Want to know exactly what EXERCISES to do to get the BEST RESULTS in your freedive training?
Mental Training For Freediving: How To Really Build Relaxation, Confidence, Focus, & Awareness
I think most freedivers would agree that one of the most important aspects of our training is mental preparation. Some will even say that freediving is something like 80 or 90% mental.
Of course, I fundamentally disagree with that percentage. Like every sport, our ‘sport specific fitness’ is made equally of 1/3rd physical, 1/3rd technical, and 1/3rd mental parts, but I understand why many freedivers struggle with the mental aspects the most.
First of all, most of us are naturally physically capable of relatively impressive dives, and it doesn’t take very long to learn the skills and techniques for freediving either. That means that all-in-all the most likely area for problems, for most divers, are the mental aspects of the sport.
That being said, I do think there’s an even bigger reason why most divers struggle with the mental aspects, and that’s a fundamental misunderstanding of what mental preparation really is, how to actually do it, and why some really popular things that freedivers do as mental training aren’t the best use of our time.
What is mental preparedness?
I think the best place to start is to simply define mental preparedness.
Obviously, physical preparedness is the physical ability to do our dives (endurance, strength, CO2 & O2 tolerance). Technical preparedness is the ability to use the correct skills & techniques appropriate to our level of diving (finning, turns, posture, EQ, ETC).
Mental preparedness is the same. It’s the ability to stay relaxed, composed, confident, focused, and aware enough to complete our dive(s). If you’re not mentally-prepared for a particular dive, you will;
- -Feel very nervous before
- -Struggle to use the same level of technique & skills as you do in training
- -Have bad thoughts or emotions during the dive
If any of these things happen to you, it means you are not mentally prepared for the particular dive you are about to do, and there’s nothing wrong with that. It just means you need to do more training, and through that training process building up your mental (also physical & technical) abilities, you’ll make progress.
The obvious problem here would be that if you aren’t doing the right kind of mental-training, then the mental aspects of freediving will always be a limiting factor holding you back.
Freedive Culture's Mistake
In my opinion, the biggest mistake when it comes to mental preparedness in freediving, is that we often try to look outside of the sport for mental training exercises. When diver’s are nervous or having bad thoughts, they are often encouraged to do things like;
- -Visualization
- -Meditation
- -Neuro-linguistic programming. (NLP)
- -Self hypnosis or guided hypnosis
- -Self-talk
- -ETC
Of course, these things have their value & they do work in particular instances. NLP & hypnosis are powerful strategies to overcome past traumas. Self-talk and visualization can help you see yourself in a more positive & powerful light.
However, from the perspective of sports-science (the logical approach to training) these things are only cross-training, for the mind. In short, they can build ‘general’ mental capacity, which could theoretically be converted later-on into ‘sport specific’ mental capacity with the right exercises. On their own, without the conversion process, they are relatively useless for freediving (or any sport).
Imagine a Formula1 driver skipping their simulator sessions to do NLP or meditation instead. That wouldn’t make any sense & forsure wouldn’t prepare them mentally for the upcoming race.
This is the exact same thing as a freediver who doesn’t do proper freedive training, but does lots of self-talk & meditation instead. They won’t have the sport specific mental tools they need to do their dive(s).
Mental Freediving Exercises
So the obvious question would be, how can you actually build mental capacity or mental preparedness for your dives?
At a fundamental level, you need to do freediving exercises which actively build your mental abilities by simulating the demands of your goal(s). This means that diving in a particular way(s) is actually what’s going to build your mind and mental preparedness, not things you do outside of the water.
If you think I’m crazy, let’s look at it from the opposite perspective. Imagine a freedive coach telling you the best way to build your O2 tolerance for breath-holding (physical) was to run on the treadmill. Obviously (hopefully) you wouldn’t listen to them.
If we put it in a very simple way. Diving in a way that’s relaxing (appropriate distance / depths / times / exercise selection) will help you build underwater relaxation. Diving in a way that is stressful (difficult distances / depths / times / exercise selection) will help you build underwater anxiety.
If you train stressfully & do lots of relaxation stuff out of the water, you’re still building underwater anxiety and perpetuating the problem.
If you train relaxed & do (or not) lots of relaxation stuff out of the water, you’re building underwater relaxation, fixing the problem.
So let’s stop acting like the best way to build your relaxation (mental) is to do things like visualization, and actually learn what to do during your freedive sessions, in the water, instead.
Simulating the demands
Mental training or preparation is actually quite simple if you do it right. All we need to do is isolate a demand of our goal (for example dive time) and build exercises around that demand.
To give an example. Imagine you are training for 150m DYNb & that dive will take you 2:30 to complete.
