How long should you practice buoyancy per dive without burning out

[RTee]

Buoyancy in a dive is like balance riding a bicycle ...it is an integral part of it. What you may want to practice is fine tuning it using only your breathing to control desired depth change ie go up a foot or two to pass an obstacle of some sort, and then going back to the depth you were once you are passed said obstacle, etc. This will also become very useful when you are doing safety stops in open water, ie not having the luxury to use the bottom or a mooring ball as a reference, only your dive computer and adjusting your breathing to fine tune your buoyancy to remain at 15 ft.

Finning, however, is a different story. As a starter, you need to adapt the technique based on the requirements and diving conditions. Try moving forward while being very close to the bottom without silting, as a starter.

Finning also has to be efficient...ie the more efficient you are, the less energy you use which results in lower air consumption. A good example is the frog kick...one good kick and then glide, as long as you can, then repeat, as necessary.

 

[SlugLife]

I am looking for advice as to how long per dive can I spend practicing and not get burnt out or it be counter productive. I'm thinking 20 minutes per dive, 4 dives a day would be a good start?

Burnout is a very personal thing, and it comes/goes in waves. Almost nobody can tell you what your pace will be.

I'm working on a solo software project and have done a lot of similar kinds of personal projects in the past. I even got burned out for years at one point, and had the hardest time restarting. These days I have a fairly decent pace, which isn't a "perfect" but it works for me. Sometimes I'll work 10+ hours per day for weeks on end, and occasionally I have a hard time getting 10-hours in a week.

Here are a few generic tips I'll offer:

• It's good to establish some level of routine. Even when I'm burned out, I'll spend at least 10 minutes per day working on a personal project. Sometimes that 10-minutes turns into 10-hours. Sometimes, it's just 10-minutes. With scuba, maybe a baseline if 2-minutes of skill practice per dive-day is good, and if that turns into 20 minutes, even better.
• Beware your own burnout level. Learn to self-monitor, and it's okay to take a break.
• Scuba is a hobby, it should be enjoyable. Scuba isn't a competition. The way you talk about practicing and burnout makes me think you need to rediscover just enjoying a dive.
• What works for someone else may not work for you.
• With Scuba specifically, I separate my fun-dives from my practice-dives. With my practice dives, I usually pick a gentle-sloping shore, little current or waves, nobody's waiting for me, I have hours at my disposal, and I take my time. If you just spent $100 for a dive-charter to look at tropical fish, what are you practicing finning techniques for, just look at some damn fish!
• A certain amount of learning just comes from doing, not practicing. Just being in the moment. Not constantly thinking about what you're doing. Think of it like someone who can type without staring at their keyboard, or how a basketball player doesn't have to really think about how they're going to make their shot, or how a musician may just improvise and play whatever they're feeling. Yes, there is value in practice, but sometimes you get better by just doing.

 

[mc42]

I love dedicated skills dives. I’d really only add the following:

Figure out what the goal is for your skills. For example, “I want to be able to hover for one minute and +/- 3 feet of a target reference.”

That way you can measure your progress and potentially add more task loading or difficulty over time; for example, do it while checking your SPG, clearing your mask, clipping stuff on and off, being motionless (which adds finning techniques like frog kicks and back kicks), shooting DSMBs, and narrowing the depth window to keeping your position within 1 foot, taking away depth references and goin by the computer alone, etc.

Hint: When / if you do tech diving, you’ll need to do the above, and add skills like dealing with gas switches, clipping and rotating cylinders, donating air, running shutdown drills, and so forth with solid buoyancy control.

You could then add controlled ascents and descents - go up and hold every 5 feet. Then go back down the same way.

Don’t forget to also check and adjust your weight and trim, which will make buoyancy control easier if done right.

If you work at it, you’ll have mad skills better than most divers (and instructors, I wouldn’t hesitate to say).

 

[VikingDives]

I am planning on a series of 10 - 15 dives where I will be practicing my buoyancy and kicks. I'll be diving 15 - 20 ft deep and in a lake. The dives will be carried out over a 3 week period so they will be spread out.

I am looking for advice as to how long per dive can I spend practicing and not get burnt out or it be counter productive. I'm thinking 20 minutes per dive, 4 dives a day would be a good start? Once again I will be practicing both buoyancy and various kicks. I mainly want to make good use of my time and get the most of it.

Also, is there an issue floating on my back during the surface interval. Wading to shore and taking off/putting on gear is a bit time consuming, I'm estimating at that at 20ft a 10 - 20 min surface interval is what I will need between dives and enough time to rest.

As always, thanks for the input!

@tursiops checked most of the basics, but I'd say if you're doing a dive at that shallow a depth, 20 minutes of time spent is plenty assuming you're doing other things.

