Triathlon Athlete=Air Hog

[Brian Robinson]

Hi, I am 55 years old, 6', 220 lb and I have been tri- training since I was in my twenties. I run, swim, and bike regularly. Not nearly as much as I did when I was younger, of course. I also run my own Karate Dojo and I am a assistant coach at a boxing gym. I also actively practice meditation and practice controlling my breathing, pulse, and blood pressure done via the meditation. So the adage that, "my air consumption will get greatly better with more experience" I just don't think it applies to me. The point is I have a really big set of lungs. Recently, actually every dive I have done I have always needed to be first up/on the boat due to getting low on air. I even ran out while doing a safety stop last weekend. (no biggie We did a buddy share for about the last minute) After some advise, the next 2 dives I got a {steel 100 tank NO2 32%) and for the next 2 dives I was able to get almost 45 minutes time and still finish with 500lb. I have found the deal now. I have been looking at the Faber 149cu steel tanks. I am a big and strong guy so the extra weight should not be a big deal (hopefully) I did notice with the 100cu tank the DM positioned it a little high and I was hitting the back of my head on it. Next time I will position more carefully. But, the price for the tank new is $399 (gonna have to save a while to be able to afford 2) Think I can find used for less. Any and All advice is appreciated.

 

[billt4sf]

Assuming you have 0 - 24 dives as your profile says: I would not do this until you have many more dives to see how your air consumption works over time, as you lose lead, etc.

 

[luscioman]

I am about your size and use Faber 117 mainly. I have a Faber 133 that i use sometimes. I can really tell the difference with them on my back. I would try some different tanks before you buy to be sure. You are welcome to mine if you dive the east coast.

 

[Brian Robinson]

I am about your size and use Faber 117 mainly. I have a Faber 133 that i use sometimes. I can really tell the difference with them on my back. I would try some different tanks before you buy to be sure. You are welcome to mine if you dive the east coast.

Yep, We were diving with the Pompano Dive center. The United Caribbean the first day and the Sea Emperor the second. The current was raging too. It was great, went to 70' + for the first time the 3 minute safety stop ran me almost out the first dive AL80, the second dive steel 100cu no problem. We are always open for help and any advice possible. We would definitely like to do many Diving/teaching/learning dives.

 

[Dan G]

Being male and big you are at a disadvantage when it comes to consumption. Regardless of your fitness level, you should still expect to have high consumption due to your lack of experience. A parallel that might resonate is: a tri-athlete walks into your dojo, gets tired out and explains how s/he doesn't understand because of his/her fitness level. As the instructor, you'd probably focus on breathing technique as you would with every white belt, no?

Safety note: you are using large tanks, watch your NDLs, please.

 

[elmo]

I am also 6' tall. A bit leaner than you, but also done a lot of sport (ex rower, cyclist, mid-distance running, karate, basketball). When I first started diving, my sac was high 20s l/min (~1cuft/min i think). That's pretty high. After roughly 50 dives it started dropping. Rapidly. Now I'm about half that, and better consumption than most of my buddies. What changed? I relaxed more, and moved less. You'll never gave better consumption than some people, but please keep diving before deciding you need to buy massive, clumbsy tanks.

 

[halocline]

1. Larger people consume more air, that's you.
2. New divers consume more air, that's also you.
3. Larger tanks hold more air, so using one is a good choice for you.

Sounds like you've pretty much figured it out, except the bit about running out of air on your safety stop. If your tank really went empty during a dive, that is very poor gas management. You should have ascended earlier with more gas, and possibly shared some air BEFORE your tank went dry. To me that's a much bigger issue than worrying about your gas consumption.

 

[Skeptic14]

If you dive with someone with thousands of dives that dives basically daily it becomes pretty clear pretty quickly why they sip air, they are so much more efficient and hardly move at all to propel themselves, change directions and basically do anything, they are like a fish, and how big they are doesn't seem to matter much at all.

 

[Jayfarmlaw]

Give it time grasshopper...it will come.

Seriously, 25 dives is still learning. I'm 6'1, 235, and almost 50 years old. I use lots of air, but not near as much as I used to. Luckily my wife, and standard dive buddy, uses much less than I do. Other than the typical air saving techniques such as correct weighting, conserve movement, RELAX, no use of hands, and sometimes skip breathing correctly, you can also dive 10 to 20 feet shallower than your group and stretch your air considerably. I bought her a 5 foot Octo hose and when I hit 1000, I go to the "hose of shame" and breathe her down to 1000. We finish our dives close to the same now.

Consider an air integrated dive computer as well. My Oceanic ProPlus will show air time remaining and it's a great learning tool for stretching your air.

Finally, steel HP 120 tanks will be your best friend! The dive op we use in Cozumel uses them and I get 90 minute dives. Again, give it time...somewhere between 70 and 100 dives something magical will happen. You will stop worrying about your air consumption and start enjoying the dive...once that happens, your consumption rate will drop. Primarily focus on anything but your air consumption....it just makes it worse.

Good luck,
Jay

 

[Ricardo V.]

Brian,
Keep at it. Your air consumption will improve with practice. Relaxing and being mentally "in the zone" will yield positive results.

Do keep awareness of what you are doing and see if there are unnecessary things going on. Are you actively kicking and fighting the current, could it be that you are changing profile depths without mentally focusing on what's your plan. Ignoring what's occupying your movements, that be unaware, or aware, what others are doing that's catching your attention, or what ever task you may be doing at any given time... all burns PSI. Handling gear, lights, cameras, SMB, reel, or hunting lionfish, catching lobsters or whatever, all will require you to consume PSI.

I do believe there is a mental aspect to diving. From personal experience, when I'm calm, cool and collected, my air consumption is very good; however, if I'm not in the zone, I burn much more than usual.

A friend of mine, fellow instructor, once suggested yoga for divers. I actually laughed a bit, but then gave it a try and it worked for me. I'm not actively practicing yoga, but took several classes and asked the instructor to help me improve my breathing. It worked for me.

In closing, keep practicing, it will all get better and better. You may want to rent steel tanks before you buy.

Cheers,
Ricardo