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“Specific” Training in Freediving: Your Secret Weapon In Setting New Personal Bests

Freediver | Blue Hole Dahab| Train Freediving

Specific training is the second of three training phases that make up the training cycle, and it is an essential part of your cycle when adding meters or seconds to your performance.

The purpose of specific training is to generate maximum sport-specific fitness. This means improving all of the qualities you need as a freediver to perform well. These qualities include;


  • -Physical adaptations to freediving
  • -Mental adaptations to freediving
  • -Technical adaptation to freediving

These three categories of adaptations, qualities of sport-specific fitness work together, none more important than another, to help you handle the overall demands of your goal and maximize the consistency and quality of your freediving.

Overall, improving your sport-specific fitness through the specific training phase is going to contribute to more meters or seconds of performance in your freediving.

How is improved sport-specific fitness achieved in freediving?

Improved sport-specific fitness is achieved by doing plenty of training that replicates the individual demands of the goal you’re training for at intensities that are low enough to allow sustained and repetitive practice without causing stress or over-training.

Unfortunately, a common myth in freediving often holds divers back from achieving high levels of sport-specific fitness. Many divers believe that the only way to prepare for maximum performances and PBs is to repeat their PBs as often as possible.

This is completely untrue. Due to the monotony, stress, and fatigue generated by doing PB level dives regularly, divers doing this will only achieve over-training, and end up with reduced sport-specific fitness.

Remember the ‘pyramid analogy’ from the training cycle article.

Specific training is the middle portion of the pyramid. It connects the base to the tip, and is characteristically half as wide as the base: moderate diversity training, and half as high as the peak: moderate depths, distances, or times in relation to your PB.


What to include in your specific training for freediving:

  • -Plenty of dives and exercises at moderate intensities between 50% & 80% of your PB.
  • -Some additional skills and weakness development exercises within the context of freediving.
  • -Maintenance level general-fitness training outside of freediving.

A correctly structured specific training phase, which includes training in all three of these areas, is going to contribute to maximizing your sport-specific fitness. Remember, this includes all of the physical, mental, and technical adaptations you need to perform at your best.

This phase is the phase that adds numbers to your freediving performance.


Where next? Read about phase 3 of the training cycle – Unlock Your Neurological Capacity To Perform At Your Best With Peaking Training For Freediving

Want to learn more about how to train most efficiently and effectively to progress as a freediver? Watch our on-demand workshop: Uncover 7 Secrets To Unlocking Your Potential And Setting New Personal Bests.