Breath training for scuba

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Bagster

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I'm a new diver, and I know that the number one rule for scuba is to always breath, and in an OOA situation to constantly exhale, (until you fix the problem or drown?).

But it seems like it would be wise to increase one's ability to be functional without inhaling.

The longer you can go without drawing a breath, the longer you have to fix your problem, or perform a correct CESA from depth, no? The ability to work for more than 30 seconds without breathing would seem to be a big anxiety reducer and a good skill to have. But I have yet to see any mention anywhere in the literature I have come across of the prudence of breath training for scuba. Did a search on SB too, and don't find any threads specifically addressing it.

Am I all wet, or does the idea have merit?
 
In some respects this is funny. A student goes through OW learning to never hold their breath, he/she will then spend the rest of their entire diving career learning how to properly hold their breath.

The reason that you do not hold your breath is that our lungs do not have any nerve endings and we cannot feel pressure changes like other animals. When we ascend the air we breathed expands (boyle's law), if you hold your breath aka close your throat, injury occurs. If you ascend with an open throat, and have a small stream of bubbles escape, you are releasing the pressure and preventing injury. You can descend and swim horizontally while holding your breath, it isn't recommended, but the danger comes from ascending too quickly with a breath hold.

I assume you did fin pivots in the pool during training. That was your instructor attempting to teach you how to control your buoyancy with your breath. Hold it to ascend, exhale to descend.

When you gain experience you will breathe and exhale as you need. Look at some videos of experienced divers on youtube, they are not constantly breathing. There is no set rule, but a good rule of thumb for a new diver is to make the exhale twice as long as the inhale. So a inhale is 1..2..3 and the exhale would be 1..2...3.....4.....5....6.
 
Although, increasing physical fitness and ability to hold your breath is a good trait, normally, the limiting factor to WHY you need to breathe under water is not the lack of oxygen, but the abundance of CO2 in your bloodstream. In an emergency you are like to have increased CO2 production and hence will feel the need to breathe regardless of the amount of oxygen in your blood.

In addition to increasing physical fitness, I would advice that you practice emergency procedures, excersise due dilligence in regards to buddy check, equipment inspections and safety protocols. This will not only enable you to hinder emergencies from arising, but to identify and correct them before they become critical and require you to perform a CESA.
 
But it seems like it would be wise to increase one's ability to be functional without inhaling.

Don't overthink it.

Sure, good freediving type training and breath control will benefit any diver in general. However, as to the best way to ensure that you can deal with an emergent situation underwater? It's far wiser to ensure that it doesn't occur.


  1. Proper training, gear, and planning... to minimize potential problems
  2. Situational awareness underwater to notice things likely to cause an issue. .. before they do
  3. Effective buddy contact and teamwork... to be able to help each other avoid issues
  4. Skills drilled to second nature... so that in the unlikely event something does happen, you can react effectively and efficiently

Also, keep in mind that there are very few problems underwater that result in you not being able to inhale. If you do end up having some sort of problem, it's far more likely you'll still be breathing at the time.

---------- Post added November 14th, 2014 at 10:34 PM ----------

There is no set rule, but a good rule of thumb for a new diver is to make the exhale twice as long as the inhale. So a inhale is 1..2..3 and the exhale would be 1..2...3.....4.....5....6.

I'd love to understand where this one came from. I can't figure any physiologic benefit to the strategy. The only rationale I've ever heard anyone offer for it is that "It's a good rule of thumb."
 
I'm a new diver, and I know that the number one rule for scuba is to always breath, and in an OOA situation to constantly exhale, (until you fix the problem or drown?).

But it seems like it would be wise to increase one's ability to be functional without inhaling.

The longer you can go without drawing a breath, the longer you have to fix your problem, or perform a correct CESA from depth, no? The ability to work for more than 30 seconds without breathing would seem to be a big anxiety reducer and a good skill to have. But I have yet to see any mention anywhere in the literature I have come across of the prudence of breath training for scuba. Did a search on SB too, and don't find any threads specifically addressing it.

Am I all wet, or does the idea have merit?

To me your thinking has lots of merit.

I went from years of snorkeling, with nice deep breaths, to self taught scuba (bad mistake) I could go through a tank not much slower than if you opened a tank free flow. When I finally had someone teach me, I had to learn how to "not breath?" I spent hours in very shallow water just off the bottom, buoyancy, and breathing.
 
… Sure, good freediving type training and breath control will benefit any diver in general. However, as to the best way to ensure that you can deal with an emergent situation underwater?..."

Freediving is the most effective training that is easily available to recreational Scuba divers to increase their skills and comfort in the water. That in turn is the most effective way to prevent panic. Panic inhibits divers from reacting rationally to situations that “shouldn’t” be more than an inconvenience, but often end in fatalities.

Any Scuba class worth spit teaches how to deal with adverse situations underwater and on the surface. Almost none provide enough time in the water for that knowledge to become reflexive, let alone test for watermanship skills. The vast majority of divers will recall that knowledge, unless they panic first. You are far less likely to panic if you have spent a lot of time in the water and know from experience that you can deal with significant intervals without air.
 
You should be comfortable without a regulator in your mouth for a short period of time. In technical training, this gets drilled -- one of my cave exercises was to swim 50 feet on a breath hold, in full gear, to another diver to get gas donated. But for the recreational diver, in theory, you should always be either within easy reach of your buddy for gas, or already performing a CESA -- and recreational divers are not supposed to get themselves into any situation where neither is possible.
 
...But for the recreational diver, in theory, you should always be either within easy reach of your buddy for gas, or already performing a CESA -- and recreational divers are not supposed to get themselves into any situation where neither is possible.

Yeah, and airplanes aren’t “supposed” to fall out of the air either. You are expecting the lease skilled, trained, and experienced divers to stay in easy reach of an equally ill-prepared buddy to save their butt???
 
Don't overthink it.

Sure, good freediving type training and breath control will benefit any diver in general. However, as to the best way to ensure that you can deal with an emergent situation underwater? It's far wiser to ensure that it doesn't occur.


  1. Proper training, gear, and planning... to minimize potential problems
  2. Situational awareness underwater to notice things likely to cause an issue. .. before they do
  3. Effective buddy contact and teamwork... to be able to help each other avoid issues
  4. Skills drilled to second nature... so that in the unlikely event something does happen, you can react effectively and efficiently

Also, keep in mind that there are very few problems underwater that result in you not being able to inhale. If you do end up having some sort of problem, it's far more likely you'll still be breathing at the time.

---------- Post added November 14th, 2014 at 10:34 PM ----------



I'd love to understand where this one came from. I can't figure any physiologic benefit to the strategy. The only rationale I've ever heard anyone offer for it is that "It's a good rule of thumb."

I would like to know as well. I learned it when I did some diving early in my career in the Caribbean, but I don't even think I do it anymore.

I feel like it is popular because it is the easiest way to describe to someone new how to breathe underwater. Everyone has a different breathing pattern, double your inhale is intuitive (in my mind) and adapts to each individual diver.
 
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