27 Nov Lower Limb Strength and Endurance for Free-Diving – An Interview with Mitchell Kornberg

What is Freediving?

Freediving is the practice of diving underwater without the use of scuba gear. It’s a form of breath-holding that allows individuals to explore the depths of the ocean or freshwater bodies, relying solely on their natural abilities and training.

Freediving can be a peaceful and meditative experience, offering a unique connection to the underwater world. It’s also a challenging sport that requires mental discipline, physical fitness, and a deep understanding of the body’s response to breath-holding.

The Importance of Lower Limb Strength & Endurance for Freediving

Freediving is a sport that requires a multitude of different muscles to help propel an individual to great depths underwater. The muscles of the lower limb are considered some of the largest and most powerful in the entire body – but if their strength isn’t there, it may be hindering your performance while in the water.

The major muscle groups responsible for finning & swimming techniques include hip muscles, glutes, hamstrings, quads, and calves. Strength and endurance are critical for these muscles to increase their load tolerance to allow for repetitive kicking motions, as well as reducing the likelihood of early-onset fatigue. Foundational strength & endurance of these muscles is pivotal to allow for increased efficiency through the water and getting the best out of your freediving.

A combination of body-weight and machine-based weighted exercises allows for a two-pronged approach to help target these muscles for an increase in strength, endurance, and overall performance. In combination with this, cardiovascular exercise such as walking, running, or cycling creates a fantastic recipe for success for your freediving performance.

In addition to the above, here are some other tips for improving your lower limb strength and endurance for freediving:

• Focus on compound exercises. Compound exercises work multiple muscle groups at the same time, which is essential for building overall strength and endurance. Examples of compound exercises for the lower limbs include squats, lunges, deadlifts, and calf raises.
• Gradually increase the weight and/or difficulty of your exercises. As you get stronger, it’s important to challenge your muscles by gradually increasing the weight or difficulty of your exercises. This will help you to continue to see progress.
• Pay attention to your form. It’s important to use proper form when performing exercises to avoid injury. If you’re not sure how to do an exercise correctly, ask a certified personal trainer for help.
• Get enough rest and recovery. Your muscles need time to rest and recover in order to grow stronger. Make sure to schedule rest days into your workout routine.

Meet our Free-Diving Physiotherapist – Mitchell Kornberg

How long have you been freediving & how did you get into freediving?

I was first introduced to spearfishing & freediving about 11 years ago by a friend in high school and immediately knew it was the hobby for me. The ability for an activity to completely shut-off your worries and concerns of the real world as soon as your face hits the water is something I fell in love with – a real mindset refresh.

Tell me a little about your physiotherapy career – what you studied, where and when?

I studied an undergraduate degree which was a Bachelor of Science at Deakin University, majoring in Animal Biology and Human Anatomy. My desire was to either be a veterinarian or a Physiotherapist – and I eventually chose to become a Physiotherapist. I completed my postgraduate Masters of Physiotherapy at Swinburne University of Technology which was an extremely intensive two-year course in which I graduated in 2023.

Have your studies in Physiotherapy impacted your performance free-diving? If so, how and what did you learn and how did you implement these learnings into success?

Learning the structural anatomy of the muscles responsible to achieve great depths whilst freediving has helped develop a greater understanding of the role strength and conditioning has in the underwater world. Further research into the biomechanics of freediving identified the importance of lower limb strength in conjunction with proper technique can help achieve the best results as a freediver. Coinciding with strength and technique, cardiovascular endurance plays a significant role in one’s ability to dive deeper and longer. Being a freediver myself, implementing these learnings over the last few years has drastically improved my diving capabilities, significantly reduced the likelihood of injury and minimized my levels of fatigue whenever I am diving.