#1 - Tim Oehmigen - Full Episode Transcript

 

Introduction to Long-Form Freediving Interviews

 

On today’s episode, we have Tim Oehmigen. Tim began freediving in 2012 and has been a competitive freediver since 2014. He is an AIDA Master Instructor, and in the past year, he has achieved four national records for Germany. He currently holds the German record in constant weight, diving to 93 meters, and also in constant weight no fins, diving to 67 meters. The show notes for Tim’s episode can be found at freedivecafe.com.

Okay, let’s dive. Tim, thank you very much, and welcome to the show.

Tim: Thank you. Being the first guest is pretty cool.

Donny: I am really happy to welcome you as the first guest.

Tim: Thanks for inviting me.

 

Discovering the World of Freediving

 

Donny: How about we start with your first experience of freediving? How did you come to discover the world of freediving?

Tim: The first time I got in touch with freediving was very classic: I saw the movie The Big Blue (Le Grand Bleu). That was the first time I saw someone holding their breath and going down. The second time I saw it live was when I did my open water scuba diving certification in Koh Tao. The funny thing is, our divemaster pointed it out and said it was freediving, warning us not to do it because it would damage our ears. It sounded like everybody damages their ears when they do it, so I thought maybe it wasn’t for me.

But two years later, in 2012, someone at the university where I studied was running a sports program. He was an AIDA instructor teaching freediving courses. I decided to give it a go and went for my first course. It was really nice; I liked it and wanted to do more.

Donny: When you were younger, did you have any athletic background in swimming or anything similar that would have helped you with freediving?

Tim: I always liked to hold my breath to see how it worked. I would get these funny contractions, and I thought it was kind of cool. I can also remember when I was quite young, I wanted to go down to the bottom of the deepest pool, near the diving towers. It was four or five meters deep, and I was happy just to touch the bottom.

But I didn’t have a particular athletic background. I was always good at school swimming, usually one of the best, but it wasn’t something I did in a club.

 

Overcoming Equalization Challenges

 

Donny: Even in the early days of your freediving, for the first year or so, was there anything you found particularly challenging but eventually overcame?

Tim: Yes, I always had problems with equalization. I was one of those unlucky people who could not equalize at first. For me, it was very hard to go down, and I was actually diving feet first all the time.

Eventually, there comes a point where you need to learn the Frenzel maneuver. I went to Dahab, and Wendy Timmermans taught me Frenzel. That was very challenging because I really didn’t know how to equalize. As soon as I got it, it was like a rebirth. I was discovering freediving from a completely different angle. I would say that was the most challenging part of learning to freedive. Other challenges come with training, of course.

Donny: Equalization is definitely the most common problem beginner freedivers face. It’s nice to hear you say that you had this problem too, because it was a big issue for me as well, and honestly, it still is. I hope that in time it will improve.

Tim: It definitely will. I always tell people that everything is possible to learn. Freediving can be learned by anyone; it’s not like some people just have an inherent advantage. I don’t believe that. Even on a competitive level, I think everybody can do it. It’s just about a lot of training.

Donny: I think a lot of it also has to do with the development of awareness. In the beginning, we might not have a highly developed awareness of the tools we need for freediving, but that is something only time can allow us to develop.

Tim: Definitely.

 

Yoga Wellness, Uddiyana Bandha, and Breath-Hold Training

 

Donny: You are teaching in Panglao in the Philippines now, is that correct?

Tim: Yes, mainly training here, but also teaching. Sometimes I teach more, sometimes I train more, but I am located in Panglao.

Donny: I saw a video clip of you online where you were doing Nauli and some yogic practices. Could you talk a little about how you use that in your training and how effective you think yoga and wellness routines are for freediving?

Tim: That was likely one of the German TV shows. I basically showed them the Uddiyana Bandha, where you move your diaphragm. I’m actually not super flexible, and I don’t consider myself someone who does a lot of general yoga, but I definitely use Uddiyana Bandha to help manage contractions.

What I do is exhale as much as I can, perform the hold, and then move the diaphragm until I get the first contraction. Then, I slowly come up and just let the contraction happen so that my body—especially the diaphragm—gets used to it. I definitely do this before diving. I wish I could do more pranayama, but it’s not easy without experience. This is more of a technical exercise I do to avoid strong contractions at depth; I want the diaphragm to feel like jelly, resulting in a gentle movement when contractions hit.

Donny: Do you think that practicing Uddiyana Bandha and Nauli allows you to soften the contractions?

