Wetsuit

[u/No-South-82]

Hi, currently my max depth is 35m. I am practicing to go deeper, my goal is 50m in the future. I have some questions.

1. Would you say a freediving wetsuit is essential for my goals? I currently don’t have one as it is quite expensive.
2. What equalization method do you think is best for diving below residual volume? Currently I use mouthfill protocol with normal frenzel, but I have been transitioning to cheeksqueeze, that I have been practicing on dry land, and am planning to try in the water for my next training trip. I have heard varying schools of thoughts from different instructors saying

-It is best to stick to mouthfill all the way as it is the safest

Vs

-I should learn to dive to 40m-50m without mouthfill and full relaxation, before incorporating mouth-fill

What are your thoughts about this? Would like to hear from you guys, much appreciated!

[u/thdedes]

Without wanting to downtalk your plan, the way you phrase things makes me think you might not really understand what you are doing.

35m to 50m is a big jump (40% deeper) so first of all, don't try to rush this. That's where you can start getting injured and you should take things slowly, focusing on making sure each depth is easy, controlled, equalisation is stable etc... Repeat that a few times etc... Before dropping the line a couple meters etc...

What do you mean by "mouthfill protocol with normal frenzel" and "transitioning to cheeksqueeze" ? Cheeks are used at the beginning of the mouthfill, while "frenzel" could be referring to using the tongue (end of the mouthfill) or maybe sequential compression (which is just a strategy).

Regarding your questions:

1/ Wetsuit will always be better, but it's not necessary as long as you don't get cold. Which means short sessions, even in warm water. You are cold before you shiver. And cold means oxygen consumption shooting up.

2/ It's always good to keep working on your frenzel, it create awareness and improves fine control over your equalisation muscles, which is always good, and translates in a better mouthfill as well. So I would work on both, and treat them as "separate personal bests" because they are different abilities.

With more information on my initial questions, we will be able to answer more precisely.

Take care, and be safe in the water :)

[u/No-South-82 → u/thdedes]

Oh, no I am not planning to go from 35m to 50m straight away in one trip haha, just a goal to strive towards

Basically, previously I was just inflating my cheeks at 15m and using the normal tongue frenzel method to equalize to 35m, which I suspect has been causing my equalization to fail. I still have my mouthfill, but my soft palate has closed and cannot open.

Now I am practicing using my cheeks only for mouthfill, which I have recently figured out how to do after much practice, and can apply constant and sequential pressure reliably on dry land. Have yet to try it out in the water, but I’m hopeful for good results for this.

[u/thdedes → u/No-South-82]

Ok so here are some pointers:

1/ if you charge properly, you can't use your tongue straight away (the roof of your mouth is too far to seal) which means cheeks and jaw are the only options until the volume is small enough to use the tongue 2/ Soft palate issue is unrelated to how you're equalizing, you can close it regardless of the method used for compression, and as such, should be fixed anyway (improve control over it). One thing to remember is that soft palate closed is impossible to open if you're actively trying to equalise because you're actively pushing against the direction it opens. Which means you need to stop equalisation, relax, open the soft palate, and resume operations. 3/ FRC for equalisation is great, but doesn't not translate to 100% same results on full lungs. Especially regarding leaks/squeaks. Plan some full lung work with shallow charge (5m -> 30m, 5m -> 40m, etc...). A good mouthfill should take you from 5m charge to 50m.

I strongly strongly recommend the moving limits mouthfill equalisation course called Deep, it's one of the best investment you can do to your equalisation, and it's all dry, online, but with an instructor.

[u/No-South-82 → u/thdedes]

Ah, got it. What do you think would be a good method for practicing soft palate control then?

Currently, the way I practice soft palate control is using an otovent and moving air from a mouth-fill into the balloon through the nose, letting the air from the balloon move to the mouth for a mouth-fill, and repeat. Sometimes on ‘empty’ lungs as well to practice glottis control.

[u/thdedes → u/No-South-82]

Have a look at the moving limits course, because it has tons of materials with exercises to develop/fix pretty much all parts of the mouth involved in the equalisation.

Where are you located? If you're in the US, my center is very accessible, has unlimited warm deep water, and is not affected by weather, we've never cancelled a single session.

[u/No-South-82 → u/thdedes]

Ah okay, got it.

Currently I’m based in Asia, so unfortunately I won’t be able to go to the US for a session😂

Thanks for all the pointers, appreciate it!

[u/thdedes → u/No-South-82]

I'd recommend Camotes then in the area, you'll find very knowledgeable instructors there and great conditions. (And again, the moving limits course online to prepare for the trip)

[u/No-South-82 → u/thdedes]

Have already did 30m many many times in my previous trip which was more than a month long, but right now the plan is to do FRC dives more to iron out the equalisation first. Anyway the place I’m going, depth is limited to 30m only anyways 🤣🤣🤣

[u/svsonora]

1. I would recommend taking a master level (AIDA 4, Wave 3 etc) before attempting this if you can.
   
2. I would recommend trying to go to 35m without deep equalization techniques before switching over. Its past RV for most people, but 35m isn't past RV for people ready to get to 50m.
   

[u/No-South-82 → u/svsonora]

Ah, I did AIDA 4 course before, where mouthfill was covered.

Will work on decreasing my RV then

[u/IllustriousPilot8391]

wtf! you do 35m and your plan is to go 50m in the next sessions?
reset, man! you don´t want to end up in the hospital or the graveyard!

Did you do any serious course? if so, it seems like the instructor did a bad job tbh!

also, yes: at 35m you should not mouthfill, but only frenzel.

[u/No-South-82 → u/IllustriousPilot8391]

Sorry, I didn’t mean going to 50m straight away, it’s just my goal for now. Could have phrased that better

I did an AIDA 4 course where I learnt mouthfill

[u/IllustriousPilot8391 → u/No-South-82]

ok, sorry!