This freediving training plan is an 8-week block for spearfishers: three dry sessions a week plus an optional pool day, building CO₂ tolerance in weeks 1 to 4, deloading and re-testing in week 5, and adding O₂ work and in-water practice in weeks 6 to 8. It takes about 30 to 40 minutes a session and works around a normal job. Below is how it works, the full week-by-week plan, how to adjust it and how to track it.
How the plan works and who it is for
The plan is for spearos who can already dive comfortably to 5 to 10 metres and want more relaxed bottom time. It assumes no pool membership (the pool days are optional) and no coaching.
Each week has three kinds of dry session, which come from our Freediving Training for Spearfishing: The Complete Program:
- A (CO₂ day): warm-up, a CO₂ table, stretching. See our guide to CO₂ tables.
- B (active day): apnea walks and one relaxed static.
- C (O₂ or relax day): breathing and stretching in weeks 1 to 4, an O₂ table in weeks 6 to 8.
Before you start, after a full warm-up, do one calm dry static max lying down. That number sets your table holds. Space sessions with at least one day between A and C days, for example Monday (A), Wednesday (B), Friday (C).
Weeks 1–2: foundations and baseline
The goal is consistency and relaxation, not intensity.
| Session | Main set |
|---|---|
| A | CO₂ table: 6 holds at 40% of max, rests from 2:00 down to 1:15 |
| B | 4–6 apnea walks on a relaxed full breath; one static at 70% |
| C | 10-minute stretching routine + 5 minutes of slow breathing |
| Pool (optional) | Finning technique and 25 m easy swims with long rest |
Weeks 3–4: building CO₂ tolerance
Now the CO₂ work gets harder by cutting rest, not by lengthening holds.
| Session | Main set |
|---|---|
| A | CO₂ table: 8 holds at 50% of max, rests from 1:45 down to 0:30 |
| B | 6–8 apnea walks, recovery walk cut to 1.5× hold steps; one static at 75–80% |
| C | Stretching with uddiyana bandha + slow breathing |
| Pool (optional) | 25 m swims on 1:30 rest, 6–8 reps |
If you can't finish a CO₂ table calmly, repeat that week instead of moving on.
Week 5: deload and retest
Your body adapts during recovery, not during training. Week 5 halves the volume:
- Two easy sessions: relaxed breathing, stretching and a short, easy CO₂ table.
- At the end of the week, after a full warm-up, re-test your dry static max.
- Rebuild all table holds from the new number. Don't just add seconds to the old ones.
Weeks 6–8: O₂ work and translating to the water
| Session | Main set |
|---|---|
| A | CO₂ table: 8 holds at 50% of the new max, rests from 1:45 down to 0:30 |
| B | Passive exhale apnea walks (soft ground, spotter) + one static at 80% |
| C | O₂ table: 2:00 rests, holds rising from 50% to 80% of max over 8 rounds |
| Pool or sea | With a buddy: wet CO₂ intervals in the pool, or easy shore dives focusing on a slow kick and long waits at the bottom |
In week 8, swap the C session for a rest day before your first serious dive weekend. Use the dive to test the plan: relaxed bottom time and the feeling in the last ten seconds matter more than depth.
Adjusting the plan to your schedule and season
- Only two sessions a week? Keep A and B, and add the stretching to the end of each.
- Dive trip in the middle? Skip hard sessions for two days before and one day after, then pick up where you left off.
- In-season and diving every weekend? Drop to two dry sessions (A and C) and let the weekend dives be your B day.
- Off-season? Run the full plan, add the pool days and repeat the block with a new baseline.
- Sick or exhausted? Skip the session. Breath-hold training on a bad day teaches tension, not tolerance.
Our guide to how often to do CO₂ and O₂ tables explains the spacing rules behind these adjustments.
Tracking progress and generating your next block
Log every session: the table, your longest hold, apnea-walk step counts and one word for how it felt. At the end of the block, compare week 1 with week 8. Calmer is progress even when the numbers barely move.
When the block ends, start the next one from your new baseline, or shift the focus: more O₂ work if your CO₂ tolerance feels solid, more walks and pool work if you struggle while moving.
If you'd rather not build each block by hand, that's exactly what we built Spira for: it generates and times your CO₂ and O₂ tables from your max hold, and its premium AI weekly plans build the next week for you around your logged sessions. Get Spira free on Google Play (iOS coming soon), or see how it compares in our roundup of the best freediving training apps.
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