How do I improve my air consumption?

[leadweight]

The usual advice is to breathe slow and deep. What this means is to take very long deep breaths in a rhythm. Practice it on land first. With practice a single breath can last almost a minute and air will be moving in and out of your lungs for the entire time. Have a slight pause after inhaling. That means about one or two seconds. Do not hold your breath.

Don't move your hands or arms around.

Make sure your bouyancy and trim are perfect. It takes a lot more energy to swim when your body is at a 45 degree angle in the water.

Buying a big tank is a quick fix, but it won't help much when traveling.

 

[MonkSeal]

adjuster-jd once bubbled...
I was the first of the group to come up.
...
I was the only one who came up that quick and I was able to get another tank and get some more bottom time in for another 15-20 minutes or so. (Boy, did that confuse the divemaster when she saw me come back down.......)

Interesting way your DM leads diving. She didn't notice you were surfacing or she let you out alone. Where was your buddy at that time ?

 

[freedive]

leadweight once bubbled...
The usual advice is to breathe slow and deep. What this means is to take very long deep breaths in a rhythm. Practice it on land first. With practice a single breath can last almost a minute and air will be moving in and out of your lungs for the entire time. Have a slight pause after inhaling. That means about one or two seconds. Do not hold your breath.

That's the best advice for sure. I just recently got my SSI OW certification and my first few dives (beach dives in Ft Lauderdale) I was getting back with 400psi while my two buddies still had 1500 remaining (quite nice of them to cut their BT short since we were at a max depth of 20ft)
They instructed me to do the same thing, long inhale pause for a second or two and then a slow easy exhale. it certainly has helped and although they still outlast me with a little more practice I will be able to control my consupmtion even more.

 

[detroit diver]

Just to reiteratate what others have said:

It has to do with your comfort in the water. The more dives you have, the better you will conserve your air because you will be more relaxed and breathing easier.

Cold water will certainly have a negative effect on breathing rates.

I took me a quite a while to feel comfortable enough so that I could hang with my more experience dive buddies in terms of air consumption. Even now, if I feel stressed for whatever reason, I can feel myself using more air than normal. It's just natural.

Go dive. A lot. You will notice improvements as you become comfortable in your environment.

 

[Charlie99]

leadweight once bubbled...
Do not hold your breath.

:doctor: Can't resist making a slightly off topic comment --- not directed at you, leadweight.

I keep seeing the "don't hold your breath" admonition is all sorts of scuba training, when the real rule should be "don't close your airway".

It wouldn't be that hard for the textbooks to explain what an eppiglotis is.

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

Excellent point Charlie99 ...

I've coached several "hoovers" on improving their breathing rate, and that always turns into a sticking point. I have to explain that there's a difference between "skip breathing" and what I'm suggesting that they do.

Inhale deeply and slowly ... wait about two seconds to begin your exhale, but keep your throat open (don't close your epiglottis) ... then exhale slowly. A good, deep breathing cycle should take roughly 10 seconds to complete ... or perhaps a bit longer with practice.

Other reasons why experienced divers always use less air include proper weighting, buoyancy control, and horizontal trim. These things come with practice, and there really isn't any "shortcut" to just accumulating the bottom time needed to get them right.

For the "newbie" one important thing that can help is to slow down. Most new divers are just so excited they zip around like a baby harbor seal ... wanting to see it all at once. Work on going slow ... take a modest fin stroke, then glide ... another modest fin stroke, then glide. Less energy consumption means less CO2 buildup in your body (which is what triggers your need for air).

There have been several recent magazine articles about how to improve your breathing rate. See the June 2003 issues of both Dive Training and Rodale's Scuba Diving magazines for some excellent tips. I find the latter particularly well done.

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[detroit diver]

NWGratefulDiver once bubbled...
.........
Other reasons why experienced divers always use less air include proper weighting, buoyancy control, and horizontal trim. These things come with practice, and there really isn't any "shortcut" to just accumulating the bottom time needed to get them right.
........... Bob (Grateful Diver)

Excellent points. I can't believe I forgot those!

If you're overweighted and your trim is not right, you're doing too much work to stay in place, let alone go anywhere. In fact, I think these issues will inhibit your progression more than anything else.

 

[Diversauras]

Helped an overweighted diver out last week. He sucked down a 120 and I was only half way through a 95, dragged him back on my gas. Things got better when he shed about half of what lead he was wearing. He couldn't believe it, until he tried it actually, and trim then became a big deal, got his tank in the right place in his tank bands.

 

[freedive]

He he baby harbor seal, that's so true
I think I've trimmed the weights as much as I can. I'm 6'1" 225 Lbs and 20Lbs seems to be as low as I can go. I tried 16 but as I got close to 500 psi I had to struggle a bit to stay on the bottom.

 

[Charlie99]

Diversauras once bubbled...
Helped an overweighted diver out last week. He sucked down a 120 and I was only half way through a 95, dragged him back on my gas. Things got better when he shed about half of what lead he was wearing. He couldn't believe it, until he tried it actually, and trim then became a big deal, got his tank in the right place in his tank bands.

I've had the same sort of experience multiple times. Most divers have problems doing nothing. By that I mean that it is difficult to cease all motion.

Between dives I'll mention that they should rise when lungs are full and descend slightly if they pause with lungs empty --- if they are absolutely still.

Being able to truly achieve neutral bouyancy seems to let a diver slow down and relax, thereby decreasing air consumption.

Once they are neutral, trim often sorts itself out automatically, since continuing to fin at anything other than horizontal drives the up or down.