Swimming and breathing help pls!

[MarvinMarvinson]

I went to my first swim session with a triathlon club on Friday. I can do the basic old lady, head out of the water breast stroke and know the principals of front crawl but breathing/keeping my head under the water has always defeated me. So the coach at the session gave me a pull buoy and advised me to just use my arms doing front crawl and try and get comfortable with breathing under the water. This worked well and by the end of the session I felt much more comfortable and could swim a few lengths without really stopping.

Today I went swimming on my own and repeated the exercise and felt good again so did a few lengths without the pull buoy.

I feel a lot better but am still out of puff after only one length front crawl. Is this a fitness thing (I do run so I'm reasonably fit) or am I trying too much too soon and would be better off going back to the pull buoy?

Any tips gratefully received!

I’m a swimming teacher, make sure you get all the air out before you turn you’re head to the side to breathe, you’re ear and cheek should be on the side of your arm as you turn quick breathe in and head in blowing the air out in the water make sure you keep kicking you’re legs. Don’t rush you’re arms keep them big and slow if you rush the stroke by going too fast and not pace yourself you can become breathless quickly. Definitely invest in some adult swimming lessons it’s great to see the confidence with swimmers week after week.

Try some work on breathing to the side using a float. Start with hand in the middle other arm down youre side. Face in blowing all the air out, then turn your head to the side on your arm which is stretched out so your ear and cheek are on the side of you’re arm but keep kicking those legs. Once you feel confident add the arm pull and do single arm pull with float and turn your head to the side.

Thanks so much once again, I'm learning loads. I'll definitely take the float in with me tomorrow as well as the pull buoy and see if I can improve my roll to the side using that. And you're so right regarding expectations triski. It took me weeks to get any kind of run fitness so I really can't expect to be the next sharron Davies after 2 swim sessions.

I've just been for my swim and spent the whole time analysing my breathing! So, I have a big blow out under water when I push off then breathe every four strokes from there. Turns out I start my out breath as my third stroke hand enters the water and I blow the last out as my head is turning. I tried blowing out for my whole 4 strokes but really didn't feel comfortable - probably works better for a two stroke breath. Blowing out as my face is coming out of the water stops water flowing in. Then as my face is at its highest point to the side, I breathe in. For my head position, I'm looking back towards the elbow I'm lifting out of the water with my chin lifted to keep my mouth clear. If any of that makes sense, I hope it helps!

I've just restarted swimming after a long break and am currently much fitter - lots of pushchair walking and some running and something seems to have clicked and I can swim lengths sometimes half way along without breathing. I now do breast stroke underwater as well. I am not very fast but feel really in control and it is amazing. I think space to breathe is defoo something.

A swim teacher for my children suggested that instead of trying to breathe out thr side they roll onto their backs and do a bit of backstroke then roll back and swim head in. They can do this really well now. I have tried it a few times and it is helpful as it helps you control your breathing and think about it.

I only started swimming FC last year and whilst my technique is still highly dubious, I was able to gradually build up from half a length to over a km . Every week I would try and add an extra half or full length of continuous fc and moved from 2 to 3 stroke breathing. Take it slow but build up gradually and you'll get there. Heads off to look up the swimming lessons I keep promising myself ...

It took me a long time to move from 2 strokes per breath to 3. Mindyou, I learned to swim at 16 after failing to learn at school. It took 4 months to get the technique including breathing good enough to swim a length, but once it clicked, my distance progress was rapid.

I swim straighter on 3 than 2!

I swim straighter on 3 than 2!

That's why bilateral breathing is preferable - but I wouldn't worry about that till you've got the technique sorted on one side.

You don't have to swim while practising - go to the side of the pool, and hold the side with your arms out in front. Put your head down, blow out and turn your head to the side to breathe in - you can really focus in the breathing while not having to worry about legs, staying afloat and so on. Also, you could practise breathing out through your nose.

I think I mostly breathe out through my mouth, but knowing how to breathe out through your nose means water is less likely to go up it if you get a stroke wrong.

Thanks again everyone. I felt like you were all in the pool with me when I went swimming today. Making sure I rolled to the side to breathe seemed to make my position on the water much better, I felt like I was really gliding on top of it. Still struggling with timing the breathing and not getting gob fulls of water though. I used a float which really helped me with turning to one side. So progress but still lots to do. I also asked about adult swimming lessons and I can try one for free so I'll do that.

How’s it going Marvin?

I practiced my left side breathing in FC last night, it is getting easier but I have to really focus on what I’m doing with high elbow or I don’t turn my head at right angle whereas breathing on right side is just smooth and easy. I will keep persisting.