Never thought I would need advice on the most fundamental of human activities, but oh well.
I'm a fairly new diver (25 dives, with AOW, Nitrox, Drysuit certs), and I seem to be the heaviest breather by far on dives. Recently, I just finished three dives at Bonne Terre Mines; on the first two, I had to ascend about 5 mins earlier than everyone else. On the third dive, they actually put me on a guide's alternate reg for the last 9-10 minutes of the dive, and I even had a larger tank of air than my buddy (100 vs 80).
According to my computer (Pro Plus 2.1), my SAC rates for my most recent dives (not including the one on the alternate) have been the following:
1.24 (Air, 29 mins @ 53ft max)
1.118 (Air, 32 mins @ 43ft max)
1.401 (Nitrox 28%, 19 mins @118ft max)
1.447 (Nitrox 28%, 21 mins @ 122ft max)
0.964 (Nitrox 32%, 25 mins @ 76ft max)
1.11 (Nitrox 32%, 25 mins @ 74ft max)
So I'm just trying to get some advice on how to improve my breathing. I'm sure 10 years of smoking didn't help my lung capacity (I've been quit for about 5 years). I'm about 5'9"-5'10", 175 lbs. I was diving heavy (about 32 lbs added), but dropped down to 28 lbs on my last two dives, which helped my buoyancy (but didn't help my SAC rate, which I thought might happen).
I work out a decent amount (about 40 mins cardio 4x week, plus weights 2x), and a guide at Bonne Terre said that runners who dive tend to breathe heavier, and that my cardio work may be contributing to my SAC rate. He recommended trying to do 7 seconds in, 7 seconds out while diving.
That's all the info I can think of (I'm sure it's more than you needed!), but any advice on how to help me improve my air consumption (and not be the guy surfacing early all the time) would be hugely appreciated. Thanks for looking!
I'm a fairly new diver (25 dives, with AOW, Nitrox, Drysuit certs), and I seem to be the heaviest breather by far on dives. Recently, I just finished three dives at Bonne Terre Mines; on the first two, I had to ascend about 5 mins earlier than everyone else. On the third dive, they actually put me on a guide's alternate reg for the last 9-10 minutes of the dive, and I even had a larger tank of air than my buddy (100 vs 80).
According to my computer (Pro Plus 2.1), my SAC rates for my most recent dives (not including the one on the alternate) have been the following:
1.24 (Air, 29 mins @ 53ft max)
1.118 (Air, 32 mins @ 43ft max)
1.401 (Nitrox 28%, 19 mins @118ft max)
1.447 (Nitrox 28%, 21 mins @ 122ft max)
0.964 (Nitrox 32%, 25 mins @ 76ft max)
1.11 (Nitrox 32%, 25 mins @ 74ft max)
So I'm just trying to get some advice on how to improve my breathing. I'm sure 10 years of smoking didn't help my lung capacity (I've been quit for about 5 years). I'm about 5'9"-5'10", 175 lbs. I was diving heavy (about 32 lbs added), but dropped down to 28 lbs on my last two dives, which helped my buoyancy (but didn't help my SAC rate, which I thought might happen).
I work out a decent amount (about 40 mins cardio 4x week, plus weights 2x), and a guide at Bonne Terre said that runners who dive tend to breathe heavier, and that my cardio work may be contributing to my SAC rate. He recommended trying to do 7 seconds in, 7 seconds out while diving.
That's all the info I can think of (I'm sure it's more than you needed!), but any advice on how to help me improve my air consumption (and not be the guy surfacing early all the time) would be hugely appreciated. Thanks for looking!