What is Freediving !?
When somebody asks you: "For how long can you hold your breath ?", most people will answer: Yikes ?! Well 1 minute is pretty long I guess...". When you ask the same question to a freediver he will answer somewhere around 5 minutes. Fact is that most people, magazines and reporters will question the sanity of most freedivers. It's a normal respond doubt this kind of sport, because most people don't even know what the limits for the human body.
So what is freediving...?
In short: To go as long, as far or as deep under water on a single breath of air.
This explains what the sport stands for according the description, but freediving itself ofcourse is something else... When freediving most freedivers experience a sensation, a feeling or a way of life, it starts when submerging the head into the water. When doing so, you'll instantly notice the silence which seperates the outside world of the underwater world. Sensation of the senses becomes more clear then ever, by separating from the outside world you can focus on your body and sense the signals its giving you. It's kind of losing yourself into the depth of silence.
But, isn't it dangerous ?!
Well, freediving starts to get dangerous when doing it without the proper knowledge of the sport, this also goes for lots of other sports. So if you get into freediving, you'll have to learn the basics of freediving. During these basic courses you'll meet the sport and learn that a big part of the program is about safety. It's a sport which asks a lot of the human body and is known to be an extreme sport.
The human body has some automatic signals when meeting the limitations of the body. If you do not know the signals, don't give attention to the signals or just ignore them, then the danger and consequenses will increase. The signals can be influenced by different circumstance like; nerves or pressure to perform in competitions. Top-freedivers excel from the rest, by having their mental and physical part in proper balance to control their body.
A lot of medical aspects are unknown and yet to be discoverd. The sport is growing and more top-freedivers let themselves in on medical examination
for sienctific purposes, which improves the quality of the sport. In the early days of freediving, doctors thought that a depth of 25m was the limit for the human body, but in present freediving the barrier of 200m is breached... Who knows which depths the human body can resist?
Recreational or Competitive ?
Recreational freediving is done in many locations and brings a whole different approach of the underwater world then scuba diving. No bubbles to scare the living creatures and a perfect way to explore and discover the water.
When it comes to competitive freediving it's seperated into 2 different categories of disciplines; pool disciplines and depth disciplines.
