Tips for a heavy breather

[tedj01]

Two tips. I have always heard that diving is a thinking man's sport (read man as person). Prove it by thinking.

1. Get in water - pool is fine. Lay on bottom for extended periods and practice breathing - alternate with buoyancy practice. After a while of laying on bottom and having gotten as close to perfectly neutral as possible. Swim around maintaining depth and not using B/C to adjust buoyancy. First slow and easy. Later work hard at swimming maintaining depth and not using B/C to adjust buoyancy. Got back to laying on bottom practicing breathing and think about what happened. Repeat as necessary. Do as many in-water sessions as required. Add other skills such as mask clearing, reg recovery, etc. and notice effect. Think and learn to make adjustments. This is extremely boring for most people, but remember what your goal is.

2. Works easier done at depths of least 60 feet; but does work a shallower depths. Plan this before dive. Just dive as normal. Get buddy to watch how you are diving and to tell you when to look. Look at your bubbles in water column - compare to other divers; try to find someone with good air consumption to use as a control, if possible. Again do this in various type of swimming conditions. Buddy is trying to show you how you are breathing when you are not paying attention aka surprise you. If you are able to surprise yourself and observe breathing pattern in water column. Again like in #1 think about breathing and conditions. Think and learn to make adjustments. For example, one good one to think about is do I really have to be swimming as hard as I am, if I have 10 different exhalations visible in the water column at one time???? Sometimes you do, but not always.

ps., Like a boat captain once warned me - I can never look at the coffee cup full of coffee without spilling it when walking. So I try not to look.

 

[STOGEY]

Hey I do a lot of swimming when I'm not diving. So sometimes when I first started diving it was like I was treating a dive like a workout. My breathing rate was high. So I started to treat my dive as other then a workout and started to relax. My breathing rate became much better.

 

[beester]

As already said by many you have to try to avoid the following...:

1) Be a small, slim female. Today I did a dive with an experienced small slim woman. After a 100 feet 60 min dive her consumption was about 40% less than mine. Obviously if you are a big guy becoming a small female will be a bit difficult
2) Stress: Major factor. I check my sac rate fairly regularly and this is the main factor. That's where the 'dive more' advice comes from. Subconsciously you will have stress during your first x dives. This stress will decrease when you get more comfortable in your specific diving situation and your consumption will drop (significantly). The stress (and consumption) will increase again if you raise the discomfort level: start diving in a diferent situation... for example if you' ve always dived quaries going on your first boat dive, doing tests for certification, leading a dive with a buddy that you don't know, lack of visibility if you are unfamiliar with this, etc... many factors can raise stress. I can realy pinpoint dives were my sac will be higher without even checking my sac based on these 'stress' factors.
3) Overtrimming: this can be caused by unfamiliar BCD and/or overweighting. Both these will make you inflate and deflate the jacket too much. Ideal situation is that you have to inflate just once at the initial descend (and not alot at that) and after that only dump while ascending. Inflating-dumping-inflating-dumping ad infinitum will increase your sac of course.
4) Position in the water: The more horizontal you are the better. BP/W or back inflate BCD may improve your dive position but so may proper weighing and experience. The more horizontal you dive the more streamlined you are the less energy you waste to propel yourself.
5) Exterior factors: Big number one is cold. Winter dives my sac will increase by 30 to 40 %. Other people can explain this better but when the metabolism is turned a notch or 2 up the air consumption goes up too. Another example could be current (having to use more energy propulsing yourself).
6) Only last to improve sac in my understanding is physical stamina. The normal state of diving is to be as relaxed (low heart rate) as possible. So imo there won't be a big difference between the ironman diver and couch potato (within reason of course). The big difference occurs when the energy level needs to increase (swimming against current for example). Mr Ironman will for the same energy output keep his heartrate and metabolism (read sac) lower then mr potato. Also the danger of ensoufflement (overbreathing and causing hypercapnia) will be lower.

Just my opinion.

