Swimming - breathing question

[Alphathree33]

For freestyle. I'm a newbie swimmer.

I can't quite get the breathing right. I might get one, two, three breaths before I end up ingesting a bunch of water or my body position gets all messed up as I try to get my head turned far enough to breath, and I have to stop, reorient myself, and start again.

One of the problems is that I find it hard to exhale quickly under water. I blow bubbles, bubbles, and more bubbles... and more bubbles... and by this point, I'd really like to breath in, but I'm still busy breathing out!

So I turn my head, slightly in panic for wanting a breath, but also not ready to breath in yet, finish exhaling, then try to breath in, but at this point there's water in my mouth and... you get the idea.

Does this just take a bunch of practice, or am I making it complicated? I do have an instructor, but she's not all that helpful on this particular topic.

 

[mlm]

You either need to keep blowing longer (something you'll get used to), or you should take shallower breaths--especially if you're not taking very many strokes between breaths.

 

[JayHu]

try this:
while kicking holding onto the wall (ie you are perpendicular to the wall), blow out some of your air, rotate your head to the right while dropping the right arm under your body like you would if you were doing a pull, breathe in when your mouth is above the water (this should occur as your hand reaches the end of the pull), recover over top of the water like would on a pull and put your head back in the water.

While your face is in the water, you should be maintaining a neutral head position.

If this doesn't work, try thinking: talk to the fishes (blow out air), listen to the fishes (rotate your head and breathe)

Also, you don't need to totally expell all the air from your lungs, just enough so you're ready to breathe in again. It's similar to breathing on land, you don't blow out all your air before taking a breath in.

 

[Ika]

How many strokes are you getting between breaths? Ideally, you should get three or four so your stroke isn't lopsided.

A tip to breathing correctly is to turn ONLY your head. I know it's hard to do this (I had a problem with this for a very long time), but once you get the hang of it, breathing is much easier.

Also, if you're having trouble exhaling your breath under water, try taking a "better" breath so you can take more strokes before another breath. Remember, practice makes perfect.

Personally, I think the best way to learn how to swim is to join a local swim team. I had an instructor for a couple years, but I learned much more on my high school's swim team.

 

[Alphathree33]

Oops, a bit more detail for you guys:

I'm actually doing this with just kicks so that I can focus on the breathing... no strokes.

I practice either holding on to a board ahead of me, or simply with my arms extended ahead of me and no board.

 

[JayHu]

Originally posted by: Alphathree33
Oops, a bit more detail for you guys:

I'm actually doing this with just kicks so that I can focus on the breathing... no strokes.

I practice either holding on to a board ahead of me, or simply with my arms extended ahead of me and no board.

Then you just have to get used to needing to breathe out less. Like I mentioned before, think about it as breathing as you would on land, just less frequently. You need to control your breath. Practice will get you more comfortable with the water.

 

[RapidSnail]

For a beginner, start by getting one breath per three strokes. This will keep you from veering to either the left or right as when you breath on one side of your body.

 

[Ika]

Originally posted by: Alphathree33
Oops, a bit more detail for you guys:

I'm actually doing this with just kicks so that I can focus on the breathing... no strokes.

I practice either holding on to a board ahead of me, or simply with my arms extended ahead of me and no board.

In that case, your problem with exhaling the water is more understandable. I'm not sure if I'm right, but if you think about it, the windmill motion of your arms helps you push more air out from your lungs.

Anyway, next time you swim, breathe naturally. Try not to really think about the breathing; focus on keeping your body flat and straight while turning only your head. A good way to breathe is to sort of "push" your mouth up towards the surface (and making a strange face in the process), so you don't have to turn your head as much to get more breath. This might help you out with your water ingestion problem.

 

[Cawchy87]

The best advice I got was to breath out of my mouth and nose and not to force the air out. Start slow and patience... it will come.

 

[Alphathree33]

Okay, thanks guys, I'm going to try some of these things...

 

[TraumaRN]

As another note, when you do put it all together you'll learned to essentially breath under your armpit as in your arm is up out of the water and you turn just your head quickly to breath....

Also at some point you'll learn the slight roll that comes with each stroke...that will help with your breathing as you wont have to turn your head as much.

Like others said, 3-4 strokes between breaths and ONLY turn your head.

 

[RapidSnail]

I also find it helpful to start exhaling before resurfacing your head as this gives you more time to inhale that much needed oxygen.