraction comes from involuntary movements of the breathing muscles.
This is your body trying to resume to breathe to exhale the accumulated CO2. It does
not mean that you are low on Oxygen.
Holding your breath is a mind game. Explain.

Answer: Holding your breath is less of a physical and more of a mental challenge
because you are not used to not to breathe. Whatever reasons your mind comes up
with in order to stop that breath hold right now; convince yourself that you can deal
with it despite all your thoughts or opinions about the current situation.
Describe the safety concept of recovery breathing.

Answer: It is the technique how to breathe in order to properly finish a breath hold. Every
breath hold ends with recovery breathing. Technique: Relaxed passive half exhalation
followed by quick full inhalations.
4. Basic physiology of freediving

Describe the journey of the air from outside into the lungs.
Answer: The first stage of the airflow into our body is the nose and the mouth. After
passing the mouth the inhaled air travels through the windpipe or the trachea. At
its lower end, the trachea divides into two main bronchi. Through several stages the
bronchi branch off into tiny bronchioles. At the end of the branches lie the alveoli where
the gas exchange in the lungs takes place.
104
What are the main muscles involved in breathing?

Answer: the diaphragm and the (external) intercostal muscles.
Our breathing is regulated mainly by CO2. Explain.

Answer: All physical and mental activity creates CO2. While being dissolved in the blood
plasma, CO2 raises the acidity of the blood. This change of acidity is then registered by
the body. Once registered it automatically initiates an increase of breathing volume
and frequency to offload the surplus of CO2.
Hyperventilation is increasing oxygen saturation of your blood. True or false.

Explain.
Answer: False. At any given time your blood is saturated with Oxygen levels at around
95-99%. Hyperventilation does not store more Oxygen, it actually lowers the level of
CO2.
What is wrong with decreasing CO2 level in your blood.

Answer: By hyperventilating before a breath-hold, it is possible that you pass out from
low Oxygen levels without even feeling the first signal of rising CO2.
How can you safely prolong your dives?

Answer: Breath holds can safely last longer by getting more tolerant to CO2 and by
improving relaxation and generally all techniques involved in freediving (such as body
posture, duck dive, finning, etc.).
5. Equalisation
How is Boyles law defined?
Answer: If the temperature remains constant, the volume of a gas is inversely proportional
to the absolute pressure.
What is equalising?
Answer: As you descend, the increasing pressure compresses your body air spaces
according to Boyles law. Equalising means to move more air into these air spaces
(ears, sinuses and mask) to balance the effect of the rising water pressure.
105
What should be your focal point when practicing equalization techniques?

Answer: Practicing either Valsalva or Frenzel techniques, use only the muscles that
should be active in your chosen technique. All other muscles need to stay relaxed during
the whole equalisation manoeuvre.
Cite three ways to facilitate equalization.

Answer: Clean technique, Outer ear filled with water, Equalize gently and frequently
enough, Slow down the descent, Dive healthy, Avoid decongestant medication, Stretch
before diving.
6. Freediving technique
Why should you equalise once before you do your duck dive?
Answer: A strong duck dive can get your head as deep as five meters, before you even
start using your fins. This is a depth where you would usually have to equalise your
ears to not experience pain in your eardrums.
How could you develop strength and flexibility for your finning technique?
Answer: You can improve these skills by training in the pool discipline of dynamic
apnea.
On which three parameters should you focus during the descent phase?
Answer: Streamlining, equalization and relaxation.
Why should you preferably perform a forward tumble turn when turning in
depth?
Answer: To protect your lungs at depth. The skydiver turn should be avoid as arching
your back at depth can lead to injuries.
Comment the following sentence: Once you have started to ascend you should
go all the way back to the surface.
Answer: That is correct. If you had to turn early, it is important that you stay focused
on finishing the dive in a controlled manner.
106
What is the OK-sign?

Answer: The OK-sign is the thumb and index finger forming a circle, while the other
three fingers are kept straight. It indicates to your buddy that everything is all right with
you.
7. Safety in freediving
Communication is important within a buddy team. Please comment.
Answer: Both members of the buddy team have to attune their plans for the session. They
have to keep continuous contact to inform each other over every single dives objectives
and possible troubles.
Why make the distinction between verbal and non-verbal communication in

static apnea (STA)?
Answer: Tell each other what you like, what you do not like and what you expect from
your buddy. Some freedivers do not like to be touched and other freedivers do not like to
be talked to during a breath-hold.
As a safety diver meeting your buddy at depth, how do you detect that your buddy
is in trouble?
Answer: As a safety diver you will stay face to face with the freediver in such a way that
you can always see his/her eyes. Pretty quickly you will develop a feeling for what looks
like a normal dive and what is a sign of trouble. You will also identify oncoming trouble
by: change of finning style, uncontrolled grabbing of the rope, speeding up towards the
end of the dive, escaping air, unable to keep the airways above the surface, anything
abnormal.
What is LMC?
Answer: Loss of Motor Control, or LMC, is a hypoxic fit that occurs after surfacing
if Oxygen levels are too low. A light LMC will just last a few seconds and will mainly
induce light uncontrolled eye and/or head movements, while severe LMC can affect
your whole body and leads to an inability to maintain your airways out of the water.
107
What is a Black Out (BO)? Why is it so dangerous?

Answer: A black out (or BO) is the loss of consciousness caused by lack of Oxygen
(O2) towards the end of a breath hold or immediately after. It can happen everywhere
and this is why you must always have a trained buddy supervising you when holding
your breath in water. Repeatedly experienced black outs will certainly have negative
consequences including brain damage and should thus be avoided.
What is the SAFE principle. Explain.

