Anyone who has tracked my Instagram account will have noticed that I've been eating a fool out of Freediving since Madeira in July. Why, I can easily explain. It's this quiet way of moving underwater and not hearing anything. You can be much closer to the animals in the underwater world than with scuba diving. And you have to concentrate on yourself and trust yourself. The only one who stands in the way is myself, or rather my head. I've always been breathing and now I'm supposed to stop. I should stop thinking. Switch off my head. Let go. That's not easy and a great challenge for me.
 
Every Sunday I do my training in Groß-Gerau with Werner Giove. We jump into the pool and everyone trains for their goals and you are surrounded by like-minded people of every level. In October 2018, Werner offered a very special treat for us:

Athletes, amateur freedivers and prospective instructors met under this motto to be trained individually, not for an afternoon, but for a whole weekend. We started on Friday evening with a video recording in the ESWE Bad Wiesbaden. Everyone has dived in his discipline (Monofin, no-fins or Bi-fins). These video recordings were discussed the next morning in a separate room in the "Sportplanet Groß-Gerau". I was a little worried about the announcement that the analysis would not be minced, but it was completely unjustified. Werner and Stephie simply wanted to improve their movements and posture in order to achieve the best results in the water.
 
And before we knew it, we were in the next stage of the training camp: A big cross-room, in which Werner and Stephie led us for 4 hours to a lot of exercises with our own body weight, which improved the posture and tension in the water. I was used to a lot of sport and know a lot, and I was very happy about the new exercises. It was also very nice for me to hear that strength training is much more important for freediving than hours of cardio training. I am on the right track.
 
 

 
With a growling stomach, tired muscles and slight tiredness, the trip continued in the afternoon to the Kleinfeldchen swimming pool in Wiesbaden: Best conditions for a static training. I really would have liked to have known my times, but Werner has absolutely forbidden me to watch. It was simply about training. And after the tight program since the morning I just did what was said. The tiredness disappeared only again from me, when we in an Italian restaurant in Wiesbaden with full bellies and a glass of red wine listened to the voice of the restaurant owner and his karaoke machine and let the evening end.
 
 

After a short night we went back to the Sportplanet Groß-Gerau the next morning. Werner and Stephie introduced us to their mental training, which we immediately put into practice in connection with a short yoga session. Somehow this was very good for me, because the previous program was very crunchy and I got to know muscle groups again through muscle soreness, which were foreign to me before. A body scan and a visualized dive in the dry couldn't hurt.

We spent the last stage of the training weekend in the indoor swimming pool Groß-Gerau, where we train every Sunday. We did a very extensive dynamic and swim training; I didn't expect this on such a scale, but I was euphoric and went through everything. We have improved our techniques, time and again I thought about my video analysis and tried to "work" every course cleanly in the water. The turn that I hadn't done well at all before is sitting! My personal sense of achievement. But after another three hours in the water I was really glad that we all made it and could go home on the couch :)

Of course, I also have a summary for you after the 48 hours.
 
I was not sure if I would survive a whole weekend with so much sport, because I always have a packed week and work in a high stress level at the moment. Even being a beginner among professionals made me a little insecure, but these worries were completely unjustified.

I learned from them so well. I am used to a high level of professionalism in all the Sunday trainings, but in "ApneaLicious" they put a big scoop on it. It's just wonderful to learn so much from people who know and love what they're doing and like to pass it on. It doesn't matter how big or small, thin or fat you are, or what level of training you have. The main thing is to have fun and join in. I can really recommend this training camp to everyone who loves Freediving.

I'm thrilled and hope to be back next time.