Tim: Yes, I personally believe it does. When I do it the first time in the morning, it always feels a little bit stiff. When I do it the second time, it gets better and better. I am pretty sure the muscle gets more used to the movements, making the contractions gentler.

Donny: It’s funny you should say that, because for the last couple of weeks, I did Nauli every morning along with a lot of regular CO2 tables. I found that my contractions were becoming easier and gentler, so maybe the Nauli is contributing to that.

Tim: There are many contributing factors, but this is a nice one. It’s not harming you. You aren’t doing any extreme exhale packing or reverse packing that could stress your lungs; you are just gently moving the diaphragm, and it feels good.

 

A Typical Training Day in Panglao

 

Donny: Can you take us through a day of training in Panglao? What does that look like for you?

Tim: There are many places to freedive in Panglao, but I train at Freedive Panglao, which is the oldest school here. They just built a massive new dive center with a huge pool and accommodation; I think it’s the biggest freediving school in the world. It is co-owned by a German guy named Stefan Randig and a Korean guy named Dong-ha Kim.

We go out on a boat, which is interesting because, like most places in Asia, the Philippines has a lot of currents. Panglao is quite nice because we don’t get as much current as other spots, but if there is some, we just drift on the surface with the boat. This allows you to dive in a straight line without fighting the current. I would say 90% of the time, we have really nice conditions for diving.

Training is quite simple, though there are many different approaches. Right now, I am doing a lot of deep diving and adaptation training. I also did a lot of Constant Weight No Fins (CNF) recently because I wanted the national record. Sometimes I incorporate technical training, doing repetitive dives to refine technique. For example, I recently tried diving with no weight to make the descent more difficult for no fins, training my technique before returning to my normal weighting.

Donny: You very recently attained the German national record for constant weight no fins, is that correct?

Tim: Yes, that’s right. I needed to reach 67 meters to break it, and I accomplished that. I wanted to attempt 69 meters the next day, but mentally, I was drained. The competition was finished, my motivation was missing, and the conditions weren’t perfect either. It still would have been possible, but I just wasn’t motivated.

Donny: Well, congratulations in any case; it is an absolutely outstanding dive.

Tim: Thank you.

 

Depth Training Frequency and Limits

 

Donny: When you are training for depth, how often do you attempt a maximum depth dive? Do you do that once a day or just a couple of times a week?

Tim: Just once a day. I might dive two days in a row and then take one day off, or sometimes three days in a row with one day off. It depends on how I feel and what the schedule looks like heading into a competition. But I definitely limit myself to one deep dive a day. When I first arrive somewhere and haven’t been diving for a month, I might do two dives to 60 meters. But once I go past 65 meters, I never do more than one deep dive. It is always a little bit risky regarding decompression sickness (DCS), and I take that topic very seriously. After 65 meters, it is strictly one deep dive per session.

 

Finding Balance: Comparing Freediving Disciplines

 

Donny: Is Constant Weight No Fins (CNF) your favorite discipline?

Tim: No, I actually like all of the disciplines. I found out that I prefer bi-fins over the monofin, but I also really like CNF and Free Immersion. Every discipline has its pros and cons. CNF is great because the dives aren’t as deep. Mentally, it is easier because you know you are only going about one-third of the depth you normally dive.

With Free Immersion, the equalization is much easier on the descent. Yesterday and today, I started training Free Immersion again, and I have never had such easy descents. It is amazing how much simpler it is to equalize compared to CNF, where you are moving more and it is harder to hold back the urge to breathe. But on the other hand, with Free Immersion, just a small mouthfill is enough to get you to two-thirds of your normal depth.

With a monofin, you have much more speed, which gives you a lot of confidence. If you are at 90 meters with a monofin, it is easier on the mind because you know you have the power to come back up with no problem. I find that Static Apnea is the only discipline I haven’t really had a good experience with yet. For me, Static is always very hard—it feels like torture.

 

Exploring Static Apnea and Breath-Hold Limits

 

Donny: I think that is true for you and many other people! Just on the topic of Static, what is your personal best at the moment?

Tim: It is 6 minutes and 8 seconds. I did it in January of last year, so about a year and a half ago. I would like to train for it again—maybe I could hit 7 minutes—but I am just not really focused on that right now.

Donny: Out of curiosity, a lot of beginner freedivers want to know how breath-hold times improve. When most people start, they cannot hold their breath for very long. Do you remember what your breath-hold was like in the beginning? Did you start off at one or two minutes, and why do you think it changed over time?

