Scuba vs Freedive breathing patterns. can i do both?

[mannydib]

i currently do alot of scuba diving and am interested in taking up freediving (but no freediving after scuba of course).
ive heard that training both breathing patterns can conflict.
anyone on the board have any experience with this?
anyone do both without problems?

 

[SanderP]

What's the deal with freediving after scuba, dangerous?

 

[naiad]

Yes, because it increases the risk of DCI. (the bends)

About the breathing, I know people who do both without any problems.

Lucia

 

[greendiver]

What's the deal with freediving after scuba, dangerous?

I have had some serious discussions about this!!, there are a lot of people not aware of this...

This can be dangerous!!

Do not go freediving right after scuba diving, just as you need a surface time after scuba diving you will also have to consider a freedive a "real dive".

By the way, you can even get Decompression problems only freediving!!!
(Multiple deep dives in a short time)

 

[immerlustig]

mannydib,

why would breathing for scuba and breathing for freediving conflict with each other? unless you were breathing underwater while freediving, i guess...
and what are those 'two breathing patterns' that you mention?


roland

 

[naiad]

unless you were breathing underwater while freediving, i guess...

Even I haven't managed that... yet... :hmm

 

[cdemills]

Even I haven't managed that... yet... :hmm

I tried once ... to realise I didn't put my snorkel ... Being able to breathe under water gives weird habits

CdM

 

[mannydib]

mannydib,

why would breathing for scuba and breathing for freediving conflict with each other? unless you were breathing underwater while freediving, i guess...
and what are those 'two breathing patterns' that you mention?

roland

i talked to a freediver once that used to do both. he gave up scuba because apparently it conflicted with freediving because in scuba you never hold your breath.

ive sucked water into my snorkel because its second nature to breathe underwater. i had to remind myself i wasnt on scuba. funny

i suppose if you are trying to do some extreme freediving you might want to focus on just that.

 

[John A]

i currently do alot of scuba diving and am interested in taking up freediving (but no freediving after scuba of course).
ive heard that training both breathing patterns can conflict.
anyone on the board have any experience with this?
anyone do both without problems?

I do both and have never had a problem with a "conflict". As for free diving after scuba, I have personally never had a problem and I do it quite often, but this is something "new", 20 years ago no one ever even talked about the issue. I do avoid free diving after a tech dive, but that is about it.

John

 

[sunfishtuba]

Just to give a bit of technical information about why not to freedive after scuba diving. This is of course real basic.

When you dive, nitrogen dissolves in the tissues. This occurs on everydive for everyone, not just technical or deep dives. Due to partial pressures, when you surface, some of this nitrogen will come out of solution and form bubbles, the main risk for air embolisms and DCI. The reason for this is the reduction in pressure on the dissolved gas. When you freedive after diving, this is increasing and decreasing the pressure on that dissolved gas. Two things to note here; one, this is essentially the same thing as doing an ascent at the end of a dive at the same rate that you are freediving, which is likely to be much faster than the 30 feet per minute suggested rate. Two, the repeated pressure changes will cause the nitrogen in the bloodstream to go in and out of solution much more quickly than if you were diving, "shaking up the soda can" if you will. Larger and more bubbles will form in the bloodstream, obviously not the best situation.

My suggestion, do not dive after freediving. At the very least wait a surface interval that will start the diving day over, and be careful doing that.
Safe diving

 

[DeepThought]

ive sucked water into my snorkel because its second nature to breathe underwater. i had to remind myself i wasnt on scuba. funny

A good second nature to adopt is to get the snorkel out of your mouth when freediving.

John, you can't prove you didn't suffer long term damage (and ofcoruse with no contrary evidence can't prove you did). I would go for not having the possiblity.
Also, some are much more susceptible than others.

