Oh no its ME!!!! I'm the dive ruining HOOVER!!!!

[discrepancy]

Now, with practice and proper breathing techniques, I can outlast most of my smaller dive buddies. The key is practice and relaxation.

NWGratefulDiver has it right. Fitness and technique have a role to play, but the main thing is to relax and enjoy your dive. Once you relax the breathing will tend to look after itself.

I once dived with a young German guy - 21 yo, very fit and skinny like some marathon runner. But, he looked like a jacuzzi underwater. I couldn't see anything past his bubbles. Twenty minutes at 15 metres (45') and he was done, looking for someone else's air to suck on. His problem was relaxing.

Once I dropped down at one of my favourite sites with no other object in mind but to see how relaxed and slow I could do it. Just finned around at 12 metres (35') barely moving a muscle for well over an hour. At one point I almost fell asleep, and the hardest work I did that dive was chomping down hard enough on the reg to keep it in my mouth. That was one of my most enjoyable dives ever, and funny thing is I saw more fish doing more things than I'd ever seen by finning hard to make it all the way out to some local landmark to brag about on the beach afterwards.

In short, fitness is a good thing, but I love it that the main aim of our sport is to slow down as much as possible and never work harder than you have to!!!

 

[Talon]

Hey Pasley.... OMG - are diving dry or something? 20# sounds like an awful lot if you just wearing a 3/2

 

[Mike Newman]

Get another buddy to advise you about air conservation. NEVER hold your breath underwater - that's what you were told in training was the most important rule - and it is!

Your air consumption WILL improve - just relax and enjoy your diving. Also get hold of a recent copy of 'Dive Training' magazine - your dive center should have one FREE for you. It has a great article.

Most of all - don't worry about it - concentrate on building your skills, enjoying your fiancee's company and building experience. The improvement in air consumption will arrive in time.

 

[CameronMartz]

Lots of great advice, especially the ones pointing out that your neighbor sounds like an idiot. <g>

I have an article ("Breathing Heavy: How to reduce your gas consumption") at http://www.divefitness.com/html/articles.html which might have a few more ideas to help you.

Cameron

 

[del_mo]

As a newbie myself with enough dives under my belt to start to figure out this breathing thing, here is what seems to be working for me. As stated earlier, exhale slowly. I do this by "humming" through my mouth, making a wooooo sound (I actually hear myself). Now I am beginning to slow down my inhaling by seeing how slowly I can do it, like a contest. But, I had to first get beyond the awe of the first few dives and whether or not I would be able to equalize, get my buoyancy right, etc. etc.

I just did my first 1 hr dive at 60'. Took 35 dives to get there.

 

[pasley]

Hey Pasley.... OMG - are diving dry or something? 20# sounds like an awful lot if you just wearing a 3/2

In real estate we say "location, location, location" In Florida your water comes from the equator region (gulf) and heads north along the coast. In California, our water comes from Alaska heading south along the coast and is cold. So since in the northern hemisphier water spins in a clock wise direction, the east coast sees warmer water than the west coast.

So Southern California is 7mm neoprean with hood, gloves and boots or dry suit territory. Winter 52F-56F with 54 being normal. Summer 54-58F with 56 or so being typical.

 

[auberg]

I'm very new to this too, and you and I are about the same size. I go through a tank just about as fast as you described, but everyone I've talked to has said what everyone is saying here, it'll get better with practice. Take your time, it'll be okay.

 

[spstar]

NEVER NEVER NEVER hold your breath while scuba diving RULE #1

 

[dive_lover88]

i learnt this from my instructor to breathe in 2 sec and exhale about 6 sec, i took his advice and improved on my breathing,i used to be a hoover and end my dive with less than 50 bars of air in my tank.Never forget the scuba rule #1 NEVER HOLD YOUR BREATH!(unless you want to find out how does a chamber looks like)

 

[cummings66]

i learnt this from my instructor to breathe in 2 sec and exhale about 6 sec, i took his advice and improved on my breathing,i used to be a hoover and

I'll play the idiot here. First the disclaimer, my SAC is .5 and I'm getting better all the time but I don't time my breathing so I can't tell you my times or any formula I use other than trying to be relaxed and not race from point a to point b. That said;

Lets assume I breathe like I do on land and have roughly equal inhale and exhalation times. We'll use your times for comparison. 6+2=8 second cycle times. Now assume a normal 6+6=12 second cycle time, that gives you two thirds more time per cycle than yours does and I would think a lower SAC.

Why is your method better? I'm puzzled by the fast inhalation and what it buys you in terms of SAC and I'm always curious about things I've never heard of and why they are. So if you could explain the theory I'd love it.

Here's what I was taught, no shallow breathing and breathe like normal. We didn't really talk a lot about ways of getting a better SAC and were basically told that that comes with more diving.