Aerobic base and VO2 max training for freediving

The specificity principle is sacred in strength training. You want a bigger bench press? Bench more. Better deadlift? Deadlift more. Your body adapts to what you actually do, not what you think might help.

Freediving follows the same rule. You want longer breath holds? Practice breath holds. Better equalization? Practice equalization techniques.

The sport is fundamentally anaerobic-you’re literally not breathing.

But here’s the paradox most freedivers miss: your aerobic system determines how well you can repeatedly train that anaerobic system. And if you can’t recover between dives, you can’t train consistently. If you can’t train consistently, you don’t improve.

Specificity vs support systems

Phil Maffetone spent decades building aerobic engines for endurance athletes. His core insight? The aerobic system isn’t just about aerobic performance-it’s the metabolic foundation that supports all other energy systems.

For freedivers, everything that happens between your holds - CO2 clearance, lactate processing, nervous system recovery, pH buffer restoration - runs on your aerobic system.

You can’t train hard if your aerobic system can’t handle the recovery demands. It’s like trying to build strength while chronically under-recovered. The limiting factor isn’t your muscles; it’s your ability to bounce back.

The recovery engine most freedivers ignore

Watch freedivers in a pool session. Some maintain quality through 10+ dives over two hours. Others fade after three attempts and call it a day. The difference isn’t necessarily in their breath-holding ability-it’s in their recovery engine.

Poor aerobic fitness creates a cascade of problems:

Slower CO2 clearance between dives. Your body processes CO2 through oxidative metabolism. Limited aerobic capacity means slower return to baseline, which means longer rest periods and fewer quality attempts.

Accumulated metabolic stress. Each dive creates metabolic byproducts. Without efficient aerobic processing, these accumulate throughout the session, making each subsequent dive feel harder than it should.

Nervous system fatigue. Recovery isn’t just physical-it’s neurological. Poor aerobic fitness puts extra stress on your nervous system, leading to earlier contractions, decreased concentration, and degraded technique as the session progresses.

Multi-day training tolerance. This is where most freedivers fail. They can handle one decent session but can’t maintain quality across multiple training days. Their aerobic system can’t support the cumulative load.

Building base

Stephen Seiler’s research on polarized training solved this puzzle for endurance sports. The 80/20 principle: spend 80% of your aerobic training time at low intensity, 20% at high intensity.

Intensity for freedivers means something different than what it does for endurance athletes. But if we want to do more movement and build that aerobic base, and also make it specific, there are various ways to do it.

Zone 2 swimming. Long, easy swimming at conversational pace. You should be able to breathe normally through your nose throughout. This builds aerobic capacity without the high eccentric load of running.

MAF heart rate training. Calculate your MAF heart rate (180 minus your age, with adjustments for training history and health). Stay at or below this heart rate for 30-60 minute sessions. Swimming, cycling, or easy running all work.

Nasal breathing protocols. Any aerobic work done exclusively through nasal breathing automatically keeps you in the right intensity zone and builds CO2 tolerance simultaneously.

Timing matters. Do aerobic base work on your easy days or after freediving sessions, never before. The goal is to support your sport-specific training, not interfere with it. (This connects directly to Progressive Training: Why Freedivers Need to Stop Winging It-systematic training with appropriate recovery.)

Where aerobic base actually shows up

Your aerobic base won’t show up in your personal best static hold. But it will show up in everything that surrounds that hold:

Session durability. Your 8th dive feels as controlled as your 2nd. Your technique doesn’t degrade when you’re tired.

Multi-day training capacity. You can handle back-to-back pool sessions without feeling destroyed. Your body actually recovers between training days.

Faster recovery metrics. Heart rate returns to baseline quicker between attempts. Heart rate variability stays high even during intensive training blocks.

Mental clarity under fatigue. When your aerobic system is efficient, your brain gets consistent oxygen supply even during demanding sessions. You make better decisions about when to push and when to back off. (This mental clarity becomes crucial for the techniques discussed in Keep Training (Even When You Don’t Feel Like It).)

Reduced accumulation fatigue. You’re not dragging yesterday’s session into today’s training. Each session starts fresh instead of building on cumulative exhaustion.

The practical application

Look, this isn’t about turning freedivers into marathon runners. Most of your training time should still be spent on freediving-specific work-breath holds, equalization, technique. But adding 2-3 aerobic base sessions per week creates the metabolic infrastructure that lets you train those skills more effectively.

Joel Jamieson proved this with MMA fighters-explosive, anaerobic athletes who needed aerobic base to support their training demands. Same principle applies to freediving.

This is where Appneist’s structured freediving programs create space for this approach. The app focuses specifically on freediving training without filling every day of your week, giving you room to strategically add aerobic base work on your off days without interfering with your sport-specific training.

Your aerobic base won’t directly improve your breath-hold times. But it will help you maintain quality throughout longer training sessions and recover better between attempts.