Help with breathing and other things

[kwtony]

http://vimeo.com/2060317

watch this, and then watch it again...dive safe

[Brother Neptune]

Originally Posted by Captain_T

I second that comment. Nick at East Coast Divers is the man. I learned a ton about breathing and safety in his class. Worth every penny. Good luck!

Cheeers el capitan! I'm glad to hear you got a lot out of it!

Nickn

[bakir_sonic]

Originally Posted by kwtony

http://vimeo.com/2060317

watch this, and then watch it again...dive safe

[gillotine]

The best thing you can do to increase your bottom time is to learn to relax in the water. You can increase your lung volume a bit by inhaling deeply to stretch the muscles involved, but not by much. It's mostly a head game in which you have to manage the " air hunger " that you get as the carbon dioxide builds up in your lungs. Once you do that, then you need to worry about oxygen and shallow water blackout.
Doing everything posted above will get you there. Do as much pool work as you can because that will increase your confidence and make you more relaxed in the water. You need to get your heart rate down so aerobic fitness and freedom from anxiety about being in the water are the keys. After that, technique becomes the most important thing.

[Dgleeson]

As far as technique goes, how do you guys descend? I find myself always looking at the bottom as I go down, and I feel like this isn't the most efficient way to dive.

[gillotine]

By " looking at the bottom " I assume you mean head down and neck bent as much as possible so you can see down.
Try putting some 1 lb soft weights in your boots to change your trim. It will slow your descent a bit, but if viz is bad your pupils will have more time to adjust to the light.
You kick until you become negative and then sink to conserve air; right ?
Pike, head down, kick, belly down , sink.

[Dgleeson]

Originally Posted by gillotine

By " looking at the bottom " I assume you mean head down and neck bent as much as possible so you can see down.
Try putting some 1 lb soft weights in your boots to change your trim. It will slow your descent a bit, but if viz is bad your pupils will have more time to adjust to the light.
You kick until you become negative and then sink to conserve air; right ?
Pike, head down, kick, belly down , sink.

On descent I have my head and neck tilted back to see the bottom as i go down. But as far as kicking, I kick the entire way down. I have good bottom time but I'm looking to add a few seconds here and there with technique. And by softweights do you mean the clip on ankle weights?

[gillotine]

I mean the packets of shot. Just put them in your boots. The clip weights flop around and slide up and down as you ascend and descend. I could never get them tight enough.
Some guys kick all the way down, but I prefer to sink after I hit the point where I am negatively buoyant. I think that I get more useful bottom time that way and If I am horizontal while sinking, I get a better view as I descend.
If there is a current, and you want to hit a particular spot, you have to get up current enough so that you will land at that spot.
That said, what I actually do is try to sink without kicking but usually have to kick a bit. If you develop the habit of kicking as little as possible descending or on the bottom, your bottom time will be better.

If you are in rocks on the bottom, "finger walking" or pulling yourself with your fingers ( not arms) will give you better time. Small muscles use up less oxygen and generate less CO2 than large muscles. ,

[Dgleeson]

Thanks for the tips, I know enough to not kick my way around on the bottom, but I never thought of trying to use just fingers.

Just curious, what is your breathe up : bottom time? I try to do 2:1 but realistically, I get impatient most of the time and end up doing closer to 1:1.

[gillotine]

Two up one down is what I use as a guide, but I'm not anal about it.
If I get in a rhythm, that's what I try for.
A lot of it depends on whether I'm drifting with or swimming against the current and how I feel for that day I like 1 minute because I can usually go beyond it before I get my first contraction in ideal conditions. If I get one before that, I either slow down or increase the up time.
Of course if I see a good fish just as I'm leaving the bottom, I try to figure out the minimum time I need to get back down, hit the fish, and make it back with the smallest amount of brain damage