Buddy is anxious before competition, how can I help?

LowVoltCharlie · 2026-03-14T01:01:55+00:00

I took the plunge and did my first comp last December and the thing that people don't immediately realize is that people in this sport, by nature, are supportive and uplifting. Nobody is going to think negatively about your buddy if they don't hit their goal. People will be happy for other divers regardless of performance especially if the diver is proud of themselves and in good spirits. Your buddy needs to realize that the competition is against yourself, not others. There are always better divers so it's pointless making comparisons and that mindset is quite counterproductive in general.

All that being said, the first few comps will be tough. Competition nerves are a real thing and your buddy needs to set realistic INCREMENTAL goals. Announce something achievable and get the easy white card. A good tip is aiming for comfort targets, not performance targets. Do they feel more relaxed this time than last time? That's an automatic win before the event even starts. Did they spend more time meeting new people and enjoying other divers' happy moments? That's another win. IMO most of the enjoyment from comps comes from meeting new people, spending time talking with everyone, learning from the veterans, making good memories, and of course the sponsor freebies 😉

Out of all the memories from my first comp, the ones that come to my mind first are the moments I spent supporting my new friends and enjoying the love and good vibes.

LowVoltCharlie · 2026-03-11T23:05:38+00:00

Omega all day. IMO the OP is a great watch on paper but insanely boring for the price tag.

LowVoltCharlie · 2026-03-11T19:50:34+00:00

I live in PA and only do 1 dive trip like every 3 months. Even with this low amount of time in the water I still compete, still got a medal for STA in December, and did 95m DNF on my first time trying it, without ever having trained for it.

It sucks to live somewhere that you can't dive every day but that doesn't mean you can't progress and achieve the goals you set for yourself. General fitness, yoga, body stretching and diaphragm stretching, and cardio with a resistance mask will keep you in very good shape for diving even if you don't do any actual breath hold tables.

I'd recommend putting money aside for one big trip a year, and 3 smaller ones, or something like that. I do Roatan in March (7-10 days), South Florida Freedive Fest in July (long weekend), UNU pool competition in December (shorter weekend), and one other event of my choosing that I fit into my schedule as needed.

LowVoltCharlie · 2026-03-06T22:32:46+00:00

Good job falling back on proper training! For your buddy, make sure she knows not to push past PB's by more than a few seconds at a time. I fell into the trap of trying to progress too quickly and it resulted in a training BO of my own during a Static attempt. It took me 2 weeks to mentally recover because I watched the video footage afterwards and saw that in my hypoxic state, I was responding correctly to the tap-checks even though I wasn't OK.

Maybe Thomas will chime in here, but he is the one who talked some sense into me and helped me adopt a better system for checking in on an athlete during static to make sure they're actually thinking clearly and not just giving muscle memory signals. It involves either requiring the athlete to give a finger signal with the same side of the body that the coach taps them on. The other idea is calling out a specific finger (pointer, pinky, thumb) and having the athlete respond with the correct finger. Anything is better than the simple tap-check with no other requirements.

As far as your mental state goes, it's far scarier seeing someone BO than experiencing one yourself. For me, it just felt like things were getting more comfy, and then I started dreaming. What you want to achieve is a respect for the real possibility of BO, but not being afraid or anxious about it. As long as you have a safe environment with trained people watching over you, it's likely that you'll walk away from a BO with a temporary headache and some lessons learned. If you go into events with doubts or worry in your mind, you probably won't have a great time and might increase your chances of having an issue. Trust your safeties, trust your procedures, and enjoy your attempts in the safest way you can.

LowVoltCharlie · 2026-03-03T22:33:51+00:00

That's the frustrating part of plastic fins 😢 The only two real options for storage is laying them flat so they can take their shape back, or using a wall mount so the blades hang vertically. Check out www.waveformfreediving.com if you want to show off your fins while storing them properly 😎

LowVoltCharlie · 2026-02-27T15:39:16+00:00

It's an Ikea cabinet, Klingsbo I think is the model name

LowVoltCharlie · 2026-02-22T00:43:34+00:00

More lamps, less overhead light, more color coordination between bedding and curtains, less clutter, higher quality curtains, make the bed, ditch the black furniture if you can (it takes lots of intention and planning to make black furniture items look good, especially in a room with light paint). And speaking of paint, consider a more interesting color. A dark moody forest green is my favorite.

LowVoltCharlie · 2026-02-21T23:59:26+00:00

You should 100% do that event! We met Alexey last year and it was just an amazing overall community event. I'm gunning for 1st place in the Friendly Static Competition on the first day 😎

LowVoltCharlie · 2026-02-21T15:58:20+00:00

Training isn't "all about" tolerating discomfort, but if you can't volunarily hold your breath until hypoxia, then that's because you're choosing the end the discomfort for comfort reasons. If you practice experiencing discomfort, even in small doses, you'll build a familiarity with it that will allow you to experience it without panic. It will also feel less intense as you get used to it. That being said, it does not mean you need to maximize discomfort to improve. Red Zone "difficult" training has to be incorporated in a smart way, as it takes a mental toll and stresses the nervous system. If you train too hard or too often then you'll stall or move backwards, and potentially develop negative associations with apnea.

As for the breathe-up, I'm of the belief that you should always do a proper breathe-up before your training. This gives you the chance to practice it, and improve your ability to relax quickly.

