The Art of No-Fins Freediving: An Interview with Wen Hsiang Huang
An interview from Pillar Three of The Depth Collector Book One on no-fins technique, muscular awareness, competition pressure, and the precision behind deep CNF diving.
This interview originally appeared in Pillar Three of The Depth Collector Book One, the section dedicated to CO₂ tolerance training. I am republishing it here as part of Depth Talks, a series of conversations with freedivers, coaches, and ocean people whose experience shaped the way I think about training, performance, and depth.
I had crossed paths with Wen Hsiang Huang many times before we really got to know each other. Usually, we exchanged a quick hello while setting up around the same mooring buoy, but my limited Mandarin never made deeper conversations particularly easy.
That changed when we traveled together to Roatán to prepare for Vertical Blue. As head coach, my job was to make sure the team was ready. Watching Wen Hsiang earn a bronze medal in constant weight no fins remains one of my favorite memories from that competition. And yes, I was very happy to be there shouting encouragement during his surface protocol.
Wen Hsiang has helped put no-fins freediving on the map in Taiwan, but what makes him exceptional is not simply his ability to dive deep. He combines the precision of an outstanding competitor with the curiosity and generosity of an excellent instructor.
His approach to no-fins diving is built on something many freedivers overlook: understanding exactly what the body is doing, recognizing when a movement becomes inefficient, and adjusting before that inefficiency becomes a problem.
In this conversation, we discuss how he discovered the discipline, how he developed his technique, what separates pool diving from deep CNF, and why muscular awareness may be one of the most valuable skills a freediver can develop.
In This Interview |
Discovering No-Fins Freediving
No-fins freediving is often considered the most challenging discipline in the sport. What motivated you to specialize in it?
Wen Hsiang: When I took my instructor course in Panglao five years ago, I did not meet any of the depth requirements. I returned to Taiwan determined to train, but the swimming pool near my home did not allow fins. So, at first, training no fins was not really a choice. It was simply what I could do.
What truly motivated me was my first experience at a competition, where I was working as a safety diver. I watched the Taiwanese no-fins champion complete a 121-meter DNF dive.
He was not physically bigger or stronger than me, and I remember thinking, “If he can do it, so can I.”
That was when I started training seriously with no fins, with one clear goal: I wanted that record.
Building Technique Through Experimentation
How has your training evolved, and what role does technical experimentation play in your development?
Wen Hsiang: When I started, I had no idea how to train properly, so I contacted Enzo, a well-known instructor in China. He gave me many swimming exercises and technical drills, although they were not specifically designed for dynamic no-fins.
I spent a lot of time swimming because it helped me develop the right muscular coordination and movement patterns. But when I started transferring those skills underwater, I encountered many problems.
For example, my buoyancy was not properly balanced, and I often ended up too close to the bottom of the pool. At the time, we didn't have the neck weights many divers use today.
I quickly realized that my technique needed much more work. I began filming my dives from different angles and comparing my movements with those of top athletes I found on YouTube. Then I started adjusting the details.
My technique is constantly evolving. I am always experimenting and looking for ways to improve it.
If I swim ten 50-meter repetitions, I don't necessarily perform all ten the same way. I might change my speed, rhythm, hand position, or leg movement. Each small adjustment teaches me something.
My technique also changes during the dive itself. I use different muscles and adjust the intensity depending on where I am in the dive.
Developing that level of control changed everything for me in deep diving.
The Pressure Behind a Record Attempt
What has been the most challenging dive of your no-fins career, and what made it so difficult?
Wen Hsiang: The most challenging dive was my 77-meter CNF attempt at Vertical Blue in 2023.
I had already reached 80 meters in training, but during the competition I wanted to break my continental record again. I wanted it so badly that I put too much pressure on myself.
You can try to tell yourself that the number does not matter, that success or failure is not important, and that the goal should not affect you. But the truth is that it does matter.
The desire to break a record is what motivated me to train so hard and dedicate so much time to the discipline.
Those goals mattered to me, and that made the dive much more mentally difficult.
Understanding Which Muscles You Use
Which muscles are most important during a CNF dive?
Wen Hsiang: For the upper body, the main areas are the shoulders, chest, and back.
During the arm stroke, I can shift the emphasis between different muscle groups depending on how I position my arms and how much force I want to produce.
For example, keeping the hands closer to the chest changes how the pectoral muscles contribute to the movement. Extending the arms differently can increase the back muscles' contribution.
The exact feeling depends on the individual and the movement, but the important point is that small technical adjustments change how the work is distributed.
