Freestyle breathing technique
Developing a good breathing technique is perhaps the biggest challenge for beginner and intermediate swimmers. Problems with breathing can easily knock on into other parts of the stroke. For instance, breathing can cause scissor kicks, poor body position, cross-overs and lop sided strokes.
Many swimmers have a problem with their stroke that is related to their breathing technique without realising that their breathing is the cause of the problem.
Below we're going to take a quick look at good breathing technique and common problems. We'll also give you 7 tips to improve your breathing, try them even if you don't think you have a breathing problem - you may be surprised!
The most common problem swimmers have with their breathing is not exhaling under the water. If you exhale under the water between breaths you only have to inhale when you go to breathe. This makes things much easier. It also relaxes you and helps greatly with bilateral breathing.
tip 1. focus on your exhalation not your inhalation
This is so important and can make a massive difference to your swimming.
We're hot on this - check out our key article on exhalation: You Know Your Problem, You Keep It All In!
tip 2. when you're not breathing, keep your head still
In between breaths, hold your head still in one position. Don't roll it around as your body rotates - this will make you dizzy and will really hurt your co-ordination!
Keep your head stationary when not breathing, just like our animated swimmer Mr Smooth.
If you've think you roll your head, concentrate on looking at one point on the bottom of the pool. Only turn your head to breathe. This will feel a little strange at first but should quickly start to feel much nicer. You'll find you feel much more coordinated with the rest of your stroke too.
If you're struggling to co-ordinate holding your head still - try this visualisation. Imagine a half-full glass of champagne is sitting on the top of your head and you've got to keep it very still or it'll spill! Sometimes thinking of it like that can do the trick.
You can practise at the shallow end or on dry land by bending forwards at the waist and performing pretend strokes while holding your head still.
tip 3. breathe into the trough - your bow wave is your friend
When you move through water you create a 'bow wave' with your head and body, just like a boat does. The shape of the bow wave means the water level drops along the side of the swimmer's face.
Breathe into the trough or 'pocket'.
This creates a trough either side of your head and body that is beneath the surface level of the pool - so there's air lower than you might expect there to be.
Breathe into this trough and you don't have to lift your head to inhale.
Sometimes swimmers call this 'breathing into the pocket' as it feels like there's a pocket of air there by your head.
You don't have to swim fast to create a bow wave, even swimming slowly creates a decent pocket for you to breathe into.
Many swimmers don't realise the bow wave is there and try and lift or over-rotate their head to take a breath. That's a big mistake, as we'll explain in tip 4.
tip 4. don't lift your head
Don't lift your head when you breathe!
The problem with lifting your head to breathe is that your body acts like a see-saw and your legs sink. This adds lots of extra drag.
With the trough or pocket of air by your head you don't have to lift your head up to breathe. To breathe into the trough you just have to rotate your head a little without lifting it. If you try and lift your head you disturb the bow wave, reducing the trough. Also, when lifting your head you tend to breathe too far forwards - and try and breathing over the high front of the bow wave.
So, lifting your head disturbs the bow wave - it's a vicious circle. Instead of doing this, trust the pocket to be there and keep your head low.
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