Powerbreathe question:

[bbdqsony]

Hello-- this is 3rd time I was encourage to get powerbreathe to exercise my breathing habit to allow me to have more time underwater which I would like that. I looked at the website and am not sure which one I should get? Any idea?

POWERbreathe - Official Website

 

[flots am]

Hello-- this is 3rd time I was encourage to get powerbreathe to exercise my breathing habit to allow me to have more time underwater which I would like that. I looked at the website and am not sure which one I should get? Any idea?

POWERbreathe - Official Website

You don't need any of them.

Just breathe normally. If your regulator doesn't breathe as easy as sitting on your couch watching television, it needs service.

In fact, anything that disrupts your normal breathing pattern stands a good chance of throwing off your CO2 balance and causing all sorts of disagreeable problems.

flots.

 

[Thalassamania]

From: CYCLING PERFORMANCE TIPS

RESPIRATORY MUSCLE TRAINING

Would specific respiratory muscle training help the performance of trained, elite athletes?? Let’s see what the literature has to say. So what can we conclude from these studies?

• Inspiratory muscle fatigue does occur with prolonged high intensity exercise and can be delayed by specific inspiratory muscle training (IMT).
• There is controversy as to whether a normal training regimen adequately trains respiratory muscles to meet the needs of the activity for which the athlete is training. This includes meeting the oxygen and carbon dioxide exchange requirements of the endurance athlete’s cardiovascular system, by providing adequate ambient air to the alveoli, as well as by decreasing lactic acid production from the respiratory muscles themselves for the appropriate level of respiratory activity.
• The muscular capacity for pulmonary ventilation MAY limit physical performance in the highly trained athletes.
• Preliminary research has demonstrated that inspiratory muscle training improves performance in highly trained rowers by some 2% more than a placebo group. Further studies should help to clarify whether specific respiratory training may improve the performance of the elite endurance athlete.

Sound useful for diving? Not to me.

 

[Protist]

Almost sounds like a scam...

 

[bbdqsony]

Mmm okay just askin cuz I was told to use powerbreathe that way I can stretch my lung and help to breath slower.

 

[Thalassamania]

I don't think that's gonna happen, as far as I know you can not "stretch" your lungs.

 

[Mike Boswell]

Wouldn't that be a bit like stretching your mouth wider so you can eat less food?

 

[TSandM]

bbdqsony, you can't do anything to your lungs that's going to affect your gas consumption rate. The liters of gas per minute that you put through your lungs is determined by your production of carbon dioxide. CO2 is a product of metabolism, so the more you move, the more CO2 you make -- that's one of the reasons you breathe harder when you exercise. So the biggest way you can reduce your gas consumption underwater is not to try to breathe differently, but to dive differently. If you slow down and become more efficient, your gas will last longer.

Do a quick search through the recent threads in the New Divers subforum, and you will find at least a couple on lowering gas consumption. There are a lot of good tips given.

 

[pjones]

I think you would have better results training with this guy Power Breathing Intuition Trigger Higher Brain Function than what you would get from that device. It just seems hokey to me in my unprofessional opinion...

 

[flots am]

Mmm okay just askin cuz I was told to use powerbreathe that way I can stretch my lung and help to breath slower.

If you are a normal, healthy person, your lungs do not require any sort of stretching or training and doing so will not improve your diving. In fact, lungs are not balloons and were not designed to stretch.

You can't "breathe slower" simply by having "stronger lungs." Respiration is controlled by a number of factors including workload and anxiety and CO2 content. The way to use less air while SCUBA diving is to be a better diver. When you're relaxed and learn to maintain horizontal trim, learn how to weight yourself properly, learn how to kick efficiently, and a handful of other skills, you will then use less air.

An even bigger issue is that as a new diver you should be concerned with learning to dive better and not be worrying about how much air you're using. Except for teenage girls and little kids, pretty much all new divers suck air like crazy. It's just part of the deal.

If your buddies are giving you a hard time because you're cutting their dive short you can either make arrangements for bigger tanks, or even better, find better buddies. Nearly all long-time divers get a huge thrill out of watching new divers see the underwater world for the first time and you should have no problem finding qualified buddies that don't care if your dive is 30 minutes.

Get certified (if you aren't already), go diving, and enjoy yourself. Efficiency will come later as you get better.

flots.