New Static Apnoea and Advanced Freediving course expand RAID’s breath-hold training
By DIVE Staff
Dive training agency RAID has expanded its freediving training programmes with a new Static Apnea course and an Advanced Freediver course to extend its existing entry-level freediver training.
RAID describes its static apnoea programme – in which participants learn to hold their breath while submerged for as long as possible without moving – as ‘the ultimate guide for anyone looking to master the mentally demanding discipline of static breath-holding in freediving’, but highlights the fact that the discipline can also help scuba divers improve their underwater abilities.
Static apnoea/apnea – sometimes called ‘structured breath-holding’ – is a competitive sport, requiring a number of key abilities to prolong the duration of a dive. The new course will teach relaxation techniques, visualization strategies, and the important role of a buddy in static apnoea. Potential benefits of the training include improved breath control, increased lung capacity and enhanced cardiovascular health.
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The benefits of learning breath-hold diving techniques can also be applied to scuba diving (with the caveat that one should, of course, never hold one’s breath while breathing compressed air) as relaxed breath control and enhanced confidence in the water can greatly improve a diver’s air consumption rate.
In addition to the new Static Apnea training, RAID has extended its Freediver Course with a new Advanced Freediver programme. The course includes training in improved of equalisation techniques, particularly Frenzel equalisation through swallowing and jaw movement, which is often skipped during scuba programmes in favour of the classic nose-pinching Valsava Manoeuvre
The Advanced Freediver Course will also include enhanced positioning and streamlining, freefall negative buoyancy, and air conservation techniques to a maximum breath-holding depth of 30m. Shallow-water blackout rescue training will also be included in the course, which includes a minimum of two 1.5-hour confined water sessions and four open water sessions totalling at least 6 hours.
For more information, head to the RAID website and find your nearest RAID dive centre for further details.