It sounds like you are pretty new, so I'd suggest taking time at your safety stops to work on skills. Have a plan for what skills you are going to do before you get into the water.

I see you have some interest in wrecks, so just a word of warning. If you want to get into technical wreck diving, practicing skills can be a double-edged sword. Tech. skills are generally not taught in a rec class, and if you're just reinforcing mistakes, you're making things worse for yourself in the long run.

What is your idea of practicing? What skills will you be doing and how will you be doing them?

 

[Cesar C. Elejalde]

Feels a bit like you’re trying to pad your dive count. At those depths and as long as you have gas, why are you ending the dive at all and floating on the surface? Why not do one long dive?

As far as ‘practicing’ buoyancy, trim & kicks … that’s every dive for the entire dive. You can’t really dive without also practicing all of those skills. It’s just diving! You should be working on all of that stuff constantly. I’ve got a modest 750 or so logged dives and yet I work on that stuff every minute of every dive.

Wise advise... you should ALWAYS practice. Dive conditions, place, conditions, they all change. Practice, practice, practice!

 

[Fishdip]

I am planning on a series of 10 - 15 dives where I will be practicing my buoyancy and kicks. I'll be diving 15 - 20 ft deep and in a lake. The dives will be carried out over a 3 week period so they will be spread out.

I am looking for advice as to how long per dive can I spend practicing and not get burnt out or it be counter productive. I'm thinking 20 minutes per dive, 4 dives a day would be a good start? Once again I will be practicing both buoyancy and various kicks. I mainly want to make good use of my time and get the most of it.

Also, is there an issue floating on my back during the surface interval. Wading to shore and taking off/putting on gear is a bit time consuming, I'm estimating at that at 20ft a 10 - 20 min surface interval is what I will need between dives and enough time to rest.

As always, thanks for the input!

I am a little crazy so when I was really trying to practices id do 6 45min dives in a day to around 30 feet and I spend 2 of them just holding position. Now that I am tec diving I will do 1 solid 2-3h dive holding position. You should also be practicing all skills as you do it tell you master them. IE send up smb or remove replace mask with only 1f in depth change that sort of stuff.

 

[Tigerpaw]

Plan looks good and it looks like you are in control and you can always adjust. Is anything else in this lake to see or is it business only dives. What is water temperature. Do you expect to stay comfortable?

Not much to see, typical green lake with 3ft vis on good days. Local lake, it will be business only.

 

[Tigerpaw]

4 dives without changing tanks? What does your gas planning look like? And like @svs said: will your in-water surface intervals be comfortable enough? I would imagine that takes quite a bit of energy compared to a surface interval on land. Or maybe do a drift surface interval between dives 1 and 2, an actual longer surface interval on land between dives 2 and 3, and then a water-surface interval between 3 and 4.

On the other hand: you can (and will implicitly) be practicing buoyancy, propulsion (kicks), streamlining, and breathing on any single dive, no? Just have your buddy give some feedback on how things look underwater (video helps!) so you know how you're doing/progressing. I'm sure people on here would be happy to give some feedback too if you provide some video.

THANKS, I wasn't even thinking about video. EXCELLENT ideal!!!

 

[Tigerpaw]

Hmmmm…… Is this a trick question?

Unless I specifically want to be negatively or positively bouyant (and there are times during each dive when I want to be negatively or positively buoyant in order to fall or rise in the water column) I remain in neutral buoyancy, so I guess I practice buoyancy throughout each and every dive and have practiced for more than a thousand dives.

NO trick question, look at my dive count. Even though I've been diving for a year now and am AOW, I realize that I need to practice buoyancy and kicks to be a better diver. It's why I'm setting aside time just to work it. I don't want to be that diver who is all over the place or kicking up silt. Just trying to improve and get better at it.

 

[Tigerpaw]

Feels a bit like you’re trying to pad your dive count. At those depths and as long as you have gas, why are you ending the dive at all and floating on the surface? Why not do one long dive?

As far as ‘practicing’ buoyancy, trim & kicks … that’s every dive for the entire dive. You can’t really dive without also practicing all of those skills. It’s just diving! You should be working on all of that stuff constantly. I’ve got a modest 750 or so logged dives and yet I work on that stuff every minute of every dive.

NO, not trying to pad my dive count, that won't help me if I'm in trouble in the ocean or be a better diver. I'm a new diver and am asking for advice on how to do this. I was thinking that I needed a break, if a long dive is better I'll do it. I am aware you should practice on every dive, it's why I'm taking time to just focus solely on it. In martial arts we call it repetitive drilling, that means I may set aside a day or two and only drill a specific technique over and over to get proficient at it. I was carrying over that mindset to diving.