The Deep Dive with Renee Blundon

This episode about the Apnea Squats Challenge, an AWESOME dry training for freediving to prepare the legs for constant weight freediving and dynamic apnea in the pool. To do this training, you always start with a static apnea breath-hold sitting on a chair (minimum 60 seconds static) and then do as many squats as you can (must be a 90 degree angle minimum). REPEAT TWICE. 5 times per week. The breathe-up is tidal breathing + 2 purge breaths, and then one full breath. No more than that. This training is unique because it goes by a point system. You get 1 point per second of breath-hold and 5 points per squat. My goal was to get 350-450 points in the first week, which I achieved on the 3rd session. (Totally up to you what you want to set your goal to.) The badges for the Apnea Squats Challenge are: If you have a good static apnea breath-hold time, you may want to consider doing a longer static apnea (i.e. 2-3 minutes static apnea), before doing the squats. You may be able to get more points that way. It's just not allowed to do less than a 60 second breath-hold, but you can always do longer ;) Resources / References: Florian Dagoury's Instagram You can join the open source information network for this podcast at: https://www.facebook.com/groups/reneeblundonpodcast To subscribe to my Friday 5 newsletter visit: https://www.reneeblundon.com/friday-5/ My contact information: info@reneeblundon.com SOCIAL MEDIA Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/reneeblundon/ Website: https://www.reneeblundon.com/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/reneelblundon Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/reneeblundon.official Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/reneeblundonpodcast

Today is day 1 of my 2022 freediving season. It's been almost two weeks since the Freediving World Cup competition, which marked the end of my 2021 season, and now I'm excited to apply all of the new insights I've learned throughout this year. Today I begin base training, starting with a swimming training session, designed by my coach Florian Dagoury. This training is aimed to stretch the ribcage, train the muscles to use O2 slower with less lactic, providing a mild CO2 workout. I like it because it also gets you super fit!! Go to reneeblundon.com for the swim training program and show notes. Resources / References: Florian Dagoury's Instagram You can join the open source information network for this podcast at: https://www.facebook.com/groups/reneeblundonpodcast To subscribe to my Friday 5 newsletter visit: https://www.reneeblundon.com/friday-5/ My contact information: info@reneeblundon.com SOCIAL MEDIA Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/reneeblundon/ Website: https://www.reneeblundon.com/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/reneelblundon Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/reneeblundon.official Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/reneeblundonpodcast

A discussion with Sally Norton and Renee Blundon about oxalates and how they impact freediving, athletic performance and overall health. We will discuss; what ARE oxalates, what foods are they in, how the ‘super foods’ we are consuming may not be so super (!!!), how low oxalate eating can be extremely beneficial for health and athletic performance & recovery AND MORE! Resources / References: For more info about low oxalate nutrition and/or to set-up a consultation call with Sally Norton, you can check-out her website at: sallyknorton.com You can join the open source information network for this podcast at: https://www.facebook.com/groups/reneeblundonpodcast To subscribe to my Friday 5 newsletter visit: https://www.reneeblundon.com/friday-5/ My contact information: info@reneeblundon.com SOCIAL MEDIA Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/reneeblundon/ Website: https://www.reneeblundon.com/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/reneelblundon Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/reneeblundon.official Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/reneeblundonpodcast

Today's episode is a guided freedive visualization, that you can listen to anytime before your freedive. Renee will guide you in creating an inspiring vivid mental picture of a deep target dive from start to finish. Many freediving athletes routinely use visualization techniques as part of their mental training for freediving. It helps to enhance your techniques just through mental repetition and rehearsal, and it helps to cultivate a heightened state of mental awareness, which can boost your self confidence for your dives as well as your overall well-being, therefore enhancing performance on your freedives. Time Stamps: Resources / References: Sara Campbell - Discover Your Depths https://www.discoveryourdepths.com/ You can join the open source information network for this podcast at: https://www.facebook.com/groups/reneeblundonpodcast To subscribe to my Friday 5 newsletter visit: https://www.reneeblundon.com/friday-5/ My contact information: info@reneeblundon.com SOCIAL MEDIA Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/reneeblundon/ Website: https://www.reneeblundon.com/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/reneelblundon Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/reneeblundon.official Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/reneeblundonpodcast

