Better breathing techniques?

[BarryNL]

I'm at the stage where I have pretty good buoyancy control - I can happily hold a deco stop horizontal without a reference line if need be, but I still think I breath too much gas controlling my buoyancy.

Basically, my speed of breathing seems to be regulated by trying to hold a depth precisely rather than a need for oxygen (ok, to expel CO2 to be technical).

I normally try to set buoyancy as neutral while holding about half a lungful so I can ascend by taking a deep breath and descend by breathing out; this works well, but means I breathe faster than I need to because I start breathing out in order to stop myself ascending.

Does anyone have any tips for improving my gas consumption (now about 25 ltr/min) without sacrificing buoyancy control?

 

[matjo1]

For the best air consumption, I have found that a deep inhale followed by a slow exhale that lasts 6 to 10 (depending on the work load) works best. This means that the lungs will be inflated most of the time, creating positive buoyancy, so I adjust to be slightly negatively buoyant. I guess what I'm trying to say is to adjust your buoyancy to match your breathing patern, as opposed to adjusting your breathing pattern to match your buoyancy. Hope this helps.

 

[JeffG]

Yoga



Good for stretching too. (helps with valve drills etc etc)

 

[nereas]

For the best air consumption, I have found that a deep inhale followed by a slow exhale that lasts 6 to 10 (depending on the work load) works best. This means that the lungs will be inflated most of the time, creating positive buoyancy, so I adjust to be slightly negatively buoyant. I guess what I'm trying to say is to adjust your buoyancy to match your breathing patern, as opposed to adjusting your breathing pattern to match your buoyancy. Hope this helps.

This is also what I do, when I am thinking about it.

When I am not thinking about it, such as while I am touring with my DPV, then I just breathe naturally, although somewhat slower than normal, because the DPV does all of the work, which keeps my RMV low.

 

[Meng_Tze]

running 5K every other day helps make/keep the lungs efficient, the heart strong and blood fluid......the virtual gills

 

[LavaSurfer]

Good buoyancy, Running or cardio workouts, breathing slow as suggested and keeping warm. Wear a cap to keep in head heat. It helps

 

[battles2a5]

How is your trim? How is your weighting? How are you kicking? I found that getting my trim dialed in and using more efficient kicks (e.g. frog) has reduced my air consumption. If you are in doubles and your cg is off and you need to expel more energy to stay horizontal it will use gas. If you are overweighted in your steel dubs and your wing will have a larger profile and you will need more energy to move through the water. These are the types of things that have brought my air consumption down. It's still not where I want it to be, but the little tweaks in gear and technique tend to make a difference for me.

 

[texdiveguy]

running 5K every other day helps make/keep the lungs efficient, the heart strong and blood fluid......the virtual gills

I am a bit older than Meng, so I don't run but do brisk walking 4.25 miles 6 days a week....plus floor exercises..... course it helped that in my younger days I USCF raced bicycles... racing/training up to 11,000 miles per year....cycling has payed big dividends in my mid life years. Never smoked....nasty habit.

Deep slow breathing....its fun.

 

[moneysavr]

Dive more,work on your weight lead that is, stay fit-relax!
take your time gearing up if you can and become one with the water= after that it will all work out! but it takes dives and time
Brad

 

[BarryNL]

For the best air consumption, I have found that a deep inhale followed by a slow exhale that lasts 6 to 10 (depending on the work load) works best. This means that the lungs will be inflated most of the time, creating positive buoyancy, so I adjust to be slightly negatively buoyant. I guess what I'm trying to say is to adjust your buoyancy to match your breathing patern, as opposed to adjusting your breathing pattern to match your buoyancy. Hope this helps.

Yeah, I sort of thought of this but then the problem is that I can't ascend simply by breathing in. Hmm, maybe some practice time in the pool is called for...