Free diving is a type of underwater sport that relies on the divers’ capacity to hold his or her breath underwater without the aid of breathing apparatus. This free-diving technique is considered to be very difficult, since most people can’t hold their breath for longer periods underwater. Beginners are required to take rigorous breathing exercises to enhance their ability to hold their breath underwater.
Everyone can free dive, given that he can spend most of his time under water and practice holding their breath for longer periods. Humans have this natural reaction of prolonging the time spent underwater with slower heart rate. With thorough breathing exercises, you can improve your lung capacity and hold your breath underwater.
"Free diving is all about patience and familiarization" Image via Flickr
Acknowledge the Importance of Warming Up
This free-diving technique could be very useful when performing longer underwater dives. Even adept free divers don’t jump straight away without performing this basic free-diving routine. Like the muscles, your lungs need to be warmed up in every free-diving session.
The basic warm up can be done by breathing deeply and easily, then holding your breath once it’s filled. This helps your lungs to contract effectively to get the right amount of oxygen your body needs. Repeat this activity six or seven times to warm up your body, and you’re set to go on prolonged free dives.
Free Yourself from Worrying Too Much
For novice free divers, the feeling of anxiety is normal. There’s this unshaken feeling of worrying about the dangers of the diving into a completely strange environment. The body feels the hunger for air, which speeds up the heart rate and consumes energy quickly. Evidently, this natural problem can be practiced through time.
Free diving is all about patience, relaxation, and familiarization. You have to overcome your fear, and you can start by challenging yourself when descending underwater. You have to set the target time of your descend and how deep you will go through. If you think that you can surpass your current record then descend again, and make it through the deepest range that you can work out, before resurfacing again. Remember, the key to this sport is practice, practice and more practice.
Practice Minimal Movements When Submerged Underwater
Your body needs to burn oxygen in order to keep your vital organs working. When underwater, it’s important that you minimize your workload for you to stay under water for a longer time. The best way to lessen your body’s work load is to practice breathing by using the diaphragm without the aid of abdominal and chest muscles.
Normally, when you descend under water, you tend to constrict your abdominal muscles, as well as the chest and the back, to hold your breath. As a result, your body uses a lot more oxygen and lessens your time spent underwater. Working out this free-diving technique will lessen the amount of oxygen used in your body and increase your time spent submerged underwater.
Once you’ve gained experience from different free-diving techniques, you’re ready to challenge yourself for difficult diving spots and face the fear below the water surface.