Tim: I remember during my two-star course, my first serious breath-hold attempt was 3 minutes and 18 seconds. Over time, you just get much more relaxed and learn the right techniques. Often, when I ask people when a dive starts, they say it starts with the duck dive. I always tell them the dive actually starts at least 5 or 10 minutes beforehand. Some might even say it starts in the morning when you wake up, because you need the right mindset and relaxation.

I am absolutely convinced that relaxation is everything. I have seen people hold their breath for seven and a half minutes without any hyperventilation or packing, using something almost like hypnosis to relax completely. When my students are surprised that they managed a two-minute breath-hold, I tell them it is not unusual to hit three or even four minutes on a first attempt.

There is a lot of discussion about the dive response and symptoms like vasoconstriction—that tingling sensation in your fingers and warmth in your head. I feel that every time I hold my breath in Static, and I hate it. It makes me unrelaxed. But I talked to Vincent Mathieu, an amazing French Static diver, and he loves that feeling. It gives him confidence. If you can manage your psychological response to those physical symptoms, you can hold your breath much longer.

Donny: It is amazing to hear how personal the breath-hold experience is and how relaxation plays such a massive role. I also think there is a scientific side to this that we don’t fully understand yet—how nutrition and cellular chemical exchanges affect our limits. Hopefully, we will learn more about that in the future.

Tim: Exactly. There are still many things I would really like to know. I was just discussing that with another freediver today.

 

Dry Training and Mental Preparation

 

Donny: When it comes to Dynamic, Constant Weight, and Constant Weight No Fins, do you find them to be completely different disciplines?

Tim: Yes, no fins is very different. I was doing a lot of Constant Weight until I discovered Free Immersion. Then I tried no fins and realized that 50 meters was actually not that difficult. I eventually reached 60 meters and started thinking about the national record. I personally have some technical issues with the monofin, which might be causing problems on my dives. So right now, no fins actually feels easier for me.

Donny: What about your training outside of the water? Do you do weightlifting, CrossFit, high-intensity interval training, or specific CO2 tables?

Tim: I usually do that kind of dry training before I arrive at a freediving location to start depth training. Strength training, in particular, is something you shouldn’t do when you are getting close to your personal best, because you need all that physical power for your deep dives. Of course, it varies from person to person. Personally, I don’t feel weak in certain disciplines, so I just go for it, and if I feel I need more power, I will add some workouts.

Right now, during my deep diving phases, I focus a lot on visualization, mental preparation, and trying to relax under stressful conditions. For example, I do full exhales where the urge to breathe and the contractions come much earlier and more intensely. I take a mouthfill, relax my shoulders and neck, and try to slowly blow the air out through my nose. I wear a nose clip, but I attach it loosely so a little air can escape. I practice managing my mouthfill with empty lungs, dealing with contractions while still equalizing.

When you are doing deep dives, you start to identify your specific problems. Are you getting hypoxic? Is your dive time too slow? Are you losing your mouthfill? For me, the biggest limiting factor is my lungs, as they are prone to squeezing. I always try to analyze my problems and then do specific dry training to fix them before getting back in the water.

 

Managing and Preventing Lung Squeezes

 

Donny: I understand you had a problem with a lung squeeze at Vertical Blue this year. Has this happened to you more than once?

Tim: Yes, it was at Vertical Blue, and it has happened more than once. But it is not an everyday occurrence. I would stop freediving if it happened every time! I’ve had five squeezes in my life over the past two and a half or three years.

Donny: A lot of beginner freedivers get terrified at the mere thought of a lung squeeze. What do you think caused yours, and what advice would you give to prevent them?

Tim: First of all, you shouldn’t be afraid of it, but you must respect it and take the right steps if it happens. In most cases, you don’t actually feel pain. You might feel uncomfortable, and by the evening, you might feel fine and want to dive the next day. That is dangerous.

The number one rule is: if you get a squeeze, you have to take a break.

The second rule is: when you go back to the water, reduce your depth significantly and progress very slowly. I once saw a diver suffer a severe lung squeeze at 85 meters. He took five days off, went back, and tried to dive to 90 meters. He squeezed so badly that he blacked out at 20 meters on the way up and required CPR. You should never do something like this.

Every time I squeeze, I take at least a week off. Even if I have a month of training time, I know it will take me that entire month to slowly build back up to my PB. You have to listen carefully to your body on the way up, check your symptoms, and increase your depth by maybe just two meters at a time. If you do this, and have access to 100% oxygen and an oximeter, it is quite safe. I consider a squeeze to be an annoying setback because it interrupts training, but I don’t view it as something life-threatening as long as you follow the safety rules.

Donny: So it hasn’t put you off freediving?

