Controlling Buoyancy with your breath: Why?

[RainPilot]

Ive found for me that the timing of the breathing is almost more important than how deeply I breathe.
We have inertia and resistance in the water so any effects from breathing etc take a moment or two to take effect, as well as taking a little time to stop the effect. Being horizontal in the water greatly adds to the vertical resistance.

So, as an example, I have my lungs half full, neutral hover, perfectly horizontal.
When I inhale, it takes a second or two to begin to rise. If I then exhale as I begin to move up, it takes a moment for that rise to slow and stop, and for me to begin to sink again. AS I begin to sink, I then inhale which slows and stops the sink.

If I play with the timing, I can go from big yoyo, to little yoyo, to almost unnoticeable yoyo as required. Obviously huge gulps of air make it much harder but for me anyway, the timing makes a much bigger difference. By the time I register a rise or fall I am already on the opposite breath cycle so very little change

Not horizontal? Overweighted? I cant keep neutral for love nor money.

 

[gypsyjim]

yep very simple. CO2 retention. If u take deep breath to keep yourself in place. your lungs will be always half empty/full depends on your beliefs that restricts gas exchange and u WILL get tired and out of breath and u WILL take huge gulp and wont stop and will not be able to keep position in the water. It works with singles, but try it with doubles, then add few stages .

We are NOT talking major changes in breathing here, for minor adjustments in depth.
A slightly longer pause before exhaling will raise you in the water column, while a couple slightly quicker exhales will do the oposite. Minor adjustments only, and mentioned above, it is the timing, less than big changes in lung volume that achieve this.

If you are truly neutral, you will have to make no further changes in uour breathing to maintain your new, adjusted depth.

A quick, just a tiny bit deeper inhale, and hold a second longer, you rise, exhale a little deeper, once, hold a small pause, and you descend slightly.

 

[The Chairman]

A quick, just a tiny bit deeper inhale, and hold a second longer,

When you "hold", please don't use your glottis. Use only the muscles that enabled you to take the super breath. You should never, ever, obstruct your airway with your glottis while diving. For training purposes, I define a super breath as any breath larger than normal. Take a normal breath, now inhale even more. No, more than that. That is a super breath, and if you're neutral and near the bottom, this will start an ascent which is why you never want to use your glottis to entrap the air in your lungs. The air in your lungs must be free to escape or BOYLES law will injure you: Breathe Or Your Lungs Explode, Stupid. Letting the air escape as you ascend will not affect your buoyancy. The cavity in your lungs should be defined only by the muscles expanding them.

 

[ajduplessis]

Yes, and this makes you go up and down considerably.

What is your definition of considerably? One foot, two, more? Vertical movement in the water column is natural behavior when using OC.

When you exhale/inhale the effects thereof is not immediate, it takes a couple of seconds (X) for the shift in buoyancy occur. Your breathing rhythm should must be slightly ahead of X by the same amount. As you start becoming negative you should slowly start inhaling to compensate for the shift.

If your breathing is not synced as describe above the buoyancy shift will increase dramatically.

Once you have a steady and synced breathing rhythm the shift in buoyancy will be reduce dramatically to within <1foot without thinking about it.
Breathing during scuba must be a slow, deliberate and rhythmic skill that will transform you diving forever!!

 

[RyanT]

I'm going to disagree with this a little. I find that the quickest and easiest adjustments can be made with finning, followed by breathing, with BC adjustments coming last.

As NetDoc mentioned, there a lots of situations where finning is a bad idea. Inside a cave or on a coral reef are good examples. I often find that when I'm horizontal inside a wreck or on a coral reef, I'm simply too close to an object, and by not finning I don't kick the object and stir up silt. Breathing gives me excellent control and allows me to maneuver in tight spaces.

 

[seeker242]

Have you asked your GUE instructor about this? What did they say? If not, go ask them! Just because the class is over doesn't mean you can't still ask them questions.

 

[Neilwood]

Ive found for me that the timing of the breathing is almost more important than how deeply I breathe.
We have inertia and resistance in the water so any effects from breathing etc take a moment or two to take effect, as well as taking a little time to stop the effect. Being horizontal in the water greatly adds to the vertical resistance.

So, as an example, I have my lungs half full, neutral hover, perfectly horizontal.
When I inhale, it takes a second or two to begin to rise. If I then exhale as I begin to move up, it takes a moment for that rise to slow and stop, and for me to begin to sink again. AS I begin to sink, I then inhale which slows and stops the sink.

If I play with the timing, I can go from big yoyo, to little yoyo, to almost unnoticeable yoyo as required. Obviously huge gulps of air make it much harder but for me anyway, the timing makes a much bigger difference. By the time I register a rise or fall I am already on the opposite breath cycle so very little change

Not horizontal? Overweighted? I cant keep neutral for love nor money.

My experience as well - by playing around with the timing of the breath and volume of the breath, you can adjust the speed and size of the yo-yo

 

[gypsyjim]

When you "hold", please don't use your glottis. Use only the muscles that enabled you to take the super breath. You should never, ever, obstruct your airway with your glottis while diving. For training purposes, I define a super breath as any breath larger than normal. Take a normal breath, now inhale even more. No, more than that. That is a super breath, and if you're neutral and near the bottom, this will start an ascent which is why you never want to use your glottis to entrap the air in your lungs. The air in your lungs must be free to escape or BOYLES law will injure you: Breathe Or Your Lungs Explode, Stupid. Letting the air escape as you ascend will not affect your buoyancy. The cavity in your lungs should be defined only by the muscles expanding them.

You are focusing on the word "hold", but closing off the airway in any way is not what I described
This "hold" is only a slightly longer wait or pause on the inhale than your regular breathing pattern, which adds just a slightly increase in your lung volume for just long enough to add a little lift. The exhale to begin a descent is a similar "hold" or longer pause at the end of the next exhale of breath, not a closing of the airway.
All this is just a gentle change of volume and timing, that changes you buoyancy just a tiny bit. I see it as almost a gentle underwater ballet, where you flow gracefully and easily over or under obsticles without any real effort.

 

[oly5050user]

Yes, and this makes you go up and down considerably.

Nope, it does not. Breathe slow your buoyancy changes very slowly. Breathe fast and buoyancy changes instantly. I teach refreshers almost every day. Most people I see use way too much lead. Very common for me to get them to get rid of at least half of the amount of lead they thought they needed. They go from being go unable to hover or can only hover in a near verticle position to being able to hover in a horizontal position with no hand or fin movement.

 

[Boyan]

Have you asked your GUE instructor about this? What did they say? If not, go ask them! Just because the class is over doesn't mean you can't still ask them questions.

I did and they said this is normal and I will get used to it / learn to control my breath better. Still seems a little counter intuitive.