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Feel For The Water! Advice & Tips to Improve Your Swimming.: Tips To... http://www.feelforthewater.com/2011/02/tips-to-improve-your-freestyle.html
1 of 6 20-05-2014 22:34
The correct place to aim your mouth is into position A but swimmers who struggle with
their breathing are often trying to breathe slightly forwards into position B. The bow
wave isn't very deep or well formed there and it will be a real struggle to reliably take
on air:
To get the position of your breathing right it may feel like you're breathing very slightly
behind you - you should just be able to see your arm-pit as you do this. This will only
feel like a slight adjustment - you don't want to breathe too far backwards (position C)
as this will twist your body and drag your lead arm across the centre line:
The next time you swim, experiment a little with your breathing position and try and
find that sweet-spot where you can reliably find the bow wave trough but not breathe
too far behind you and lose your alignment in the water.
Two other quick tips: Aim to keep your lower goggle underwater when you breathe and
experiment with angling your mouth towards the surface like Popeye chews his
spinach:
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Feel For The Water! Advice & Tips to Improve Your Swimming.: Tips To... http://www.feelforthewater.com/2011/02/tips-to-improve-your-freestyle.html
2 of 6 20-05-2014 22:34
Posted by Paul at 11:15 AM
Do you struggle with your breathing when swimming? Have you tried this tip? Let us
know how it works for you on the comments section: here
Swim Smooth!
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13 comments:
Anonymous said...
One drill I've used is to swim with one eye open - the eye that comes out of the
water.
With nothing to see, the closed eye stays in the water.
I did this drill breathing to one side only, which I know you don't recommend.
Breathing every three strokes, the drill might be confusing and dizzying.
You might try it breathing every five, or concentrate it in a drill where you swim
down the pool breathing to the right and swim back breathing to the left.
February 18, 2011 at 12:30 PM
Morgan McArthur said...
Gents:
Several yrs ago I attended a swim workshop that was led by Shane Gould. Her
tip for breathing was to 'just sneak a sip' of air in that bow wave cavity. The sneak
bit has stuck with me and it keeps my head turn from being too pronounced.
Great posts and refreshing approach.
Cheers,
Morgan McArthur
February 18, 2011 at 12:50 PM
TriathleteMama said...
Recently I was filmed while swimming. There were many surprises! I was not
aware that my head is COMPLETELY underwater when I swim. The result, I
suspect, of months of working on pressing my chest down to get my legs to come
up. I just wonder what happens to the bow wave and the cavity for breathing
when your head is submerged?
February 18, 2011 at 1:12 PM
Tom M said...
I like to do a breathing drill that I call the "pirate drill". Go down the length of the
pool ONLY breathing to one side. If you are breathing to the right side, keep your
RIGHT EYE closed. If you are breathing correctly, you should only see water with
your left eye. Repeat this on the other side closing your LEFT eye. Breath to your
LEFT and again, you should just see water! Give it a try and let me know what
you think,
Tom M.
February 18, 2011 at 4:35 PM
umi4smooth said...
A real problem here occurs if you start into some gliding: the bow does not build
up since there is no force pushing you forward. so this is also some good litmus
test for your stroke: only if you prevent gliding and create pull with your leading
arm early enough you will enjoy the pleasure to haver sufficient space for
breathing in.
February 18, 2011 at 6:35 PM
Anonymous said...
Feel For The Water! Advice & Tips to Improve Your Swimming.: Tips To... http://www.feelforthewater.com/2011/02/tips-to-improve-your-freestyle.html
3 of 6 20-05-2014 22:34
I find everything you say absolutely correct ... in fairly smooth water. I struggle
when there are significant waves. Here's how it goes for me:
Breathing OK until the waves sync with my stroke.
Turn to breath - oops I'm under a wave.
Try again - oops I'm under the next wave.
I'm slowing down by now so there's less of a bow wave trough.
I try the other side - damn another wave.
Desparate for air I heave myself high out of the water and gasp for air.
I'd appreciate any tips on breathing in rough water.
By the way, this is a great blog and so generous for it to be free.
Cheers
Tony
February 18, 2011 at 8:31 PM
Swim_butterfly said...
I've tried it but angling the mouth in breathing makes me exert more effort as
compared to opening the mouth small and normal.
