With good training you can reach limits that you would never have imagined. The island offers many possibilities to lovers of this sport
In freediving, meditation and stamina go hand in hand. You must prepare and calm your mind before entering a world where you cannot breathe. But if you manage to overcome this obstacle, get ready for wonderful experiences. You can swim with fish, manta rays and sharks, as well as explore wrecks and test the limits of your inner strength.
Lanzarote is an ideal destination for the practice of this sport and offers lovers of this discipline an event at international level, Oceansoul Lanzarote Freediving which has grown in strength with each of its editions and has achieved several national records in different modalities.
For beginners, training concentrates on the technical and mental aspects: how to move in the water, how to descend efficiently, how to use your flippers, etc. From here, progress comes through repetition, self-knowledge, and also the assimilation of specific theory and physiology to create a psychological base that gradually adapts the sportsman or woman to holding their breath or descending to depths.
Elyoenai Aparicio, captain of the Spanish Freediving Team, recommends that sportsmen and women should try out the sport and assures them that “everyone can easily hold their breath for four minutes or descend to 30 or 40 metres after level 1 and 2 courses. You don’t need to have natural talent, but rather you need to master a couple of techniques, to get some theoretical and practical advice, and to train.“
The great variety of depths and seafloors off Lanzarote offer freedivers experiences at all levels. There are places like Playa Chica in Puerto del Carmen, which allow you to explore wrecks at a depth of 12 metres and at the same time offers an abyss of over 150 metres.
There are also many different spaces, such as the Mala area where you can enjoy underwater caves or the Papagayo beaches with a multitude of contrasting cliffs and sand.
In order to give you an idea of how to take your first steps in this sport, we leave you with some easy exercises that you can do, always with a partner, with peace of mind and without testing your limits:
Perform 2-4 series of 20-30 seconds underwater with breaks of about 45 seconds between them. As you gain confidence, you can increase the length of time you hold your breath for by 2-3 seconds and later the number of series.
Dynamic freediving practice, i.e. with movement. Once you have controlled the sensation of holding your breath, you can do series of 15-25 metres diving or swimming with breaths every 3-4-5 strokes.
I’m sure you’ve heard that some athletes do hypoxic training, which is a technique that consists of depriving the body of normal amounts of oxygen so that it gets used to working in these stressful situations.
Application of the buddy system: as in diving, there is an unbreakable safety rule: you should never dive or train alone. If you are a beginner, the best option is to train with professionals in the sector by taking an introductory course that will give you the basic notions of training and safety to practice this sport safely.
If you want to discover everything that Lanzarote European Sports Destination can offer you during your sports holiday, don’t hesitate to visit our website.
