Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Or How You Can Experience A Different World Without Leaving Planet Earth
"The scuba diver dives to look around while the free diver dives to look inside himself"
- Umberto Pelizzari - considered to be the best free diver who has ever lived.
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All contents copyright 2011 by Mike Semple and FreeDivingWorld. All rights reserved. No part of this document or accompanying files may be reproduced or transmitted in any form, electronic or otherwise, by any means without the prior written permission of the publisher.
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While every effort has been made by the author and all associated contributors to present accurate and up to date information within this document, it is apparent technologies rapidly change. Therefore, the author and all associated contributors reserve the right to update the contents and information provided herein as these changes progress. The author and/or all associated contributors take no responsibility for any errors or omissions if such discrepancies exist within this document.
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Mike Semple
FreeDivingWorld
Table of Contents
Legal Disclaimers.............................................................................. 2 Introduction ....................................................................................... 4 What Exactly Is Free Diving? ............................................................ 5 Are There Different Types Of Free Diving? ....................................... 6
Spear Fishing ....................................................................................................6 Snorkelling ........................................................................................................7 Free Diving Photography...................................................................................7 The Magic of the Big Blue .................................................................................7
In Closing ........................................................................................ 16
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Mike Semple
FreeDivingWorld
Introduction
Before we start getting into detail about the exciting sport of free diving it's important that we pause for a bit and talk about the safety side of things. Free diving is an amazing experience and an enjoyable sport, but as with any form of sport you need to be aware that there is always an element of risk involved and this is something you need to be aware of before you get started. The human body is a wonderful thing but is only capable of taking so much. If you're doing a standard dive you obviously need to check your equipment in advance. Like checking that your tanks are charged and then during the dive checking your oxygen levels and your dive time to avoid any unnecessary accidents. With free diving things are a little different because your equipment is you and maybe a weighted belt. You need to be in great physical shape to perform extreme free dives because your body is going to be operating in an environment that is both beautiful and dangerous. As babies-to-be we spend nine months breathing liquid in the womb, but once we're born we lose the ability to do that. So during a free dive you're going to be working with a single breath of air and that's it. The deeper you dive and the longer you're working with that single breath the harder your body has to work and the more toxins are building up in your bloodstream. And the most deadly of these is carbon dioxide which when built up in excess levels in the lungs will force your breathing reflex to occur and/or cause you to lose consciousness very suddenly. Proper training and thorough preparation is the key to any form of safe free diving - be it snorkelling or competitive apnea (holding your breath) diving.
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Mike Semple
FreeDivingWorld
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Mike Semple
FreeDivingWorld
was set (and is still held) by Stephane Milsud with a time of 11 minutes and 35 seconds in 2009.
Here's a little free diving trivia for you. Yoshiro Nakamatsu (also known as Dr Nakamats) who is the inventor of the floppy disc (remember those?) came up with his idea for them when he was sitting at the bottom of a swimming pool practicing static apnea - he said it allowed him to be far more creative than he could ever be on the surface! Oh and the current free diving world record is held by Herbert Nitsch who achieved a depth of 214 metres (702) feet in 2010 - a truly stunning feat of human endurance!
Spear Fishing
Here's a skill that dates back thousands of years to when our ancestors first went back into the sea to hunt. You can spear fish with an air tank but if you really want to challenge yourself why not try spear fishing as a free diver. Just you, a spear gun and the ocean
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Mike Semple
FreeDivingWorld
Snorkelling
Although this isn't regarded as true free diving it does follow the idea of working with a single breath of air while you're diving in shallow water. And with snorkelling you're also setting yourself free of the weights and air tanks used by normal divers and getting to experience the ocean as all other aquatic creatures do.
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Mike Semple
FreeDivingWorld
According to historians we came from the sea millions of years ago and for some odd reason for many of us there's a compulsion or an instinctual drive to return there. We associate with the sea. We're not happy unless we're beside it. If we ever find ourselves unhappy, just being close to the ocean is enough to lift our spirits - the ocean is part of who we are and some part of our genetic memory inside of us remembers that. Regardless of the type of free diving you get involved with, the appeal remains the same - you're entering a gateway to another world. You're following the instinct inside you to return to the ocean in as natural a state as you can - not carrying weight belts, electronics and air tanks. Your body is at one with the ocean. Free diving allows you to experience the ocean on an entirely new level and one that conventional diving simply doesn't offer. The first astronauts who landed on our moon experienced similar feelings of being in an alien but ultimately familiar environment. An experience of that type can change something tangible inside you forever. Once you've had that experience you'll want to repeat it as often as you can.
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FreeDivingWorld
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If you're going to be involved in more competitive or extreme free diving you might requires diving weights, a diving sled or special diving fins. For the most basic of free dives however all you need is you and the ocean that's the beauty of free diving. It's all about man/woman versus the seas and this is what attracts so many people to the sport.
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FreeDivingWorld
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A good cardio program for free dive training should include: Intensive cardio sessions comprised of both sprint work and long distance runs. Interval or Tabata cardio work. Normal interval training is good but Tabata training is more effective for less time input - a 4-minute Tabata training session can produce the same results as a normal 45-minute cardio session.
Tabata basically means you sprint or do a cardio exercise at full intensity for 20 seconds and rest for 10 seconds. Do 8 reps to start and build it up from there. You're going to be amazed at the results that Tabata training can produce for you. As we said earlier, free diving is as much a mental sport as it is a physical one so gaining control of your mental state and regulating your breathing (or lack of it) at the same time is essential. Yoga and meditation are excellent ways of not only understanding how your breathing affects both your mental and physical state but also allows you greater control of how your body breathes. Also bear in mind that a practiced Yogi can voluntarily lower their heart rate by simply focusing on it - willing it to happen. Swimming of course should be an integral part of your training program - it's ideal for overall fitness right across the board. Create a training plan or have one created for you but only do this with somebody who has experience in training free divers and understands exactly what you're trying to achieve.
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Most free diving courses are broken down into 3 levels starting at Level 1 as a beginner and working your way up to Level 3 as a more advanced free diver. Most free diving schools will limit your dive depth to no more than 60 metres even as an experienced free diver - the risk of disorientation at that depth is too high for somebody who hasn't been free diving regularly for at least a few years.
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In Closing
As you can see, free diving is something humankind has been doing for a long, long time for a variety of reasons. Originally we did it to feed ourselves and to benefit from the natural riches that occur in nature (pearls for example), and then it found use amongst ancient frogmen. Now finally it's become an accepted and recognised sport where the best, the most mentally prepared and the most fearless test themselves in a way that only diving can. That's why free diving is here to stay. Unless you experience the wonders and awe of the Big Blue first hand and learn how free diving can transport you into a fantasy world of stillness, amazing colours, and fish you will always wonder I urge you to free dive at the next available opportunity. Chances are you become addicted to the sport. You can keep up to date with a continuous flow of information, articles and videos on a wide range of deep blue activities at http://www.freedivingworld.wordpress.com.
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Coming very soon a range of digital books on every aspect of Free Diving and so much more. Watch out for http://www.freedivingguide.com to be launch in September 2011. This will be followed by your own Free Diving membership site. All the above is being developed on my behalf by http://www.yourbusinesssuccessclub.com the ideal place to turn your Hobby, Interest or Skill into a steady growing income stream. Thank you for taking the time to read this report and I hope you enjoyed the content. Enjoy the deep blue. Mike Semple
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