"The Nose Is For Breathing, The Mouth is for Eating." How do you breathe? Through your mouth or through your nose? It might be something you've never given much thought about. But on this episode, competitive freediver, Renee Blundon, will try to convince you that you should. Breathing through the nose, Renee believes, is the secret to better health, wellbeing and performance. And yet, most of us breathe through our mouths, breathing too fast and shallow, so our health and performance is not nearly as optimal as it could be. In this episode, Renee reviews the physiology of nasal breathing versus mouth breathing, and how breathing IS NOT a byproduct of what you're doing, nasal breathing in indigenous cultures, animals when it comes to nose versus mouth breathing, the unawareness about mouth breathing and how breathing through the nose while exercising / training is more beneficial than breathing through the mouth because you can make BETTER decisions. This is part 2 of 2, so make sure to listen to the previous episode! Time Stamps: Resources / References: You can join the open source information network for this podcast at: https://www.facebook.com/groups/reneeblundonpodcast To subscribe to my Friday 5 newsletter visit: https://www.reneeblundon.com/friday-5/ My contact information: info@reneeblundon.com SOCIAL MEDIA Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/reneeblundon/ Website: https://www.reneeblundon.com/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/reneelblundon Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/reneeblundon.official Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/reneeblundonpodcast

"The Nose Is For Breathing, The Mouth is for Eating" How do you breathe? Through your mouth or through your nose? It might be something you've never given much thought about. But on this episode (as well as the next episode), competitive freediver, Renee Blundon, will try to convince you that you should. Breathing through the nose, Renee believes, is the secret to better health, wellbeing and performance. And yet, most of us breathe through our mouths, breathing too fast and shallow, so our health and performance is not nearly as optimal as it could be. In this episode, Renee talks through the physiology of nasal breathing versus mouth breathing, and why we've developed this habit of over-breathing through the mouth. This is part 1 of 2, so make sure to continue listening on the next episode! Timestamps: Resources / References: You can join the open source information network for this podcast at: https://www.facebook.com/groups/reneeblundonpodcast To subscribe to my Friday 5 newsletter visit: https://www.reneeblundon.com/friday-5/ My contact information: info@reneeblundon.com SOCIAL MEDIA Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/reneeblundon/ Website: https://www.reneeblundon.com/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/reneelblundon Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/reneeblundon.official Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/reneeblundonpodcast

As a freediver who battles with anxiety attacks, I am constantly inventing and testing-out new methods for mental training, especially for relaxation, because the more relaxed you are, the longer you can hold your breath! In this podcast episode, I'll talk about a relaxation breathing and mental training technique that can help massively to lower anxiety and train the mind to be more relaxed in stressful situations and just in life in general. It's a technique I use for freediving but anyone can benefit from it, whether you're an athlete, in the military, or if you're a performer, an actor or musician, if you're someone with a stressful job or if you're preparing for a business meeting. Either way it works the same, it builds something in your mind, that you can use in stressful situations to become more relaxed. And you can do this right at home just laying down on a yoga mat. I can also personally confirm that the combination of short breath-holds, complete relaxation and concentration / mindfulness generates a sensation of euphoria and rapture, which creates mental clarity that may rest in the body for hours or even days after a session! Time Stamps: Resources / References: You can join the open source information network for this podcast at: https://www.facebook.com/groups/reneeblundonpodcast To subscribe to my Friday 5 newsletter visit: https://www.reneeblundon.com/friday-5/ My contact information: info@reneeblundon.com SOCIAL MEDIA Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/reneeblundon/ Website: https://www.reneeblundon.com/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/reneelblundon Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/reneeblundon.official Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/reneeblundonpodcast

