Preface: Some time ago I announced a Ask Me Anything on Instagram and that I would answer in my stories, but who am I kidding…theres no way I can answer a question in one short sentence. SO I told myself that I’d answer on a regular post, and would you know it, not even 2200 characters are enough for me to answer a simple question. And that is why I have my own blog, the anti-ramble police cannot torment me here.
Anyhow, I got a few freediving related questions (most are so vague that not even a book length answer would suffice), and this one in particular is on a topic that I discussed many times so I picked it for this post.
I got told to learn Frenzel till at least 40m, before switching to Mouthfill after 20m. I struggle with Frenzel past 25m.
In theory I dont disagree….BUT in practice I do. Let me explain.
Not being able to equalise past 25-30m naturally is usually an indication that you lack in relaxation/ awareness/ mental readiness to depth, which means you should spend some more time working on these things before adding meters to your PB. So, not knowing how to mouthfill keeps you at a “safer” and shallower depth until you figure out those very important aspects first. I think this is why many use the “no mouthfill before 40m” rule (some even say 60m, which very much disagree with).
But there is a but: if your mindset is such that you keep pushing past your comfort depth you will end up hurting yourself by performing aggressive reverse packs and causing potential lung and/or ear barotraumas which is why I put the word safer in brackets earlier, because if you squeeze at 25 meters, then 25 meters is not a safe depth. In fact there is no safe depth… you can hurt yourself in any possible scenario given enough recklessness and stupidity.
Another factor to consider is that not everyone have an ideal physiology for depth (such as having a big residual volume, lack in flexibility or weak dive response) cause a person to reach eq. failure depth much earlier than others. Some people’s ears also need more pressure to equalise (or more available air for hands-free people), and having your mouth full of air helps in that respect. So for all these people learning the basics of mouthfill may help overcome these obstacles in a safer way than reverse packing.
In fact overall I am generally not opposed to learn mouthfill early, because the longer you wait the more bad habits you will build and solidify, which means by the time you are “supposedly” ready to learn mouthfill, you need to spend a lot of time and effort trying to undo all those bad habits which is really a lot of work.
I have had so many students over the years who are using mouthfill and still reverse pack (while still having air in their mouth!) and have no idea they do so, because it is such an in-built reflex that they can’t separate that action (reverse packing) from the rest of their equalisation process. These are often people who squeeze; so having learned mouthfill earlier on would have probably prevented their injuries.
Lastly, many people are landlocked and the only access to depth is through deep pools, which aren’t really that deep. Why not using the opportunity to practice deep equalisation and depth adaptations (with exhale dives) in that environment over a long period of time so not to be in a hurry with their depth progression when they can finally travel (usually for short periods) to a deep ocean?
Of course the ability to equalise deep is not the only ingredient of a deep dive, there has to be the right amount of fitness, flexibility, confidence and breath hold ability. If someone has put the work in, who are we to judge when someone is ready or not to learn mouthfill?