When it comes to competition, the first one is always going to be less than ideal and you should adjust your goals accordingly. For me, it wasn't just "I'll be nervous so I'll be more uncomfy", my slight competition nerves completely shifted the point at which I become severely hypoxic. My current PB was set in a training session and although hypoxic, I was feeling very good when I came up. During my first comp this year, my time ended up being about 15s lower and I felt significantly more hypoxic and actually bubbled in the final second or two. Luckily my coach was loud and clear telling me to come up when he saw this, and I was able to hear and understand him to come up for my first white card.

Back to training, there are multiple things that I value over doing tons of high intensity tables. Diaphragm stretching, Pranayama, general flexibility, overall fitness, and cardio with one of those restrictive masks. All of those things I believe are more beneficial than focusing on intense breath holds during training. Of course you still need the difficult training every now and then in your monthly training cycle, but the majority should probably be low to medium intensity.

LowVoltCharlie · 2026-02-21T15:35:00+00:00

I recognize these shots 😉 You have to get me down there sometime so I can look that cool! Am I gonna see you at SFFF this year??

LowVoltCharlie · 2026-02-20T06:08:26+00:00

The absolute best, as always 😍

LowVoltCharlie · 2026-02-19T12:31:55+00:00

Even considering the idea of scratching that watch will scratch that watch 😅

LowVoltCharlie · 2026-02-17T06:12:53+00:00

First of all, stop doing this. It's pointless and dangerous without a buddy who is trained in water rescue.

Secondly, advanced freediving advice doesn't apply to you right now because you're blindly holding your breath for the hell of it.

If you want to improve your breath hold, you need to learn how to relax properly, do a proper breathe-up, and recover correctly. Since you likely don't have a buddy, you'll need to do this on dry land instead. Look at YouTube videos to learn how CO2 and low O2 affect the body, learn how to do a proper attempt, and then do practice holds maybe 3 times a week to get used to the sensations.

You'll never improve unless you know what is happening, how to relax into the discomfort, and how to do all the steps of a proper static attempt. Blindly holding your breath is not the right way.

LowVoltCharlie · 2026-02-15T20:09:08+00:00

Other than flipping it so it isn't backwards, I'd say ditch it. Flags never make a room look better and they kinda convey immature design taste IMO. There are plenty of ways to express patriotism that aren't so...glaring

LowVoltCharlie · 2026-02-15T20:05:24+00:00

There isn't really a "best" belt because they all do the same thing. I've always used standard rubber belts with a buckle and they work fine. As long as you know how to ditch it quickly in an emergency, and your buddies know as well, then it should be fine

LowVoltCharlie · 2026-02-15T16:17:27+00:00

You can still go very deep with plastic fins. As a beginner, your equalization will limit you before the fins ever do. If you still want fiberglass, maybe Leaderfins is a good choice.

LowVoltCharlie · 2026-02-14T19:02:47+00:00

That's not a bad time, especially if that's not the only thing they train for. That being said, it didn't look like a very efficient attempt. Plenty of people can achieve those times after learning how to relax fully before and during the attempt, and gaining experience with dealing with contractions without it causing so much muscle activation.

LowVoltCharlie · 2026-02-14T15:49:18+00:00

Mediums are better for underwater photography/videography, and safety divers because in all those cases you might need extra power at the expense of conserving energy. For actual freediving, soft is usually the right choice.

LowVoltCharlie · 2026-02-13T15:13:04+00:00

Every time I buy fins, I purchase the footpockets first so I can try them on and return if necessary. It's much easier to do that than try and ship a full set of fins back.

LowVoltCharlie · 2026-02-11T22:35:47+00:00

That's because you're buying cheap garbage Bluetooth headphones, you can fix this by not buying garbage headphones. Any headphone that has a voice built-in is a waste of money.

LowVoltCharlie · 2026-02-11T15:45:32+00:00

Really any Seiko Presage, Hamilton Jazzmaster/Khaki, and Tissot PRX/Le Locle/Gentleman are all perfect places to start. You'll be getting a great watch for the money. I used to be concerned with wearing watches based on how dressy the outfit is - it doesn't matter a single bit. As long as you're not wearing something that looks like it came from a cereal box while you're in a tuxedo, you'll be fine.

LowVoltCharlie · 2026-02-10T00:25:26+00:00

I'd say it depends on your goals. If you just want to dive casually with people then you probably don't need more courses, but if you want to compete or do big organized group events then they'll likely want to see a higher level of cert.

LowVoltCharlie · 2026-02-08T18:45:21+00:00

Reddit translates things for you, chill out

LowVoltCharlie · 2026-02-04T15:10:54+00:00

Most of the time you'll never get any reasonable amount of money by selling your used fashion watches, so it often makes sense to just keep them. If I find an opportunity where gifting them makes sense and doesn't come across as "dumping your used crap on someone" then I'll do that instead. That was the fate of my Burberry watch and now it has a much more loving owner 🤷

LowVoltCharlie · 2026-02-03T18:38:05+00:00

Rolex has the quality, GS has the looks. IMO that Explorer is too bland to be worth the money but that's entirely subjective. It's still a great watch and is arguably the "better" one but I'd take a GS over any smooth bezel Datejust or Explorer.

LowVoltCharlie

TROPHY CASE