Tandem Skydiving: How to Mentally & Physically Prepare for Your First Jump

If you're the straight-A-student type, you never walk into a new situation without feeling prepared. We understand! There's no doubt about it: Tandem skydiving is better when you approach it with a sense of personal readiness. Here's a hot tip for your cheat sheet, too: When you understand that a tandem skydive is an opportunity to put your best foot forward in a totally unfamiliar situation, it can be seen as a chance to get better at life in general. And that's right up your alley, isn't it?

Work your sports nutrition knowledge.

Let's get this out of the way first: Would you drink alcohol before a track meet? Of course not. Don't drink before your skydive, either! If you show up with any alcohol in your system, you won't need to worry about the butterflies you just drowned in your tummy, because no jump is going to happen. For all the reasons you already know, we don't allow any alcohol consumption previous to a skydive. (Another word to the wise: A hangover is a terrible, terrible thing to bring on a skydive, so don't arrive with one of those, either.)

On the other hand, you do need to drink something. Make sure you arrive hydrated for your jump so that you're functioning optimally as you're undergoing ground school, waiting for your load and swirling up to altitude in that airplane.

Food counts for a lot, too. Make sure that you eat a nutritious meal of moderate size beforehand. Your adrenaline is going to need energy in order to flow! Eating clean and moderately will keep your blood sugar stable, prevent queasiness and make sure you're comfortable enough to be fully mentally present for your jump.

Feed your head, too.

Your desire to skydive is likely driven by deep curiosity, and know this: Curiosity is a hungry beast that needs to feed on a hearty helping of knowledge. To help you feel more in control and calm your nerves, look to the data from the United States Parachute Association, an organizational body that has been collecting statistics on skydiving since the middle of the last century. As you can see right here for yourself, making a skydive is actually safer than commuting to work. Wow, right?! We fully agree that skydiving is by its very nature a dangerous sport--but it can be done safely.

Don't stop your search for knowledge where Google leaves off. Ask us! We're happy to answer any questions you may have.

Count those sheep.

It is here that we'll ask you to remember to turn on your alarm clock and pull that eye mask down over your sleepy peepers. We've been facilitating beautiful tandem skydiving moments for many, many years, and over the course of that time we've learned that the happiest students are the ones who prioritized their beauty sleep the night before. These well-rested students are able to retain the brief tandem skydiving education we pass along to them; therefore, they're better able to follow instructions, smile for the camera and be present in the (jaw-dropping) moment.

Sweet dreams of blue skies, dear reader! We can promise you that we'll do our best to make them all come true tomorrow!