Relaxation breathing is a powerful tool for freediving and for life in general in order to decrease your heart rate and help calm the body and mind. In this podcast episode, I'll go over a relaxation breathing technique, also known as the 'Branko Petrovic Technique', which is used in freediving to help you relax deeply before your freedives and breath-holds. It slows down your breathing and intake of oxygen, therefore relaxing your nervous system and bringing your body back to its natural restful state. Because your heart-rate is lowered quite quickly and less oxygen is consumed, this means you'll be able to hold your breath much longer. And even if you are not planning to do any freediving or breath-holding, the breathing technique can help anyone who wants to relax more and help to quite the mind. Some Tips! While practicing this technique it's important to breathe as relaxed as possible without tensing any part of your body and without straining your intercostal muscles or diaphragm in order to keep the heart rate low. This will help your mind and your muscles to actively prepare you for a period of non-breathing, and be chill about it. The pause after each inhale and exhale helps to decrease your breathing rate even more, and this relaxation effect is enhanced even more when you do this breathing exercise in the water while breathing through a snorkel face-down on the surface. If there are waves, you can allow the waves to relax you even more (!) by keeping the body loose and de-contracting while allowing the water to move you in whichever which way, imagining you're like a rag-doll or just a piece of seaweed just floating along on the surface of the water. Lowers Stress and Anxiety This relaxation breathing technique helps lower stress and anxiety by quickly slowing down the heart rate and helping the body settle in the present moment. A study in 2013 proved that freedivers had a significantly lower level of stress, anxiety and negative affectivity compared to non-freedivers. And I believe this is mostly due to relaxation breathing / training and lifestyle elements. Feel Better The relaxation breathing can also help you feel better overall. Not only can it help lower your stress, but it can also boost your mood, because during the breath-work, feel-good neurotransmitters like dopamine and noradrenaline, are enhanced during the breathing exercise and also afterwards. The relaxation breathing technique also helps increase your energy and focus your mind. So you'll be able to focus better on your goals and have more energy to do the things you like. Also because you'll be using oxygen much more efficiently after doing this breathing, this also leads to better respiration, lower heart rate, increased blood flow to the vital organs and better overall health. So even though you may have never thought about changing your relaxation breathing for freediving or to practice relaxation breathing in general, it's time to give it a thought. Because the many benefits of this relaxation breathing exercise are super beneficial for your relaxation for freediving as well as for your physical and mental health in your everyday life. Time Stamps: Resources / References: Pascal Huron (Facebook) Branko Petrovic (Facebook) You can join the open source information network for this podcast at: https://www.facebook.com/groups/reneeblundonpodcast To subscribe to my Friday 5 newsletter visit: https://www.reneeblundon.com/friday-5/ My contact information: info@reneeblundon.com SOCIAL MEDIA Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/reneeblundon/ Website: https://www.reneeblundon.com/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/reneelblundon Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/reneeblundon.official Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/reneeblundonpodcast Subscribe to my channel! https://www.youtube.com/c/reneeblundon

Looking for tips for deep freediving? In this episode, Renee talks about what was happening in her training preventing her from freediving deeper than 72 meters, as well as the 6 changes implemented in order to overcome her issues with hypoxia and lack of flexibility so she can dive deeper more easily. The six changes were recommended by Renee's remote freediving coach, Florian Dagoury, in order to improve dive response, adaptation to pressure and mental / physical relaxation for deep freedives. Time Stamps: Resources / References: Freedive Flo&Olga Flo on Instagram (mr.10minutes) You can join the open source information network for this podcast at: https://www.facebook.com/groups/reneeblundonpodcast To subscribe to my Friday 5 newsletter visit: https://www.reneeblundon.com/friday-5/ My contact information: info@reneeblundon.com SOCIAL MEDIA Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/reneeblundon/ Website: https://www.reneeblundon.com/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/reneelblundon Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/reneeblundon.official Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/reneeblundonpodcast Subscribe to my channel! https://www.youtube.com/c/reneeblundon

