Freediving Blog

Breathless – Herbert Nitsch @TEDxVienna

Antti Akonniemi — Fri, 25 Feb 2011 04:27:52 +0000

I’ve been a but busy, but competition preparations are going great and I’m about to break some PRs. I’ll post more info soon, but before that enjoy Herbert’s Ted Talk:

Breathe Teaser Trailer #1

Antti Akonniemi — Mon, 24 Jan 2011 16:31:36 +0000

Real oldschool freediving

Antti Akonniemi — Mon, 10 Jan 2011 07:20:56 +0000

I found this video few days ago, but sian also point me to it in the comments. Current freediving is nothing compared to this:

Decided to compete

Antti Akonniemi — Sun, 09 Jan 2011 15:48:36 +0000

We have national competition coming up on 21st of May and they have category for beginners. I thought that this could be something to motivate me, so I’m going to do DYN, DNF and STA at the competition. My goal is to do new personal bests in all of them.

I’ve divided my training plan into two phases (for now):

1. Phase

drop bodyweight (I need to lose some extra weight)
get as many meters per training session as possible (using good technique)
get static training going on

2. Phase

drop bodyweight
focus on longer dives and competition procedures

I’ll change the plan as I go. This is just the first draft. I’m also getting some extra help for my DNF kick by a swimming coach.

I’ll also post some training updates to give you some kind of idea of my training sessions.

Technique Review May 2010

Antti Akonniemi — Sat, 01 Jan 2011 17:08:42 +0000

An old technique review from Stig’s seminar which I promised to post here

Technique Review December 2010

Antti Akonniemi — Sat, 18 Dec 2010 07:29:42 +0000

I decided that I should start posting technique reviews every month or so. To start of I’ll post the videos from last weekend, but I’m also going to find the videos from Stig’s camp – since I think I’ve made some progress from there

I try to spot the biggest problems in my technique for each video, but please post more pointers. Every comment is highly appreciated!

Balance is off, knees bend too much and I don’t use my hip enough.

Arms and legs are too wide in glide phase. No power in kicks (I straighten my ankles too early). Ankles should be straight. Starting position is too high.

Freediving in Hvar, Croatia

Antti Akonniemi — Thu, 16 Dec 2010 06:14:46 +0000

We visited Hvar last August. Trip was spectacular! Great food, warm weather and amazing views! Downside was that there was only one dive shop on the island and they didn’t really want freedivers on their boat which was a shame. That left us on the beach, doing some leisure dives ourselves, which didn’t really bother us since we were on a laid back vacation

I think the maximum depth was around 10 meters, but that already allowed us to do some equalization training and relaxation. Visibility was great and water temperature was something like 22 celsius, but we survived these short dives without the wetsuit.

Here are some pictures from the trip:

Our personal beach

Pool at our hotel at Split, which we visited for two days in the end of our vacation.

My training place for static

Midsummer festivities

Antti Akonniemi — Wed, 15 Dec 2010 07:46:59 +0000

Above is a picture from our midsummer festivities last summer The lake is at our cottage. Visibility with the flash light was about 40 centimeters. You basically just saw the rope when going down and the plate light about 1 meter before the plate. Good times! We did 15 meter dives (CWT and FIM) just to get ourselves used to equalization which was one of my biggest troubles before.

Next summer we’ll get rid of the buoy and replace it with a solid system attached to the boat.

Homo Delphinus – The Dolphin within Man

Antti Akonniemi — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 18:40:29 +0000

I just finished reading this magnificent book by legendary Jacques Mayol. The writing is bad and Mayol seems to to ramble every now and then, but the book is still amazing. Mayol goes through his own history and the history of apnea.

The book is filled with great photographs and tidbits about apnea. It’s really interesting to see how the sport has evolved and for example what kind of gear was used decades ago.

After reading the book, I have a urge to see dolphins and to do more Pranayama yoga

The book is pretty expensive, but it’s still a must read. Keep in mind that it really isn’t a manual for freediving, but more like an overview or a coffee table book.

Homo Delphinus, The Dolphin Within Man

Stig Severinsen Course

Antti Akonniemi — Sat, 26 Jun 2010 18:39:28 +0000

Few months ago I attended Stig’s course in Finland. Attendees were basically Finnish top-10 freedivers plus me Course was really good and I was almost able to do all the exercises.

Most valuable things for me were:

breathing exercises
lung stretching
stretching/massaging of diaphragm (this helped me a lot -> statics are now much, much easier)
learned a lot about physiology and streamlining
general inspiration being around Stig and other top freedivers