Bizo Silva is an Emergency Medicine physician practicing in a trauma center in Northern California, USA. He specialized in lung ultrasound in trauma. Bizo took part in much of the basic research and development of methods on how lung ultrasound is practiced today.  After working for a few years in a very busy trauma center in Brazil, he moved to the USA in 2007. He discovered freediving on a vacation to Hawaii, and shortly after decided to shift careers towards freediving medicine after he...

Alex Llinas is from Colombia and holds several national records. He dived his first 100m during competition at this years AIDA World Championships in Roatan. His story of spending years in immigration limbo, battling cancer and losing his father before going on to become a top freediving athlete is truly inspirational. In this episode we discuss: Alex is from Colombia About San Andres island, Colombia Then to life in Medellin. From Colombia to Charlotte, NC A slightly complicated...

Jani Valdivia is from Peru and is based in Tampa, Florida where he works as a neurosurgeon. He is also a member of the AIDA Medical Committee, President of AIDA Peru and a competitive freediver himself. He was first on the podcast on Episode #99 For freediving courses, coaching, podcasts and videos visit: https://freediveandthrive.com In this episode we discuss: Balancing life as a neurosurgeon and aspiring deep freediver. Training options in Florida. Getting ready for Vertical Blue...

Carlos Diezel is a freediving athlete from Brazil and manager of the world famous Dahab Freedivers school in Egypt. In this episode we discuss: Carlos is from Brazil. The underwater world of Brazil's coast. Discovering freediving at Julia Mouce's Apnea Bali, via Mike Board's Freedive Gili! Carlos is getting steadily deeper and loves depth Carlos is currently coached by Julia Mouce. The issue of diving for the numbers. Carlos did his last comp with a broken ankle! Discovering new layers of...

Rami Bladlav is a top level athlete in Static Apnea competing for Sweden. He is nearing the 10 minute breath-hold mark. Today we talk about his journey from Iraq, to Mixed Martial Arts, to his passion for long breath-holding performances.  In this episode we discuss: Rami is originally from Iraq, but grew up in Iran, then moved to Sweden at age 10/11 Rami started sport with football, then eventually mixed martial arts. What is it like to be a fighter? Rami's fighting history. Rami has two...

Guillaume Néry is one of the most iconic figures in the freediving world. A World Champion, world record achiever and a filmmaker who has introduced the underwater world and freediving to millions. In this episode we discuss: Guillaume grew up next to the sea in Nice, France. Does going naked in the bed improve breath hold ability? Meeting Claude Chapuis, his mentor. Remembering Loïc Leferme Pioneers of the freediving world. How were the big dives performed back in the day? Guillaume's...

Lily Crespy is a former molecular biologist turned freediving coach and instructor. She has represented France several times as an athlete in freediving competitions and is part-owner of the world famous Dahab Freedivers school. In this episode we discuss: Lily is from France. An accidental discovery of freediving, from pharmaceutical company to the ocean. Apnea Total on Koh Tao and a broken leg with a nice boy. Shout out to Julia Mouce at Apnea Bali. Shout out to JP from Freediving Planet...

Today we are joined by Croatian athlete Lidija Lijic.  Lidija is a 5 x world record holder, a World and European champion, a pilot, a climber, a mountaineer, an architect, a motivational speaker  and a Sea Shepherd ambassador.  The strength of the Croatian athletes in freediving is well known, Lidija is not an exception. We talked about her Jump Blue Days,  running up mountains with a snorkel in your mouth, an incredible project in the Himalayas with Vitomir Maricic, her love of sport...

Stig Severinsen has a degree in biology and a Ph.D. in medicine. He began experimenting with holding his breath as a child at the bottom of his parents’ pool. Stig has played underwater rugby at an elite level, he's been a freediving world record holder, he's broken a few Guinness world records, he was the first to break the 20m breath hold barrier on pure O2 among other feats of human endurance, and now he works on spreading the word about his system Breatheology, a set of tools and...

On today's show is Jennifer Wendland, Jennifer is a current World Record-holding freediver from Germany and unless anything has changed since we recorded this interview two months ago, currently holds all of the German national records, and has done for quite a long time! We talk about how she manages to balance training as a top-level athlete while working a regular human job, we compare athletes of other sports and talk about what challenges she faced over the years and how she overcame...

On today's show we are talking to Mr 10 minutes himself, Florian Dagoury.  Florian is  French freediver with more than 10 years experience in the sport and has reached in these last few years, the amazing performance of 10 minute in static apnea, his chosen discipline - a performance that very few in the world have achieved.  Florian is based in Thailand, from where he joins me today. We'll hear about his journey as a freediver, his work in Thailand with his school Blue Immersion and how...

Petar Klovar is a World Record breaking Croatian competitive freediver. In the 2022 CMAS World Championships he dived an incredible 92m in CNF (Constant Weight No Fins). In this episode we discuss: Is Croatia trying to take over the freediving world? Petar has gone from 70 to 90+ metres in 2 years of CNF!! He has a good background in swimming. Petar is from the coastal city of Rijeka in Croatia. Gym training for appearance and a spell in kickboxing. How has focusing on freediving affected...

