Breathing is the foundation of swimming. Getting a comfortable and regular air supply allows our bodies to relax and enjoy swimming. If our breathing is irregular and inconsistent to what we are used to on land our bodies become stressed because CO2 levels rise to a level that our body cannot tolerate (surprisingly it’s not low levels of oxygen). When this happens your body sends signals to your brain that you're in danger of drowning if you don’t take immediate action.
Many swimmers get in touch with me because they struggle with breathing. They can’t manage a length of the swimming pool without getting out of breath. Often these swimmers do one or both of the following:
1. Hold their breath when their faces are in the water.
2. Overbreathe by sucking in as much air as they possibly can before pushing out as much air as they can, emptying their lungs.
When swimming with your head in the water you need to breathe as close to how you breathe when you’re out of the pool. Notice how you are breathing now. You're not pushing out or sucking your breath, or holding your breath. If you try to, it soon becomes uncomfortable and you might start to feel dizzy.
For front crawl, you should breathe out slowly and gently when your face is in the water. Then turn your head to the side and take an easy sip of air (about 50-70% of your lung capacity) relaxing your mouth. Then exhale the same amount gradually into the water again. On each inhalation you should feel your stomach expand as you activate your diaphragm to breathe.
The number of arm strokes you take between breaths can affect this too. Do what feels right for you. If breathing on just one side feels most comfortable (take 2 or 4 strokes per breath) or breathe on both sides if you prefer (taking 3 strokes per breath) - known as bi-lateral breathing. Learning and perfecting this can take time but once it does you will start to relax and feel an enjoyable flow to your swimming, along with renewed confidence.
Please get in touch if you would like some help with learning how to improve your breathing technique by emailing me on james@roundtheislandswimcoaching.co.uk