Freediving is a unique sport and has very few similarities with other sports. Most of the top level freedivers train intensively for months on end, year after year, and hours upon hours per day in the pool, at the gym and depth, sacrificing social activities for yoga and sleep. How do these freedivers maintain such high motivation? Well all freedivers, even the most skilled and successful freedivers, have times with they feel a bit unmotivated. But the best freedivers know how to overcome this and stay motivated in order to keep the momentum going and keep improving as a freediver. This podcast provides some tips on how to motivate yourself to become a better freediver. This episode is part three in the podcast series, Inside the Mind of the World's Top Freedivers, about mental techniques for freediving. Time Stamps: Resources: Interview With World Class Freediver Sara Campbell Success And Failure Tanya Streeter - Freediver Specific Training for Freediving by Umberto Pelizzari Rest and Recovery | Freedivings Most Under Rated Training Principle Davide Carrera - Making Love to the Sea Alexey Molchanov - Interview 2019 - Recovery, Success and the Best Training for Freediving How Olympians Stay Motivated The Deepest Dive. How Far Down Can a Freediver Go? 30 Minutes With...Miguel Lozano Alessia Zecchini - Interview - World's Deepest Woman about Motivation, Home and her own Success Born To | Freediving | Episode 1 Mental Techniques for 102m Interview With Freediving World Record Holder Matt Malina Meet Dave Mullins An Interview with Herbert Nitsch, The Deepest Man on Earth Apnea: las increíbles fotos de la colombiana Sofía Gómez Uribe desde el fondo del mar You can join the open source information network for this podcast at: https://www.facebook.com/groups/reneeblundonpodcast To subscribe to my Friday 5 newsletter visit: https://www.reneeblundon.com/friday-5/ My contact information: info@reneeblundon.com SOCIAL MEDIA Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/reneeblundon/ Website: https://www.reneeblundon.com/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/reneelblundon Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/reneeblundon.official Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/reneeblundonpodcast

Welcome to the fourth episode of the Freediving Podcast by Renee Blundon. This episode is about motivation and goal setting for freediving. Motivation is the cornerstone of success for every great freediving athlete and every great freediving achievement. In this episode I’ll go over motivation, what it is, where does it come from and why is it so important for freediving? I’ll also talk about goal setting in extensive detail with tips and examples from some of top freedivers from all over the world to help inspire you and to ensure that you never quit! This episode is part two in the podcast series about mental techniques for freediving. Time Stamps: Resources: 30 Minutes with... Miguel Lozano Alessia Zecchini - Interview - World's Deepest Woman about Motivation, Home and her own Success Best SELF Herbert Nitsch: The Deepest Man on Earth Living the Thrill of Competitive Freediving in Villefranch, French Riviera Meet Dave Mullins Mental Techniques for 102M Specific Training for Freediving by Umberto Pelizzari The ONE Thing by Gary Keller You can join the open source information network for this podcast at: https://www.facebook.com/groups/reneeblundonpodcast To subscribe to my Friday 5 newsletter visit: https://www.reneeblundon.com/friday-5/ My contact information: info@reneeblundon.com SOCIAL MEDIA Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/reneeblundon/ Website: https://www.reneeblundon.com/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/reneelblundon Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/reneeblundon.official Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/reneeblundonpodcast

Welcome to the third episode of the Freediving Podcast by Renee Blundon. This episode is part one of five about the mental training and techniques that the world's top freedivers use to prepare for their deep dives. The freedivers at the highest level, may be somewhat well matched in terms of their breath-hold ability, conditioning, their physical abilities and skill level. But that alone is not enough to achieve world records and win World Championships and the major freediving competitions. Mental techniques and strategies is extremely important so that freedivers can get their minds in the best possible condition for optimal performance and relaxation. Based on her own personal research from watching / reading interviews, by reading blogs and articles of the top freedivers, Renee will provide an overview of the kinds of techniques which these freedivers use to prepare for their dives. She'll also give details and examples into these different techniques, and how they work, as well as how the techniques can be used by competitive freedivers to maximize your performance. Time Stamps: Resources: Mental Techniques for 102M Alexey Molchanov Interview 2019 Alessia Zecchini Interview Alenka Artnik Sets New Freediving World Record You can join the open source information network for this podcast at: https://www.facebook.com/groups/reneeblundonpodcast To subscribe to my Friday 5 newsletter visit: https://www.reneeblundon.com/friday-5/ My contact information: info@reneeblundon.com SOCIAL MEDIA Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/reneeblundon/ Website: https://www.reneeblundon.com/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/reneelblundon Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/reneeblundon.official Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/reneeblundonpodcast