On today's show we have a Freedive Cafe favourite returning to the show. Founder of Immersion Freediving and the Freedive Live Podcast, Ted Harty came back and we had a conversation sharing some of our experiences and advice regarding the instruction of freediving.  So this episode may offer up some helpful or insightful information for new or aspiring freediving instructors and my even hold a few gems for experienced instructors too. In this episode we discuss: Ted has moved to...

MT Solomons is a link to the early days of deep freediving before the modern competition era, along with her partner at the time Aharon Solomons they were there in the time of Pipin and Audrey, Umberto Pelizzari and Davide Carrera, a young Martin Stepanek was around, Kirk Crack, Tanya Streeter, a whole host of freediving royalty, a time when things were simpler in the world and also in freediving, when freediving was still very exploratory and deep diving logistics and training were being...

World Record Holder Vitomir Maričić returns to The Freedive Cafe to answer the legendary Training Talk questions! We also discuss his experiences with nitrogen narcosis and decompression illness. The Training Talk Questions are: What is your favourite freediving discipline and why?  Do you have a coach and who do you train with?  Do you periodise your training through the year?  What kind of dry training do you do? Do you have a dry EQ practice, if so, what kind of exercises? Describe your...

Originally aired on Thrivers Podcast exactly one year ago, in this fascinating interview we discuss James Nestor's latest book Breath: The New Science of a Lost Art. James Nestor originally appeared on episode #19 of The Freedive Café when we discussed his previous book Deep: Freediving, Renegade Science, and what the Ocean Tells Us about Ourselves. In this episode we discuss: How did the Coronavirus situation affect the release and promotion of the book? Was James nervous to go on Joe...

Chris McKay was Chief of Safety at the 2021 AIDA World Championships in Cyprus and runs Freedive Tulum in Mexico. In this episode we discuss: How was Chris' whole experience of the AIDA WC 2021 in Cyprus? Did the issue with Taiwan flag negatively affect the athletes? Chris is from Queensland in Australia. A start in freediving through spearfishing. Enjoying depth but not competing. Comparing freediving to climbing. Chris came from a safety and rescue training background, working in...

Tom Peled is a breath coach and freediving coach from Tel Aviv, Israel. Join us for this fascinating conversation on the power of the breath, working with trauma, helping athletes to their peak performance and much more. In this episode we discuss: Shout out to Madison and Alice Modolo Tom is from Tel Aviv, Israel He joined the Navy when he was 18 and eventually became a scuba instructor. Discussing the diving conditions off the coast of Israel. Did Tom get involved in the competitive...

Julia Mouce, Freedive Cafe favourite returns for her fourth appearance! Julia is the owner of Apnea Bali freediving school on the island of Bali, Indonesia and one of the most highly regarded professional freediving coaches in the world. Today we focus on the art of instructing freediving, from the beginning level, to coaching athletes at the top of their game. In this episode we discuss: Discussing the AIDA World Championships in Cyprus. Advice for instructors: Don't talk too...

Fatima Korok is a World Champion freediver from Hungary. She first appeared on the show on Episode #110 and now returns to dig deep into her training methods with a special Training Talk episode. The Training Talk questions are: What is your favourite freediving discipline and why? Do you have a coach and who do you train with? Do you periodise your training through the year? What kind of dry training do you do? Do you have a dry EQ practice, if so, what kind of exercises? Can you...

On today’s show we have another amazing girl joining us, you know the girls are really the ones leading the way in terms of exciting freediving these days, and Alice Modolo of France is no exception.  This year at the famous Vertical Blue competition she achieved the first ever 100m dive for a french female athlete and topped that off with a CMAS world record in CWT bifins with a dive to 95m.  Alice has had a long and interesting journey in freediving, at one point giving up the sport for...

Gary McGrath is and English competitive freediver. His first appearance was episode #109. This is a Training Talk episode. The Training Talk questions are: What is your favourite freediving discipline and why?  Do you have a coach and who do you train with?  Do you periodise your training through the year?  What kind of dry training do you do? Do you have a dry EQ practice, if so, what kind of exercises? Describe your favourite pool training sessions, if you train in the pool. How do you...

Claire Paris is  a competitive freediver and professor in the Department of Ocean Sciences at the University of Miami’s Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science. Her research is dedicated to biological oceanography and ocean conservation and we'll go into that in detail in the show. If you wanted to know how pelagic fish begin their lives or what the difference is between phytoplankton and zoo plankton and how important they both are to the health of the planet, you'll find that...

Tom Ardavany first contributed to the Vertical Blue medical team in 2012 and has been part of the team many times since then. He has also been present as a medic at many other top-level freediving competitions including Blue Element in Dominica. Tom is an expert in the field, and brilliantly educates us on everything from lung squeeze and athlete monitoring protocols as well as the unforeseen and strange situations that have taken him by surprise over the years. In this episode we...

Louisa Collyns hails from London but eventually found her way into the underwater world through scuba diving, and then, as so often happens, she met some freedivers and nothing was ever the same again. She has been involved in teaching freediving and being a safety diver at major competions for the best part of a decade and is also the founder of Freedive Ibiza, which has been providing freediving education on the beautiful Spanish island since 2015. In this episode we discuss: Louisa...