Air Conservation - I suck air, what can I do?

[jgleason]

I have about thirty dives under my belt from the Carribean to repeatedly diving Maui and Hood Canal in Washington State. The common theme to all of my dives is that I suck down air. What can I do to conserve air?

I am 46 and in reasonable shape (run 4 to 7 miles regularly) and am height weight proportionate. I go on dive boats and see all shapes of bodies and all ages and skill sets pile into the water. The only thing guaranteed is that I will be out of water first.

I noticed on yesterday's dive off of Molikini that my dive master did not breath as often as I do. I have a steady in and out of respiration. I swear, others take a breath, hold it, then exhale.

IS THERE ANYONE OUT THERE WHO FIGURED OUT A WAY TO OVER COME THIS CURSE?

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

 

[Puffer Fish]

Golf... take up golf....

Welcome to scubaboard, by the way..

There are a bunch of things...

Hard to exactly know without seeing you dive, but here are the general suggestions:

1. Relax.. no, really relax... no jumping around, no fast movements...tranquility now. It is the easiest way to tell a new diver from an experienced one.

2. Relax some more... only this time make it your mouth, your chest...

3. Do not hold your breath.

4. What sort of regulator are you using? That can and does make a difference.

5. Move slowly...the better the shape you are in, the more fast twitch muscle you will have, and fast twitch muscle can use O2 fast.

6. Don't waste air.. inflating and deflating your BC, can use a lot of air.

7. If you can, when you get in the water..spend a minute or so on the surface relaxing, before you put your regulator in and go down.

8. Dive more... it will get better with practice.

My sac rate is around .4... I am older, fatter and could fall asleep during a safety stop...

Did I say anything about relaxing?

 

[thanksforallthefish]

Some people just naturally use more air ... it is dependant on lung volume.

Nothing you should do to try and improve your air consumption other than try not to worry about it and diving more and more ... the more you dive you will probably find your air consumption will improve as you learn to relax.

Skip breathing is not recommended ... just breath normally ie as you would on the surface.

You could always get a bigger tank.

 

[tc]

I don't think Puffer put enough emphasis on the most important thing you can do- Relax!

With only 30 dive you can't expect to be as comfortable in the water as the folks with hundreds or thousands of dive.

Keep up your workout routine and get into the water as often a you can, once you get really comfortable in the water you relax and your air consumption will start dropping.

 

[John_B]

Use the XALER method. :cool2:

Watch your dive master. Don't watch how often he breathes, watch why he doesn't need to breath as often.

I was with a fairly new diver a couple of months ago at a dive resort, he had the same problem you have (and that we all had once). He was tense, he was heavy in the water column (IOW he wasn't neutral; if he crossed his ankles and folded his arms he would've sank like a stone) so he finned like crazy to compensate, and he constantly and futilely "skulled" with his hands to adjust his position in the water column.

I can guarantee that your DM isn't finning like crazy (except where there is a good reason and only for a moment). I can guarantee that he is neutral in the water column at all times. And I can guarantee that he doesn't scull the water with his hands. In fact, I know divers with thousands more dives than I have that still dive with their arms crossed. What do they have that you don't? They RELAX in the water.

Back to my newish diver friend. We got him to dive with his arms crossed (to stop skulling, it doesn't really help anyway). We got him to cross his ankles at depth and add just enough air in his BCD to get really neutral, and to adjust this every time he changed depth. We got him to slow down and not be in such a hurry. And by the end of the week he had really good air consumption. Not just for a n00b, but good air consumption for a male diver of his size.

The other thing to realize is that bigger guys have bigger engines and bigger engines use more fuel. You are probably never going to have the consumption of a small female diver, its just physiology. Don't be afraid to ask for bigger tanks (which can be tricky sometimes in the Caribbean where AL80s are ubiquitous). And staying five or ten feet above everyone else can also make a difference as you descend past 50' - 60' or so -- remember Boyle's Law from your OW class.

Finally, the more you dive the sooner you'll be more relaxed. So go diving, the more you dive the easier this all becomes. (Really!)

Good luck, and happy (relaxed) diving.

 

[Jupiter31]

The more you dive, the better your air consumption is likely to get - your post proves that despite being in otherwise great, fit, physical condition, as a newer diver, you tend to be worse on air consumption vs less fit more experienced divers.

Diving is different from many land based sports and activities - there is a comfort factor involved. Trust me, you will in all likelihood improve given your excellent physical condition.

You could also (seriously) consider a larger capacity tank - I love my steel 120!

 

[friscuba]

Lots of possibilities. Height and weight proportionate? - If you're 6'10 and proportionate you're gonna take a lot of air to fill your lungs each breath cause those lungs are huge... all things equal though, and even if you are huge, don't give up just yet.

