When choosing who to learn freediving from, your top consideration should be which instructor is competent and a good fit for you. For example, I provide customized freedive courses with a low student count, so if that's your thing, we're perfect. Or perhaps I'm more relatable to you as I am a middle-aged, former white-collar dude.  (Side note: Check out my podcast episode "How to Choose a Freedive Course)

A secondary consideration should be from which freediving certifying agency to learn. There are some 10+ certifying agencies worldwide, and they all have positives and negatives. For example, AIDA is the biggest, most recognized, and earliest freedive agency. PADI has high brand recognition. While some certifying agencies are more prevalent depending on your region, PFI and FII are the most popular freediving agencies in the US. At the same time, AIDA is very popular in Taiwan and Europe. Choosing a freedive agency was one of the most confusing topics I had to get my head around when selecting a freedive course.

Even though I am certified by PADI, AIDA, and Molchanovs to teach freediving, I strongly encourage my students to learn from the Molchanovs education system. And here's why....

Top Freedivers

Some of the top freedive competitors and educators started and advise the Molchanovs educational system. Names like Alexey Molchanov, (the deepest man on the planet), Adam Stern, the top Australian freediver/YouTube personality, and Oli Christen (former AIDA head of education).

Lower First Level Requirements

Some of the requirements of other agencies are quite high for the first level.  I feel lowering them to a more reasonable level would take nothing away from the safety, skill acquisition and enjoyment of freediving yet will increase your chances of getting certified, which would boost confidence and come out of the course with a positive experience.

Molchanovs has slightly lower requirements for the first level compared to most of the other agencies. For example, the static breath hold is 1.5 minutes vs. 2 minutes for many agencies. I actually failed my breath hold performance test as I could not get to the 2 minutes (I could only get to 1:45 min) and had to return a month later to pass that portion.

This is for the first level only though. Once you get to the second and third levels, the performance requirements are comparable to other agencies with the added discipline of no fins requirements (diving down without the assistance of fins or a rope).

Small and Nimble

Freediving is an ever-evolving new sport in terms of best practices, technique, science, and safety. Smaller organizations like Molchanovs are better at disseminating this information, changing standards, and adapting to a new environment. For example, when COVID-19 hit and much of the world could not go out and freedive, the agency quickly organized to hold regular webinars, online dry training, and dry breath-holding challenges to help students continue to train and gain knowledge out of the water.   

Community

Once you are in the Molchanovs system, you are in a social network where you can find other Molchanovs qualified freedivers where you live or traveling to find dive buddies.

Training

One of the shortfalls of many of the freediving agencies is "WHAT DO I DO BETWEEN EACH COURSE or WHEN I FINISH A COURSE" - Molchanovs offers base training programs in the pool, on dry land, and equalization, mental and breathing workouts so you can continue to train on your own (with a buddy in water, of course) which you can access online.

Online Theory Course

Theory classroom sessions and tests can all be done online; therefore, all our time together can be spent in the pool or open water. You don't want to travel to a small tropical island and spend time indoors in a classroom setting.

Mental

The system has much more emphasis on the mental and relaxation methods of freediving. Ask any advanced freediver and they will tell you this is the most important aspect of improving your freediving. There are also online mental exercise programs available through the base training program.  

No Fins - Purest Form of Freediving

I hope that helps explain why I think Molchonovs is the best choice for a freediving agency for a beginner freediver. To find a Molchanovs instructor near you, follow this link. If you ever come to Xiaoliuqiu, check out this guide to help you plan your travel here, and look me up when you come here.

If you want to learn more about freediving, check out my free "Intro to Freediving" online course, my "Total Beginner Freediving" podcast, or download my Freedive FAQ E-book. Navigating the information online when I was a total beginner was difficult, so I made it my mission to make it easier to learn what you need about freediving before taking a freedive course with these.

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