Breathing rate help ?

[50BarBill]

I’m a new diver, and I’m getting around 30min dives out of a 15L when averaging around 14m on dives. Is there any kind of exercises I can do to improve this ? Or is it just experience thing ?
Thanks guys.

 

[Blackcrusader]

I’m a new diver, and I’m getting around 30min dives out of a 15L when averaging around 14m on dives. Is there any kind of exercises I can do to improve this ? Or is it just experience thing ?
Thanks guys.

Diving conditions can affect gas consumption. Cold water can be an issue. Are you in a dry suit? Also I see you only have a few dives. On a very good slow dive with little or no current I can get a 90 minute dive on an AL80 with average depth 14m and finishing with 50 bar starting with 210 bar. It's rare to get such a perfect dive.

It's also a very slow dive speed and almost no movement. But that's in south east asia in warm water. It takes a lot of diving to get to know yourself and how to get really relaxed on dives. BTW I am a large chap 300 pounds 6 foot 1 tall. But I am old and wise in the ways of being good on gas after 40 years of diving.

When I was new to diving I really had no idea what my gas consumption was like.

 

[Blackcrusader]

My buddy took this video of me in Indonesia on a manta dive in Lombok. I am just floating but as I am not moving I noticed in this 17 second clip I have also not exhaled. I tend to breathe every 20 seconds or so when like this on dives.

Maybe have someone video you as you dive so you can see yourself and watch your bubble trails. In the second video a DM took a video of me diving and you can see my breathing compared to the other divers behind me.

 

[Blackcrusader]

Mastering buoyancy is also critical. Trim also important.

 

[NothingClever]

Refrain from arm and hand swimming.

Focus on cardiovascular fitness to ensure efficient perfusion (absorption) of O2.

Relax your breathing.

Look more, swim less.

Use a frog kick, much more efficient propulsion.

Read the bazillions of threads and posts here on ScubaBoard that examine this topic.

Have fun during your 30 minutes and don’t worry about ending before others, just tune into yourself and enjoy the experience. You’ll get where you want to be with time. Everybody else went through the same experience you’re going through.

 

[inquis]

Many new divers are angled feet-down rather than horizontal. Every kick wants to move them upward, so they naturally compensate by being a bit negatively buoyant. Unfortunately, they then have to constantly kick to avoid sinking, with a corresponding hit to their gas usage.

When angled flat, they can kick softer (for a given speed) or not at all if they're stationary. Air consumption goes down.

Have a buddy angle their arm to match the angle of your tank to see if this might be the case for you. If so, then shifting some lead higher (e.g., into trim pockets) will help balance you.

Avoiding excess weight also helps. New divers are often anxious and do not exhale fully. As they grow more comfortable, they can often shed some lead.

 

[FishWatcher747]

Instead of focusing on your breathing or your breathing rate which is more of a brainstem function, aspire to be able to hover without movement.

To hover requires you to think of how to do it. As @inquis stated you need to adjust your weight distribution to match your center of buoyancy with your center of mass. For most wetsuit divers this means getting weight over your lungs like in trim pockets and away from your waist.

 

[50BarBill]

My buddy took this video of me in Indonesia on a manta dive in Lombok. I am just floating but as I am not moving I noticed in this 17 second clip I have also not exhaled. I tend to breathe every 20 seconds or so when like this on dives.

Maybe have someone video you as you dive so you can see yourself and watch your bubble trails. In the second video a DM took a video of me diving and you can see my breathing compared to the other divers behind me.

I am in a drysuit yes. I want to work on my trim to have that lay down L posture to frog kick, but i feel like naturally my legs want to be straight out ? Also to note I am 6ft 4 and 90kg so that may be a factor.
Thanks for all the info

 

[Reefy]

The better your trim, buoyancy, and finning technique, the better your air consumption will inevitably be.

Every bit of excessive movement- be it hand-swimming, erroneous finning, constantly having to reach up to dump air from your BCD, etc- requires energy, which in turn means you will breathe quicker. If you can, try to focus on only making deliberate movements. Work on developing a good frog kick, and treat every dive as an opportunity to consciously monitor and practice both your finning, horizontal trim, and buoyancy.

Above the surface, any sort of routine cardiovascular exercise should help over time.

Like any other skill, practice makes perfect. Not to mention, as you spend more time in the water, you will also inherently become more comfortable, which in turn will help your breathing rate as well. Good luck!

 

[Rob9876]

I’m a new diver, and I’m getting around 30min dives out of a 15L when averaging around 14m on dives. Is there any kind of exercises I can do to improve this ? Or is it just experience thing ?
Thanks guys.

In addition to what the others have said about getting buoyancy right so that you can hover without feeling the need to kick, and also trying not to use your arms (sculling), one thing that helped me get better on air/gas is to consciously think about breathing in for 4 seconds and breathing out for 6 seconds (usually just counting 1-Missisippi, 2-Mississippi, .... etc. in my head). While at first this sounds like a pain, breath control can actually be a bit relaxing (think of meditation/yoga) and now I kind of do it automatically. You can change the 4 and 6 seconds if need be, but being mindful is a big part of the improvement.

I'm a big guy and this helped me a lot. Over time I went from using 100cf tanks to using 80cf tanks and being one of the last guys to need to surface. Also diving as much as possible (even in quarries or pools) will help you be more comfortable in the water, which is a big part of the equation.