Running Out of Air Quickly

[laffslast]

Hey all. In all 3 of my dives so far, I've ran out of air the fastest in the group. I'm a big guy 6'3, 230 lbs but there were much bigger people there that were still at around 1200 psi when I was down to 500. I tried adjusting the regulator all the way to the
(-) setting. Any ideas of how I can overcome this? I don't seem to be breathing hard or anything.

 

[jonix]

try "sipping" air sloooowly...as if sipping through as straw. i got the tip from SB guys when i started with scuba and was having the same problem. with a couple more dives you'll get used to it.

 

[markfm]

Experience -- dive more, you'll get better.
Early on you are likely a bit overweighted (not sure, but it's common), probably not good form overall, a bit of muscle tightness, exerting yourself more than you need to.
Even "naturals", folks who feel really comfortable, can burn air much faster at first.

Different things improve at different rates. I think I dropped about 6 pounds of lead over my first 15 dives, plus spent lots of time working skills -- buoyancy in shallow water, keeping my hands clasped behind my tank or at my stomach to avoid unneeded sculling, etc.

My overall breathing "style" took time. Even after clearing a lot of basic form things I burned air quickly (though was better). I varied the depth/rate of breathing a lot, trying to find what would work best for me.

When I started diving, I tended to run about 25 minutes at a local spot. Same person, but a bit lighter weight-wise and 100 dives later, I do about 40 minutes.

Practice

 

[kidspot]

honestly ... just gotta dive more - You'll find that at 10 dives you'll be better, at 20 even better and it will probably continue to decrease noticably for the first 50 dives or so. Once you have found a "plateau" for your air consumption regular excercise can help decrease air consumption.

The other thing that will really help is not using your hands, a very common thing with new divers (this usually will give you an immediate 500psi extra)

btw - if you only dive 2x each year, don't expect to see drastic reductions in air usage either

Aloha, Tim

 

[Web Monkey]

You'll use less air:

• As you dive more
• Become more relaxed
• As your trim improves

However for now (or even permanently) just get a bigger tank.

Instead of an 80, use a 95 or a 100 or a 130.

It's just air and there are no prizes for using less. You're a big guy, so a big tank shouldn't present any physical problems.

As a bonus, and a little bit of irony, once you get a bigger tank and stop worrying about running out first, you'll probably use less.

Terry

Hey all. In all 3 of my dives so far, I've ran out of air the fastest in the group. I'm a big guy 6'3, 230 lbs but there were much bigger people there that were still at around 1200 psi when I was down to 500. I tried adjusting the regulator all the way to the
(-) setting. Any ideas of how I can overcome this? I don't seem to be breathing hard or anything.

 

[laffslast]

I appreciate all the quick responses. As for being overweighted, I'm only carrying 8 lbs of lead. But i think I do use my hands a lot when I think of it. Come to think of it, on my 2nd dive they only had me with 6 lbs of lead so I was using my hands to swim downwards. As for the exercise part, I just left being a meter reader where I walked 10+ miles a day, so I'm in pretty fine shape even though I'm big. I've got my next dive this coming up Sunday down in the keys. So hopefully I can try to pinpoint what I'm doing different. When you mention "sipping air" I tried taking really shallow breaths, but that made me just need to take a really big one afterwards. Maybe it's just a psychological thing though. I'll let ya'll know how I do this next time. I appreciate the help.

 

[jonix]

sip slow and deep (full inhale) and exhale slowly as well. don't use your hands and as web monkey said don't worry about your consumption. when you get more relaxed underwater you'll notice the difference in air consumption.

 

[dhampton82]

try using deeper breaths. taking shallow breaths will make you breath in more "dead" air. Which is your exhaled air from your last breath.

Just keep practicing and try to develope a rhythem, slow in, slow out. and try to keep your breathing the same.

good luck and keep diving, it will get better with experience.

 

[kidspot]

don't confuse "sipping" with shallow - you actually want deep breaths for maximum oxygen exchange in your lungs. Think of sipping like drinking your air (deeply) through a straw. One buddy of mine told me to put my tongue in front of the mouthpiece ... accomplishes basically the same thing - it forces you to slow your breathing down and you just have to remember to breathe deeply.

8# isn't much ... eventually you may have less, or not. Use what you need to get down, but keep your eye on that in the future and see if you don't end up using less as you trim (horizontal position in the water column) improves... If your trim is off and you are kicking downward (even slightly) you increase the amount of weight needed to stay down...

Have fun though ... My first dives with an Al 80 were all under 40 minutes (25fsw or less) but dive 7 was 72 minute and by dive 50 I was doing 100+ minute dives... I'm even bigger than you are, and probably in worse shape - lol

Aloha, Tim

 

[pupdiver]

You will get better as you continue to dive, but for me, it took concentrating on inhaling and exhaling very slowly. I don't take shallow breaths because as you point out you will feel starved and gulp air, but I breathe deep and slow. I don't even think about it anymore, but at first I had to pay a lot of attention to my breathing.

I think part of what breathing slowly also does for you is increase your relaxation. Being relaxed makes a big difference in my air consumption. I know I consume air noticeably faster on my first dives after I haven't been diving for awhile, even though I feel relaxed and don't think I am breathing harder.

Incidentally, I am a pretty big guy and I am better with air consumption than most people I know, so there is hope for you!