Breathing Technique.

Are you struggling with your breathing whilst swimming?

Breathing comes completely naturally to all of us on land but in water humans are hardly fish-like.

Many swimmers have difficulty when breathing in the water. For many people learning to swim is a feeling of shortness of breath, tightness in the chest, water going up the nose, accidentally drinking the water and generally feeling uncomfortable when it comes to trying to master breathing whilst swimming.

​But for many people, the ‘breathing barrier’ is a psychological problem. 
It's important to understand that when a swimmer feels desperate for air, it's actually from a buildup of carbon dioxide from holding your breath and not a lack of oxygen. Holding your breath while swimming creates irregular breathing patterns, restricting oxygen to the muscles and organs.

A widespread mistake found with breathing... after taking a breath in and putting your face in the water, it is common to want to hold your breath and not let it go.  Exhalation is the most important part of the breathing process. To get a full breath in, you need to fully exhale.

​Anyone who has done swim lessons before will be familiar with being told to blow bubbles. Believe it or not, blowing bubbles in the water as you exhale is the best way to develop a proper breathing pattern. To fully exhale all the air in your lungs, you need to blow out lots and lots of bubbles in the water. 

The first thing to remember is that you must exhale while your face is in the water.

As your breathing and fitness improves, you will find other elements of your swimming much easier. You will relax in the water and therefore float better. More efficient breathing means you have more oxygenated blood in your body therefore you feel less tired when swimming!

Also another fundamental in swimming which effects your breathing is 'body position'. The movement of turning your head to take your breath will affect your body position in the water if not done correctly. Lifting the head to breath rather than turning your head will cause your feet to drop and create more drag and resistance in the water... but that's another blog post :)

​Sounding all a lot easier said than done?! If you want to work on your breathing technique whilst swimming then contact me on 0404 245 825 and we can a create a personal program suited to your abilities.