Master your Breath holding
Complete the world’s premier surf specific breath holding course at your own pace.
The Apnea Survival – Surf Apnea course is the world’s premier breath surf specific breath holding course. It has been developed through years of research and development and knowledge gathered from the freediving, surfing and first responding communities. Including some of the worlds most elite and professional water people such as, Brad Gerlach (big wave surfing legend and world renowned surf coach), Matt McGillivray (WSL competitor and base jumping athlete), Isabella Nichols (WSL surfer), Russel ORD (world renowned big wave photographer), Shanan Worral (big wave slab rider and founder Shark Eyes), Jay Bottle -Thompson (Pro surfer and Surfing Australia’s head development coach), Tom Avery (Australian Indigenous longboarding champion), and Bella Zanesco (world champion sailor and kiteboarding world record holder).
You’ll learn a suite of safety, land and water based drills that you can use immediately in order to :
Get a sneak peek into our epic online training tool.
Who is the course for?
Suitable for anyone wishing to develop skills to better manage any stressful situation
Although course participation is often dominated by surfers and water based athletes, it is growing in popularity with the general populace, land based athletes and vocational specialists like first responders. This is due to its highly transferrable content and the focus on stress management and recovery, which is now attracting a very diverse range of people who undertake the Surf Apnea course. Our breath hold training is open to anyone who wishes to enroll, absorb the content and learn the tools critical to improving your breath hold, managing stress and improving survivability during intense situations and challenging environments.
Topics covered include: Breathing physiology, breath hold journey, nervous system function, stress / fear / threat responses, relaxation and focus techniques, Static and Dynamic water and land based drills, training methods and safety when training.
Easy to follow lessons
Our online learning material is adaptable to many different styles of learning.
The online course is delivered using a a progressive lesson framework and is designed to embrace all styles of learning (visual, auditory, kinesthetic , etc). It covers several topics using easy to understand language and nomenclature that can be easily contextualised to meet the needs of any participating cohort. The content emphasises what is essential to holding your breath and functioning during critical high stress underwater situations like surfing hold downs.
All of the above for a one time payment
The Lessons
Over the course duration (allow 10 hours to complete all the learning material and assessment requirements) participants receive information essential for dealing with sudden and intense situations such as surfing hold downs. The Surf Apnea Online training tool provides specific knowledge of what the body and mind go through when stressed (particularly underwater on a single breath).
Topics covered include:
Practical Drills
The practical drills are all scalable.
Prerequisite
To complete the pool based drills effectively and safely you will require the ability to swim 100m unassisted (body board fins can be worn if required).
The suggested age minimum for undertaking this training is 15 -18 years (with competent adult supervision). Or any adult 18+
Gear Required
Pulseoximeter
Comfortable attire
Water Safety
NOTE: Never undertake breath hold training in the water alone! No water based drill should be attempted with out the direct supervision of a competent buddy who is a responsible and competent adult.
Before undertaking any drills you will learn how to perform as a buddy and how to respond to in water emergencies like loss of motor control and black outs (although this training if conducted how we direct poses no more risk than normal freestyle lap swimming). The course content covers off on this information to ensure you have some preparedness should you ever encounter an unconscious person in the water).
Despite the element of perceived danger surrounding breath hold activities our training protocols are very safe and involve no more risk than conventional freestyle lap swimming. This is because we do not use hypoxia (Low O2) based drills. Instead we use hypercapnia (high CO2) to stimulate a strong urge to breath way before there is any risk of you lowering your oxygen levels to critical levels.
Start your breath hold journey today
Build a solid breath hold and increase your survivability