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Another good idea. Swimming (with a proper stroke) is important for comfortability in water.
How to overcome fear of lower depths?
- Thread starter petu
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CT-Rich
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Diving in the deep end is like diving in the shallow end, with more water. Try practicing in the pool with the mask only. Take a deep breath, put your head under water and put mask on and clear it. Do it as many times as it takes to feel comfortable. You can even start practicing without water if you want.
When you are more relaxed with that, toss the mask in the pool and swim to it and put it on. As you feel more comfortable, go to the deep end. The difference from a newbie and a guy with a hundred dives is... a hundred dives. Repetition makes everything feel easier.
When you are more relaxed with that, toss the mask in the pool and swim to it and put it on. As you feel more comfortable, go to the deep end. The difference from a newbie and a guy with a hundred dives is... a hundred dives. Repetition makes everything feel easier.
Thanks everyone for the replies.
This is for my open water referral, btw. I had 3 hrs of class time and the 10hrs of video before the one pool session.
A lot of good tips here. I would like to get more tips on growing your endurance.
This is for my open water referral, btw. I had 3 hrs of class time and the 10hrs of video before the one pool session.
A lot of good tips here. I would like to get more tips on growing your endurance.
As someone who struggled a bit getting certified (damn mask skills) all I can say is practice and perhaps pay for a one on one instructor. I found having a one on one instructor helped me a lot as I could focus on me and getting my skills done and not feeling like I was wasting the other student's time.
I ended up practicing my mask removal/floods in a plunge pool for hours. I'd just sit on the bottom with a snorkel in and do it over and over again. Nonetheless it still took me a few shots to be comfortable in open water.
So my tips would be to practice the skills you need to and if it is available to you, consider a private course.
At the end I did (on top of the standard course time...) two full pool days additional and four 'fun dives' (i.e. DSD) to get comfortable in the water before I was able to do my open water dives.
Even though it was expensive and a bit time consuming it was what I needed to pass. I suspect some less strict instructor's may have passed me earlier but I was lucky enough to have two who wanted me to pass well not due to a fluke!
I ended up practicing my mask removal/floods in a plunge pool for hours. I'd just sit on the bottom with a snorkel in and do it over and over again. Nonetheless it still took me a few shots to be comfortable in open water.
So my tips would be to practice the skills you need to and if it is available to you, consider a private course.
At the end I did (on top of the standard course time...) two full pool days additional and four 'fun dives' (i.e. DSD) to get comfortable in the water before I was able to do my open water dives.
Even though it was expensive and a bit time consuming it was what I needed to pass. I suspect some less strict instructor's may have passed me earlier but I was lucky enough to have two who wanted me to pass well not due to a fluke!
AfterDark
Contributor
All my strength training is done to also provide cardio/endurance training. Try super sets of 15 reps minimum without rest between sets, for example, chest, 4 sets of bench press, 4 sets of flies, set of flies, set of bench press, back to the flies, then bench press, repeat two more times. You may need to drop some weight for this but you'll be working on your endurance while strength training. The only rest you get is setting up for the next to exercises.
My week consists of 2 strength, 2 dedicated cardio days and 1 weak day I call it, where I work only my weak areas, my new knee for example and my right arm and shoulder (2 rotator cuff ops).
The single hardest thing I had to do during training was clear my mask, I feared it was going to cause me to fail but it with repeated attempts I was able to get it done, you will overcome your fear.
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Spend time in the shallow end of the pool and bring something along to do, something to get your mind off the fact that you're nervous. Play catch with those little torpedos or something.
Years ago, in a former life, I had a student who had real problems with the flood and clear drill. She finally got where she could do it in the pool enough for me to take her to open water. On the open water dive you could see her getting nervous as I approached her for the flood and clear drill. Somehow she managed but I still felt I should stick close to her.
We were doing a tour after the skills part of the dive and she was swimming and looking pretty relaxed, having a good time. Her husband didn't pay attention to where she was and cut in front of her when he saw something interesting. He proceeded to kick her in the face and flood the mask. Then as calm as you can believe, reached up and cleared the mask without hesitation. After that she swam over to her husband, punched him in the shoulder, and flipped him off. I cracked up.
I ask her after the dive what changed and she said she wasn't even thinking about it she just did what we practiced.
The next dive I did a pop quiz flood clear during the tour and she had no problems.
The point is, once she got over the fear of a "test" and got her mind off of being nervous, she was great. She's been diving ever since.
When she came up from the first dive she grabbed her husband by the arm and said, in a stern voice, "Don't you ever effing kick me in the face again! Watch where you effing going!". It was pretty funny. Yes there still together and he's never kicked her again.
Years ago, in a former life, I had a student who had real problems with the flood and clear drill. She finally got where she could do it in the pool enough for me to take her to open water. On the open water dive you could see her getting nervous as I approached her for the flood and clear drill. Somehow she managed but I still felt I should stick close to her.