Thanks,
Swim_butterfly
February 19, 2011 at 3:09 PM
Paul said...
@ Anonymous # 1
Great suggestion - will try myself next session. Just to clarify, we are not against
unilateral breathing, but would encourage everyone out there to develop their
ability to breathe equally well to either side for times that require a single-sided
rhythm, i.e rough water / drafting etc.
@ Morgan
Absolutely - we also refer to this as Sneaky Breathing as I believe it's a great
analogy. Watch an elite swimmer swimming and if you blink you miss them
breathing it's that smooth!
@ TriathleteMama
Swimming with a totally submerged head is not suitable for every swimmer
despite many coaching advice that you will see / read suggesting that everyone
must swim this way. You are experiencing there one of the classic reasons why
this approach is not advisable for every swimmer...what's even more interesting is
that this extreme "head down, bum up" approach for some swimmers (especially
females) actually INCREASES frontal resistance by presenting too much of the
body to the water, especially if natural buoyancy sees this swimmer already
pretty horizontal in the water.
@ Tom M
Have you been spying on Anonymous #1?!!
@ umi4smooth
Superb advice! This is why I'm really not a massive fan of the term "glide" with
reference to the freestyle stroke as this invariably occurs when really pushing this
point. Interestingly enough, combine the "head-down, bum-up" approach that
TriathleteMama discussed with the exaggerated glide phase (as many articles /
instructions will suggest) and you have the potential to create real breathing
issues for yourself.
@ Tony
Of course rough water swimming will present it's own set of special challenges -
breathing being top of that list. Personally Tony, in very rough water I'll resort to
using position (C) from the above pictures, but be really mindful of the potential
consequences of dragging the lead-arm off alignment in the process. Add a bit of
Feel For The Water! Advice & Tips to Improve Your Swimming.: Tips To... http://www.feelforthewater.com/2011/02/tips-to-improve-your-freestyle.html
4 of 6 20-05-2014 22:34
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additional rotation and you should be set.
@ Swim_Butterfly
No worries - if your approach works, stick with that! Bill Kirby (Olympic Gold
medallist, pictured) makes it look so easy doesn't he?!
Cheers
Paul
February 19, 2011 at 3:39 PM
dede said...
whether each swimmer needs to stretch the muscles, how many seconds each
muscle movement and help any swimmer
February 24, 2011 at 6:20 AM
libo said...
I am rehabilitating a shoulder - specifically, "scapular instability". I have to do a lot
of drills that are at reduced intensity and, consequently, not at a speed that is high
enough to create the bow wave necessary for proper breathing. When I roll to the
side, so much water slides over my head and face that I end up taking in water
rather than air. This creates a situation where I end up lifting my head to breathe
to either side, which is exactly contrary to what I need to do (and contrary to
what my muscles need to stabilize my shoulder blade!). Has anyone else had this
problem? Any suggestions for breathing correctly while swimming at low
intensity? Thanks!!!
April 19, 2011 at 1:40 PM
Adam Young said...
Hi Libo, approx what speed are you swimming? Say per 100m?
April 19, 2011 at 4:22 PM
Oldtrier said...
Great Blog lots of good advice, I'm really struggling with breathing, I don't have a
coach but any of the sessions I have done with coaches, they all say I "move" my
head too much which upsets my body position. Since, I'm obsessed with trying to
keep my head steady while still breathing
June 25, 2011 at 4:02 PM
Ted Curtin said...
Good comments and suggestions here. Directional breathing is key to effective
freestyle swimming but one other aspect that swimmers should consider, and that
I found very effective, is timing. This is especially true for triathlons.
The timing of your exhale needs to occur as soon as your head re-enters the
water and continue through a full deep and relaxing exhale. The goal is to get all
of the bad air out of your lungs to make room for the good air on your intake.
Exhaling to late or as your head exits the water doesn't give you enough time to
fully expel the carbon dioxide (CO2) from your lungs. That creates a sensation of
not getting enough air and prevents you from getting into a nice relaxing rhythm.
A coach once told me to concentrate on getting rid of the "bad air" and the good
air will find it's way in. With a little practice, you'll actually be looking forward to
the swim portion of your next triathlon, whether it's a Sprint, Olympic, or Ironman
distance.
Swim, Bike, Run - For Fun, For Life!
Ted Curtin
July 23, 2011 at 11:16 AM
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