The journey:
It’s a long way from Mexico to Eilat. I was traveling with a very efficient and portable counter weight system. On arrival in Heathrow, I was informed it was “temporarily” mislaid. It later, 4 days later, re-incarnated as a cork screw, horribly deformed.

The Courses
The idea of this particular training was deal with the particular challenges and perfect the techniques for divers in the 45-65/70 mt band in whatever discipline.
Initially to establish a basis for dialog began by breaking the dive down into its component parts, so we could see how these parts interrelated, what level of importance each part contributed to the dive and to arrive at the question “WHAT`S STOPPING YOU?”. A question that reappears again and again.
The next step was to understand that a lot of the parts could be trained separately.
Each of the courses was limited to 4 students to optimise time on the line to be able to maximise observation of each diver .Apart from direct observation we also employed video so each student could see exactly what the trainer saw.
The initial list of subjects was-

• STRETCHING AND DRY PREPARATION BEFORE THE DIVE a little understood subject.
• THE MENTAL- a huge subject which I will deal with later in this blog .
  It effects every aspect of training and in nearly all cases separates the champion from the rest.
• BREATHING- – here the standard techniques were taken to a much higher
  Level and the physiological / psychological gone into in depth.
• BREATHOLD All the latest thinking on training.
• STYLE –if everything else is in place a 10% improvement in style leads to a 10% increase in results. A saying very familiar to swimmers and often ignored by freedivers or worse perverted /”adapted “ by those not willing to put in the effort of achieving the best style possible and not understanding how much this can give them.
• IN WATER WARM UP – the importance of individualising this, and not just following a generic pattern, and a full understanding of its objectives. And the place of the mental in this.
• EQUALISATION – the mouthfill is not usually fully understood -mastery of the Epiglottis/ soft palate controls ,air scavenging ,topping up the mouthfill (how to avoid the dangers involved in this) When to use cheeks only in this and when to
  Use the tongue.
  How to become your own trainer in this and perfect the technique in the minimum time .
  We also covered testing for and training in BTV ( no hands equalisation ) .
• SACTICS – understanding the break down of the dive into static and dynamic elements and the point of entry into the glide (the point of non deceleration) how to adjust this individuall . Choosing the glide for you –
  Intermittent kick and glide , the pure glide or which combination is your best choice.
  Then all the tactics of the ascent.
  All the aspects of rhythm -TRAINING CONTINUOUS OBSERVER– The accurate choice of weights and how this effects performance.
• GAINING DEPTH the best way of gaining a sustainable new depth, how to avoid the common pitfalls. A discussion of TRACHEA / LUNG SQUEEZE – how to avoid this.
• DIET REST AND HYDRATION again a huge subject, trying to understand the contradictions in the battle of the nutritionists and making simple common sense choices. It is not necessary to have an extreme diet to achieve 30 -40 mts but it is necessary to understand some basic physiology and apply it.
• PERSONAL ORGANISATION some people are very organised in their normal lives and totally dis organised and inconsistent in their freedive training and with their FD Kit.
• AND FINALLY ONCE AGAIN WHAT’S STOPPING YOU ?