Exhale Diving for Spearing/Snorkelling?

[zarb]

Hi,

I am new to the forums, and was looking at some tips to increase bottom times and number of dives when I go snorkelling and spearing.

An old friend of mine, recommended looking at exhale dives for spearing. He claimed that for a spearos purposes (lots of relatively shallower dives in quick succession), diving on partial or full exhale is more beneficial than diving normally. Could someone please explain the science behind this for me?

He mentioned it had to do with being able to recover faster and perform many more dives. He also claimed it helped with seasickness and general nausea while diving.

If this is the case, what would be a good plan of attack for training this? Would I completely ignore normal static tables, and only do exhale tables? Or is it foolish to neglect normal breathhold practices? Should I divide my time equally between exhale/normal training?

Any help is welcomed! Cheers

 

[Dominator]

HI welcome to the forum, i'm a bit of a lurker too. But that is due to the huuuge amounts of knowledge in previous posts (i can just keep reading and researching past posts for hours). Do a quick search for FRC and exhale diving. There are so many posts, a vast amount of which are relevant to your question, you will find a lot more useful knowledge by searching this way.

One thing must be said about FRC... its very different to inhale diving, and you must be aware of this and the safety implications.

Regards,
Dom

 

[growingupninja]

If you are skin-diving (no wetsuit), exhale diving might make a little sense for a spearo but with the way a wetsuit compresses at depth, I do not think it is productive. If you are wearing a wetsuit but need to do shallow dives which are above your neutral bouyancy (ie if in your wetsuit you are neutral at 10M but are exploring something at 3M), then exhale can be very useful to counter the bouyancy of the suit without needing to add weight. I swim exhale or FRC when I am traversing heavy kelp (impossible to get through on the surface, much easier to move through if 2-3M below surface) since with my 5mm I float like a cork near the surface, even on a half-lung.

If you do exhale training in a deep pool it can help with chest flexibility and overall comfort at depth but you have to realize that you are bringing less air down with you and so your safety margin is reduced, and if you black out it I think water in the lungs is more likely do to negative pressure. I train exhale dynamics sometimes but I mostly do them dry. FRC (a less 'aggressive' exhale) is something you can introduce into your wet training with some better safety margins. Work very gradually--start with less than half your full lung time/distance. I don't train static tables but yes, if that is how you train you can just exhale before starting your hold, and adjust times accordingly.

 

[Mr. X]

Sebastien Murat's Exhale diving video is featured on DeeperBlue today, there is an existing discussion thread on it: http://forums.deeperblue.com/general-freediving/96029-murat-exhale-video-interviews.html

I too am intrigued by the technique but it would be prudent to exercise some caution/skepticism. You don't want to SWB. I already prefer not to take big breaths or pack when spearing, and that seems to work for me. It makes the whole process more relaxed/calm. So this Exhale Diving idea makes some kind of sense to me. Not sure yet how/if to pursue it further though.

 

[growingupninja]

Sebastien Murat's Exhale diving video is featured on DeeperBlue today, there is an existing discussion thread on it: http://forums.deeperblue.com/general-freediving/96029-murat-exhale-video-interviews.html

I too am intrigued by the technique but it would be prudent to exercise some caution/skepticism. You don't want to SWB. I already prefer not to take big breaths or pack when spearing, and that seems to work for me. It makes the whole process more relaxed/calm. So this Exhale Diving idea makes some kind of sense to me. Not sure yet how/if to pursue it further though.

If you want to play with it, a pulse O2 meter is probably helpful, or at least you need a way to measure pulse. Preferably underwater/while diving, as the presence of water and depth may have a very dramatic effect. A safety buddy is also not a bad idea

 

[cdavis]

Zarb. Your buddy is right about the faster recovery, but diving exhale, say 1/2 lung or a little less, is a very different beast than full lung diving. It can fool you because your body reacts so differently than what you are used to. Do a lot of reading and work into it slow, with good buddy support. There are several threads here that go into great detail on training and progress in exhale diving. I've been diving exhale (60%) for several years and think its great for the kind of spearing I do, but its not to be blundered into. Lots of ways you can hurt yourself.

IMHO deep exhale, say 1/4 lung or less, is not suitable for most spearfishing, or most divers. But i might be wrong.