Air Consumption

[billt4sf]

thanks for the advice

OMG I forgot to mention that as you get more used to diving, the weight you carry will likely go down significantly. That will make diving much easier and your air consumption will go down!

A couple years ago I was doing a safety stop with some more experienced friends. I didn'tt understand why it was that I was bouncing around so much and they were so stable! Almost immobile in the water column.

Ralph came over to me, let a little air out and took off 6 lbs. He waited a moment, then did that again...

Diving has never been so much better! SOOOO much easier.

- Bill

 

[Neilwood]

I am still learning but have seen my consumption drop considerably.

Trim is a major one - if you are truly horizontal in the water, you are not fighting to keep your depth (either by finning up or down).
Weighting - once trim is decent, weight generally can come off as you don't need to counteract the finning.
Relaxation - I have noticed a huge difference between stressed dives (where I have had an issue to sort predive) to ones where I have simply been able to enjoy it from the start (consumption almost halved between them).
Slowing down - diving is not a race (the ocean will still be there next week, month, year) so slow down and enjoy looking at the little things.

 

[Dan Bower]

I am still learning but have seen my consumption drop considerably.

Trim is a major one - if you are truly horizontal in the water, you are not fighting to keep your depth (either by finning up or down).
Weighting - once trim is decent, weight generally can come off as you don't need to counteract the finning.
Relaxation - I have noticed a huge difference between stressed dives (where I have had an issue to sort predive) to ones where I have simply been able to enjoy it from the start (consumption almost halved between them).
Slowing down - diving is not a race (the ocean will still be there next week, month, year) so slow down and enjoy looking at the little things.

thanks for the advice ill use that in my task of trying to lower my consumption

 

[hawgorn]

Kick an glide, look at the pretty fish. Rinse and repeat. After dialing in my weight, relaxing, slowing down, I got an AHA moment watching someone in front me. Why he was so effortless looking and I was still using too much gas (relative ofcourse). He glided after each frog kick, I didn't.

 

[scrane]

I concentrate breathing only to maintain buoyancy. Metabolism is just an added bonus.

 

[Dan Bower]

Kick an glide, look at the pretty fish. Rinse and repeat. After dialing in my weight, relaxing, slowing down, I got an AHA moment watching someone in front me. Why he was so effortless looking and I was still using too much gas (relative ofcourse). He glided after each frog kick, I didn't.

ye i try that every dive ill keep trying thanks

 

[TMHeimer]

I honestly don't know if my consumption has improved. My dives vary a lot in how fast/slow I go--how much area I cover, etc. All advice given is good of course. If you do all these things right over time, keep in mind that some people just consume more/less air than others based on physiology--lung size, etc. As long as it works for the type of diving you do, it's OK.

 

[Dan Bower]

ye all advice is good all helps on my last dive i averaged 25m to 28.8m was down for 43min and came up with 50 bar

 

[stuartv]

Diver0001 and neilwood already said, but I don't think the importance can be overstated, so I'll say it again.

Get your trim dialed in. Trim is not so much a skill as it is simply a configuration issue.

If your trim is perfect, then you can hover in the water and stay perfectly horizontal while being perfectly motionless.

If your buoyancy control is less than perfect, you may float up or down. But, if your trim is perfect, you will be able to stay horizontal and motionless as you do it.

Try holding perfectly still, while maintaining proper form. You will probably start to slowly tip in one direction or another. Maybe turning head down. Maybe turning head up. Whichever way it is, you can move weight around to achieve balance. Once you get the weight balanced, then you can cause yourself to rotate in either direction simply by extending or pulling in your arms and/or legs to change your center of gravity.

If you CAN'T stay horizontal while being perfectly still, then that means you have to constantly fin or swim with your hands just to keep yourself horizontal. And that means you're burning extra air.

Get your trim right and practice being completely motionless while being perfectly horizontal. You'll use less gas when you're sitting still. And you'll use less gas when you are finning to move yourself because your body will be more streamlined to the water and your finning can all go towards moving in the direction you want, instead of some percentage of each fin thrust going towards maintaining yourself in a horizontal position.

 

[Dan Bower]

Diver0001 and neilwood already said, but I don't think the importance can be overstated, so I'll say it again.

Get your trim dialed in. Trim is not so much a skill as it is simply a configuration issue.

If your trim is perfect, then you can hover in the water and stay perfectly horizontal while being perfectly motionless.

If your buoyancy control is less than perfect, you may float up or down. But, if your trim is perfect, you will be able to stay horizontal and motionless as you do it.

Try holding perfectly still, while maintaining proper form. You will probably start to slowly tip in one direction or another. Maybe turning head down. Maybe turning head up. Whichever way it is, you can move weight around to achieve balance. Once you get the weight balanced, then you can cause yourself to rotate in either direction simply by extending or pulling in your arms and/or legs to change your center of gravity.

If you CAN'T stay horizontal while being perfectly still, then that means you have to constantly fin or swim with your hands just to keep yourself horizontal. And that means you're burning extra air.

Get your trim weight and practice being completely motionless while being perfectly horizontal. You'll use less gas when you're sitting still. And you'll use less gas when you are finning to move yourself because your body will be more streamlined to the water and your finning can all go towards moving in the direction you want, instead of some percentage of each fin thrust going towards maintaining yourself in a horizontal position.

yet again great advice thanks ill sure be having one hell of a dive in the morning putting a lot of this into practice