This is a swim set you can include in any of your swim sessions – as part of the warm up, between main sets or even towards the end of the session as an ‘easier’ set.
As part of our Swim Squad session recently, we included a short ‘breathing set’.
What Was The Set?
The set was simple. 10 x 50m nice and steady. I asked the swimmers to breathe every four or five strokes instead of their usual two or three.
Why?
Two reasons really.
Firstly, I wanted the swimmers to think about controlling their breathing, particularly their exhale. Making sure they didn’t hold their breathe at any point.
Secondly, by taking longer in between breathes, it gave the swimmers a bit more time to think about their stroke, and to focus on what they were doing with the catch and pull.
Some swimmers actually swam quicker breathing like this. This was primarily because their strokes were better.
What I mean by this is often, when swimmers breathe, they drop their ‘leading arm’. When they breathe less, they drop their arm less, and as a result they pull more.
“Really enjoyed the slow breathing, got properly into a zone, found it easier when focusing on nice catch”
Try it for yourself and see what you learn about your stroke.
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