How much air do you keep in your lungs most of the time?

[SanDiegoSidemount]

All divers are trained to use their lungs for micro-buoyancy adjustments.

In your basic Open Water class you were probably taught something called the "fin pivot." That is an exercise that teaches you how to use breath control for "micro-buoyancy" adjustments. All divers do it -- not just "DIR style divers."

Althoug I think you're right Peter, It wouldnt surprise me if some (very bad, probably *****an) instructors skip it

In my experience, coverage of this type of "finesse" item is spotty in most OW classes. And I'm not sure an OW student is really ready to deal with this along with everything else they are learning for the first time.

I taught myself this skill over time, I don't remember how I first discovered it. Probably I figured it out sometime after the first 50 dives or so, after all the dust had settled from my initial training and I was becoming a more calm and aware diver.

However, the first time it was pointed out to me as a specific skill worth practicing and perfecting was in a DIR style class. It was a UTD "Extreme Scuba Makeover", which is basically an all day buoyancy and trim clinic.

Props to any OW instructor who gets their students out the door aware of this and practicing it as a specific skill. I don't think it's the norm.

 

[Bob DBF]

Someone wrote while true the statement should read:

DIR style divers are trained to use their lungs for micro-buoyancy adjustments

All divers are trained to use their lungs for micro-buoyancy adjustments.

In your basic Open Water class you were probably taught something called the "fin pivot." That is an exercise that teaches you how to use breath control for "micro-buoyancy" adjustments. All divers do it -- not just "DIR style divers."

And divers have been doing it for decades, but since dive history is ignored I guess this has become a new DIR concept.

I learned the practice in '63 when I started diving. It was a necessary skill because SCUBA diving was done without a BC, which would arrive later along with the SPG and a number of other handy items.


Bob
--------------------
I may be old, but I'm not dead yet.

 

[k_im]

The ranges given are too narrow for me. I'm anywhere from zero to 100% depending on my needs. As an inexperienced diver, I'm always trying to add some finesse to my bouyancy control and the air volume in my lungs is the easiest adjustment to make.

 

[bowlofpetunias]

I can't answer the poll either. I pretty much breathe normally with slight adjustments to start to ascend or descend. I think the key is to get your weighting right for your exposure protectionand get neutral. Micro adjustments need to be MICRO!

I would suggest that we do micro adjustments all the time with our breathing in everything we do. The mantra should be "breathe normally" If you don't understand what normal breathing is for you.. you need to learn it. Pay attention to how you breathe normally in your daily activity and you may be surprised.

I have found it interesting that often the people who have "learned to breathe" for other sporting activities seem to have "naturally lower SAC rates" right from the beginning of their diving.

 

[Diver0001]

And divers have been doing it for decades, but since dive history is ignored I guess this has become a new DIR concept.

I learned the practice in '63 when I started diving. It was a necessary skill because SCUBA diving was done without a BC, which would arrive later along with the SPG and a number of other handy items.


Bob
--------------------
I may be old, but I'm not dead yet.

True, and on top of using lung volume the snorkel was an essential tool... to push off from the bottom!

Anyway, how did this thread turn into yet another exercise in pointless swaggering? (not directed at you, Bob. I'm just using your post as a podium).

R..

 

[tstormdiver]

Open Circuit,.... my breathing is a bit different than normal,..; but with time & experience, it is nothing like it used to be. I coarse tune my buoyancy with my BC & fine tune it with breathing.

Closed Circuit,.... Changing my breathing doesn't work, because of the volume offset of the counterlungs. On my CCR, I must pay more attention to my buoyancy to keep it in check & release a little air to account for injected gasses.

Thankfully, my ears clear very easily, but are sensitive enough that I can detect a + or - 1 ft depth change with my eyes closed, which makes knowing where my buoyancy stands, much easier.

 

[DivemasterDennis]

50% or less and you will have that feeling you have when you "get the air knocked out of you." Lungs remain mostly inflated all the time. Long deep breaths vary the content, but nearly so much as you might think.
DivemasterDennis

 

[TONY CHANEY]

I never completely exhale in that I want some reserve just in case the reg. can't deliver the next breath. I tend to take a full breath and then sip additional gas in a top off method and then let the gas out in puffs with a slight pauses between puffs.