Low air consumption comes with experience, comfort, practice, and a few hints.

First and foremost, slow down. If you are getting ahead of your DM, don't, slowing down will likely help. People who kick constantly either are whipping along at a rapid pace, or are kicking because they're over-weighted and need to kick to stay off the bottom... either will burn a lot of air. A nice slow kick and glide works well with many people, if you have to kick constantly you might be over-weighted or over-excited.

I had really poor air consumption initially, at 30 dives something kicked in and it improved by 10 minutes overnight, then it improved again when I got 10 dives in over a couple weeks time... so experience does make a difference.

By the time I was up to a hundred dives or so I'd nearly doubled my air time, but it still wasn't all that good and nobody ever gave me a hint... then I met Cathy, who now works for me some 2K dives later, she said "you're moving your hands a lot more than you need to". I started clasping my hands loosely while diving 'til I got my arms under control and my bottom time went up 10 minutes immediately.

When we're on charters and we're having a diver that goes through the air fast we usually pass along this hint: Sip your air slowly if you can. Count how long your inhalation takes in seconds, and how long your exhalation takes in seconds. Count it for a couple cycles, then try to add an extra second on each the inhalation and exhalation for a couple cycles... then try to keep the rhythm without counting... don't spend your whole dive counting - you want to have fun and enjoy the surroundings. Several minutes later, try counting again and see if you've extended your breathing a bit, then maybe try to add an extra second or so to your inhalation and exhalation cycle if you can comfortably. If you can get to where you inhale for 6-7 seconds, then exhale for the same or longer, you're only taking 4 breaths a minute and your air will last a very long time. If you need a gulp of breath, take it, relax, and then see if you can get back in rhythm.

Keep in mind, the more diving you do, the less air you are likely to burn, that's just the way it goes. Don't sweat the breathing, you'll likely never last as long as the DM if they work frequently, just enjoy the dives.

Have fun in Maui!

 

[TSandM]

jgleason, one of the biggest determinants of gas consumption is efficiency in the water. This begins with proper weighting, and distributing your weights so that they encourage, instead of impeding, a horizontal attitude in the water. Beyond that, you can develop finning techniques that don't require constant motion. You can move more slowly, which helps find the camouflaged creatures in the water, and also uses less gas. You can perfect your buoyancy control, so that you aren't using either gas in your BC or in your lungs to control your depth.

Lots of people can tell you these things. But I'll offer that either my husband or I will meet you for a dive or two and help you. My husband is a newly anointed PADI instructor -- I'm just an avid diver with a few advanced certs. But both of us enjoy mentoring.

I'm offering Peter in my stead, because I'm beached for the next 5 weeks as a result of an injury, but if we can't rendezvous before I'm good to go again, I'd be happy to meet up with you for a day of diving and some coaching.

 

[Diveralan]

As has been mentioned your air consumption will improve over time as you dive more. the more comfortable you are in the water the more relaxed you will be and the less air you will consume.

New divers are often overweighted. You should be much more comfortable in the water now than your when you did your OW dives. If this is the case you should now need less weight then you did before. Excess weight will burn a lot of air. If you are overweighted you will have a lot of air in your BC. Small changes in depth will cause the air volume to increase or decrease. This will require you to constantly add or remove from your BC. Dive with as Little weight as possible and still be able to maintain depth during your safety stop with about 500 PSI in your tank.

Any movement underwater takes much more effort than on the surface, increased effort will cause you to use more air. Don't swim with your hands, keep them at your side, behind your back, or clasp them together.

Make sure your gear is streamlined. Lights, sausages, slates etc. that you do not use on most of the dive should be in pockets. Anything hanging from your BC will create resistance when swimming.

How hard are you kicking during the dive? Are you swimming around from spot to spot trying to see everything? How fast are your swimming? Even a small increase in speed will increase breathing rate. Take it slow, it's not a race and you will see more. If you are fighting an current try and get closer to the reef or bottom ( but not so close you touch), the current is often slower close to the reef. If you are going with the current only kick enough to control your direction, let the current do all of the work for you.

Calculate and track your SAC rate. Every dive is different, this will allow you to see and measure your improvement. If you don't know how let me know and I will send you the formula.

Dive often and practice good habits and your air consumption will improve. The bad news is that someday you will decide to get a camera, This will cause most peoples air consumption to drop considerably.Good luck and let us know in a few months how you are doing.

 

[Arizona]

Think about your breathing pattern when dozing off for a nap. It should be slow, relaxed and an even tempo. This is what what worked for me. If you are not relaxed you can't get to this state.