Ultimately, it comes down to awareness and control.
Pool Technique vs. Deep CNF
What are the main differences between no-fins technique in the pool and no-fins technique in open water?
Wen Hsiang: A deep CNF dive requires a very specific strategy.
You have to decide how much energy you are willing to use to overcome positive buoyancy during the first part of the descent. Then you need to manage the deeper part of the dive carefully and make sure you still have enough energy to return to the surface.
The goal is to conserve energy without making the dive unnecessarily long. Finding that balance is essential.
In the pool, the strategy is different because the conditions remain more consistent. You can often maintain the same tempo until fatigue or the burning sensation in the muscles begins to build.
When that happens, you can adjust your speed or redistribute the effort between different muscle groups to make the movement more sustainable.
Strategy is important in both disciplines, but the specific decisions change. The number of movements you make, the rhythm you choose, and the speed you maintain all become increasingly important as your dives get longer or deeper.
The Mistake Experienced Freedivers Still Make
What common technical mistake do you see among experienced freedivers?
Wen Hsiang: The biggest mistake is that many divers do not pay enough attention to which muscles they are actually using.
They may know what the movement is supposed to look like, but they don't have enough awareness of how their body produces that movement.
When I come up from 80 meters, I can usually identify exactly which muscles are becoming tired and adjust my technique accordingly.
Of course, that ability comes from a great deal of training. But teaching has also helped me develop it.
When you teach, you have to look closely at what your students are doing and try to understand the real cause of their problems. I want my students to improve, so I spend a lot of time exploring why a movement is inefficient and how to correct it.
Very often, the problem comes back to the same thing: insufficient awareness and insufficient muscular control.
Technique Under Hypoxia
When hypoxia becomes a factor, can you still think clearly enough to switch between muscle groups?
Wen Hsiang: I train these adjustments so often that they become automatic.
I also visualize how to use each muscle when I mentally rehearse a dive.
By the time I am in the water, I do not want to be discovering what to do. The movement patterns and adjustments need to be familiar enough that they happen naturally.
How No-Fins Training Improves Other Disciplines
You are also an excellent free immersion diver. Has your no-fins training improved your performance in other disciplines?
Wen Hsiang: Yes. I have transferred much of the muscular awareness and control I developed through no-fins training into free immersion.
No-fins diving has also given me a lot of confidence.
If I know I can return from a very deep CNF dive using only my arms and legs, free immersion feels much easier by comparison.
Be Ambitious Enough to Try
What would you say to freedivers who admire your achievements and hope to follow a similar path?
Wen Hsiang: Do not be afraid to be ambitious.
If breaking records is your dream, do not be embarrassed to say it.
If that is what you want, go for it.
Technique Is Not Just What Your Dive Looks Like
What I find most interesting about Wen Hsiang’s approach is that he does not treat technique as something fixed.
For many freedivers, technical training means learning the correct movement and repeating it until it looks clean. Wen Hsiang goes further. He wants to understand which muscles produce the movement, how the effort changes throughout the dive, and what to adjust when fatigue begins to appear.
That is a very different level of awareness.
A diver can look smooth from the surface and still be wasting energy underwater. Another diver might produce a movement that looks almost identical but distribute the effort more efficiently, maintain better control, and preserve the resources needed for the ascent.
The difference is not always visible in a photograph or a short video. It is found in the details: rhythm, timing, muscle recruitment, buoyancy management, and the ability to adapt when the dive stops feeling easy.
This is also why filming yourself, experimenting with small adjustments, and reviewing your dives can be so valuable. Technical progress does not always come from swimming farther or diving deeper. Sometimes it comes from understanding one movement more clearly.
Wen Hsiang’s story reminds us that exceptional performance is not built only on talent, strength, or ambition.
It is built on attention.
The kind of attention that allows an athlete to feel what the body is doing, recognize what needs to change, and keep refining the movement long after everyone else thinks it already looks good.
Connect with Wen Hsiang
Wen Hsiang is not only an incredible athlete, but also an exceptional instructor with a deep understanding of technique and performance. If you want to follow his training, learn from his approach, or work with him directly, you can find him on Instagram. He also offers personalized coaching for both depth and pool freediving.
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hws0321/
Further Reading
If you want to go deeper into freediving technique, movement efficiency, hydrodynamics, freefall, and the small details that make a dive cleaner and more economical, have a look at my book The Perfect Dive: Freediving Technique, Hydrodynamics, and Movement Efficiency.
It is about learning to waste less, move better, and understand exactly where efficiency is won or lost during a dive.
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