Tim: Not at all. I just try to figure out what caused it. I have an academic background in empirical research and financial economics, and I try to apply that mindset to identify the exact contributing factors of a squeeze, but it is super hard.

I believe there are endogenous factors. People who grew up in the water suffer fewer squeezes than those who start freediving later in life and skyrocket to 70 meters in two years. I am one of those fast progressors, and I squeezed. Patience is critical. If you are not patient, you can damage your lungs permanently.

Other contributing factors include your turns, your movements, and your equalization. You might be carrying tension in your neck and shoulders without realizing it. Narcosis can also wipe your memory of what you did wrong. Two months before Vertical Blue, I had a squeeze and didn’t know why. Another diver suggested I had narcosis and just didn’t remember. When I really thought back, I realized I was so relaxed on the ascent that my first contraction caught me completely off guard, like a violent hiccup. Now, I focus intensely on making that first contraction gentle.

 

 

The Risks of Packing and Hyperventilation

 

Donny: What are your thoughts on packing? Many people in the community are suggesting that packing is unnecessary and shouldn’t even be taught anymore.

Tim: Packing is definitely a contributing factor to squeezes. You come up with a packed lung, and the overpressure during the last few meters expands rapidly while your blood shift is reversing. If you can do ten packs on land, you should maybe do a maximum of five in the water. I try to reduce packing to an absolute minimum. If I don’t have problems with hypoxia or equalization, I don’t pack at all.

It is similar to the debates around the mouthfill and hyperventilation. If you look closely, many competitive freedivers use some form of hyperventilation, even if it’s just stronger exhales. But you need the experience to know what your body can handle. I once accidentally hyperventilated before a 57-meter no-fins dive. I had zero contractions the entire dive, but I blacked out for two seconds on the surface and was disqualified.

Packing shouldn’t be used as a shortcut to make equalization easier. It is much better to work on your technique and your residual volume flexibility. We teach this in the four-star courses: flexibility will help you much more than packing.

Donny: The mouthfill is also controversial. Some think it is taught too early and that students should test their residual volume limits first.

Tim: That is absolutely true. It depends on the instructor. If an instructor just says, “Mouthfill is great, try it,” that is bad. But if they teach you to perform it correctly, it can actually make diving safer. A mini mouthfill can keep a diver relaxed for another ten meters because they have air in their mouth and can easily keep the glottis closed. The mouthfill is a powerful tool, but it takes a long time to perfect. Right now, instead of maintaining constant pressure, I am training to gently push with my tongue to pop the eustachian tubes. It is a bit harder to manage, but it improves my overall relaxation.

 

Handling Accidents and Prioritizing Safety

 

Donny: Have you ever had a bad accident or a scary experience, or seen someone else have a severe accident in the water?

Tim: Personally, I have never had a severe accident. As I mentioned, I have had a few squeezes, but I have always been quite conservative and stopped diving when necessary. I experienced mild hypoxia in the pool once, and I had that incident with unconscious hyperventilation on a 57-meter no-fins dive where I blacked out for a couple of seconds, though I don’t really consider that a standard hypoxic blackout since it was hyperventilation-related.

However, I have definitely witnessed accidents. There was one very severe case last year at a competition in January. A diver was attempting Constant Weight No Fins, a discipline she hadn’t practiced much. She was struggling with the descent, and her coach gave her terrible advice: he told her to add more weight. She switched from two kilos to five kilos. She did her duck dive and sank like a stone. The math is simple—if you can’t manage the freefall with two kilos, you aren’t going to make it back up with five.

She blacked out at 28 meters. They had to activate the counterweight system, but because of the depth and delay, she got a lot of water in her lungs. It took about six to seven minutes to bring her back. I helped lift her onto the boat. Thankfully, an emergency nurse from France happened to be spectating on the boat, and she definitely saved the diver’s life. She knew exactly what to do, tilting her head back and recognizing that administering oxygen immediately was impossible due to the water in her lungs. For a moment, I was in complete shock and truly thought she was dead. When she started breathing again, I was so relieved.

It made me realize that you have to think carefully about what you are doing. Freediving is dangerous if you ignore safety standards, but if you take them seriously, it is actually a very safe sport. If the conditions are bad, don’t attempt a personal best; do a shallower dive instead. If you remain conservative, it is not dangerous.

Donny: It is terrible that these things happen, but we also need to learn from them. Suggesting that freediving is an incredibly dangerous extreme sport isn’t entirely accurate when compared to other sports.

 

Is Freediving an Extreme Sport?