We were doing a tour after the skills part of the dive and she was swimming and looking pretty relaxed, having a good time. Her husband didn't pay attention to where she was and cut in front of her when he saw something interesting. He proceeded to kick her in the face and flood the mask. Then as calm as you can believe, reached up and cleared the mask without hesitation. After that she swam over to her husband, punched him in the shoulder, and flipped him off. I cracked up.
I ask her after the dive what changed and she said she wasn't even thinking about it she just did what we practiced.
The next dive I did a pop quiz flood clear during the tour and she had no problems.
The point is, once she got over the fear of a "test" and got her mind off of being nervous, she was great. She's been diving ever since.
When she came up from the first dive she grabbed her husband by the arm and said, in a stern voice, "Don't you ever effing kick me in the face again! Watch where you effing going!". It was pretty funny. Yes there still together and he's never kicked her again.
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From your OP I see you were comfortable with the mask removal in the shallow end, so that seems not the problem. But since others have offered advice, I'll chime in.
Practice airway control on land. Close off the airway passage of the nose and breathe through the mouth. And vice versa. When the nose passage is completely shut, water only goes in the nostrils (unless you look completely up at the surface--then some may squeeze through, but who does that with a mask off?), which is no concern (unless mentally it is). Then of course, progress to underwater.
Practice airway control on land. Close off the airway passage of the nose and breathe through the mouth. And vice versa. When the nose passage is completely shut, water only goes in the nostrils (unless you look completely up at the surface--then some may squeeze through, but who does that with a mask off?), which is no concern (unless mentally it is). Then of course, progress to underwater.
I was pretty lucky to be able to find an instructor that did one to one instruction (note that was to suit my timescale not because I particularly wanted one to one - I had time off during the week and wanted to get it done in that week).
It was great because I was able to spend time discussing everything with the instructor and he had enough time to go over any issues with me before we moved on - he wasn't having to juggle me and another student. There were a few times that I think I stuffed up a skill because of "test nerves" but we could simply chat it over and do it again until I was comfortable with it.
When it came to my OW check out dives, my only issue with doing the mask clear there was the temperature of the water - 8C water hitting my face caused a lot more shock that 23C water in the pool (which I hadn't really been expecting). Got over it and was fine on the second try.
Part of my pool time though was able to be spent just playing about with the foam torpedos and other things which helped a lot in getting comfortable.
It was great because I was able to spend time discussing everything with the instructor and he had enough time to go over any issues with me before we moved on - he wasn't having to juggle me and another student. There were a few times that I think I stuffed up a skill because of "test nerves" but we could simply chat it over and do it again until I was comfortable with it.
When it came to my OW check out dives, my only issue with doing the mask clear there was the temperature of the water - 8C water hitting my face caused a lot more shock that 23C water in the pool (which I hadn't really been expecting). Got over it and was fine on the second try.
Part of my pool time though was able to be spent just playing about with the foam torpedos and other things which helped a lot in getting comfortable.
Hoag
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I know that this is the New Divers Forum and that special rules apply here and I certainly don't want to be "that guy who flamed a new diver asking a legitimate question", but here goes nothing ...
For @petu , you said that you felt overwhelmed while in the deep end of the pool. That is a somewhat natural response. Breathing underwater is not something that comes easily to everybody. It is not instinctive. When you add on tasks such as clearing your mask in this environment, especially if it has been a long session and you are fatigued and maybe suffering a little from information overload, it can seem like it is too much to take in or to accomplish.
As others have suggested, give it another try, ideally spread out over two or more nights so that while all the information is covered, it is in smaller more manageable portions. This might help a lot.
Be prepared though. If you are still feeling stressed at the deep end of the pool, ask yourself if you are ready to do it in open and significantly deeper water. This may be a non-issue, but it might also be a "deal breaker".
For the recreational diver, especially when we all start out is all about seeing new things and having fun. Only you will know if you can overcome the anxiety that you are feeling in the deep end of the pool and are having enough fun to proceed. I hope you are able to. It is an amazing world out there in the deep blue.
Good luck.
For @petu , you said that you felt overwhelmed while in the deep end of the pool. That is a somewhat natural response. Breathing underwater is not something that comes easily to everybody. It is not instinctive. When you add on tasks such as clearing your mask in this environment, especially if it has been a long session and you are fatigued and maybe suffering a little from information overload, it can seem like it is too much to take in or to accomplish.
As others have suggested, give it another try, ideally spread out over two or more nights so that while all the information is covered, it is in smaller more manageable portions. This might help a lot.
Be prepared though. If you are still feeling stressed at the deep end of the pool, ask yourself if you are ready to do it in open and significantly deeper water. This may be a non-issue, but it might also be a "deal breaker".
For the recreational diver, especially when we all start out is all about seeing new things and having fun. Only you will know if you can overcome the anxiety that you are feeling in the deep end of the pool and are having enough fun to proceed. I hope you are able to. It is an amazing world out there in the deep blue.
Good luck.
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