Now we can replicate that demand in a few ways. An easy example would be to do a 50s STA + 100m DYNb. The total dive time will be the same, and the relative difficulty will be a little bit easier than an actual 150m DYNb.
This means you can do more volume (maybe +3x reps per session) & each rep will feel easier than your goal. This quickly (3x volume = 3x faster) builds your confidence, relaxation, focus, awareness, ETC... with the particular dive time & relative sensations associated with doing 150m DYNb.
Then you can do this with all the individual demands of your goal (total meters, CO2, hypoxia, lactic, dive profile, ETC) in a systematic way.. By the time you are ready to set your new PB, you will feel fully prepared mentally (also physically & technically) for the dive, leaving you relaxed & confident instead of stressed & anxious about your upcoming dive(s).
Do you need help?
If you need a little help deciding which exercises to do, I recently released the Freedive Fitness Handbook. It’s a manual of 36 different freediving exercises, categorized by what they are designed to work on. Allowing you to select the right exercises according to your weaknesses and then build personalized and goal-specific Physical, Technical, & Mental capacity for your dives.
Red Flags: Are You Mentally Prepared?
Having been a diver who used to rely solely on ‘mental cross training’ I know what it feels like to do dives without, and more recently since I switched my approach, with proper goal-specific mental preparedness.
I’m going to tell you what it feels like to actually be mentally prepared, and some red flags you can look out for to decide whether or not you’re prepared for the dives you are trying to attempt & help you decide whether or not you need more training before attempting them.
Red flag #1:
You need to repeat PBs (or dives building up to PBs) multiple times before they feel good enough to do the next one.
PBs ‘test’ your fitness, they don’t ‘train’ it. So if you wait until PB level to try and make mental adaptations, you’re putting yourself in the position to find out that you're not prepared, and make mental barriers instead. Early turns, failed attempts, or just unnecessarily bad-feeling dives slow down your long term progression.
Instead, if you’re mentally prepared, the first time you do a new dive in the cycle (build-up & PB dives), it can be done with the best possible quality according to your current level of fitness & experience. A 2nd or 3rd rep shouldn’t make it any better.
Red Flag #2:
You’re having trouble sleeping the night(s) before, or need to go to the bathroom a bunch of times before your dive(s).
I’ve heard so many divers say that they don’t sleep the night before PBs, and have butterflies or upset stomachs starting up to +12hrs before their PBs or comp dives. This doesn't have to be a part of progressing or competing if you prepare properly.
Instead, you should expect to have only mild butterflies for 30-60mins before your PB or comp dives, and they should go away completely once you get in the water and start your warm-up.
Red Flag #3:
You find you need to convince yourself that you’re ready for your dive(s) during your PB / comp breathe-ups.
I’ve seen many divers who regularly take 3-5:00 breath-ups in training, but when they find themselves attempting a long swim or deep dive, that number goes up to +10 minutes since they need to do lots of last-minute visualization and self-talk, summoning the courage to take their final breath.
Instead, you should expect only a slightly longer rest period before a PB or comp-dive, but you still shouldn’t need to add in any self-conviction or mental techniques. Either you’re ready for the dive (mentally prepared) or you’re not. The breath-up for a PB should feel basically the same as a breath-up for a regular 50-60% training dive.
In all three cases, the diver who undertook correct sport-specific mental preparation has removed stress from their diving. The diver who didn’t is forced to manage & accept the stress, and just try to dive anyway.
I’m pretty sure you can all agree you’d rather be less stressed and actually feel good and relaxed before, during, and after your dives, instead of the alternative.
The Complete Training Process
I think it’s safe to say that mental training is an important part of all sports. Boxers, F1 drivers, and freedivers all need to feel confident, relaxed, focused, aware, and in control before they do their sport.
A small part of that process is, in this case mental, cross-training. Visualization, self-hypnosis, self-talk, and so on.. Can all be used to build general mental capacity.
However, they are not freedive training, and they do not build the mental adaptations that you, a freediver, need to do your dives. You actually need to do freediving exercises that build mental capacity according to the specific demands of your freediving goals.
I think you get the point. Freediving = Freedive training, and just like physical & technical training, the best mental training for freediving, is going to happen by doing actual freediving exercises. #Freediving.
So, if you are a diver who struggles with confidence. If you cannot relax during your dives. If you panic at the first sign of an urge-to-breathe. You are not mentally weak, and there’s nothing wrong with you. You just aren’t mentally prepared, yet. Luckily with nothing more than the right training, you can build this mental preparedness (also physical & technical) & reach your freediving goals, easily, safely, confidently, and ENJOYABLY!!
Just remember what that right training is, and what it isn’t.
© 2021 | TRAINFreediving