 

Tim: Even compared to highly established sports like snowboarding, freediving can be safer. In snowboarding, you are dealing with high speeds and inexperienced people on the slopes who cannot control themselves. Just as you shouldn’t go down a black diamond run if you aren’t ready, you shouldn’t freedive alone.

When people die in freediving, 99% of the time it is because they were diving alone or without a lanyard. As long as you never dive alone and always wear a lanyard, you remove a massive amount of risk. If you have a blackout while diving with a buddy—even an inexperienced one—you will survive 99.9% of the time.

An extreme sport, by definition, implies entering an uncontrollable environment. In freediving, the only truly uncontrollable factor is that it is an outdoor sport. You might encounter a risk you couldn’t foresee, like a ghost line at 80 meters getting tangled with your lanyard. That is terrifying, but you prepare for it. I have a protocol: if I get entangled, I spend exactly five seconds trying to free myself, and if I can’t, I take off the lanyard. I practice this so that even if I am suffering from narcosis, my response is automatic. As long as you remain in a controlled environment and follow your protocols, I don’t consider freediving an extreme sport.

Donny: In many ways, freediving is highly controlled, especially in competition. You have several people watching from the surface, safety divers meeting you on the ascent, and your entire environment is strictly defined by the dive line.

Tim: Absolutely. That is why I actually feel more relaxed moving from training into a competition. I know there are more people watching me, and I view it as paying money for ten minutes of absolute, controlled attention. I step into the competition zone knowing everyone is focused on my safety, and that mindset relaxes me. If my training has been good, I always announce a personal best in competition because I feel the most secure there.

Donny: So a competition is essentially the safest environment to attempt a deep dive.

Tim: It should be. Mistakes have happened in the past, like at the World Championships in Kalamata and Cyprus, which were primarily organizational and communication failures, not a lack of safety personnel. But generally, you have medics and judges controlling the environment. At Vertical Blue, after my squeeze, I was forced to take three days off. I had to discuss my performances and my health with the judges and the medics. You can’t just do whatever you want; you have controlling parties enforcing safety, which you don’t always have in regular training.

 

The Appeal of Competition and Community

 

Donny: You mentioned you are particularly passionate about competitive freediving. What is it about competitions that you enjoy so much?

Tim: It is challenging, and it provides great incentives. The record system and the rankings are highly motivating; doing a dive and seeing yourself move into the top 30 in the world is something to be proud of.

But beyond the personal achievements, the best part of big competitions like the World Championships or Vertical Blue is the community. You gain so much experience talking to other deep divers. The freediving world is full of incredibly kind people with fascinating approaches to the sport. If you compare Alexey Molchanov and William Trubridge, both are world-class athletes, but their approaches and techniques are completely different. It is incredibly interesting to listen to them and watch them dive. You might think you have a lot of experience, but going to these competitions shows you that there is always so much more to learn.

 

Common Mistakes Among Beginner Freedivers

 

Donny: From an instructor’s perspective, what are the biggest mistakes you see beginners making?

Tim: For me, the most frustrating mistake is when beginners go down and immediately tilt their heads back to look at where they are going, staring at the tennis ball at the bottom of the line. It is very hard to break them of this habit. Looking up makes equalization significantly more difficult. They need to keep their head straight and just look at the rope.

They usually do this because they are not relaxed and are easily distracted. For example, when I used to teach in lakes, we would hit a thermocline around 12 meters. A student would get to 12 meters, immediately turn around, come up, and claim they couldn’t equalize. When I asked if they felt the sudden drop in temperature, they would say yes. The reality was that the thermocline scared them, broke their relaxation, and ruined their equalization. When I hit a thermocline, I just think, “Oh, cooler water. That will feel nice on the way up, and now I know exactly where I am on the line.”

Donny: It makes sense. For a beginner, there are so many alien factors—hanging upside down in deep water, feeling like you might hit your head, and dealing with an entirely new environment.

Tim: The best approach as an instructor is to go very slowly. Start with Free Immersion. Put the weight at just eight meters so it doesn’t look intimidating. Don’t overwhelm them with body positioning right away; just let them pull themselves down and focus purely on equalizing. Once they are comfortable, I introduce a two-meter Free Immersion descent before asking them to kick down to 10 meters. Finally, I introduce the duck dive. You have to take it step-by-step so they aren’t trying to manage the duck dive, finning, and equalization all at the same time.

 

Essential Gear: Lanyards, Monofins, and Wetsuits

 

Donny: Let’s talk about equipment. Do you have any gear that you absolutely love?

Tim: It is funny, but the nose clip is a huge topic of conversation right now. Alenka Artnik and I actually plan to do a professional nose clip test to break down the pros and cons of all the different models.

