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Freediving To 40 Meters: A Step-By-Step Training Guide
40 meters is one of those significant ‘landmark’ depths for freedivers.
It’s the official limit of recreational freediving, the depth required to become an instructor, and the depth where most freedivers transition from basic freediving equalisation to more advanced techniques like mouthfill or cheek fill.
If you can confidently and consistently reach 40m (in any or all disciplines) without mistakes, it’s safe to say that you're well prepared for diving much deeper depths if ever you choose to progress as an athlete, instructor or recreational diver.
Training for my first 40 meters
Looking back, the summer I spent training for my first 40-meter freedive was accidentally perfect.
The entire time I trained for 40 meters, I had limited access to only 31m maximum, and nearly 50% of the time, I was diving with buddies who weren’t confident safetying dives deeper than 20m (new AIDA 2s).
This forced me to stay shallow for months before attempting to reach 40 meters (from a PB of 35m).
I spent 95% of my training time diving to depths less than 30m – the vast majority being between 10m and 20m, with a combination of FRC (passive exhale dives) and hangs.
Knowing what I know now, these ‘accidental’ limits on my diving were exactly what is needed to train 40 meters in freediving.
To help you replicate what I did and achieve the best possible 40-meter freediving that you can. Here’s a step-by-step guide on how to train.
1. Adopt the Right 40-Meter Mindset
In my opinion, for most people (excluding genetically gifted freedivers), training for 40 meters is different from training for your first 20m dive or 30m dive.
At the beginning of your freediving journey, you’re going to be told to repeat your PBs as often as possible. When freediving to 20 & 30 meters this works...
– A 20m freediver can do 5-6 x 20m in a session
– A 30m freediver can do 4-5 x 30m in a session.. Every session.
Why? At these depths, the total meters per session are 100-120m (for the 20m diver) and 120-150m (for the 30m diver).
This is an entirely reasonable volume of diving. There’s almost no stress on the airways, and for most people (even untrained), these dives are far from their hypoxic limits.
All in all, 20-30m dives don’t create that much fatigue, even if it’s a PB.
However, +30m dives start to be a problem.
They will put some stress on your airways, they can start to create O2 debts, and they can also expose the diver to nitrogen (even if it isn’t narcotic, this can make extra fatigue).
Frequently repeating PBs at this point, as a +30m freediver training for 40, is a mistake – especially if you’re repeating multiple times per session.
All you’re going to do is create loads of fatigue and slow down your progression.
2. Aim for God-Level Mastery of Shallow Dives
When training for your first 40-meter freedive, as I said, it’s important to stop repeating your PBs so often.
You actually need to train now, and realistically training can never be done on PB dives.
This means that most of your diving will take place in the 10-30m range. Ideally, spending more time at the bottom than at the top of that range.
The thing is, it’s not about aimlessly freediving up and down to 20m.
Your job is to master shallow depths (10-30m) completely.
You should be able to do them in at least 2 different disciplines.
You should be able to do them on and off the line.
You should be able to film, take pictures, and comfortably safety-dive to these depths.
You should be able to equalise with minimal effort and correct Frenzel technique to these depths.
If hanging and filming at 10, off-line diving to 20m, and not even noticing your EQ to 30m is easy and routine, then 99 times out of 100, you will be capable of diving to 40m.
And if you can do this, almost by default.. you will make 40m, easily, on your first attempt.
BTW, you shouldn’t be having contractions at these depths. If you are, it’s super frustrating, I know. Here’s why you might be getting early contractions and what to do about it.
3. Accelerate Your Mastery By Working On Skills & Technique
Alongside freediving regularly between 10-30m comfortably, there are ways to speed up your progression and make sure you are improving as a freediver.
You’ll want to work on strengthening your equalisation
Becoming more comfortable with the water pressure.
And train your body and mind to be fully prepared for these depths.
You can do specific exercises between 10-30m, which will improve the quality of your dives to these depths and contribute to your ‘god-level-mastery’. They will also translate specifically to dives 40m+.
Slow dives and hangs
Doing slow FIM dives and even hangs to 15-20m can be a great way to build your dive time.
It’s still relatively safe for your lungs at these depths, close enough to the surface to be seen, and most importantly isn’t psychologically challenging.
Just make sure to build dive time passively.
You should never be at depth staring at your watch, hunting for a dive-time PB. You should ascend when you feel like it, and with practice, this dive time will grow.
Remember, 40m should only take you about 1:20-1:30 dive time.
So if you can comfortably and consistently reach this on slow 20s or hang 15s.. Then there’s no reason you cannot comfortably hold your breath for a 40m dive.
FRC (passive exhale) Dives
FRC dives can be a safe and effective way to practice EQ and experience what water pressure at 40 meters feels like.
I recommend starting with shallow hangs and slow dives on FRC to a maximum of 10m.
This is going to help you learn to relax and disengage the diaphragm at depths below 30m, with the added benefit of not having to hang at PB depths.
Once hanging at 10m, is easy and comfortable, the next thing you can do, is to practice Equalizing on FRC.
You can use basic Frenzel - or - mouthfill, and passively work your way up to anything between 15 and 20m.
These dives will always be limited by chest-pressure (never EQ technique) so make sure to stop if you feel any stress on your trachea.
As you adapt to the pressure, you’ll be much more capable of equalising safely up to and past your residual volume on full-lungs dives.
Practice makes perfect – just make sure to avoid having contractions at depth on FRC.
This can lead to trachea-squeeze, so be very conservative and progress slowly. It can take some patience (for me, a whole summer) but it was a worthwhile investment when it came to doing 40m+ later on.
Consistent Repetitions of 25-30m
These depths are perfect for mastering the application of your skills.
If you can repeatedly, session after session, reach these depths with the same quality, same dive time(s), same equalisation, ETC..
..Then you will be in the perfect place to attempt 35-40m PB dives.
Like I said earlier, the point here isn’t to aimlessly repeat 25-30m. You should be working hard to have consistent and repeatable technique and dive-quality. This is where a good 40m dive is made.
In other words. If you can do 15 dives in a row (spread out over 3-4 sessions) to 30m without making any mistakes or having any negative thoughts or bad dives, then you are 100% ready for good quality dives to 35-40m.
However, if you haven’t worked on your consistency, and dive quality to 30m is hit and miss, you can guarantee it will be a ‘miss’ on 40m PB attempts.
Start Training Confidently and Comfortably to 40 Meters
I often see instructor candidates failing their course because they weren’t adequately prepared to train for 40m. Or, I see 30-meter freedivers pushing themselves too hard to get there, beyond the limits of their freediving comfort, creating hard to shift physical or mental barriers early on.
If this is you, take a step back and really focus on your mastery of skills. Build consistency, and repeatability (same quality, dive times, technique, focus, and feelings).
This will mean diving at less than PB depths to give yourself the mental space to focus on perfection. This is actual training.
Yes, it’s going to take patience and self-discipline to do this. But trust me, it’s a worthwhile investment.
I believe that 40m is a transition depth between recreational and more performance-based diving. If you do it properly the first time, the transition into performance is going to be easy, and soon enough you’ll be at 50, 60, or even 70m+.
However, if you do it wrong and just push and push, repeating PBs until you finally make it to 40m, it’s going to be a painfully slow process of fixing all the problems caused by diving like that.
Just follow the freediving training advice above, step-by-step, and you’ll avoid crashing and burning in pursuit of your 40-meter goal and make sure that 40-meter freediving is stress-free and enjoyable for years to come.
© 2021 | TRAINFreediving