Just went of my 5th and 6th dives. I noticed my buddy and I ran out of air before others. Any tips on regulating breathing better? I’m trying to take slow, steady breaths.
Edit: thanks for all the great advice. Lots to learn, but so much fun doing so. I’ve signed up for PADI aow so I’m sure that will help, too. Thanks again!
Posted Jul 15, 2019, 1:44 AM UTC · edited
More experience helps a ton since being more comfortable means less air consumption. Also be weighted properly so your not adding too much air to your BC or kicking harder to move that weight through the water. And of course better buoyancy control helps too. All comes with practice.
The super secret breat control that they don't tell you about in class is....... wait for it.... breath normally.
Beyond that you have the usual make sure you are properly weighted and the such that I am sure others will chime in with.
If they did NOT tell you that in your diving classes then you had the wrong instructor.
It also helps to have a regulator that is adjusted well to ALLOW normal, relaxed breathing, without either shooting gas into your mouth or making you work hard to breathe.
The post is meant to be sarcastic. But if you follow the textbook breathing pattern it isn't a normal breathing pattern but the slow deep breathes. Those mess with your buoyancy and waste air.
the slow deep breathes.
I never understood why it is taught to do slow, full breaths. When I was getting certified I knew not do breath like that but a friend of mine was following the instructions (totally empty and fill your lungs on each slow breath) and it was totally fucking up his buoyancy especially a low depths (as a newbe having trouble with this to begin with) until he stopped doing that.
Mainly it’s that nervous dive students tend to breathe fast and shallowly. It’s an effort to get them to slow down and relax. Slowing your breathing is a good way to force you to calm down a little. That’s why you always hear “stop breathe and think before you act” as advice for potential trouble situations. The main thing you don’t want to accidentally encourage is holding the inhale as an attempt to “save air”. All you end up doing is increasing CO2 build up which just creates a greater desire to breathe (not to mention the potential embolism risks with any breath holding at depth).
I don't know. If I were to take a guess, I would guess that it is to calm you down, because being underwater isn't a natural activity.
In addition to very comprehensive comments good cardio workouts most days of the week help a lot with air consumption. Good personal fitness makes diving much better.
Additionally nailing your trim can help too. The more streamlined you are the easier the work and less air used
Take 3 sec to breathe in, 6 sec to breathe out. This will make a huge improvement to your air consumption.
These guys also have great videos on this: https://youtu.be/kYKqfrfwhAs
👍🏻 bring more gas!! 👍🏻 😜
You'll get better with all the advice given above - proper trim, weighting, insulation, efficient kicks, relaxed, etc...
In the mean time when diving with a group try to stay a little shallower, bring more air / bigger tank. Focus on your diving skills before getting into photography/gopro - when I touch a camera that's 20 bar straight away.
But almost everyone goes through it at the start, it's ok to be inexperienced, just don't be unsafe.
Air consumption will come down as you get more comfort in the water. The other key is to move as little as possible by getting your buoyancy and trim dialed in. So keep on practicing.
If your doing things like crossfit, start doing other cardio-oriented stuff on the side. That's not an end-all advice but just something else on top of the other good things that have been said.
Other than everything else that other people have posted. You need to keep your overall lung health and agility in mind. If you've smoked for a length of time, work in an industrial environment with bad air quality or are overweight it will all have an effect on your ability to breathe. On the flip side, if you're a big guy with a ton of muscle you're going to burn through air a lot quicker than anyone else. A lot the time breathing simply comes with experience. It's not all about "being fit" because there are techniques involved that will help. First focus on your buoyancy because that's probably the best breath-control exercise you can do. Once you nail that everything else will likely fall in to place. Buoyancy is one of those "train hard, fight easy" kind of things...
Relax. Proper weighting and gear configuration. Experience. Accept the fact that some folks, perhaps yourself, are "fast breathers" despite being physically fit and you do not want to be building up CO2 underwater because you are concentrating on your breathing. Carry more gas.
The secret is, every muscle you move requires air/o2. Thus moving as little as possible saves you air. Which is why buoyancy and trim save you air. If you can manage to spent majority of the time just floating perfectly still and/or gliding through the water then you're grand. Frog kicks also seem to help because you're not constantly kicking. Also with more diving you'll be more comfortable in the water.
Just recently dived after a years absence, I lost a lot of weight (20kg) in between dives and I dove using only a little less weight than I used before. Boy did I run through my air fast, it was a deep dive with a max depth of 38m and I ran out in 32 minutes. Most of the time i was fighting to maintain a neutral buoyancy. Next dive i dropped 3 kg off the weight belt and felt much better, maintained air and finished with 70 bar after 47 mins at 25m max depth. Proper weighting is probably one of the most important factors.
Experience helps you breath better.
Less movement uses less oxygen.
Proper weighting. Almost everyone is overweighted when they start diving. Got my wife to finally actually work with her weights recently, dropped 6lbs off her. Following dive she said she felt so much better and used less air.
Keep your body warmer too. Dive with a wetsuit even if you the no the water is warm enough.
Stay calm and relaxed, which comes with time - the more you dive the better it feels. Try to move as lil as possible, which i found hard in the beginning. Using more efficient finning techniques, e.g the (modified) frog kick helps also a lot. Proper weighting and nice horizontal trim are other factors you need to consider.
Experience. Proper weighting. Buoyancy Control. Experience.
Tricks for breathing are universally nonsense. The only way to lower your consumption is to lower your demand.
Be still, and when you can't be still, be efficient.