Question Air consumption

[happy-diver]

Any wonder you're using air you must be exhausted from all this activity and more muscle sucks more o2

Im going in the Gym 4-5 times a week.

 

[kevindives27]

Comes with time and practice. Then you will get aware of your breathing

 

[norfolkvirginia]

This is correct, but as a former elite athlete, I'm also quite capable of sucking a tank down much faster then a sedentary person. I also feel it takes less effort for my body to go into "exercise mode" and elevate my RMV.

I'm in the same boat. Definitely feel that when I'm relaxed/not moving I keep a good RMV, but when I start working by body ramps up RMV quickly.

 

[Rearviewmirror]

Hello together

I have the following situation :
When I dive with others, they need less air.
So often at the safety stop I am at 70 or 80 bar and my buddies are at 100 or 110 bar.
I make sure that I am always at about the same depth as my buddy. I dive dry and so do my buddies, they have between 500 - 1500 dives.

I have always tracked my AVM the last few dives.
It's always between 14 and 16 (I can't judge whether that's a lot or a little because I still don't have enough experience after only about 25 dives. )
Is it possible that I am using a lot more air because I am not yet so experienced with buoyancy?

Pascal

You read a lot of people saying rather non-specific things like "work on your buoyancy" as a beginner - while this is very true, it's also not amazingly helpful advice. I've spent the last five weeks diving and gone from ~27 lifetime dives to now almost 50 and my SAC rate has dropped by a good 60% with one major change - ensuring that I am ACTUALLY neutrally buoyant at all depths.

If you aren't already, every time you change depths in the water column, stop moving completely and try to hover. At the beginning of the trip I would think I was neutral in my mind, but in reality would start to sink slightly. If you aren't actually neutrally buoyant the tendency for most divers is to continuously fin, as forward propulsion can give you the illusion that you're neutrally buoyant (think about a plane flying forward vs hanging motionless and dropping out of the sky). I think most folks are reticent to add enough gas to their BCDs as beginner divers as it somehow seems like a "waste" of breathing gas - which can be further exacerbated if you are overweighted as then you need to add/release more gas with every depth change. Next time you dive, try this out and see if you're actually as neutral as you think you are.

I’m at the point now where I’m spending the vast majority of my time underwater frog kicking. I’ll flutter in a more confined space like inside a wreck, and I’ll flutter harder when swimming against a current bc it’s more constant forward thrust.

When you flutter kick, keep your toes pointed as long as you’re applying force, like a boat oar (see pic). Novice swimmers tend to swim with their fins pointed as if they’re walking. It causes a bicycling motion almost like they’re stepping through the water which is tremendously inefficient.

Inside a wreck and fighting current are the two places you'll most want to be frog kicking. Frog kicking actually produces more force than flutter kicking, but you need to pause for the glide phase versus continuously fin. Inside of a wreck you're risking kicking up a lot of silt for everyone behind you, and either a modified frog or flutter will displace a loss less water. Next time you are diving with a diver who flutter kicks, watch the sand/ground immediately below them and you'll see huge plumes of sand as their downward wake displaces water downwards. Frog kicking will push the majority of the water behind rather than below the diver.

 

[blueskies_up_ahead]

I agree with the recommendation about buoyancy. The most useful tip I've received was to fully exhale. An empty lung should be the starting point. I didn't realize my lung was always half full. Once you start doing that you need more air in the BCD but you'll be much more relaxed. For me this was about buoyancy more than air consumption but I found it very helpful.

 

[johndiver999]

Depending on the current speed, you may need to use the strongest kick to advance. That would be a flutter kick.

 

[Klopo]

Depending on the current speed, you may need to use the strongest kick to advance. That would be a flutter kick.

Yes i see, but in the lakes where i dive there is little to no current. So that can not be the thing.