Progressive training: Why freedivers need to stop winging it

Progressive training-the unsexy truth that consistent, structured improvement beats random heroic efforts every single time. In strength sports, this means adding weight to the bar gradually, tracking your lifts, and trusting the process instead of maxing out every session because you feel good.

Most athletes get this. Freedivers? Not so much.

The problem with “feeling it out”

Here’s what progressive training actually means: systematic increases in training stress over time, with built-in recovery, following a logical plan that points toward a specific goal.

It works because your body adapts to stress incrementally. You can’t go from a 3-minute breath-hold to 5 minutes by just “trying harder” one day. Your CO2 tolerance, oxygen efficiency, mental stamina, and dive reflex all need time to adapt. Push too hard too fast, and you get injured, burned out, or both. Don’t push hard enough, and you plateau.

The problem is that freediving feels like a sport where you can wing it. The water’s always there. You can always “just do one more dive.” No barbells to load. No obvious progressive markers like adding 5 pounds to your squat.

So people train randomly. They feel good one day and push a depth PR. Feel tired the next week and skip training entirely. Then wonder why they’re not improving. Or worse-they’re regressing. (This is exactly the consistency problem I discuss in Keep Training (Even When You Don’t Feel Like It))

What progressive training looks like underwater

The model is dead simple: start with a baseline, add small increments consistently, deload periodically, repeat.

Let’s say your dry static is 4 minutes. Progressive training doesn’t mean holding your breath until you nearly black out three times a week. It means doing structured tables-maybe 70% holds for volume one day, 85% holds for CO2 tolerance another day, occasional 95% holds to test your ceiling. Each week, those times creep up by 5-10 seconds (some weeks 0, some 20) if you’re recovering properly. (For specifics on O2 table methodology, see O2 Tables: The Most Misunderstood Tool in Freediving)

Same with depth. You don’t jump from 30 meters to 40 because conditions are perfect. You work 32, then 34, then 36. You track equalization quality, turn times, and how you feel at the surface. You build gradually. (Revolutionary, I know.)

Where structure actually helps

You can do all this with a notebook and a dive watch. People have been training progressively since before apps existed.

But this is exactly why Appneist’s structured programs matter. The progressions are already built in. The tracking happens automatically. You’re not guessing whether to add 10 seconds or 20, whether to do CO2 or O2 tables today, whether you’ve earned a deload week. The program knows. You just show up and execute.

Stop winging it. Progress happens when you stop trying to be impressive and start being systematic.