How to Equalise Like a Pro: A Beginner's Guide to Frenzel
22 August 2026 · Gus Kreivenas·1 min read
Almost every freediver hits the same wall in their first week of training: equalisation. Get it wrong and a dive ends at 5 metres with a sharp reminder in your ears. Get it right, and depth becomes a formality rather than a fight.
Why the Valsalva manoeuvre stops working
Most people learn to equalise on a plane by pinching their nose and blowing — the Valsalva manoeuvre. It works fine at shallow depth, but past 15-20 metres your lungs are compressed enough that you no longer have the air volume to force through your Eustachian tubes. You need a technique that doesn't rely on lung pressure at all.
The Frenzel technique
Frenzel uses the tongue and throat as a piston instead of the lungs. You close the glottis, trap a small pocket of air in the mouth and throat, and use the tongue to push it up into the Eustachian tubes. Because it doesn't draw from your lung volume, it keeps working all the way to depth.
Practising on dry land
Before ever testing this underwater, we get every student practising Frenzel dry, sitting upright, well before a session. A simple checkpoint: can you equalise sitting down, completely relaxed, without moving your jaw forward? If yes, you're ready to try it horizontal, then in the water in shallow depth with an instructor watching your technique.