Question Recurring feeling of overexertion

[Wiznutaggie]

Somewhere in my last dozen or so dives I've experienced the feeling of overexertion three times. Each time it has happened while kicking harder and becomes a very scary feeling that while I know can be overcome by stopping and focusing on breathing is becoming a mental block for wanting to dive. I had not experienced this at all in my previous 75 or so dives I've done. It feels like the threshold to the feeling of overexertion is getting lower. I have been focusing a lot on lowering my sac rate and I wonder if this is leading to less clearing of CO2 and I'm putting myself on the edge of overexertion because of it or if something else is going on? Anybody have any ideas on the matter?

 

[johndiver999]

heck yes, that is most likely the problem. Trying to deliberately conserve air and reduce SAC is not a good idea and doing it while exerting yourself at depth is a recipe for disaster. If you are going to be "imprudent" and kick like a maniac, then understand that you have to breathe like one as well.

Oh course the appropriate advice is to never exert yourself underwater.

 

[Wiznutaggie]

Thanks, for confirming that. I'll need to stop sabotaging myself! Breathing like a manic from now on!

heck yes, that is most likely the problem. Trying to deliberately conserve air and reduce SAC is not a good idea and doing it while exerting yourself at depth is a recipe for disaster. If you are going to be "imprudent" and kick like a maniac, then understand that you have to breathe like one as well.

Oh course the appropriate advice is to never exert yourself underwater.

 

[johndiver999]

Thanks, for confirming that. I'll need to stop sabotaging myself! Breathing like a manic from now on!

LOL, the key is to avoid exertion, but if you must, don't let yourself get too far behind in the respiration demand.

I do scuba spear fishing and sometimes it is beneficial to stop (or greatly reduce) breathing in order to stalk a spooky fish. But it takes a while to learn what is a reasonable amount of "imprudence" with regard to ignoring your respiratory demands.

In general, I might stop for 30 seconds or swim really hard for 45 seconds, but you can't just hammer away with kicking for any extended period of time without a significant increase in your air consumption rate. Trying to save air for anything longer than a minute or so is a bad game to play. I can't tell you how many head splitting CO2 headaches I have endured after a dive in order to learn these lessons. And you can have much worse things happen than a headache.

Also, exerting yourself to the point of gasping for air, puts you in an EXTREMELY vulnerable position. If your air supply should be interrupted, even for just a few seconds, you can be thrown into panic mode almost instantly.

 

[Wiznutaggie]

LOL, the key is to avoid exertion, but if you must, don't let yourself get too far behind in the respiration demand.

I do scuba spear fishing and sometimes it is beneficial to stop (or greatly reduce) breathing in order to stalk a spooky fish. But it takes a while to learn what is a reasonable amount of "imprudence" with regard to ignoring your respiratory demands.

In general, I might stop for 30 seconds or swim really hard for 45 seconds, but you can't just hammer away with kicking for any extended period of time without a significant increase in your air consumption rate. Trying to save air for anything longer than a minute or so is a bad game to play. I can't tell you how many head splitting CO2 headaches I have endured after a dive in order to learn these lessons. And you can have much worse things happen than a headache.

Also, exerting yourself to the point of gasping for air, puts you in an EXTREMELY vulnerable position. If your air supply should be interrupted, even for just a few seconds, you can be thrown into panic mode almost instantly.

I'm actually in the same boat. I got into spearfishing last year and it's kind of hard not to exert yourself against a big AJ. Instead of trying to conserve air up to the moment of high exertion, I'll focus on not being so close to the limits of my respiratory needs from now on.

 

[johndiver999]

Big fish can kick your butt! People that don't spearfish would find it hard to imagine how much different it is than just diving and blowing bubbles!

 

[Rilelen]

A piece of advice I got on managing overexertion when diving high flow caves: focus on the exhale and exhale fully - you want to vent all that CO2 you're building up through exertion, and that's giving you that unpleasant "gasping for air" feeling.

 

[mr_v]

Why were you kicking harder? Perhaps it is a good time to check buoyancy. If you're neutral in water, you should be able to kick and glide for a few seconds. If you're kicking quickly and often, you're probably overcompensating for buoyancy.

If you don't frog kick yet, learn how to do that asap. One kick (exhale) glide, continue exhaling then inhale than kick. More good stuff in this article:

Efficient Propulsion Techniques - Alert Diver Magazine | DAN Europe

“Whatever your diving ambitions are, mastering trim, buoyancy control and propulsion techniques are very important for a safe and enjoyable dive. As a diver you...

alertdiver.eu

 

[Wiznutaggie]

Why were you kicking harder? Perhaps it is a good time to check buoyancy. If you're neutral in water, you should be able to kick and glide for a few seconds. If you're kicking quickly and often, you're probably overcompensating for buoyancy.

If you don't frog kick yet, learn how to do that asap. One kick (exhale) glide, continue exhaling then inhale than kick. More good stuff in this article:

Efficient Propulsion Techniques - Alert Diver Magazine | DAN Europe

“Whatever your diving ambitions are, mastering trim, buoyancy control and propulsion techniques are very important for a safe and enjoyable dive. As a diver you...

alertdiver.eu

I appreciate the feedback, but it had nothing to do with buoyancy. First time was chasing a lobster up current for far too long, second time was sprinting around a swim through to beat everybody to the other side for a picture, third time was fighting a big fish that I had speared and was kicking my ass. I've done a couple spearing trips recently and just took all the air I wanted without a care for conserving air and it completely solved the issue. I was simply pushing my limits too much on air conservation that my body wasn't prepared for a period of high exertion.

 

[kierentec]

I appreciate the feedback, but it had nothing to do with buoyancy. First time was chasing a lobster up current for far too long, second time was sprinting around a swim through to beat everybody to the other side for a picture, third time was fighting a big fish that I had speared and was kicking my ass. I've done a couple spearing trips recently and just took all the air I wanted without a care for conserving air and it completely solved the issue. I was simply pushing my limits too much on air conservation that my body wasn't prepared for a period of high exertion.

What depth ranges are the incidents occurring? On top of over-exertion and breathing incorrectly, gas density might also be playing a role. At 100ft your ability to ventilate is about cut in half, so you are not eliminating nearly as much CO2 as you would on the surface. We need to be extra careful about exertion when deep.