Robert King spent most of his professional career as a corporate lawyer in California's Silicon Valley, knocking out 60-hour work weeks and skipping exercise. But these days, King, 45, is on sabbatical, having moved cross-country to Miami Beach, trading wingtips for swim fins and board meetings for pool workouts.

At the moment, King is the United States' top breath-hold diver, holder of three U.S. records sanctioned by the U.S. Apnea Association. He's preparing to compete in an international freediving competition in Dahab, Egypt, in September and, after that, to represent the United States at the AIDA world championships in November and December on Long Island, Bahamas.

``The main reason I compete is to test myself,'' King said. ``It's a neat sport in that age is not a drawback. Some of the top freedivers in the world are in their 40s and 50s.''

King has enjoyed watery playgrounds since he was a child in Michigan -- sailing, scuba diving and swimming. In 2003, he signed up for a freediving course taught by world champion Martin Stepanek, who runs a popular school in Fort Lauderdale. Three years later, Stepanek convinced him to compete.

``He's an exceptional diver. Very successful,'' Stepanek said.

Mentored by Stepanek and coached by William Winram of Switzerland, King holds U.S. records in three freediving disciplines.

He has plunged to 272 feet in the constant weight category where the diver takes a breath and swims down wearing mask, fins and weight belt; 180 feet in constant weight without fins; and 269 feet in free immersion, where the diver pulls himself down and up a rope with no fins.

King acknowledges he is not nearly as skilled as Stepanek, who last spring became the first man to dive to 400 feet in the constant weight category during a world-record competition in Egypt's Red Sea.

``For me, to compete against Martin is like an average basketball player trying to compete against Michael Jordan or LeBron James,'' King said. ``I don't see myself competing against Martin, but following in his footsteps in a smaller way.''

To get ready for September's Triple Depth competition, King spends up to four hours a day, six days a week, swimming, working out at the gym and doing yoga.

But he does not practice holding his breath in the water; instead, he does it on the couch in his living room because it's safer and easier.

``I don't do breath-hold stuff in the water a lot,'' he said. ``You don't really have to.

``Never hold your breath in the water without a trained supervisor.''

His goal is to train hard enough so that he won't reach his anaerobic threshold during competitions.

``You have to adapt your body to low levels of oxygen and high levels of carbon dioxide,'' he said.

When competing, King said, he is careful to breathe pure oxygen after diving below 245 feet to ward off decompression sickness -- ``the bends'' -- and embolism. Previously, those hazards were thought to apply solely to scuba divers because the compressed air they breathe contains nitrogen. But it also can happen to breath-hold divers at extreme depths.

``It's something we've learned about the sport through trial and error,'' King said.

Following the worlds in December, King plans to enter a master's degree program in finance and resume his business career. But he still will practice his favorite sport for fun and fitness.

``The same kind of people get into freediving as do triathlons,'' he said.

``This is my reason to get off the couch and start training and exercising.''

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