I need advice on...breathing.

[ajtoady]

Get a bigger tank and just enjoy yourself!! Worrying doesn't help. Start with your weights, kicks, and make small adjustments to your BC or whatever you use for Buoyancy compensation. All of the above suggestions are great but the more you dive the better it seems to become! If your friends are pissed about your times, ask them how good they were when they started! Rec diving isn't a competition, it's about enjoyment and just doing it.

 

[j yaeger]

at 33*f my total # is 32-tanks,regs,lead,backplate,etc.
at 50*f my total # is 26
weight check is #1 for Bourj

---------- Post added January 20th, 2014 at 10:55 AM ----------

...and as an aside,ajtoady needed 2 bigger tanks when he first started!!!!!!lol

 

[scubadada]

Bourj, 1.2 cu ft/min (1.0-1.4) does seem to be a realatively high SRMV for someone who is relatively fit, has not smoked in 5 years, and has a BMI of 25-26, just on the border between normal weight and overweight. It seems like the average SRMV is about half of that or less. Others have mentioned the main variables, buoyancy, trim, efficient movement and breathing.

Often SMRV improves with experience. Considering at least half your dives have been training dives, perhaps you just haven't had enough independent dives to become comfortable and/or skilled in the variables mentioned above. You may just want to continue diving and see whether you begin to improve. Alternatively, you could consider a quality peak performancy buoyancy class, with the emphasis on quality, to help you improve. You may pick up several specific items that you could work on. I'm not sure how to pick a quality PPB class other than by reputation or recommendation. Pete, "NetDoc" on SB, has described a very good sounding class he conducts in Key Largo. I don't know where you live but you could post a message on your regional forum and ask for recommendations.

Good diving, Craig

 

[CT-Rich]

I always love to see complicated answers to simple questions...Not that others suggestions are off the mark but the first place to look is really simple. One of the best investments I've made as a new diver was to get a molded mouth piece for my regulator. Anything that causes you to bite down or tense up, you will make you burn more air. Go over your rig and check that your straps aren't constricting around your chest, you aren't getting blasts of cold water that might cause a chill (the back of the neck and kidneys are good for that). After 25 dives you are probably getting more used to the gear, but not realizing you don't really have to be strapped in super-tight like you did when you began. I am not saying that the other suggestions are bad, but really take a holistic look at your rig now that you have some experience and say to yourself "what can I change that will make diving more pleasant and less stressful...." better trim will help, so will time and practice.

 

[iluvtheocean]

i have to agree with CT-Rich in regards to the straps affecting your breathing. I don't keep the shoulder/chest straps too tight, but made the mistake of having the cummerbund too tight once. was much harder to breathe at depth and couldn't catch my breath on the surface until i loosened it..

the OP also said was at Bonn Terr which is a mine - so very much so an overhead environment -- might add to the stress level?

 

[herr2720]

I think aside from what everyone else is mentioning:
Consider how much air you using to inflate your drysuit. You are a new diver so do you have good bouyancy control in your drysuit or are you constantly adding air-vent-adding air-vent in your drysuit? Do you keep your exhaust valve properly adjusted or is it constantly leaking air and you have to keep adding it? Typically the air use is minimal but it can add up if you are overdoing it.
100CF is a big tank but 120CF is bigger and most likely you can wear less lead with it.

Don't get cold. Of course a drysuit helps, but proper gloves, hood and undergarments make it more effective.

On a side note, looking at the Bonne Terre Website I see they only offer up to 92CF tanks and "no personal tanks allowed" which sucks if you have a high SAC

 

[bourj]

Wow, thank you everybody--so, so much, I truly appreciate the comments and advice. Obviously, there's a lot to consider going forward, but here are a few notes on some of the questions people have raised:

- Buoyancy-wise, I feel like I've been doing fairly well. Certainly when I first started drysuit, I was playing with the dump valve a lot more. But on my last few dives, I feel like I've gotten to neutral fairly easily, with a minimum of adjustment necessary during the dive.
- 33 lbs of lead was definitely heavy...I started with that amount when I first began working with a drysuit, and I hadn't really reconsidered my weighting until this past weekend. Two guys I dove with are about my height, one quite a bit heavier than me, the other lighter, and both of them were doing 28 lbs with drysuits, so I dropped my trim weights to try it out. After that, I found I got to neutral much quicker.
- Kick-wise, I'm still working on mastering a frog kick, but I am doing a decent job of kicking less and using less movement overall. My hands are usually lightly locked in front.
- I'm definitely staying warm; I've got locking drysuit gloves, a heavy thermal Fusion undergarment, and a Whites drysuit hood. Most of my dives are Lake Michigan, so I'm usually in 44 degree water or thereabouts. The mine dive was at 58 degrees.
- I take deep breaths typically, not shallow ones; I do my best to be relaxed underwater, although sometimes I wonder if I'm just tricking myself and I'm more anxious than I realize. (I fully admit, some of the overhead environments in the mine got me nervous at points.)

I hadn't considered the tightness of straps, so I'll look into that too. And to be clear, none of my dive buddies have (at least vocally) been pissed about me running through air faster; it's just that I'd like more bottom time (obviously) and my breathing rate seemed SO high compared to others, I wanted to get some tips on techniques/approaches I can try out to start improving.

As for Bonne Terre...yeah, no personal tanks. They actually handed a lot of people 80CF tanks; I requested a 100 and got one out of luck more than anything else. And my doctor agreed with you all that the exercise I'm doing can only be helping me.

 

[mick allein III]

I agree with everyone who told you to get a bigger tank and enjoy. Don't sweat being the first to come up. Air consumption has become a scuba p* ssing contest. Look air underwater is a good thing enjoy it. Take it in generously. Your sac and weighting issues will improve with experience.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[scubadada]

I always love to see complicated answers to simple questions...Not that others suggestions are off the mark but the first place to look is really simple. One of the best investments I've made as a new diver was to get a molded mouth piece for my regulator. Anything that causes you to bite down or tense up, you will make you burn more air. Go over your rig and check that your straps aren't constricting around your chest, you aren't getting blasts of cold water that might cause a chill (the back of the neck and kidneys are good for that). After 25 dives you are probably getting more used to the gear, but not realizing you don't really have to be strapped in super-tight like you did when you began. I am not saying that the other suggestions are bad, but really take a holistic look at your rig now that you have some experience and say to yourself "what can I change that will make diving more pleasant and less stressful...." better trim will help, so will time and practice.

I find it very difficult to believe that switching to a custom mouthpiece will lower your SRMV by 50%. That being said, I dive Sea Cure mouthpieces on all my regs and would never do otherwise.

 

[fnfalman]

That's all the info I can think of (I'm sure it's more than you needed!), but any advice on how to help me improve my air consumption (and not be the guy surfacing early all the time) would be hugely appreciated. Thanks for looking!

Take up free diving.

I tried plenty of breathing techniques and try to "relax". None really worked until I took some free diving classes. Easily cut my air consumption rate down by 1/3. What I used to do on an HP100, I now do on an HP80 with plenty of air left over.