My lanyard is also incredibly important. I use the FreeXperience lanyards. They are so lightweight you don’t even feel them, and I prefer their Velcro system over pull shackles, which can accidentally pop open. Kimmo Lahtinen also introduced a great belt lanyard with a Velcro system, which is fantastic. I tested it on a counterweight rescue system, and it pulls you up in a comfortable embryo position, like sitting in a chair.

Fins play a massive role, especially monofins. I recently switched from a very stiff Glidefin—which has a lot of power but requires heavy kicking—to much softer blades. Right now, I am using Alexey Molchanov’s fin, the same one he used in the Bahamas. It is incredibly soft; if you have good technique, diving deep with it feels completely effortless, almost like you are doing Static Apnea.

Wetsuits are also critical. You cannot use the same wetsuit for all disciplines. If you try diving Constant Weight No Fins in a standard 3mm Yamamoto suit, it is like suicide. The buoyancy on the surface is huge, but as you descend, the neoprene compresses and you sink like a stone. In Free Immersion or with a monofin, you can power through that negative buoyancy, but in CNF, every single stroke counts. For CNF, I wear a very thin 1.5mm suit, and some people even use triathlon suits. It makes a huge difference with your weighting. I used to wear Elios wetsuits, but I recently switched to Oceaner. They have an amazing fit that lets zero water in, and they do great custom designs. I am one of the few guys diving in a purple and black wetsuit, and it looks fantastic.

Donny: I’ve seen it; it is a beautiful wetsuit. Do you dive exclusively with a nose clip, or do you have any experience with fluid goggles?

Tim: I hate fluid goggles. They distract me completely. Putting them on reminds me of the “drunk goggles” they made us wear in school to show us what it looks like to be intoxicated. I don’t see the point in them.

That said, they might have been helpful at Vertical Blue. I learned to freedive in dark lakes, so I assumed the darkness of Dean’s Blue Hole wouldn’t bother me. But in a lake, I was wearing a standard mask and could still see the rope for orientation. At Vertical Blue, I was diving bare-faced with a nose clip, and it was pitch black. On the dive where I squeezed, my lanyard got tangled on my head torch at the bottom. As I tried to untangle it, the torch angle shifted, and I lost my orientation entirely. If you check the bottom camera footage, I was basically swimming dynamically away from the line. I eventually found the rope by feeling it and pulling myself back, but the first 15 meters of my ascent were completely uncontrolled. If I had been wearing goggles, I might have avoided that. But in places like Panglao, the visibility is so good that it looks the same at 100 meters as it does at five meters, so I strictly dive without goggles. It is just one less piece of equipment to take off during the surface protocol.

 

Exploring Global Dive Sites

 

Donny: Panglao is an absolutely beautiful place to dive; I have a few friends who have been diving and training there. Do you have any other favorite dive sites around the world?

Tim: There are so many nice places, and every location has its pros and cons. I haven’t found the absolute perfect place yet, though I have heard that Dominica is nearly perfect, so I need to check that out.

Dean’s Blue Hole at Vertical Blue is an amazing location with no current and essentially unlimited depth. We had bad luck with the conditions being cold when we were there, but normally the water temperature is great, and you can dive in a 1.5mm suit. However, the darkness can freak you out and make you feel uncomfortable.

Then you have Kalamata in Greece. It is so calm that Stavros calls it the “calm zone.” It is super relaxed, but you have thermoclines around 16 meters, and it gets freezing cold, so you have to dive in a 3mm suit, which is always harder.

Dahab has the Blue Hole, which is perfect, but it only goes to about 90 meters, so if you want to dive deeper, it is limiting. I would plan to go there for serious no-fins training during the warm season from July to September.

A very important factor for me is whether a location is nice to live in for a long time. I couldn’t stay in Dahab for a year; there isn’t much going on, you see the same people every day, and providing healthy food for yourself can be difficult.

 

Freediving Nutrition: Diets, Superfoods, and Supplements

 

Tim: In Panglao, on the other hand, you have amazing fruits. The pineapples and mangoes here are incredible and cost almost nothing during the season.

Donny: I live in Taiwan, and we have a similar situation here in the south. Amazing tropical fruits like mango, papaya, and pineapple are abundant and cheap when they are in season. I am fully plant-based and vegan, so for me, it is a kind of paradise. This actually brings me to my next question: do you have any special nutritional protocols for freediving, or do you just eat what you like?

