Tom Sietas is from Germany, and is a bit of a legend in the freediving community, best know for his epicly long static times and numerous German and world records in that discipline, as well as his world records done breathing up on pure oxygen, and we’ll hear all about that in this episode, how he trained for all that and what his thoughts are about many various aspects of freediving.

In this episode we discuss:

Tom’s background and discovery of the freediving world.
Early Hamburg freediving scene.
How did Tom come to focus on pool and static disciplines?
Frequent lung squeezes and possible causes.
Could smoking cigarettes make one more susceptible to lung barotrauma problems?
How was Tom’s breath-hold and lung capacity in the beginning?
The progression of his breath-hold and records over time.
What did Tom focus on when training?
Patreon questions from Matt Malina.
How many breath-holds in a training session and warm ups or no warm ups?
What are Tom’s thoughts on fasting?
Does Tom plan to compete again?
About the David Blane pure oxygen static record and Tom’s taking of the record.
Why do static with pure oxygen?
Where does Tom go in his mind during one of these incredibly long breath-holds?
Lying down or sitting up?
Tom’s interests outside of freediving.
Is endurance training bad for freediving?
A Patreon question from Matthia Goteburg about fun training sessions.
Safety and risk in freediving and the case of Willi Hoffmann.
Which people have been most influential in his freediving career?
What kind of system did Tom use in his breathe-up?
Similarities between climbing and freediving.

Tom’s Links:

Tom’s Facebook