Controlling and reducing air consumption

[Joneill]

This sounds like a semantics trap. That's so fifth grade.

Actually, if you read his post that I was responding to, it is not semantics. He made a statement as fact about lack of blood vessels in fat causing it to be white which is completely incorrect (in fact, every lb of fat formed in the body requires a mile of new blood vessels to support it). I merely corrected that - he then tried to call my response irrelevant when it was not. So, it's 5th grade to call out BS when posted?

If he wasn't being so much of a nudge, I'd let it go - but the holier than thou attitude and condescending tone made we want to call out his BS claim. Answering the subsequent question "So how, exactly, do you train yourself to use less air?" with "Isn't the answer obvious? By using less air." Is an example of the attitude I refer to.

 

[Joneill]

Here's the practical part IMO. A person who is interested in lowering his/her air consumption would be well advised to improve their fitness. This could include losing weight, increasing cardiovascular efficiency, and muscle tone. It all kind of goes together.

Of course there are other, more dramatic factors in air consumption, like a person's size and dive technique. Small women who are excellent divers will always consume less air than large men, no matter how fit they are, or how good they are at diving. Divers who exert themselves unnecessarily and/or experience anxiety in the water will use more air than they would if they were calm and controlled.

Comparing one person's consumption to another's is pointless. The relevant discussion is "how do I improve my air consumption" and fitness is a factor. Let's say there is an excellent diver who gets winded easily and is 50 libs overweight. If that same diver lost those 50 lbs and got in better cardiovascular shape, he would definitely use less air diving. If he included swimming in that pursuit and got better at swimming, the decrease in air consumption would likely be even better.

Exactly, in my case it was 40 lb and I have another 20 to lose. I've seen a huge improvement!

 

[The Chairman]

"So how, exactly, do you train yourself to use less air?" with "Isn't the answer obvious? By using less air." Is an example of the attitude I refer to.

While I disagree with the technique, I've seen people use it.

Mother, mother ocean can be a jerk. Trying to fight her with your strength and endurance is a fool's errand. Technique produces bigger and more tangible results in the quest for better air consumption.

 

[hammet]

The worst diver I ever met was a Navy Seal. OMG, he was all over the place and quickly. Up, down, left right he literally swum circles around me. He lasted 20 minutes on the Spiegel Grove and I got another 60 minutes in after I took him to the surface. In shape? He was ripped! Unfortunately, his dive craft was crap.

 

[Zi55ou]

Back to reality: your breathing is governed by the amount of CO2 in your bloodstream. The more CO2 you produce, the more you have to breathe. So, if you want to stay down longer, avoid producing CO2.

Wow took 14 pages before CO2 gets mentioned! Its CO2 don't ignore it just because you haven't counted to 5 or 7 if you feel like you need to breathe go ahead and breathe. Regardless of whether or not your wife's fat is white or chicken or if your resting heart rate is low because you were shot while working as a policeman in NY or any of that nonsense.

 

[The Chairman]

Wow took 14 pages before CO2 gets mentioned!

It's ancillary to the discussion. Fitness is ancillary to the discussion. Technique is the only viable solution. The more you imitate a floating blob, the less CO2 you'll generate. Dive smarter: not harder!

 

[gcarter]

N=1

My consumption has dropped consistently over > 300 dives as my technique improved, I relaxed more, I trimmed and weighted better. All this while my weight went from ~ 190 to ~ 240 and I got more out of shape. So fitness is clearly not the only factor, nor even necessarily the dominant factor. I dive with others who sip air yet carry much excess baggage.

Not to dismiss fitness, I started at the gym a few months back, and have been dropping ~ 1 a week, now at 226. I would be hard pressed to believe the weight is making any difference, it didn't make any observable difference as I was adding it.

I would believe my cardio improvements are making a difference. My observations over the last few weeks tell me that for a given heart rate, my breathing is easier and less laboured than it would have been a few months ago. Apparently my body is doing better at gas exchange - more oxygen used and more CO2 produced does not require more rapid breathing, or at least not as much more.

If you are out of shape, improved cardio will likely make some improvement. But I am firmly in the camp that the better, more predictable and reliable solution is technique. Dive more, dive often, improve comfort, and improve skills. Consumption will follow.

For reference my rate during my first full season averaged 1.34 ft3/min, with a low of 0.80 and a high of 1.76. Major Air Hog territory. (17 dives)

Year 2 it was 0.87 avg, low 0.53 (60 dives)

Last year (7) was avg 0.58, min 0.39. (56 dives)

Well over half of these dives are cold water.

First dive of this season, 55f / 13c, last Wednesday, first dive since November, unexpected silt out during a dive that was already low vis, was 0.62 ft3/min.

All of that improvement was courtesy of technique and experience, not fitness.

 

[Jay]

Try yoga. My breath cycle (inhale/exhale) lasts about 25-27 seconds. But you are right...a slow exhale is important.

Edit: I just timed myself seated: it was 47 seconds for a full breath cycle. Obviously it would be faster when not seating/rested. But you can get yourself into that zone with some breath-work.

Worse, the slower you breathe, the less CO2 you'll expel, increasing your angst and probably leading to increased respiration.

Wow took 14 pages before CO2 gets mentioned! Its CO2 don't ignore it just because you haven't counted to 5 or 7 if you feel like you need to breathe go ahead and breathe

It's ancillary to the discussion. Fitness is ancillary to the discussion. Technique is the only viable solution. The more you imitate a floating blob, the less CO2 you'll generate. Dive smarter: not harder!

So, where are we with this? The correct technique for breathing is deep and slow? Or ...

 

[MMM]

So, where are we with this? The correct technique for breathing is deep and slow? Or ...

Whichever works.

 

[tarponchik]

Actually, if you read his post that I was responding to, it is not semantics. He made a statement as fact about lack of blood vessels in fat causing it to be white which is completely incorrect (in fact, every lb of fat formed in the body requires a mile of new blood vessels to support it). I merely corrected that - he then tried to call my response irrelevant when it was not. So, it's 5th grade to call out BS when posted?

If he wasn't being so much of a nudge, I'd let it go - but the holier than thou attitude and condescending tone made we want to call out his BS claim. Answering the subsequent question "So how, exactly, do you train yourself to use less air?" with "Isn't the answer obvious? By using less air." Is an example of the attitude I refer to.

Look, the fact that you may be correct in some statements does not make your main point (that is, that aerobic fitness helps reducing air consumption) correct. Using your own terms, this claim of yours is BS. There is no evidence that this is true, and no theory why this would be true. This is not to say that I'm against aerobics; go run all you want if you wish so. I personally quit running about 5 years ago and have no regrets but my air consuption hadn't suffered a bit as consequence of this decision.

And do not get offended if you asked a silly question. What answer were you expecting? "You train yourself to use less air by standing on your head"?