Keep training (even when you don't feel like it)

Dan John has this brutally simple philosophy: “The goal is to keep the goal the goal.” Which sounds like fortune cookie wisdom until you realize most freedivers can’t even make it three weeks without completely derailing their training.

Here’s the thing about consistency-it’s not sexy. It doesn’t feel like progress when you’re doing your fourth CO2 table of the week and your static time hasn’t budged. But Dan John’s entire coaching career is built on a principle that applies to literally every sport: showing up beats optimization every single time.

He talks about the “bus bench” workouts-the ones you do even when you’re tired, stressed, or convinced they won’t matter. Not max effort sessions. Not personal record attempts. Just the boring, unglamorous work of maintaining the habit. In strength training, that might be showing up to the gym and doing 80% of your normal workout. In freediving, it’s doing your breath work even when you’re not “feeling it.”

The freediving application (where most people fail)

Freedivers are exceptionally good at two things: overtraining when motivated, and completely stopping when life gets busy. You’ll do three pool sessions in one week, then nothing for ten days because work got hectic. Or you’ll hammer CO2 tables every day until you’re fried, then take a “break” that turns into a month off.

This kills your progress more than any other single factor. Not bad technique. Not insufficient depth training. The simple fact that you can’t maintain a consistent training rhythm. (For more on why structured progression beats random efforts, see Progressive Training: Why Freedivers Need to Stop Winging It)

Your body adapts to regular stimulus. Your nervous system learns to handle CO2 discomfort through repeated exposure. Your mind builds confidence through accumulated successful dives.

What “keep training” actually means for freedivers

First: Define your bus bench workout. This is the absolute minimum training you can do that still counts as training. For most freedivers, that’s 15 minutes of breath work-either a short CO2 table or even just breath awareness practice. No pool needed. No gear required. Just you and a timer.

Personally I like to walk the dog for a 15 minute CO2 apnea walk.

Can’t do your full training plan this week? Fine. Do the bus bench version. Three times. That’s it.

Second: Track something, anything. Dan John is obsessive about the training log because it creates accountability. You don’t need to hit PRs. You just need to write down that you did the work. This is exactly why Appneist’s progression tracking matters-it removes the decision fatigue of “was that enough?” You did a session. It’s logged. You showed up. Tomorrow you’ll show up again.

Third: Accept that most training days are C+ days. You’re not going to feel amazing. The water won’t be perfect. Your equalization might be sluggish. You’re still training. The mistake is thinking every session needs to be transformative. Most sessions are just deposits in the bank-individually unremarkable, cumulatively essential.

The real enemy isn’t lack of motivation

It’s the all-or-nothing mindset. “I can’t do my full pool session today, so I’ll skip training entirely.” No. Do a static. Do breath work on your living room floor. Do something that maintains the pattern.

Because here’s what happens when you maintain the pattern: you’re still a freediver in three months. When you don’t, you’re someone who “used to freedive” and is now rebuilding.

Again.

The Appneist workout library, which you will build while following a plan, exists specifically for this-structured plans that scale to your actual available time and energy, not some fantasy version of your schedule. You can drop down to maintenance mode without feeling like you’ve failed. You’re still training. The goal is still the goal.

Keep training. Even the terrible sessions count.