swimming -- breathing rhythm ?

runningforthetrain

I just started swimming laps in the pool. I am having a difficult time knowing when and how to breathe. I watched a lady swimming laps who looked liked a proficient swimmer and she turned her head to breathe every tilt of head that came on the same side-- not alternating side breathing. I tried this and just couldn't get into any rhythm-- naturally preferring to hold my breath longer and then sort of free styling to lift my head straight up to get breath-- then back to the lap swimming, holding my breath. I am a slow breather with slow heartbeat naturally-- don't like quick shallow breathing.... anybody know what I am talking about? And have any suggestions? I don't want to develop bad habits that limit my new found swimming workout.

rldeclercq4

If you’re new to the sport of swimming give yourself some time and grace to get into the rhythm of it, but long term you’re going to want to learn to breath from the side, on the same side. Usually when I start I can go several strokes without a breath and but after awhile I settle into breathing with every right arm stroke. Some people can do it on the left and right side but for me that involves to much whipping of my head back and forth and makes me kinda dizzy. Going a few strokes and then lifting your head straight up to breath will be detremental to your development as a swimmer. If you’re not getting enough oxygen with each breath try taking it a little slower. I don’t worry too much about speed so when I breath I just take a long stroke and take in as my air as I need to.

Keep it up!

cmriverside

Yeah, it's about practice.

I breathe on the same side all the time, it's awkward for me to breathe on opposite sides, kind of like playing tennis with the wrong hand.

And like rideclercq4, sometimes I can go four strokes and sometimes two - depends on cadence and level of exertion. Two is really the sweet spot for most swimmers.

k8eekins

runningforthetrain wrote: »

I just started swimming laps in the pool. I am having a difficult time knowing when and how to breathe. I watched a lady swimming laps who looked liked a proficient swimmer and she turned her head to breathe every tilt of head that came on the same side-- not alternating side breathing. I tried this and just couldn't get into any rhythm-- naturally preferring to hold my breath longer and then sort of free styling to lift my head straight up to get breath-- then back to the lap swimming, holding my breath. I am a slow breather with slow heartbeat naturally-- don't like quick shallow breathing.... anybody know what I am talking about? And have any suggestions? I don't want to develop bad habits that limit my new found swimming workout.

Please look up bilateral breathing, then ask a proficient swimmer to help you fix it. Approach it like a drill off the water, until it feels natural.

runningforthetrain

Thanks for the responses! Going to try slowing down and breathing one side every two strokes. Wow- thanks k8eekins-- very interesting stuff on the bilateral swimming. I am going to incorporate some ideas in there. Great to hear since I am just beginning!

girlwithcurls2

It’s different for everybody. As a new swimmer, I was breathing every 4th stroke and it was working. I wanted to learn bilateral breathing and that’s what I do now, every 3rd. I’m not a fabulous swimmer, but I swim laps 4-5x a week. I see all different kinds of techniques.

lorrpb

You should not be lifting your head straight up to breathe nor should you be “whipping it back and forth” in a dizzying fashion as another poster said. I suggest some adult swim lessons to learn proper breathing technique. It’s the key to successful and enjoyable swimming.

Everyone has a preferred side for breathing. It’s ok to breathe mostly on one side, but there are some technique benefits to doing bilateral breathing at least some of the time.

sarabushby

There’s some great resources online like thd ‘SwimSmooth’ website. And YouTube videos.
Ideally you should breathe bilaterally since this prevents injury from imbalance in the use of muscles, but do not worry if you spend your first year breathing to one side because it feels more comfortable, get the hang of that, then teach yourself to breathe both sides. It is also useful to be able to breathe either side for if you’re in open water and the waves are coming one direction or another.

Most swim teachers train you to think ‘bubble, bubble, breathe’, so you’re exhaling through nose and mouth on two strokes and breathe on the third. You should have exhaled all your breath before you turn to take a new breath.

Also try to ensure you are turning your head not lifting it to the sky. You should think of keeping one goggle in the water and so that your head turns to the wall of the pool but no higher and not looking all around up, or behind you.

We do drills where we do one length breathing every 2,4,6 then 8 strokes or 3,5,7,9. Hypoxic training. You might find something like that useful to identify your preferred rhythm.

Good luck! I assure you as weird as it feels now, in no time at all it’ll be entirely natural.

BrianSharpe

Learning to do bilateral breathing (usually every 3 strokes - alternating sides) can be very useful if you plan on swimming in open water (if you only get comfortable breathing to one side and the water is a bit choppy you can find yourself in an uncomfortable situation) on the other hand if you only plan on pool swimming it's a less necessary skill (it can still be useful if you find yourself sharing a lane and are breathing on the side that the other swimmer is on). You should also be exhaling, gently and constantly as soon as your face is back down in the water.

It takes time and practice, I agree with those who have suggested adult swim lessons. Using good technique in the water makes things so much easier.

Bry_Fitness70

I'm a fairly new swimmer (I took lessons initially which was very beneficial) and originally I was breathing bilaterally (every 3rd stroke) on alternate sides. I found over the course of several laps that I wasn't able to catch my breath, so I switched to every other stroke (breathing on the same side and this helped).

I do make sure that I alternate sides every lap (ie, I just face the lifeguard no matter which direction I go) so that I am equally proficient at breathing on either side - I am training for triathlons and if I'm in an open water swim with waves crashing on my right side, I need to be able to just switch sides without getting flustered.

deannalfisher

i think one of the other things i would add - after you take a breath (regardless of what side you breath on) - focus on expelling all the air (i try to blow bubbles) - the thing i see with many swimmers is that they don't fully expell breath and so as they try to get faster - are breathing clean air ontop of air already in lungs and you don't get a good filling breath

tracybear86

I second "Swim Smooth" and You Tube videos. Some very helpful information and tips on both.
https://www.swimsmooth.com/improve
Another thing that will probably help your breathing is learning to rotate your body as you swim. This helps bring your head far enough out of the water without craning your neck. I see a lot of novice swimmers that swim "flat".
https://www.swimsmooth.com/improve/intermediate/rotation-and-body-roll-in-freestyle-swimming

deannalfisher

i highly encourage some adult swim lessons - but even doing swim drills during your workout - even having swum for close to 3 decades now, when i do a focused workout - i spend probably 10-20 minutes doing drills to work on stroke (single arm, punch water, kick/glide - the list is endless)

mom23mangos

Another vote for swim lessons. I recently started swimming again and needed lessons to get comfortable with breathing. I just did one lesson every other week for a bit to get started and now I’ll do one once a month. It was a tremendous help. I probably would have given up without it. One of the best cues I was given was to turn my head into my armpit.