Tim: I fall somewhere in between. I once tried following a strict nutrition plan where I ate the exact same healthy things every day. After two weeks, it freaked me out, and I was craving Coca-Cola. If you talk to the Russian freedivers, they all drink Coca-Cola; they say it is their secret weapon! I saw them buying a bunch of it, and they looked at me strangely when they saw me buying a beer. Being German, I need a beer every now and then.

I think the best approach is to have good timing with your meals and eat the right things at the right time. Before a dive, I used to eat oatmeal, but I got tired of it. Now, I eat something light like watermelon or a banana. It hydrates you and raises your blood sugar, but it digests quickly.

After a dive, I think it is crucial to consume antioxidants, which freedivers probably need more than athletes in many other sports. I blend local ingredients like mango, pineapple, and malunggay (moringa). Moringa is great for detoxing and has a lot of iron, though it tastes like grass, so I add some honey and a banana. It digests quickly, and then I will eat a proper meal with protein half an hour later.

One issue I noticed with deep freediving is that many divers lose a lot of weight. From December 2015 to June 2016, I lost 12 kilos, dropping from 72 to 60 kilos. I lost strength, which was not good. Now, I try to eat more and use supplements like protein shakes, amino acids, and superfoods like acai powder and cacao. I also snack on almonds and nuts throughout the day.

Donny: What about coffee?

Tim: Coffee is an interesting topic. Some freedivers drink a coffee right before diving to 100 meters. When I started, I thought that was crazy because it raises your heart rate, but if you are used to it, your blood system actually functions better. It might not be great for Static Apnea, but for deep diving, it is fine. There is also a Chinese freediver who eats whatever he wants—including chips and super spicy food right before diving to nearly 100 meters. It is incredibly individual, so you really just have to listen to your body.

Donny: Yes, I understand that genetics determine how quickly you metabolize coffee. And regarding your point about iron, it is especially important for male freedivers to monitor their levels since men cannot remove excess iron from their systems the way women naturally do.

Tim: That is true, and it likely explains why many female freedivers struggle with iron deficiency.

 

The Future of Freediving and the Limits of Human Depth

 

Donny: Moving on to the future of freediving, how deep do you think we can go?

Tim: I don’t think there is a true physical limit. Equalization and hypoxia can be fixed by improving technique and fitness. When athletes go for world records, they reach a peak shape that they cannot maintain indefinitely, but they keep pushing the numbers.

I personally believe the ultimate limitation will actually be Decompression Sickness (DCS). We have already seen cases in Free Immersion where divers suffered DCS symptoms despite not doing repetitive dives and breathing oxygen afterward. If we think asymptotically—say, 200 years into the future where the Free Immersion record is 145 meters—people might simply get too much DCS for it to be sustainable. At that point, the sport might become too dangerous to push further. But for now, those cases are rare, and we are still far away from that limit.

Donny: The best we can do is move slowly and learn from our community.

 

Competition Safety and Organizing Protocols

 

Tim: Definitely. When accidents do happen, they need to be discussed publicly. I hate it when accidents are kept a secret. We need to analyze them and create recommendations so we can learn from those mistakes.

For example, I was shocked when the line-setting mistake that happened to Guillaume Néry in Cyprus happened again at the World Championships in Kalamata. In Cyprus, the line was set 10 meters deeper than announced because a depth marker fell off. AIDA failed to create a strict system to prevent that from ever happening again.

In Kalamata, the organizer had too many tasks to handle at once, and they set the rope to the wrong depth twice. First, a French diver named Guillaume Brosseur announced 101 meters, but they set the line to 81 meters. He completed the dive thinking it was the easiest 101 meters of his life, only to find out later that night he was shortchanged, with no chance for a re-dive.

Right after him, I announced 85 meters. They likely set the line to 65 meters. During my descent, I felt the line moving upward faster than I was falling. It confused me so much that I lost my mouthfill and had to turn around at 57 meters. I received a yellow card, and no one told me what happened. Luckily, my coach suggested I protest. I protested, and they admitted they were adjusting the line during my dive, allowing me a re-dive an hour later.

The organizer apologized immediately, but the AIDA judges—who are responsible for giving the ‘go’ on the line—never apologized. When I worked as a Chief of Safety in the Philippines, we used strict protocols. Two people had to verbally confirm the lanyard was on, and two people had to verify the depth marks. I would dive down with my computer to physically check the marks before clearing the dive. For a World Championship, these risks are easily avoidable, and a strict system must be in place.

Donny: Hopefully, as the popularity and media attention of freediving increase, these easily avoidable risks will be addressed.

 

Ocean Conservation and Plastic Pollution

 

Donny: You spend a lot of time in the ocean. What are your thoughts on the current state of the oceans and the plastic pollution problem?