 

[MKDVR]

I tried once ... to realise I didn't put my snorkel ... Being able to breathe under water gives weird habits

CdM

So did I to realize I wasn't on scuba. rofl

 

[fcallagy]

I do both scuba and freediving and will be this weekend but am goinna have decent surface intervals, the long and short of it is we know the theory as to why dci may occur freeediving after scuba but there are no tables or data as to whats safe and whats not so decent surafce interval is a no brainer imho. as said above dci effects different people in different ways two divers can have the exact same dive profile and one gets dci the other doesn,t because of so many variables fitness, dehydration, hungover, tired cold or increased workload all loading up on extra nitrogen. Never tried to breathe with my snorkel but usually leave it on the surface when freediving, a little cosy pipe insulation lets it float and its usually tied off to my float so its always handy when i surface

 

[mannydib]

makes sense, having a mouth peice in your mouth could be a trigger to breathe.

i didnt choke, but i was surprised at how subconscious it was to take a breath.

another time i fell into the water off a kayak and found myself kicking like mad to get back on it. once i realized i didnt have fins on i was able to get back on.

 

[naiad]

Once when I was a kid I was in a swimming lesson, and got frustrated at my inability to learn to swim. I threw myself in the water, thinking that somehow I would be able to swim. I hadn't thought of the fact that my face might go in the water, and when it did, I breathed in. Not just a little bit, but a nice lungful. I immediately realised that this wasn't a good idea, but I'd already done it. The teacher picked me up. My relief at being on the surface was short-lived - I couldn't breathe for a little while afterwards. :head

It couldn't have been a too bad experience - in a few minutes I was ready to try again. The teacher didn't let me.

This lack of ability to learn from experience may explain why I'm still freediving. No amount of contractions, cold pools etc will put me off.

 

[mannydib]

after posting this topic on a technical diving forum i found that there were a good many that also enjoyed freediving without problems and some even said they felt it helped scuba in that they felt they would be more comfortable in an out of air situation.

myself i've found that after a long abscense from scuba swimming in a pool with fins (i use some weight to give me better traction and to be able to swim underwater) increases my water comfort greatly for when i get back.

 

[DiverTodd]

I think the key issue about breathing patterns here is that freediving breaks the CARDINAL RULE of scuba; NEVER, EVER hold your breath. I've found that freediving training has actually changed my breathing pattern on scuba; I breathe MUCH slower now, with a slight pause at the top of my inhalation (but NOT holding, I keep my airway open), and then a much longer exhalation. Hmmm, I'd better warn my next dive buddy...he may think I'm having a free-flow issue!

Todd

 

[welshmikey]

i currently do alot of scuba diving and am interested in taking up freediving (but no freediving after scuba of course).
ive heard that training both breathing patterns can conflict.
anyone on the board have any experience with this?
anyone do both without problems?

im new to scuba diving and found that if i free dived while snorkeling i would breath in forgetting the moth peace (spelling?) was not a regulator also my breath hold is alot shorter since i took up scuba diving tho that could also be for other reasons.

i did just one day practicing holding my breath and i weant from screaming for air in just twenty seconds to comfortably holding it for a minute tho still not as good as i could before i think you can train for both breathing patterns it will just take a little getting used to.

 

[kbarrett]

I'll take a shot at this ... for you non-scuba folks:

You do NOT hold your breath during SCUBA use because the regulator gives you as much air as is needed to fill your lungs at a given depth and pressure.

If you keep breathing, everything works out just fine.

If you hold your breath, and ascend as little as one meter, the release of external pressure will cause the air in your lungs to expand enough to damage your lungs.

SCUBA divers making emergency ascents with empty tanks will continue to allow air to slowly bubble out of their mouths for exactly this reason.

 

[samdive]

I do both, a lot, and have found that my air consumption on scuba has gone up quite a lot since I started freediving - I think this is because I now breathe using a lot more of my lungs than I used to. I have heard other freedivers say the same

This is kind of interesting as most people assume it will put your air consumption down - and some people are even marketing freediving courses based on that!

If you are scubie wanting to learn to freedive, do it because it will help you relax in the water and learn more about underwater life in general - NOT because it will reduce your air consumption - it won't!