The best freediving books you should read

Reading freediving books is beneficial not only for new freedivers but also for advanced ones. However they don’t replace official courses, but these manuals provide you with the opportunity of learning professional tips from competitive athletes and scientists that will surely help to develop your freediving skills.

5 Best freediving books

Here you find the 5 best freediving books that introduce you to the world of freediving, help you to understand how your body and mind work underwater, and giving you useful training and breath-holding tips!

Manual of freediving by Umberto Pelizzari

If we would need to highlight one of the best freediving books, this is it! The updated Manual of Freediving by Umberto Pelizzari world record holder and Stefano Tovagliera, director of the Italian Freedive Team is the most comprehensive freediving manual that is a must-read! However, this manual is not a learning tool and doesn’t replace a proper training, but with excellent drawings and visual descriptions, this extremely detailed guide surely will help you to get better at freediving no matter what level freediver you are.

The freediving manual’s main topics:

• history of freediving
• anatomy: how the body works in water environment
• physiology: understanding how the mind works and how to relax
• pool exercises
• land and water training
• equalization
• finning techniques
• safety section
• tips on freedivers’ diet

Longer and deeper – cross-training for freediving and spearfishing

This cross-training manual was specially written for freedivers and spearfishermen. Achieve better performance, stay longer underwater, and dive deeper.

Freediving is not only about pool training and open water dives. It requires regular exercising on land too. There are many sports that can help you to strengthen your body and keep in shape, but this manual teaches you the most effective cross-training techniques that improve diving skills the best.

Easy-to-understand explanations from freedivers’ perspective on how muscles work, how to train them to hypoxia, how to minimize drag and how to reduce the burning of leg muscles, and doable training programs for staying fit all year round. Get better at freediving with Longer and Deeper by Jaap Verbaas!

Specific training for freediving – Deep, static and dynamic apnea

Another highly recommended freediving book to read from Umberto Pelizzari! If you are an advanced freediver who seeks practical advice on how to progress, the Specific Training is one of the best freediving books that includes valuable information especially for deep freedving, static and dynamic apnea, as well as spearfishing.

The world record holder Pelizzari shares his own techniques and methods. He follows traditional strategies but with an innovative approach. This guide includes workout plans and timetables that can help your training and achieve better results no matter what freediving discipline you choose. The Specific Training for Freediving book can be beneficial for swimmers too who wish to improve their performance.

From the extra interviews with the world’s best freedivers like Alexey Molchanov, Goran Čolak, Alessia Zecchini, William Trubridge etc… are not only extremely motivational but gives the reader a deeper understanding of how freedivers live, train, and compete.

Are you already an advanced freediver and looking for cool places to dive? See what are the world’s best freediving spots!

Breatheology – The art of conscious breathing

The Breatheology doesn’t belong to classical freediving books. Don’t expect explainations on how to become a freediver or hold your breath beyond human limits. It will teach you how to breathe correctly in order to progress in your freediving career and what benefits proper breathing brings in your everyday life.

Most of us breathe inefficiently. We were never taught how to breathe deep in the stomach. If it comes to freediving, breathing is the most important part of the training that optimizes your performance. The author, Stig Avall Severinsen is a World Champion freediver who spent long years during his career on practicing and investigating the most effective breathing techniques. Breatheology is a manual with theoretical explanations and practical exercises on 5 types of breathing that are the trained, sustained, powerful, therapeutic, and soothing breathing.

The Breathology is a great read not only for freedivers but for everybody who wishes to enjoy the advantages of deep breathing in their everyday life such as:

• better stress management
• increased energy level
• reducing of chronic pain
• longer and healthier life

Deep – James Nestor

The author of DEEP, Jason Nestor is famous for his adventurous life. He participated in a surfing expedition to Norway, lived with Vanuatu farmers, and also the idea of the freediving book DEEP was born far away from his home. James visited Greece when he discovered freediving. He got fascinated by the sport where divers descend and stay underwater without breathing equipment. This experience led him to follow athletes and scientist to discover not only the human body’s capabilities but also the secrets of the deep blue. The readers get the opportunity to look into the fascinating world of freediving, but also learn lots of interesting things about sea creatures.

Moreover, the DEEP is not only one of the best freediving books that got several awards like New York Times Editor’s Choice or Best Sports Book of the Year but based on a chapter of it, a short virtual reality documentary was debuted by the New York Times and Sundance Institute with the title Click Effect which was nominated for an Emmy Award too.

James Nestor’s new book, which comes in late 2019, looks promising too: breathing.

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