Freediving training for beginners: Build your first real training plan

Dan John has this principle about training: “The goal is to keep the goal the goal.” Most beginners violate this immediately. They take a freediving course, learn the basics, then go to the pool and… do random stuff. Hold their breath sometimes. Swim underwater when they feel like it. Wonder why they’re not improving.

That’s not training. That’s just playing in water.

The difference between beginners who progress and those who don’t isn’t talent. It’s having an actual plan.

Start with a course (non-negotiable)

Look, you can’t learn freediving from YouTube. Not safely.

A proper course teaches you things you don’t know you need to know. How to rescue an unconscious diver. Why you never hyperventilate. What a samba looks like. How to be a competent buddy. These aren’t optional skills-they’re the foundation that keeps you and others alive.

But here’s what courses don’t do: they don’t make you better. They make you safe and give you tools. Improvement comes from what you do after.

After certification: Now what?

This is where most beginners get lost. You’ve got your certification card. You know the theory. You can do a decent static hold and maybe swim a length underwater. Now what?

Most people do one of two things:

1. Stop training entirely until their next course
2. Go to the pool and randomly practice what they learned

Both approaches guarantee you’ll be at the same level (or worse) six months later.

The gap between your course and actual improvement isn’t knowledge-it’s structured practice. Your instructor showed you what good technique looks like. Now you need hundreds of repetitions to make it automatic. You learned what CO2 buildup feels like. Now you need systematic exposure to build tolerance.

Courses teach movements. Training builds capacity.

Creating your training structure

Here’s what actual training looks like, not random pool time:

Mix dry and wet training. You don’t need water to improve your freediving. CO2 tables on your couch. Walking apnea. FRC holds. These build the same adaptations as pool work.

Follow progressive overload. This means gradually increasing training stress over time. Not maxing out every session. Not doing the same thing for months. Small, consistent increases in hold times, distances, or training volume. Your body adapts to progressive challenge, not random efforts.

Prioritize consistency over intensity. Three moderate sessions beat one heroic effort. Every time. Your nervous system adapts through repeated exposure, not occasional extremes. This is especially true for beginners-you’re building basic adaptations, not pushing limits.

Track more than personal bests. Average hold times. Session quality. How you felt. Recovery between attempts. Patterns emerge when you track consistently. You’ll notice what affects your performance-sleep, stress, training load. Data drives decisions.

What progression actually looks like

Forget linear improvement. Real progress looks like this:

You’ll have breakthrough sessions where everything clicks. You’ll have terrible days where beginner holds feel impossible. You’ll plateau for weeks then suddenly jump forward. This is normal. Your body adapts in waves, not straight lines.

What matters is the trend over months, not daily fluctuations. This is why structure matters-it keeps you training through the frustrating periods when progress feels invisible.

Start with the fundamentals:

• Basic CO2 tables to build tolerance
• Static holds for mental training
• Technique work
• Dry training between pool sessions

Gradually add complexity:

• O2 tables for hypoxic adaptation
• Dynamic swims for applied skills
• Interval training for work capacity
• Depth work when everything else is solid

Notice the order? Most beginners want to start with depth. That’s like learning to deadlift before you can do a proper hip hinge. Build the components first.

The reality of beginner training

You’re going to want to skip ahead. You’ll watch videos of people doing incredible dives and think you should be training like them. You won’t want to do another CO2 table when you could be attempting a personal best.

Resist this urge.

The boring fundamentals build the foundation for everything else. Elite freedivers still do CO2 tables. They still work on relaxation. They still practice basic technique. The basics never stop being important-they just become automatic.

This is exactly why structured programs matter. When you follow a program like those in Appneist, you’re not deciding what to do each session. The progression is built in. The boring-but-essential work gets done. You can’t skip ahead just because you’re feeling good.

More importantly, you learn what real training feels like. Not random efforts. Not occasional maximal attempts. Systematic, progressive work that builds capacity over time.

Start where you are

Don’t compare yourself to anyone else’s numbers. Don’t even compare yourself to last week’s numbers. Meet yourself where you are today.

Some days that means backing off because you’re tired. Some days it means pushing a bit because you feel strong. But always within a structure, always with a purpose, always building toward something.

The difference between beginners who progress and those who don’t isn’t complicated. It’s the difference between having a plan and hoping for the best.

Get certified. Then get serious about training. The course gives you permission to start. The training determines where you end up.

(Ready to move beyond random practice? Check out How to improve breath hold time for specific protocols, or explore Progressive Training to understand why structure beats random effort.)