Interview with Yannik Lanz - The Free Dive Newcomer from Switzerland

Yannik Lanz is a 17 years old free dive newcomer from Switzerland. Before the Hydro Dynamic Austrian Championship, I had the opportunity to ask him some questions about free diving, which I'd like to share with you now.

Yannik Lanz is using Apnea Trainer

Apnea Trainer: When did you first start apnea diving and what got you into this world?

I have started competitive training a year ago. Before free diving I had tried scuba diving, but it wasn't comfortable diving with a heavy tank, a jacked and all these scuba equipment. It just doesn't felt right. This brought me to snorkeling again and I figured out the amazing feeling diving down into the deep with nothing but your mask and fins.

Apnea Trainer: Which apnea discipline is your favorite and what is your personal record?

Constant Weight and Dynamic. My personal best in Constant Weight is 44 meters (144 feet) but if I have the possibility to train this year in the sea again I will exceed 50 meters (164 feet) without problems. In Dynamic my personal best is 111 meters (364 feet). With Static I have my ups and downs, sometimes I like it and sometimes I hate it, but my personal best is 4:40.

Apnea Trainer: What does your weekly training look like?

Usually I do my apnea workout twice a week. It starts with a warm up session in the pool, where I'm doing a static CO2 or O2 program but I also recommend to start with just two warm up dives. After the static part I switch to dynamic, that means doing something like diving 50 meters having a 30 seconds recovery break and dive 50 meters again. I repeat this 10 times minimum. In summer I train deep diving in lakes every other day. After two warm up dives I move on with a few deep ones, but it's not all about breaking the barriers. It's more about having fun and doing what you love to do. So there are a lot of training possibilities.

Apnea Trainer: What do you prefer, diving in fresh water or salt water?

I prefer fresh water, but I think I‘m the only free diver who does this. I like to be alone down there but in the sea you have a visibility of 20 meters or even more so it takes longer until you are alone. In a lake you have about 4 meters visibility. Also it's getting dark beyond 25 meters, the sea not. But if I dive deeper then 40 meters I prefer the sea. So it depends.

Apnea Trainer: You are using Apnea Trainer by yourself. What do you think, how long can a beginner expect to improve the apnea breathing time in two weeks?

It‘s realistic to say you can improve your apnea time twice, maybe even more in the first few trainings. It‘s very important to inhale first in the stomach and then in the lung. Do it reverse when exhaling.

Apnea Trainer: Breathing exercises are not the only recommended training. What is you personal advice to the Apnea Trainer users?

Apnea Trainer is a really good tool for beginners! It gives you the instructions for the breathing technique, which I use on EVERY preparation. It's the 6-6-12-6 pranayama mode. You can use this in every discipline. A beginner learns with this app the most important thing in free diving: a good pre-dive breathing technique.

So with this breathing technique you just have to be enough relaxed and then you will reach surprising results for sure. When you do your final breath let yourself time and inhale as much air as you can. I need for a full breath of air in Static about 20 seconds. Relaxation and good breathing technique is the key for a nice dive. This app makes one of these two things for me, so I'm able to focus on relaxing, instead of counting the seconds.

2012-11-09