Herbert Nitsch

This lecture is about the professional approach of an airline pilot and professional freediver applied to business.

Herbert shares how to book results in areas none have ventured before. He learned that by taking and weighing calculated risks, one can achieve extraordinary goals.

Managing stress is one of the most important factors in achieving exceptional results. Herbert recognized how these mechanisms work within the human body and mind.

This lecture focusses on the deepest and most extreme of all freediving disciplines: No Limit. With a weighted sled without any propulsion, of his own design, Herbert ventured to a new world record depth. This lecture explains what happens to the body and mind at depth and how the deepest dive to 253m/830ft was possible.
He also reveals why this dive was followed by severe decompression sickness, and how he fought back from being a wheelchair-bound patient to becoming an elite freediver again.

There is no limit in achieving anything in life and in business when using innovative ways to be better than the competition. As a freediver Herbert is known to be an independent thinker and pioneer. His background as airline pilot and yachtsman add to his ability to “think out of the box” and to pursue a route that differs from the norm.
Herbert understands what it takes to self-motivate and succeed regardless of the circumstances and environment, and how to outsmart the competition. “When you use methods and techniques that others have applied before, you can only be as good as those others. Therefore change course, learn, listen and innovate.”

Herbert tells his story about freediving, both as a competition discipline and as a hobby for everyone. He explains how anyone can learn to double his breath hold time within a week, and how to efficiently prepare your body to adapt for depth. He explains how he has mastered all of the freediving disciplines, and how  he set world records in all of them (an unrivaled accomplishment).
His world wide travels and dives in many oceans made Herbert aware that the ocean deserves more respect than it gets. He follows his passion to conserve the seven seas by being an Advisory Board Member of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society.

As an airline pilot and elite freediver, Herbert learned that there is no place for a weak link, as it may be fatal. Since a team is only as strong as its weakest link, each team-member is an important part of the whole.
It is of great essence to constantly fine-tune a team to function in perfect symbiosis. Putting people in the right position, keeping them alert, trained, and encouraged is the core of a winning team.

By understanding the body’s physiology you can influence its systems and functions, and push physical boundaries further. Herbert can explain how to manipulate body functions, such as blood pressure, heart rate, breath-hold time, and how to instigate the dive reflex prior to a deep dive.
He describes how to increase one’s lung volume substantially, and how to withstand extreme pressure at great depth. Herbert has healed himself of chronic bronchitis and asthma through a self-designed pulmonary depth training. He has overcome severe physical challenges related to decompression sickness incurred after his last No Limit world record to 253m/830ft. He was doomed to remain “a wheelchair bound basket case”, but fought back against all odds, and is now fit and deep freediving in the oceans again.