Welcome to the second episode of the Freediving Podcast by Renee Blundon. This episode is part two about nutrition to improve your lung health and lung function for freediving while at the same time, improving your immune system to make it more resilient to COVID-19 and other viruses and bacteria. This episode will focus on vitamin D and N-Acetyl Cysteine (NAC) in detail and will also touch on a few other important vitamins and nutrients. We'll also cover some super interesting info about the oxidative stress and free-radical damage caused in in the body from freediving, and what foods and supplements can help your freediving recovery. This podcast can be helpful other athletes who are looking to improve their breathing and lung capacity, or anyone really who wants to improve their lung and respiratory health, which at the same time helps to improve your overall health and therefore your quality of living. Time Stamps: Resources: Why Taking Vitamin D Pills Could Help the Fight Against TB and HIV https://theconversation.com/why-taking-vitamin-d-pills-could-help-the-fight-against-tb-and-hiv-56238 Oxidative Stress in Breath-Hold Divers After Repetitive Dives https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23813458/ A Rapid Review of the Evidence for Effectiveness in Treating COVID-19 https://covid19-evidence.paho.org/handle/20.500.12663/1089 You can join the open source information network for this podcast at: https://www.facebook.com/groups/reneeblundonpodcast To subscribe to my Friday 5 newsletter visit: https://www.reneeblundon.com/friday-5/ My contact information: info@reneeblundon.com SOCIAL MEDIA Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/reneeblundon/ Website: https://www.reneeblundon.com/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/reneelblundon Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/reneeblundon.official Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/reneeblundonpodcast

Welcome to the first episode of the Freediving Podcast by Renee Blundon. In this episode, I'll talk about nutrition specifically for freediving and improving your lung function and lung capacity, in order to make your lungs stronger, healthier and more flexible for freediving while at the same time, improving your immune system, making it more resilient to COVID-19 and other viruses and bacteria. This podcast can also help other athletes who are looking to improve their breathing and lung capacity, or anyone really who wants to improve their lung health and breathing, which at the same time helps to improve your overall health and therefore your quality of living. Time Stamps: You can join the open source information network for this podcast at: https://www.facebook.com/groups/reneeblundonpodcast To subscribe to my Friday 5 newsletter visit: https://www.reneeblundon.com/friday-5/ My contact information: info@reneeblundon.com SOCIAL MEDIA Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/reneeblundon/ Website: https://www.reneeblundon.com/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/reneelblundon Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/reneeblundon.official Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/reneeblundonpodcast

In Episode Zero of the Freediving Podcast, I introduce the purpose of the podcast and how I hope to structure future episodes to provide weekly information about freediving training concepts, nutrition for freediving, fitness for freediving, mental training techniques, freediving preparation, breathing and breath-hold techniques and helpful advice for freediving in a safe, sustainable and healthy way. This episode features a basic introduction about the concept for the show, some background about me and my freediving experiences, and why I'm passionate about freediving and living a healthy and EPIC lifestyle. You can join the open source information network for this podcast at: https://www.facebook.com/groups/reneeblundonpodcast To subscribe to my Friday 5 newsletter visit: https://www.reneeblundon.com/friday-5/ My contact information: info@reneeblundon.com SOCIAL MEDIA Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/reneeblundon/ Website: https://www.reneeblundon.com/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/reneelblundon Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/reneeblundon.official Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/reneeblundonpodcast