Advice to get lower SAC?

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Sounds like your consumption rate is fine. Go diving.
 
I guess my take away from this thread is, at least to this point, there isnt much I can do do get my rates down. :)

Ill just go get a bigger tank as per the suggestions. hehe
 
I guess my take away from this thread is, at least to this point, there isnt much I can do do get my rates down. :)

Ill just go get a bigger tank as per the suggestions. hehe

You can improve your breathing, you can relax more, you can have a perfect trimming and be in the best shape of your life...
But at some point you'll find a limit that you cannot go over, because is based on your physiology and your genetic (and this applies to everything).
So don't worry, get a bigger tank and enjoy your diving! :)
 
Continue to dive. Your SAC rate will probably go down some. Work on your kicking technique. You should be using the frog kick most of the time as your primary means of propulsion. What size tank do you dive? What size tank does he dive?
 
Can anyone suggest any tips to get a lower SAC? Or based on my description, is this just simply the best I am able to do?

Hi Clayton, the short of it is, you may find it better to opt for larger tanks or bring more gas with you. No need to put so much stock into your gas consumption rate. However, this was a question I got asked frequently and wrote an article on how you can improve your consumption here on page 14: March 2017
 
I have never calculated my SAC but know it is up there soooo that being said if diving depth I always use steel 100's and have no issues and usually plenty of nitrox left over. Used steel 95's for the first time last weekend and had plenty left over with those also. So like many others mentioned before me, get bigger tanks and enjoy the dive. I love it and feel much more comfortable underwater using them knowing i can relax in that aspect
 
Here's my two cents for what it's worth. Being deliberate and purposeful with your movement is the right idea, but I think there is more to good diving technique that often gets overlooked. I have found most people go to fast. Slow down. Think of it this way, when someone with good form is running they are making purposeful movement without a lot of waste, but they're doing it so fast that the breathing and the effort is much higher. A very good instructor once told me to go further slower, and I find that it's true. That by slowing down my dive may be longer, and I may actually cover more ground by going at a very casual pace. When you take a stroke of a frog kick allow the glide portion of the kick to carry you. I find that having your buoyancy down and gear under control during that glide is what some people struggle with, and unintentionally they compensate for that uncertainty by starting their next stroke early and keeping their feet movement to help add stability to their swim. I would challenge you to really consider how effective am I at being quiet in the water when you are stopped and looking at something. Do you skull your feel or drop your knees to maintain that position in the water? Getting the proper weight is important, but getting it in the proper place is also important so that your stable when you stop or are gliding in your stroke. I find many people in singles are a little foot heavy actually and need weight up around the cam band area of a single tank. I find several people in smaller sets of doubles are head heavy and actually using a tail weight will help bring that weight back down a little lower. It's something to play with until you get it right.

I hope this helps. On another note, it's a big objective for me to get out to Chicago next year to get in the lake and do some diving, the lake looks so gorgeous.

ACL
 
I guess my take away from this thread is, at least to this point, there isnt much I can do do get my rates down. :)

Ill just go get a bigger tank as per the suggestions. hehe

This thread is 4 pages long and you haven't gotten any suggestions as to how to lower your SAC rate? I didn't read the responses but I'll give you several methods to do exactly that.

- Dive. The more you dive, the more you will relax, the more efficiently you will move through the water and the less energy and therefore gas you will use
- Streamline your gear. The less drag, the greater the efficiency, and the less effort. That means less gas consumption.
- Improve your physical fitness. That means less effort to do more strenuous activities. A slimmer diver isn't dragging a whole bunch of blubber through the water or working up a sweat and heavy breathing when preparing for the dive, whether it's a jump off a boat or wading out from shore.
- Don't smoke- it decreases lung efficacy which means more wasted gas with each inhalation.
- Move slowly through the water. The faster you go, the more drag, that means more energy expended and more gas consumed.
- Don't use your arms to swim, learn which fin kicks are most effective for particular diving conditions, because using arms isn't efficient which means wasted energy and efficient kicks can be a huge energy and gas saver
- Improve your trim and buoyancy so you won't be doing a whole bunch of micromovements to stay level and compensate for unwanted changes in depth.
- Learn to use the minimum amount of weight. That means you're dragging less weight through the water and less air in your BCD means less drag as well.
- Learn relaxation and slow breathing techniques such as taught in yoga and mediation
- Learn techniques that will require less effort for specific dive conditions. Such as pulling along the edge of a shipwreck rather than free swimming against a current that is running along the wreck, or finding eddys in the current by ducking in between patches of reef or under ledges rather than working against a current.

So there's a whole bunch of ways to improve your SAC rate. You're welcome.
 
For what it is worth, here is what I do to help keep my SAC Rate low.


 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/teric/

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