Skip breathing Vs Buoyancy control

[Dody]

Hello. I am a new diver so please bear with me if the topic has already been discussed but what I have read so far in SB dos not satisfy me.
I got OW certified on nov 20th, 2020. My buoyancy control was poor. I then took a Perfect Buoyancy Specialty course and now I think that I got it right. However, I have read several threads where people were advocating against skip breathing because of CO2 risks. Well! How can one control buoyancy by using her/ his lungs without limited skip breathing? I was taught to inhale (and sometimes hold for a couple of seconds) to slightly move up and exhale to move down. Some people say there should not be any hold in breathing and it should be natural, balanced. That does not make sense, does it? How I am supposed to do minor moves if I keep on breathing normally? How I am supposed to control my buoyancy if I can't inhale and hold to avoid a rock? Using my fins all the time of worse using my LPI? Is this CO2 risk real or a myth? I am not talking about skip breathing to save air, just for buoyancy control.
Thank you for your educated replies.

 

[Killerflyingbugs]

Co2 is not the problem, over expansion injuries is why you don't hold your breath.
When you are using your lungs to adjust your buoyancy just change how deep you are breathing,DO NOT HOLD YOUR BREATH!
if you need to go up a little take a deep breath and slowly exhale and you will ascend a little. It should not take much to change buoyancy as you should be neutral.
The more you dive the easier it becomes and after a while it will become automatic. Buoyancy is something that comes with practice. You will feel the changes as you breath.
Hope that helps a little.

 

[Dody]

Co2 is not the problem, over expansion injuries is why you don't hold your breath.
When you are using your lungs to adjust your buoyancy just change how deep you are breathing,DO NOT HOLD YOUR BREATH!
if you need to go up a little take a deep breath and slowly exhale and you will ascend a little. It should not take much to change buoyancy as you should be neutral.
The more you dive the easier it becomes and after a while it will become automatic. Buoyancy is something that comes with practice. You will feel the changes as you breath.
Hope that helps a little.

Thanks for your answer. I will try not to hold when I dive tomorrow and play with inhale/ exhale durations. However, is there a risk of overexpansion when you just hold it for 2 seconds tops at depth? Of course, if I ascend, I won't do it.

 

[BrackaFish]

Hello. I am a new diver so please bear with me if the topic has already been discussed but what I have read so far in SB dos not satisfy me.
I got OW certified on nov 20th, 2020. My buoyancy control was poor. I then took a Perfect Buoyancy Specialty course and now I think that I got it right. However, I have read several threads where people were advocating against skip breathing because of CO2 risks. Well! How can one control buoyancy by using her/ his lungs without limited skip breathing? I was taught to inhale (and sometimes hold for a couple of seconds) to slightly move up and exhale to move down. Some people say there should not be any hold in breathing and it should be natural, balanced. That does not make sense, does it? How I am supposed to do minor moves if I keep on breathing normally? How I am supposed to control my buoyancy if I can't inhale and hold to avoid a rock? Using my fins all the time of worse using my LPI? Is this CO2 risk real or a myth? I am not talking about skip breathing to save air, just for buoyancy control.
Thank you for your educated replies.

Co2 is not the problem, over expansion injuries is why you don't hold your breath.
When you are using your lungs to adjust your buoyancy just change how deep you are breathing,DO NOT HOLD YOUR BREATH!
if you need to go up a little take a deep breath and slowly exhale and you will ascend a little. It should not take much to change buoyancy as you should be neutral.
The more you dive the easier it becomes and after a while it will become automatic. Buoyancy is something that comes with practice. You will feel the changes as you breath.
Hope that helps a little.

Skip breathing is an old technique that some divers used to decrease their air consumption and extend their bottom time. Without getting into the weeds about increased PCO2 etc, this is a really poor idea. As @Killerflyingbugs pointed out where you breathe in relation to how full your lungs are will determine how buoyant you are. If you are breathing at the top of your lung capacity where your lungs are pretty full you will be more buoyant than breathing lower down in your lung capacity. As a very general rule, new divers tend to breathe in the upper capacity of their lungs using larger breaths and this causes larger swings in their buoyancy. Experienced divers are move relaxed, taking smaller breaths using the mid range of their lung capacity and so their buoyancy swings are smaller. This change with happen with additional dives, so don’t sweat it. Good luck

 

[Killerflyingbugs]

Thanks for your answer. I will try not to hold when I dive tomorrow and play with inhale/ exhale durations. However, is there a risk of overexpansion when you just hold it for 2 seconds tops at depth? Of course, if I ascend, I won't do it.

There is a risk of over expansion injuries, it may be very small in that situation but it is there. It is a bad habit to get into. With full lungs, over expansion injuries can happen with changes of depth of less than a foot.
Spend some time focusing on your breathing and pay good attention to how your buoyancy changes when you breathe You should notice a slight lag between when you inhale and when your buoyancy will change. Focusing on that will probably help you more than just about anything else right now as a new diver. That, and getting in the water when ever possible

 

[Jake 10]

You can practice smaller breaths intake/exhale using the mid range of your lungs while you are sitting idle on land relaxed. It takes practice to achieve this technique, so don't wait to go diving to practice.

 

[Killerflyingbugs]

You are welcome! Have a great day in the water.

 

[Dody]

Sorry but I still don’t get it. I must be dumber than I thought . When diving, I breath normally. Not too deep, never shallow. Balanced exhale and inhale. But when I quickly need to move up or down, this is when I feel my breath needs to become unbalanced between inhale and exhale. And for limited time, I might have to exhale or inhale deep and if I am temporarily short of my goal, hold for one or two seconds. I will see how more diving improve that. I dive at least 3 days a week.

 

[Dody]

Go

There is a risk of over expansion injuries, it may be very small in that situation but it is there. It is a bad habit to get into. With full lungs, over expansion injuries can happen with changes of depth of less than a foot.
Spend some time focusing on your breathing and pay good attention to how your buoyancy changes when you breathe You should notice a slight lag between when you inhale and when your buoyancy will change. Focusing on that will probably help you more than just about anything else right now as a new diver. That, and getting in the water when ever possible

Got it!

 

[Basking Ridge Diver]

When diving, I breath normally. Not too deep, never shallow. Balanced exhale and inhale. But when I quickly need to move up or down, this is when I feel my breath needs to become unbalanced between inhale and exhale. And for limited time, I might have to exhale or inhale deep and if I am temporarily short of my goal, hold for one or two seconds.

You can do this - one way that I do it is to breath in (I do not close my throat down with muscle movement) hold that breath in and when I am over the rock just breath out. Not once do I close my throat to hold my breath - leave the throat open and the expansion that everyone is talking about will not happen. With the throat open the gas in your lungs is free to move around - try it while sitting at home.

This is how most of us do it - you are on the right track.

Have fun diving!