What Is A Good Way To Start?

[merman_kae]

I'd like to start freediving training. How can I start? Is there anything I need to know before I begin?

[MermaidLiara]

You'll probably need to undergo a medical check before you can start freedive training. People with impaired lung function cannot freedive.

The place where I'm gonna do my freedive training requires you to bring your own goggles, snorkel and fins (these must be of good quality and 'freedive proof'! The cheap, recreational goggles and fins that everyone buys won't do!).

So before you start, prepare yourself to spend some money on some necessities and the medical exam. Though in some countries, a medical insurer might cover the cost of a medical exam.

[AptaMer]

Find your closest freediving club, and get involved there. Most clubs offer or sponsor freediving lessons, and you'll have buddies to dive with (never, ever, freedive alone)

If you can't find a local club by a search, a great place to get advice is to join the freediving forums on deeperBlue

https://forums.deeperblue.com/

and ask there.

[Ocean]

I second Deeperblue - super cool bunch of friendly divers on there or try AIDA International - we are all there to help xx
https://www.aidainternational.org/

[Mermaid Alea]

I have been watching a lot of YouTube videos about freediving. Take some of the info in videos lightly though as not everyone knows what they are talking about.

A great channel I recently found on YouTube is Adam Freediver. He is a professional freediver and gives lessons but he also has some very informative videos on freediving with cool tips:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCzVy7DiPyVvfiOvXF_XMs4Q

Here is an inspiring story of a lady who made freediving her profession:
https://youtu.be/vfCrBob3N-c

When looking into freediving, I wanted to see some of the more serious videos as well that deal with the dangers. This one is called "Exhale":
https://youtu.be/lP_9aWr4pJU

Here is a full on freediving documentary (mainly centered around the death of one of the greatest women freedivers):
https://youtu.be/7zLoJlsBx-s

Finally, here is a video I was planning on watching. I wasn't sure if it would be good, but the comments about it sounded good so I might watch it - It will hopefully give a good overview of freediving:
https://youtu.be/OkVl8ux-QQM

[Ocean]

Great selection of videos, I dont know the guy in the last one but everyone else are known/current competitors in our freedving communities. We use EXHALE as an example how how is can all go so wrong, really hard to watch Natalia - she is missed so badly :cry:- I still will say that it is better to join an official freediving school and get certified.

[moomer]

Following this thread! Thanks for the videos, I'm slowly going to make my way through them.
I'm also interested in getting certified in free diving so I'm keen on learning as much as I can while I look!

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[Takahao]

You'll probably need to undergo a medical check before you can start freedive training. People with impaired lung function cannot freedive.

The place where I'm gonna do my freedive training requires you to bring your own goggles, snorkel and fins (these must be of good quality and 'freedive proof'! The cheap, recreational goggles and fins that everyone buys won't do!).

So before you start, prepare yourself to spend some money on some necessities and the medical exam. Though in some countries, a medical insurer might cover the cost of a medical exam.

What goggles, fins, and snorkel do you recommend? Right now I just have a pair of Speedo goggles, though they're not the right kind for free diving.

[Ocean]

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=sphera+mask&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&hl=en-gb&client=safari. As a Freediving school we highly recommend these masks, we use them for all our students and they tend to fit most faces

[MermaidLiara]

Goggles: the type that Ocean mentions is perfect! I would buy them in a store, though, so you can find one that fits. It's important that it fits your head shape well.

Fins: these, for example: https://www.mikesdivestore.com/collections/freediving-fins these are all really good

Snorkel: actually it's okay to use a simple, cheap snorkel. The simpler the better. As long as YOU can breathe through it, it's a perfectly fine snorkel.