Tim: It is terrible. You see a lot of plastic in the water here in the Philippines. I always tell my students the AIDA rule: “Don’t take anything out, don’t leave anything behind.” But I add an exception: if you see plastic floating by, take it out and put it in a bin.

The challenge in poorer countries is that the locals have different priorities. For example, we had an amazing sardine swarm here in Panglao, and suddenly they were gone. Someone likely came and overfished them to make money because they are poor. For those of us without major financial struggles, it is easy to say, “Don’t put plastic in the ocean.” But for someone struggling to survive, it is hard to grasp why environmentalism should be their top priority.

The key is eco-tourism. The local population needs to financially benefit from keeping the reefs healthy and clean. There is an island near here called Camiguin where plastic bags are completely illegal; the supermarkets give you your groceries in newspaper. They even have strict non-smoking zones. Tourists love it because it is pristine, unlike Bali, which has a terrible rubbish problem. When the locals directly benefit from a clean environment, they will protect it.

 

Pre-Dive Morning Rituals and Mental Preparation

 

Donny: Do you have a specific morning ritual that you do every day?

Tim: I change it from time to time. Right now, I wake up and stretch my body, focusing on inflexible areas like my lower back and legs. I have actually stopped doing lung stretches before a dive to avoid squeezing, preferring to go into the water with fresh lungs. I save lung stretching for my days off.

Next, I mentally prepare for the dive. I stand in front of the mirror and do the Uddiyana Bandha until I get my first contraction. Once the contractions start, I mimic the exact movements I will do in the water—either Free Immersion pulls or no-fins arm strokes. I try to time my contractions so they happen when my arms are in a relaxed, downward position, rather than mid-stroke.

I also practice holding my breath on a full exhale to mentally prepare for the sudden, intense urge to breathe. The first attempt is terrible, but by the third or fourth try, I feel confident. After that, I eat some watermelon or a banana, hydrate thoroughly, and take a shower so I feel fresh and awake before getting into my wetsuit.

 

Future Goals, Crowdfunding, and Book Recommendations

 

Donny: Do you have any long-term plans or aspirations beyond freediving?

Tim: I finished my studies in December 2015 and have been diving full-time since. I eventually want to use my finance degree and move to Hong Kong to work. Luckily, they have freediving clubs there, so I will never stop competitive freediving, but I might take a break and do fewer competitions next year.

My main goal isn’t necessarily a world record, but hitting 100 meters is definitely in my mind. However, I only want to do it when the time is right, and I want to do it cleanly. I want to reach 100 meters and completely own that depth, knowing I can return to it comfortably without risking a lung squeeze. My philosophy is to progress in a healthy way. As I learned from Alenka Artnik, you should always dive within your comfort zone so that every dive remains a pleasurable experience.

Donny: The big competition in Roatan is coming up in a few weeks, and I know you are raising funds to get there. How can listeners support you?

Tim: I was hesitant to start a crowdfunding campaign, but it was the only way I could afford to go while maintaining my training focus. I have set up a page on makeachamp.com. People can search my name, Tim Oehmigen, or find the link pinned on my Facebook page.

To give back, I am offering services in exchange for donations. For example, for €65, you can book a one-to-two-hour Skype coaching session with me to discuss specific freediving issues, and I will create a custom training plan for you. I am also selling beautiful postcards featuring photos taken by Daan Verhoeven at Vertical Blue. I am incredibly grateful for the support I’ve received so far.

Donny: I will put all those links in the show notes at freedivecafe.com/Tim. Before we go, can you recommend a favorite book?

Tim: I am currently reading One Breath by Adam Skolnick, which is about Nick Mevoli. It is very interesting because I know a lot of the people mentioned in the book.

Another highly recommended book is The Swarm by Frank Schätzing. It is a German bestseller translated into many languages. If you are interested in marine life, freediving, and science fiction, it is incredible. It is a heavily researched sci-fi thriller about the oceans acting strangely, and Uma Thurman actually bought the film rights to make a movie out of it.

Donny: If it combines science fiction, the ocean, and freediving, that is pretty much perfect for me. It sounds a bit like The Abyss by James Cameron.

Tim: Exactly!

Donny: Tim, this has been fantastic. I learned so much, and thank you for being the first guest on the show.

Tim: Thank you for inviting me. Long-form interviews like this are much better than the rushed two-minute TV segments I’ve done in Germany. I am really looking forward to hearing the upcoming episodes.

Donny: I can guarantee that guests on the Freedive Cafe can always talk for as long as they want. Thanks, Tim. Dive safe.