Cheers

 

[Buano]

I'm like you, a big guy, in better than average shape, that SUCKS AIR. I've also got about 200 dives under my belt & am extremely relaxed in the water so nerves are not a major issue. The four things that helped me the most were:

1) Getting a pair of Apollo BioPro split fins. These have been tested & found to be the most efficient fins on the market. (Efficiency means less air for the same swim.)
2) Got a great BC to fix my trim issues. For me this was a DUI BC, but any brand that lets you maintain trim without having to think about it or work at it is the "right" BC for you.
3) Figured my optimal weighting. You should wear as little weight as possible as extra weight means more air in your BC to expand & contract as you change depths — which forces you to add or subtract air. If there is very little air in your BC, there will be very little change in buoyancy as you change depth.
4) Bought two high-pressure 130s. Wow! for the first time I have to watch more than my SPG to determine when to come up! I actually get to the boat with plenty of air.

Another factor that causes me to suck air is that I dive not just to acquire bottom-time but also to get exercise. I like to swim around. Swimming requires air & the more anyone swims around, the more air they will need. The 130s let me swim without worrying about going through my air prematurely.

I hope this helps!
Ron

 

[MeiLing]

I learned how to control my breathing using an air intregrated computer that calculates dive time remaining based on air left (switches to no deco time on deep times if that is less). 300 dives later and I still use it to help me adjust during a dive. It gives me a good feel when I need to slow down, relax more and concentrate on my breathing.

Breathe deep and focus on a long, slow exhale. Pause briefly between your inhale and exhale, about 3 seconds. Anything longer is skip breathing which is dangerous and will give you a headache. Breathe deeply on your inhale, but don't overinflate your lungs as doing so will compell you to want to exhale quickly.

If you're breathing correctly, it will feel comfortable and you shouldn't feel starved for air. It is also very relaxing. Here is a link to a web article on breathing:

Viewzone: Breathing Right!

Do make sure you're weighted and minimize your movements. Give yourself time though. New divers usually have higher air comsumption. Yours isn't too bad considering you're a big guy and you're new to diving.

If you have everything dialed in and you're still not matching your buddies, do consider a larger tank. Good luck!

 

[LiteHedded]

getting my weight really nailed down and trim squared away were the keys for me
a BIG difference in air consumption after I was totally trimmed out and barely kicking

 

[merxlin]

......Breathe deep and focus on a long, slow exhale. Pause briefly between your inhale and exhale, about 3 seconds. Anything longer is skip breathing which is dangerous and will give you a headache.

NO, this IS skip breathing. Not a good idea, especially for a new diver.

 

[PlayaCountryBoy]

I think alot of new divers have their respiration set on "automatic breathing"...in-out-in-out-in-out..But this will actually use alot of air. Howabout trying to breathe as you would on the surface. You subconsciously are breathing right now...your body is taking in just the amount of air it needs to fill the lungs and make a good gas exchange. And you're doing it casually...try this underwater. Inspire to respire when your body's natural urge tells you to breathe. Also, I personally will inhale somewhat fast and exhale nice and long. This is like meditational breathing...sorta. ;-) Good luck with getting your air to last longer, hope this helps.

 

[alchemist117]

Do drift dives!

 

[rdbean]

I have to agree with most of the advice already given....trim, weights, becoming more comfortable and relaxed in the water etc etc. You do this by Diving More!!!! And like someone else said, 500 psi difference isn't that big of a deal.

Other than that, for air consumption I normally tell new divers to not think about their inhaling but their exhaling....imagine you are blowing out through a straw.

Nice and slow, focused air stream as long as you can, but not to the point where you feel as though you are struggling for air. This will hopefully minimize the amount of dead air space and allow you to take in the good air that you need.

Why do I say don't concentrate on your inhalation? Simple; when most people think about inhaling they breathe incorrectly i.e. the chest rises. When in fact, you should breathe from your diaphragm. If you need to see this for yourself, lay flat on the floor and put a book on your stomach. When you breathe in, the book should rise. If your chest rises and the book stays still, you are not breathing correctly and not getting a full breath of air. Try it, it works. This is the way we breathe without thinking about it.

Other than that....Go Dive!