Streamlining vs relaxed posture in freediving

If you have come to freediving from competitive swimming you are likely to hold a fairly rigid but extremely ‘aquadynamic’ pose whilst you are freediving. A pose which lets you cut through the water with minimum resistance.

This all makes sense when you first think about it, it certainly looks good as well, but is it the most efficient way to get to where you want to go?

I want to keep this article quite simple (not a full instructional post), because id like you to put forward your opinions too, so feel free to comment beneath!

For me, being relaxed is the most important thing and ill happily sacrifice some streamlining for less muscle tension. When doing dynamic apnea with bi-fins ill leave my arms by  my side. When doing constant weight diving ill also keep my arms by my side, but ill also relax my back and allow my body to find its natural posture.

Why do i do this?

In dynamic i want to avoid and extra tension in my arms.

In Constant weight i want to avoid any over stretching of the belly and chest which could lead to potential lung squeeze or other equalisation problems.

So. How do you approach the  posture vs streamlining debate?

Please comment below.