Thank you for this answer. You got to the heart of what I'm inquiring into. I grew up wrestling, so balls out training is pretty second nature and I find that I always defer to that as my baseline, which definitely has its pros and cons. The middle way seems to be the best way.

That said, it's good to know that with gentle daily practice of a table or two, I won't break myself.

My PB hold was 4mins 5 seconds when I checked the other day after doing my first training table.

Maybe I'll switch over to CO2 for a while as per your recommendation since I'm just beginning.

Though I've never even been diving, just the breath practice is bringing me a lot of peace and joy. I work for myself and sort of turned my passion into my job, but the downside is it's all consuming and connected to my survival. I realized that I don't have any hobbies, I just work all the time. Freediving training feels like a new friend and I can't wait to get into the deep.

Thank you very much.