Answer: If your buddy suffers from a black out (BO), you will act SAFE. Surface: Get
the freediver to the surface; Airways: Hold him so the airways are out of the water; FE:
Remove all Facial Equipment (mask, goggles, nose clip). Then follow up with Blow
Tap Talk (cycle until regaining consciousness for max 10-15s).
How do you reduce the risks of a LMC or BO? Give at least 5 examples.
Answer: Relaxation; Never push your limits; Apply good technique; Perform recovery
breathing; Stay well hydrated; Always freedive with a trained buddy; Weight yourself
correctly (neutral at min -10m); Take the snorkel out of your mouth before you descend;
Practice rescue technique; Use a floating device.
How much time should you when willing to combine scuba diving and freediving?
Answer: No Fly Sign on your dive computer must be off after scuba diving before
freediving. Rule of thumb: At least 12 hours after one scuba dive before freediving; At
least 24 hours after multiple scuba dives before freediving; At least 12h if you want to
scuba dive after freediving.
8. Equipment for freediving

What are the main characteristics of a freedive mask?
Answer: Enclose the nose; Should perfectly fit you; Low volume; Clear lenses; The skirt
Flexible (soft skirt).
How should you start training bi-fins technique?

Answer: It is recommended to start with a pair of short fins to learn proper finning
technique first. When your finning technique, your muscular strength and flexibility
are ready, you will be able to handle the greater resistance of long fins.
108
Why do you need a snorkel when practicing freediving?

Answer: The snorkel is a basic safety tool. It allows you to breathe while watching your
buddy from the surface in the pool or in open water.
How should you wear your weight belt?

Answer: Freedivers wear their belt on the hips rather than the waist to not interfere
with belly breathing and duck dive movements.
One of the main features of a freediving suit is flexibility. Please comment.

Answer: A freedive suit should be made of high quality neoprene. A good stretch ability
of the material will make your movements easier and therefore less oxygen demanding.
9. Freediving disciplines
Define static apnea.
Answer: A breath hold performed face down in a pool or confined water is called static
apnea (STA).
Dynamic apnea is an important training discipline. Please comment.

Answer: Dynamic apnea is an important general training discipline in order to work
on body posture, finning technique and CO2 tolerance.
Free immersion is the most common way to start your depth session. Please
comment.
Answer: By slowly pulling yourself down to a comfortable depth, you can spend time
under water without exerting yourself while giving your body and mind time to switch
into freedive mode.
109
AIDA2 MANUAL CREDITS
CREDITS
Main Author
Oli Christen
Medical Advice
Per Westin
Proofreading
Nicole Heidenreich
Richard Wonka
Steven Millard
Dean Spahic
Jean-Pol Franois
Felice Mastroleo
Layout
Jussi Rovanpera
Responsible for AIDA International

Jean-Pol Franois
Photographs
Kimmo Lahtinen: 93, 95, 98 right
Daan Verhoeven: 92, 96, 97, 98 left, 99, 100, 102
Oli Christen: 14
Luca Vaime: 36
Jussi Rovanpera: Cover, 4, 6, 8, 9, 12, 18, 20, 24, 26, 36, 38, 39, 41, 43, 50, 52, 53,
56, 57, 59, 61, 64, 66, 69, 72, 77, 78, 80, 82, 83, 84, 86, 88, 89
Illustrations:
Francine Kreiss: Pages 31, 32, 33, 44, 45, 46, 47
AIDA2 Freediving Manual V1.00 10/2015

Copyright 2015 AIDA International Freediving
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AIDA2 Freediving Manual

Chapter 7 Safety in Freediving 59

Freediving can be learned

Recreational and Extreme Freediving

1.1 Freediving is...

Fun freediver exploring a reef

Always freedive with a qualified buddy

1.2 AIDA International

Freediving education program

Freediving safety standards

Freediving competitions & world records

Chapter 01 Knowledge Review

What is the primary directive in freediving?

How to make contact with your local freedive community?

Not only for divers

Always freedive with a buddy

2.1 AIDA Instructor

Introduction to freediving during a pool session.

Multiple instructors possible

Registration with AIDA / EOS

Liability release (where applicable)

Chapter 02 Knowledge Review

Freedive Breathing Cycle

Oxygen (O2) saturation

The breath hold cycle

Belly vs. chest breathing

Awareness exercise for belly breathing

3.1 Relaxation Phase

Example Relaxation Technique: Body Scan

You instruct yourself through every muscle group of your body

3.2 One Full Breath

There can be only one

Two stage full breath

Stage one: belly breathing. Focus on your belly, feel how it is

Stage two: chest breathing. Keep inhaling in a steady flow by

Two steps, one full breath

3.3 Breath Hold

Total relaxation during a static breath hold (STA)

Before you know it you will count up to very large numbers of

See video here

3.4 Recovery breathing

Relaxed passive half exhalation

Quick full inhalations

Dry breathing exercises

Chapter 03 Knowledge Review

What are the goals of the relaxation phase?

Why is escaping air considered a sign for a freediver in trouble? Explain.

What are contractions?

Holding your breath is a mind game. Explain.

Describe the safety concept of recovery breathing.

Basic physiology of Freediving

Elements of the respiratory system

4.2 The Circulatory System See video here

Two cycles: lungs & body

O2 bonded with haemoglobin

CO2 dissolved in blood plasma

4.3 The Mechanics of Breathing See video here

Intercostal muscles & accessory breathing muscles

Inhale - active, exhale - passive