Swim Technique: Breathing

Swim Technique: Breathing

We did some work on breathing in our Swim Squad session last night.

Exhaling

After reviewing some of the swim videos we took on Monday, it was apparent that not everybody exhales when they put their face back in the water. Swimmers in the videos did exhale eventually, but held onto their breath initially. We want to see that exhalation begin immediately – we don’t want to hold our breath for a moment. A gentle, controlled exhale, similar to a ‘sigh’ is what we’re looking for (although you can breathe out through your nose too).

A couple of other things we thought about …

One Goggle In

When we breathe, we want to keep our head quite low. We don’t need to rotate and move our head a lot. In the session, we wanted to keep our cheek / one goggle in the water when we turn our head, looking at the side of the pool and not the ceiling. Doing this will keep swimmers more balanced in the water, less prone to over rotation and they will be able to keep their leading arm high in the water (and not press down).

Head Still

We also wanted to keep our head still, only rotating it to breathe. Again, in the swim videos, we could see some swimmers lifting their heads and then turning. From looking towards the bottom of the pool, some swimmers would lift their head to look forward and then move it again to breathe to the side. The more we move our head, the more other ‘stuff’ in the stroke happens.

Breathing Both Sides

So, after doing some work where we focused on the above, we did some 25s just breathing to one side. First, to the left and then to the right. Every two strokes or every four strokes. Quite a challenge for swimmers who usually only breathe to one side.

Breathing Patterns

Finally, we did a set where we focused on our breathing pattern. As well as adjusting the stroke rhythm, this involved controlling the exhalation. How forceful you breathe out is very different when you are breathing every two strokes compared to every six strokes.

The set involved increasing the number of strokes per breath.

4 x 25m + 1 x 50m breathing every two strokes. Then the same set breathing every three, then every four, every five and finally, breathing every six strokes.

Impact

Hopefully the session made swimmers think about the way they breathe (exhaling immediately), how they breathe (keeping head low and no extra movement) and how often they breathe.

It might not have been the fast and furious session some athletes crave, but it was a session which will make swimmers more efficient with their swim.

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Next time you’re in the pool, think about your own breathing and see if you can improve it.

If you need any more guidance, or want to improve your swim technique, get in touch!