Bigger lungs, greater air consumption

[SeaHound]

I have exactly the same problem Suddha. When my tank reaches 500 every one else would be at 50. I thought it could be because

1. I swim faster than everyone else.
2. tend to be more acrobatic (hovering upside down to look into holes)
3. Added acivity like photography

Id definately like to see how much of an improvement I make as I do more dives. Right now I have 32 dives.

 

[MauiScubaSteve]

A big super fit world class athlete is like a V-12 with a high idle, all that lean muscle requires more O2 even at rest and blood circulates faster to the skin for warmth (when compared to a person of same height and weight but not super fit, conducting same dive with same exposure protection). More cardio conditioning would probably not help with the air consumption of the super fit. If you tend toward the couch potato end of the spectrum, hit the treadmill. If you are on the super fit end, smile at your good health and revel in your ability to cary a steel 120.

 

[spectrum]

suddha,

You have gotten a lot of good advice above. All things being equal your wife will end up being able to dive a 63CF to your 80. She is a smaller creature and that's that. Remember that I said all things being equal.

People being people, nothing is equal. The has been a lot of talk about controlling your breathing, something Bob point out you probably have never been concerned with. Breathing under water requires a little more effort than here on the surface. Doing so with control requires that your diaphragm muscles be in a little better condition than most people. It's control of your diaphragm that lets you execute that slow deep effective breathing.

They are now selling a mouthpiece that has a breathing resistance connected to it. This is intended to make breathing more difficult and to challenge your diaphragm, making it stronger. I am not suggesting that you buy such a gadget. Unless you get to dive a lot getting this conditioning from diving alone will be a long time coming. What I will suggest is that you find time to do regular skin-diving, even in a pool and to sing, a lot, loudly and with verve. Bizarre as it may sound read more about it here.

Pete

 

[NC myerssl]

Like all the others said, the more you dive, the better it gets.

All that being said, the biggest reason why larger people consume more air is due to mass. Moving the mass through water takes more energy and anything you can do to decrease the resistance will help, (trim, weights, etc).

As far as burning more O2 is concerned, remember at 2 - 3 atm, you have 2 -3 times the amount of 02 than you have at the surface. So you have an excess of 02 that you are breathing in at 60'. Even though you are burning more oxygen because of your size, you are still not fully utilzing the 02 that you receive in every breadth.

The biggest thing you can do to improve your consumption besides trim is to breathe out slowly and completely to eliminate the CO2 buildup in your lungs. The CO2 is what is causing you to breathe more rapidly, not the lack of 02. Most people naturally move to a slower complete inhale/exhale as they dive more. That and better trim is why their sac rates go down.

Keep diving my friend and remember it only gets better!!

 

[Морской спецназ]

The more of you there is the more of you needs to be oxygenated and the more air will need to be in contact with lung tissue to accomplish that and as a result you will consume more air. There is nothing you can do about it directly other than loose mass, increase fitness. Indirectly, I know you are not breathing correctly, your not balanced out and I doubt your rig is optimized and a few other variables like being relaxed (whatever that means--I am never relaxed---and the needle on my spg moves like watching water boil).

The correct breathing method is not what is taught today, you should take long and slow deep breaths which allows each lungfull more time to transfer the 02 to the blood stream--this type breathing is more efficient than the panting most people naturally do. Taken to an extreme some might call this skip breathing--don't go to that extreme. Aerobic exercise and anerobic exercise (wind sprints etc)--not power lifting will help your body to become tolerent of being in the 02 deficit.

Big people are at a disadvantage, they have more body mass, they have more frontal area in the water, more mass to accelerate, they burn more calories, use more air. Sorry. The good news is that you have a huge room for improvement but the bad news is, everything else EQUAL, the 5-11, 175 pounder is going to use less air than you at 6-2 and 225 pounds.

N

The more of you there is the more of you needs to be oxygenated and the more air will need to be in contact with lung tissue to accomplish that and as a result you will consume more air. There is nothing you can do about it directly other than loose mass, increase fitness. Indirectly, I know you are not breathing correctly, your not balanced out and I doubt your rig is optimized and a few other variables like being relaxed (whatever that means--I am never relaxed---and the needle on my spg moves like watching water boil).

The correct breathing method is not what is taught today, you should take long and slow deep breaths which allows each lungfull more time to transfer the 02 to the blood stream--this type breathing is more efficient than the panting most people naturally do. Taken to an extreme some might call this skip breathing--don't go to that extreme. Aerobic exercise and anerobic exercise (wind sprints etc)--not power lifting will help your body to become tolerent of being in the 02 deficit.

Big people are at a disadvantage, they have more body mass, they have more frontal area in the water, more mass to accelerate, they burn more calories, use more air. Sorry. The good news is that you have a huge room for improvement but the bad news is, everything else EQUAL, the 5-11, 175 pounder is going to use less air than you at 6-2 and 225 pounds.

N

John snow you don t know nothing
Bigger people bigger lungs more buoyancy control

 

[34109411]

I have twenty dives under my belt now and am focusing on improving my air consumption. I am a fit 37 yr old male but can't seem to get more than 35 minutes on a max 60 fsw (warm, slight current) dive with an AL80 tank, while others are getting 45 minutes.

I have worked with divemasters on trimming my kit, adjusting weight and trying different fins. One suggestion I heard was that I am a big, athletic guy (6'2", 225lbs) and presumably have a big lung capacity, so am simply breathing more air from my tank per breath than others. This makes sense that if I take a deep breath I could be taking it a lot more air than, say, my wife (5'5", 120lbs). But then I see other big dudes getting more bottom time than me.

What gives? Am I destined to be an air hog? Should I be using a bigger steel tank to account for higher air volume needs?

Thanks for any feedback.

20 dive is not much. i am also 6.2 227 lbs. Give you some time try this inhale for 6 and exale for 8.

 

[lowwall]

20 dive is not much. i am also 6.2 227 lbs. Give you some time try this inhale for 6 and exale for 8.

Check dates. This Is a restarted thread from 2008.

 

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