The man who needs no air. Aleix Segura about Freediving.

1. Do you remember how and when did you find out about freediving? What made you to start freediving? What were your 1st steps in this sport?

I started because of spearfishing, for me freediving is not only an abstract sport but also the athletic part of it’s main application, spearfishing, so it’s all the same thing to me. As a kid I used to go with friends to the beach in summer trying to go deeper and stay longer, so when we started spearfishing I found a motivation to work on it. Also, in high school I was in the basketball team and despite I liked it, individual sports fit me better and freediving joined all that. In 2011 I started competing in freediving and it helped me to improve and train. 15782533_10210650242066626_2030585707_n

2. What is your favourite discipline in freediving and which one you don’t like? And could you explain why?

My favourite discipline is static apnea, it’s the main basic skill and the most handy tool in all the other disciplines, plus it’s what I need the most in the sea for bottom waiting. I like all 6 AIDA athletic disciplines, that’s mainly it, and even the two sled disciplines are interesting as separate stunts. If I had to distinguish, I’d say I find more relevant static apnea, dynamic no fins and constant weight no fins, because all the others use tools which take the sport slightly away from the athletic basics and can also be upgraded, affecting the future performances and sometimes providing different chances to athletes. What I dislike is when other activities which are not about maximizing one single magnitude (time, distance or depth) are called to be included as apnea, but that’s another topic.

3. Tell please few words about your freediving trainings approach: How many times a week do you train? And do you have a fixed schedule or you just wake up in the morning, look into mirror and depending on your mood, body condition or weather decide what to do today? 15785480_10210650273747418_1994474281_o

Hah no, no, I work in a studio in front of the screen like most of people. I mainly train one hour per week mostly static with my club fellows of Cavalldemar in Barcelona, so I need to optimize my training a lot. Of course some weekends and on holidays I go spearfishing which is a great work out to combine with the pool training, and I do some running, cycling and stretching. That’s enough to keep a quite stable level and basement. Then when big competitions get closer I train more often so I increase the training load and consistency, add some dnf, etc, in a attempt to force a peak performance, fortunately usually helping me to improve a bit and be ready to ensure more my results.

4. And how often do you try something new in your freediving trainings?

I introduce small changes most of the time and pay attention to the influence of that isolate variable to work out some conclusion, once I reach it, I optimize or discard the change and move on with next potential improvement, and that can take just one day or some times months.

5. The next question – what makes you day after day to go to train in a pool/sea? What motivates you to train hard? How do you fight humans’ laziness?

I don’t train that much so usually I’m willing to train, also because apnea is not only competition for me; it’s also my preparation for spearfishing and not a sacrifice. When competition comes then I need to force myself to work more on it, but then improvement will and competitiveness gives me extra determination to reach results. 15748774_10210650387550263_712540590_o

6. Do you believe that some food products could influence the ability to equalize? Like gluten or lactose for example create more mucus which is not good for equalizing? Do you personally follow any diet?

I heard about these things and it’s not yet clear to me, I avoid lactose before freediving because of digestion, so I’m not sure about equalization. But I didn’t find any specific food influence on my equalization. I equalize easily hands free 0 to 50 or 60 m whatever I eat so maybe I’m not the best to test. When I have problems it’s in specific days from sinus related or other problems. I follow several nutrition rules based on a healthy diet; I need many calories so I like to control the quality of my intake source to keep general health. Then for competition I adjust not to have my stomach full, for fast digestion, for recovery and to respect my habits and avoid unexpected changes.

7. Let’s talk about money 🙂 Do you have any support from sports community of your country or may be some trade brand?

I have some sponsors which provide me with the best quality equipment, but I afford competitions by myself except those which are organized by the federation and I get qualified, in which fortunately I’m fully covered by FECDAS or FEDAS. I get financed with my job salary, and a bit from events and some workshops I do when people specifically ask me to, and all that at least gives me now the freedom not to depend all the time on others to go to competitions.

8. What about your targets in freediving? What would you like to achieve and how deep would you like to get?

I set no limits for myself, when I started I was thinking of 8 minutes and I beat that in my first national championship back in 2011, so that is now well behind and I don’t have a very limited period to perform so I have many years ahead to keep improving further. At the moment next step should be as usual to turn my training PB into a competition result, and then improve it over and over. Depth is something I like but I’ll keep being progressive and won’t try big numbers until I’ll be prepared when I have time.

9. What do you do except freediving? Do you have any hobbies? 15749004_10210650556954498_1492290990_o

My job is sometimes hard but I still like architecture, so it’s good to visit, look and learn from the places and buildings I go. But my spare time goes more into spearfishing, the most sportive, selective, responsible and sustainable way of fishing for the environment.

10. What would you advise to people, who just discovered this sport?

I’d suggest them to join a freediving club with training group; it’s a safe, cheap and useful way to progress.