Why the Valsalva method from scuba diving fails in freediving, and how the Frenzel technique equalizes your ears with your tongue, not your lungs.
The honest answer first: the equalizing technique many know from scuba diving won't take you far in freediving. With the Valsalva maneuver, you use your abdominal and chest muscles to push air from your lungs into your ears — that works fine at the surface, but gets harder with every meter of depth because your lungs keep shrinking under pressure.
That's why freedivers rely on the Frenzel technique: you use the muscles at the base of your tongue to push a small pocket of air from your mouth toward your middle ear — like a small piston pump behind your tongue, independent of how much air is left in your lungs. Because it doesn't depend on lung volume, Frenzel works reliably down to 25 to 30 meters and, with training, well beyond — Valsalva hits its limits long before that.
The difference is more than technical cosmetics. With Frenzel, your chest and abdomen stay relaxed while you equalize — exactly the muscles you want to spare for your single breath. With Valsalva, you actively press, which costs energy and therefore oxygen you need down below. A detail that barely registers in scuba diving becomes the decisive factor in freediving.
Equalizing is also not a one-time action but a rhythm: start early, repeat often. Already at the surface, before your first meter of depth, you equalize for the first time — then again every one to two meters, gently and without force. Train Smart. Play Hard. — for your ears that means: better to equalize too often than once too late.
With Frenzel, you close your glottis, keep nose and mouth shut, and use the base of your tongue to push the small pocket of air in your mouth toward your ears. Your lungs stay completely out of it — that's the decisive difference from Valsalva.
Before you get in the water, isolate the movement: pinch your nose, close your mouth, and "swallow" with your tongue without drawing air from your lungs. Many beginners need weeks before the feeling clicks.
Start equalizing already at the surface, before you even descend. Repeat every one to two meters — never wait until you feel pressure or pain, by then it's often too late for a gentle equalization.
That's exactly the advantage of Frenzel: shoulders, neck and abdomen stay loose while only your tongue muscles work. Tension elsewhere in the body burns oxygen you need for depth.
Practice Frenzel first in shallow water, where mistakes are harmless. Only once the equalization sits reliably do you go meter by meter deeper — rushing only produces frustration and, in the worst case, an injured eardrum.
Forcing an equalization through pain can injure the eardrum or cause a "reverse block", where air can no longer escape on the way up. If the pain doesn't clear immediately, don't go deeper — ascend a little instead and try again.
Never practice the technique under time pressure or in competition with others. Equalizing problems are the most common reason to abort a dive in a controlled manner — that's not failure, that's correct behavior.
Practice Frenzel entirely dry on the couch, days before you even get in the water. Once you've mastered the tongue mechanism on land, all that's left in the water is connecting it to your equalizing rhythm — that saves weeks of frustration in the pool.
Because Valsalva uses air from your lungs, and your lungs compress under pressure with every meter of depth. Past a certain depth, you simply run out of lung volume to build enough pressure — Frenzel, by contrast, only needs a small pocket of air in your mouth.
It varies a lot — some need days, others weeks to months before the tongue feel clicks. Dry practice on land speeds up the process significantly because you can focus entirely on the mechanism.
As a rule of thumb, every one to two meters, starting already at the surface. Never wait until you feel pressure — by then you're already behind and risk pain or injury.
Stop your descent immediately and ascend a little instead of forcing it. Forcing an equalization through pain can damage the eardrum — an aborted dive is always better than an injury.
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