Running out of air!

[BioLogic]

... and women DO use less air then men.

I have noticed this a lot and I have no idea why ... Must be a gender thing !!

Men have higher metabolic rates -- all that testosterone and (on average) more lean mass. That makes them produce carbon dioxide faster, so they're stimulated to breathe more often and more deeply.

It's also why guys have more red blood cells per ml than women, on average.

 

[sharkbait0501]

Something else to consider with newer divers, is they sometimes tend to swim with their arms excessively. Flailing arms is very inefficient and would cause more air consumption. I you watch experienced divers, you'd often see them with their hands crossed in front of them or just completely relaxed. Small, slow kick movements are ideal.

 

[LeadTurn_SD]

judypots: NWGratefulDiver nailed it (as he always does ) in post # 3. Great info in his post.

My perspective: I'm 6'5" 260 lbs, my wife is 5'7" and 130 lbs... she has half my body mass. She always finishes a dive with 400-500 lbs more than I have left when using Al80's, and I have 5x as many dives and years diving under my belt. That is just the way it is going to be when we dive.

Your husband will continue to improve, especially is he follows the recommendations NWGratefulDiver made, but all of us "need what we need" as far as air consumption, so there will probably be a point at which his air use wont get any better. More than likely you'll always have better air consumption than he does due to differences in physical requirements between the two of you.

Best wishes.

 

[srobinson]

My wife and I had this issue initially, but over time we have (mostly) evened out on air. Now she probably has slightly better consumption than me on average, but not always. She's smaller than me, so all other things being equal she's going to use less air. I would wager that your husband will get to the point that the limiting factor won't be air, but no-deco time. Even if that is not always the case, you'll dive enough that you won't mind if you have to end the dive a few minutes early. There's always another dive, right?

 

[bigsnowdog]

High air consumption is common in newer divers. Some basic tips that may help ...

1. Do a weight check ... make sure he's not using more than he needs. Lots of new divers tend to overweight ... usually because they haven't been taught how to descend properly and think they need all that extra weight just to get down. If you need more info on doing a proper weight check, ask. If you need more info on doing a proper descent, ask.

2. Avoid poor trim and hand sculling. Both tend to force you to move more water than necessary, and water's heavy stuff. It takes effort to move it outta the way, and effort makes you breathe harder. Keep your body as close to horizontal as possible when moving through the water ... and one way to teach yourself not to scull with your hands is to keep them clasped together in close to your torso.

3. Slow down ... most newer divers tend to zip around trying to see everything. But it's like the difference between walking and running ... running makes you breathe harder. Take it slow ... not only will you improve your air consumption, you'll see more.

4. Dive as often as you can ... like most things, the more you do it the better you get at it. And with better technique comes better air consumption.

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

May someone else ask?

I am guilty of the hand movements, and guilty of feeling as if I don't have enough weight, though experienced divers tell me I have enough.

Would you elaborate on the weight check and descent methods?

 

[DevonDiver]

When I was a newbie diver, I found that my air consumption didn't really increase until I got to a stage where I accepted it and stopped worrying about it.

Air consumption does improve with experience. Regular diving is what helps the most.

Buoyancy control, sloooow finning...and cutting out non-essential energy use/movements are the mechanics by which you use less air. There is no magical 'breathing technique' that makes things better.

Spend time in the water with a very experienced diver and you will have a role model to learn from. Activities such as underwater photography help also..(especially if you get into macro)...because this will slow your finning (to spot stuff) and mean that you are distracted from the worries of your air consumption.

Also, you need to accept that everyone has different air consumption. Men suck air more than (most) women - simply because they have a larger lung volume. You can't change that.

 

[Riger]

Hi all, My husband and I are new divers (40-50 dives). He tends to run low on air at least 10-15 minutes sooner than I do, or anyone in the groups we've dived with. I know that people use up their air at different rates, and he has gotten a little better. But do you have any tips on how to slow the rate of air usage? Many thanks.

Hello Judypots,

My wife and I have had a similar problem, we are 43 years young and 70 dives old (we only started 18 months back).

All the advice above is valid. Sadly however, as his consumption improves, so does yours and so there will always (assumption) be a disparity.

There are two other things that have we have done that have significantly evened out the odds.

1. I dive on a 15L steel tank, which gives me 25% more air than my wife on her 12L tank. If your buddy (like me) has lots of bioprene and retired muscle, then the steel tank is really nice for consistency in the buoyancy department, a spin-off advantage.

2. I am either thick skinned or stupid, but I don't "feel" the cold so much, and when I do feel it, it does not bother me. I was diving (Red Sea and Maldives) in a 0.5mm wet-suit but then as a conscious step to improve my air consumption, I moved up to a 3mm suit. This step alone has significantly improved my air consumption by 15-20% (estimate).

I hope this gives you some more food for thought.

Best Regards
Richard

 

[don Francisco]

May someone else ask?

I am guilty of the hand movements, and guilty of feeling as if I don't have enough weight, though experienced divers tell me I have enough.

Would you elaborate on the weight check and descent methods?

The best time to do a weight check is at the end of the dive diring the safety stop. Proper weighting is such that with your near empty tank, a fully emptied BC, and relaxed breathing you'll be neutrally bouyant to slightly negative at 15'. Do this while in horizontal trim so that unconcious finning doesn't propel you upwards. If the weights are dialed in perfectly your head will tend to rise slightly on inhales, and drop back on exhales.

If you're heavy during this test subtract 1-2#s on later dives until you have the right weighting, then write it down for future reference.

With this weighting the added 5-6#s weight of the air in a full tank will be sufficient for descending if you relax and exhale fully. Most people who need extra weight for descending need it because they're tense and not fully emptying their lungs, or because as they try to descend unconscious finning is driving them back up.

-------------------------

Lastly and getting back to this almost hijacked thread, hand movement is a major cause of high air use in new divers. Avoid hand movements by diving with your arms crossed, or behind your back in the "at ease" position. Those who can't seem to break the habit can wear mental handcuffs. Pretend your tank strap is loose and you have to do the whole dive holding the bottom of the tank so is doesn't slip down. Once you break the hand movement habit, it won't come back.

 

[Deefstes]

... and women DO use less air then men.

I have noticed this a lot and I have no idea why ... Must be a gender thing !!

It's because we fart and they don't.

 

[Puffer Fish]

Normally, I'm of the "relax... slow down...dive more.stay warm...get a bigger tank" thinking. But this last weekend I let someone try one of my regulators...and he went from running out of air 15 minutes before his wife did, to them almost being the same...(ok, there was 5 minutes difference).

Was not expecting to see any difference...but it seems that sucking air fast thru a, as he called it "starter" regulator versus an apex TX200 made a big difference for him.

Don't know if that is common or he is the only person that has that issue.... but they had almost 100 dives together and that was the only time they were ever close in air usage.

I know they were pretty shocked by it.

Note: He also got cold for the first time...which he also was not expecting.