Why Mouthfill Is The Fucking Absolute Best?
- Anthony Feoutis
- Jul 29
- 3 min read
Updated: Jul 31
In memory of Andrea Zuccari (October 26, 1974 – August 2023), a true master of equalization, whose passion, humility, and precision continue to inspire us all.
Equalization didn’t come easily to me. I had to grind through hours of dry drills, awkward mirror sessions, and countless dives before it finally started to make sense. I wasn’t a natural, far from it. And maybe that’s what made every single centimeter down the line feel truly earned and deserved.
Mouthfill is this game-changing equalization technique everyone’s talking about. It almost sounds like a magic pill. Take it, and suddenly the path to depth is wide open. No more equalization issues. Abracadabra.
Sure, if you're aiming to go deep, and I mean really deep, then you absolutely need this skill in your toolbox.
But in reality, it’s anything but magical. It takes hard work, precision, and control to make it work all the way to the bottom.
The Mouthfill: Freediving’s Quiet Revolution
Every beginner freediver hits a wall.
Around 30 to 40 meters, your lungs are so compressed that pulling air up to your mouth to equalize becomes nearly impossible. You strain. You reverse pack. You fight. But eventually, the air just doesn’t come up.
That’s the failure depth.
Before the year 2000, this was the hard stop for many deep divers. A few depth explorers forced their way beyond it, stretching almost to the breaking point, mastering the art of reverse packing, and muscling through pressure with pure determination. However, even the best struggled to surpass 80 meters. The body could only do so much.
Physics doesn’t care how bad you want it.
And then something changed.
In the cold waters of Alouette Lake, Canada, a young freediver and engineering physicist named Eric Fattah asked a better question:
"What if you didn’t wait until it was too late to bring air into your mouth?"
What if you filled your mouth early in the dive, locked that air in, and used only that for equalization?
That was the beginning of the mouthfill.
What It Is
The idea is brutally simple:
Charge your mouth with air between 10 and 25 meters. Seal the glottis. Hold it.
From that point on, regarding your Ears, your lungs are out of the equation.
Equalization is now a matter of air management. You guide the stored air with your cheeks, tongue, and throat, slowly, precisely, into your Eustachian tubes as you descend. You just work with what you brought.
It works because the deeper you go, the smaller the pressure change per meter becomes. A single, well-timed mouthfill can carry you far, if you don’t waste it.
What It Changed
Fattah tested the technique in early 2000. Like everyone else, he lost it at first. Swallowed. Leaked. Mismanaged. But he trained. Refined. Repeated.
And in August 2001, he dove to 82 meters, setting a new world record, the first ever achieved with a mouthfill.
Today, it’s the gold standard for deep diving. If you’ve seen anyone go past 100 meters, chances are, they got there using this technique.
Molchanov. Artnik. Klovar. Zecchini. Guignes. Different bodies, different styles, but the same solution.
Why Mouthfill Is The Fucking Absolute Best?
The mouthfill isn’t just a technique. Mouthfill Is The Fucking Absolute Best. It’s an answer to a problem that once looked unsolvable.
It’s what happens when someone refuses to accept a limit.
Fattah didn’t stop at the mouthfill. He gave us fluid goggles. Developed freediving decompression models, invented the lanyard, and the counterballast.
He looked at the edge, and instead of backing off, he redrew the map.
That mindset is what matters.
This sport is young. Many of the tools and ideas we use today were born in the last two decades. So if you’re stuck, at 25 meters, at 60, with a soft palate issue or a stuck Eustachian tube, remember where you come from.
You don’t need to push harder. You need to think sharper. You don’t need to fight physics. You need to understand it.
The next breakthrough might not be in your diaphragm. It might be in your awareness, your patience, your willingness to look at your limits and say:
Not yet.
The mouthfill was one man’s solution. What’s yours?
To be continued…
If what you’ve just read sparked your curiosity, know this: it’s just a ripple on the surface. The Depth Collector series plunges deep into this pillar, uncovering layers of insights, lessons, and practical tools to refine your freediving journey.
And it doesn’t stop here. The series explores all eight foundational pillars, packed with everything from mental hacks to sport nutrition, breathing techniques, training plans, and more.
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