Training can you do too much too soon?

[TMHeimer]

I was feeling really comfortable on the bottom at 40 m depth. Also, solved puzzle faster on the bottom comparing to surface However, there was a completely different feeling when diving in Red Sea at 35 m depth when you know that bottom is at >100 m depth. And there was no instructor who is closely watching you.

I, too solved the puzzle at depth quicker and have read of others. Maybe you just try harder to "beat the system"....?
I also would be a little uneasy in that Red Sea situation you describe, as a 100m bottom would be new to me.
I crossed the USSR in 1984 and wanted to take the train Irkutsk to Ulaanbaatar, but couldn't book in time.

 

[DanielRJones]

Below is how i trained in my first year of diving
Dive 5 drysuit
Dive 15 aow
Dive 22 navigation
Dive 30 peak performance buoyancy
Dive 35 rescue
Dive 45 nitrox
Dive 45 wreck
Dive 80 intro to tech
Dive 90 andp with helitrox

Which brings me to today
I do not believe that training was to fast and have had time to dive between courses and put skills to the test and get better before moving onwards.
Training in the future
2020 tdi trimix should be at 250 dives then with 50 dives being full deco dives in the 35-45 range

 

[Landlocked123]

I truly believe it depends on the individual. Lets be honest not all divers are born with the same aptitude to be in the water. I do believe there is such thing as too much too soon but I cant say I believe that applies to everyone. I do believe the average diver is better served getting more dives in and getting experience ahead of certifications. I grew up a fish. Free diving and spear fishing most of my teenage years in Europe. For 2 years before i moved to the US I actually Scuba without being certified..dont ask.. its Italy and anything goes. My best friends older brother was an instructor so basically the three of us dove for 2 summers practically every other day to the 30-40 foot range. Jump to late 30's.. I did OW almost ten years ago, dove a ton for 4 years. Did all kinds of diving. Zero viz at the local quarries every weekend, drift dives, wreck dives, night dives ..bla bla bla...and then my 5th year decided to get AOW and Nitrox. So when I did my deep dive for my AOW my instructor took me to 93 feet and told me he had no qualms about taking me there because of how comfortable I was under water and he felt he was diving with a dive buddy rather than a student. Some people seem to get to this point sooner than others. I guess for them it works. But I see too many students at the local quarry getting their AOW who honestly I would never dive with below 40 feet and I would never in a million years consider taking on the types of dives I routinely do in piss poor to zero viz at the local watering hole. To each his own I guess. I think experience trumps certifications. The latter is just a ticket giving you the ability to gain the prior.

 

[EireDiver606]

I didn't want to do PADI AOW right way because I thought it was ridiculous that somebody with all of 9 dives would claim to be an advanced diver. I've been on a boat with several AOW divers who were terrible.

Most divers ARE terrible.

how much can you learn in a two hour pool session anyway?)

You’d be surprised how much you can learn in a 2 hr session with a superb instructor. You’d learn more from a good instructor in 2 hours than you would a bad instructor in 2 weeks.

 

[Landlocked123]

I agree EireDiver but as others have said it then takes time to go and put those skills to use weekend in and weekend out and truly learn them and perform them as as second nature. Agree that a great instructor will put you in the right direction and give you the skills to get to the next level so you can go practice the right things. But again I see people too often checking things off the list thinking they know how to them and onto the next cert.

 

[TMHeimer]

I truly believe it depends on the individual. Lets be honest not all divers are born with the same aptitude to be in the water. I do believe there is such thing as too much too soon but I cant say I believe that applies to everyone. I do believe the average diver is better served getting more dives in and getting experience ahead of certifications. I grew up a fish. Free diving and spear fishing most of my teenage years in Europe. For 2 years before i moved to the US I actually Scuba without being certified..dont ask.. its Italy and anything goes. My best friends older brother was an instructor so basically the three of us dove for 2 summers practically every other day to the 30-40 foot range. Jump to late 30's.. I did OW almost ten years ago, dove a ton for 4 years. Did all kinds of diving. Zero viz at the local quarries every weekend, drift dives, wreck dives, night dives ..bla bla bla...and then my 5th year decided to get AOW and Nitrox. So when I did my deep dive for my AOW my instructor took me to 93 feet and told me he had no qualms about taking me there because of how comfortable I was under water and he felt he was diving with a dive buddy rather than a student. Some people seem to get to this point sooner than others. I guess for them it works. But I see too many students at the local quarry getting their AOW who honestly I would never dive with below 40 feet and I would never in a million years consider taking on the types of dives I routinely do in piss poor to zero viz at the local watering hole. To each his own I guess. I think experience trumps certifications. The latter is just a ticket giving you the ability to gain the prior.

Agree on all points. Another factor is how much "water" experience you have prior to taking OW. How much you know about the ocean (lake, river), that you respect it because you know what it can do to you. When I was DMing, the oddest thing I observed was those who took OW and apparently had maybe the experience of swimming in a 3 foot deep pond.

 

[Aloha Joe]

If you have a good instructor, dive as much as you can afford with them. There's nothing wrong with learning from someone with more experience. In my case, the specialties are not much more than the cost of diving on a boat. I'll have done 6 specialties, AOW, and Rescue within 6 months.

 

[hhmoore]

I finished up my specialties and got my advanced scuba diver certification. At the end, when the instructor realized I had enough dives to qualify for the Rescue course, he invited me to participate in the class he's doing this weekend. I had to decline because I felt it would have been too rushed & I wouldn't get as much out of the course. (I would only have had 2 or 3 days to do the course work; and I would have showed up for the first day of dives having been up since the previous afternoon.) Unfortunately, he doesn't do rescue often; so I'll have to consider whether I want to wait a year or pursue other options. Incorporating it into a dive trip this winter is sounding pretty good.

 

[KevinNM]

I finished up my specialties and got my advanced scuba diver certification. At the end, when the instructor realized I had enough dives to qualify for the Rescue course, he invited me to participate in the class he's doing this weekend. I had to decline because I felt it would have been too rushed & I wouldn't get as much out of the course. (I would only have had 2 or 3 days to do the course work; and I would have showed up for the first day of dives having been up since the previous afternoon.) Unfortunately, he doesn't do rescue often; so I'll have to consider whether I want to wait a year or pursue other options. Incorporating it into a dive trip this winter is sounding pretty good.

Rescue is useful, but it isn't 'fun' and it mostly isn't actually diving. So I'd be cautious about doing it on a dive trip where the cost/day is high.

 

[hhmoore]

Rescue is useful, but it isn't 'fun' and it mostly isn't actually diving. So I'd be cautious about doing it on a dive trip where the cost/day is high.

I had already checked prices - some were crazy. I wouldn't be opposed to paying a bit of a premium for the opportunity to do it on a winter getaway...but I wouldn't pay exorbitant prices. (There's also the factor of me not being willing to take a full First Aid/CPR/AED course...and I'm not going for an O2 provider course unless someone can convince me it would be beneficial to me)
Planning to take a course just gives me a bit of justification for going alone, if my regular dive buddy can't make it...but it would make more sense to do something I can't do locally. Drift diving, for example