Freediving champion, world-renowned freediving instructor and consummate grill master, Ted Harty has been a force for safety and excellence in instruction in the freediving community for over a decade. As a renowned advocate for safer freediving, Ted has created the 28-Day Freediving Transformation course, a new program that anyone can access online.
Ted Harty is a US National Record-holder, Captain of the 2012 USA Freediving Team for the World Championship in France, Performance Freediving International (PFI) Advanced Instructor and PFI Instructor Trainer, (the first and only PFI independent instructor to receive this rating) and the founder of Immersion Freediving and freedivingsafety.com
Ted has distilled his years of experience as a freediving instructor into a comprehensive online course that will absolutely make ANY freediver better and safer. While the 28-Day Freediving Transformation course is really comprehensive, it is NOT designed to replace a freediving class and certification. It is designed to refresh existing skills and knowledge, give spearos (many who never take a formal class) a practical understanding of freediving safety principles and practices, and also provides great tips and techniques from the competitive freediving world on how to maximize breath-hold times and depth.
Divided into 9 sections, the 28-Day Freediving Transformation course is organized so that each module builds on the preceding one. If the viewer watches the videos and reads the printed course materials, then the course should take four 5-day weeks with about 25-40 minutes devoted a day three days a week, and a couple of 10 minute days.
“The goal of this program is for me to give you the tools you need to improve your performance as a freediver.”
The Course Contents
Introduction: The two videos in this section (9:58) covers the “Game Plan” and why watching the videos in order is critical.
Freediving Safety: There are 10 videos in this section. They cover Safety Overview, Safety Principles, Diving in Bad Visibility, Recovery Breathing and the “Bulletproof Buddy System”, Dangers of Hyperventilation, In-Water Rescues (and Loss of Motor Control and Surface Blackouts), Why this Rescue Course is Different than the one in class, Why you should remove your snorkel underwater, Limitations of this Safety Course and Who should not be freediving. There are also two articles from Spearing Magazine “Hunting in Teams for Spearfishing” and “The Myth of I Know My Limits”. These two articles are invaluable for Spearos who may not ever take a formal freediving or spearfishing class (which we absolutely recommend to all spearos).
“Since the whole not-dying thing is oddly not enough to convince most spearfishermen to dive in teams, let’s speak in a language we can all understand. You will put more fish in the cooler hunting in teams. Just think of the not-dying thing as a bonus.”
The Safety Quiz: This comprehensive Quiz gives the viewer the opportunity to qualify for excellent discounts from 8 freediving and spearfishing companies on successfully passing the test with 100% (watch the videos and you will pass this). The companies that are showing their support for this are some of the biggest and best in the sport and include Gannet Dive Company, Speared Apparel, East Coast Divers, Front Line Freediving, Neritic Pole Spears, Divers Direct, Kion, Born of Water, Noob Spearo, Oceaner Freediving, History of Diving Museum and Dip and Dive.
Foundations: There are three (3) videos in this module. Ted sets the viewer up with the basic breathing skills needed to perform the 28 Day Training Plan. This is the same breathing technique you would learn if you took Ted’s Freediving Course and the section on Taking a 20%-30% Bigger Breath will, by itself, make you a better freediver/spearo. Ted is a former National Champion freediver…his techniques have been used by some of the best competitive freedivers and deep water spearos to maximize their volume of air intake without “packing”. Beyond the technique, Ted covers the mechanics of Diaphragmatic Breathing and demonstrates every step of the way. This is a fully interactive module designed to give the viewer the opportunity to perform the exercises multiple times. The third video is the technical explanation of the main causes for your Urge to Breathe.
Training Tools: Everything up to this point can be reviewed in a few hours and will serve as either an introduction to freediving basic principles or a refresher for certified freedivers. The preceding modules lay a solid foundation for the effective use of the training tools the viewer will learn in the next two sections.
Subscribers are given access to Ted’s private Facebook group for students of this course. This is a great, interactive community of fellow freedivers and gives the viewer another great resource!
Ted will teach you how to Delay and Minimize your Contractions, the Most Effective and Time Efficient CO2 Tolerance Training program, Blackouts during “Dry” Training, the Secret Weapon of competitive freedivers, and how to increase the Flexibility of Rib Cage and Increase Lung Volume. There are numerous interactive exercises and method training tips in this section.
Putting It All Together: So here is the training plan for the next 28-days; three days a week of breath-holding exercises. For example, one day CO2 Tables, the Second Day of 4 Maximum Breath Holds and the third day working on having only 5 contractions. Then do your diaphragm stretches (you can do these every day) and lung stretches on the next two days…put all the skills together and work on doing them correctly and safely.
Students are provided a downloadable 28-day calendar for you to record and plan your training on and also provide a bunch of great resources from partner companies to help you become a better freediver and spearo. The Noob Spearfishing bonus is especially helpful for spearos of all skill levels, and Ted introduces a phenomenal yoga program by freediving World Record holder Sara Campbell. Students of this course are given a 50% discount on the Yoga for Freediving Course, one of the most comprehensive yoga programs around.
Bonus Material: The Ted Talks Freediving Interview with Jeromy Gamble, the owner of Spearing Magazine is an 84-minute master class that gives real, impactful information from a world-renowned spearfishing guru. Ted and Jeromy discuss how to implement what Ted teaches with spearfishing.
Ultimately this all comes down to how much it costs. We think the 28 Day Freediving Transformation course is tremendous value for money. It costs $125 USD (~99GBP / 114 Euros) for the Online Course and there are also options to add skype sessions with Ted.
For comparison, a typical Basic Freediving Course costs anywhere from $500 USD to $750 USD, plus boat fees and gear rental costs, travel, lodging, meals, etc. While we stress that this course does not replace freediving or spearfishing certification in a live classroom and open water setting, the information is going to complement and enhance what you will learn in a live class.
You can find out more and enroll at the Immersion Freediving 28 Day Freediving Transformation website.
Learn how to increase your bottom time and dive deeper, by using proven freediving training exercises in the "comfort" of your home.