Breathing control for swimming

[Kevrumbo]

The Total Immersion program uses several 'tricks' that reduce resistance. Three phrases summarise the goals in terms of body postures and actions that can be visualised by the swimmer:

-Balance your body better in the water.
-Make your body longer.
-Swim on your side.

These are the core ideas behind the Total Immersion Strategy.
(The article in the link above is somewhat technical, but keep in mind the three concepts above as you read through it. . .)

 

[cys]

I'm having some trouble with the breathing rhythm also. It does seem to be getting better the more I swim so I'm pretty confident that with time it'll all come together. Just keep doing it.

Been there... it will get better if you keep at it.

 

[Parysa]

I was on swim team for six years and have taught several people how to swim, so maybe I can help.
When you do your freestyle, are you rotating your torso when you breathe in? I breathe to the left and take my breath when my left arm is at the height of the stroke, which automatically rotates your torso a bit. You're not trying to be flat in the water and turning your head. Use your body to turn your head and try to look up as high as you can, which will help you tilt your head up the right amount. As far as the legs on the breast stroke, that is an issue that I remember having to work out b/c I did the same thing with my legs being heavier than the top half of me. When your face is in the water, tuck your head down a bit and tilt your hips up some and try to let your legs skim the surface of the water. When you come up to breathe, you're not trying to lift your body out of the water, you're just using the pulling motion of your arms to get far enough out to get your chin above the water, then sort of thrust your head down when you push your arms forward.
For the backstroke, it's basically freestyle done on your back. The easiest way to do it is to push off the wall facing down (like you're going to swim freestyle), and then when you start to break the surface, twist yourself onto your back like you're doing a barrel roll. Then just stroke with your arms like you would if you were on your stomach. It's a little bit harder to get the hang of b/c your arms try to go out to the side instead of down on the downstroke, but just focus on keeping them as close to your body as you can. Flutter kick like you would freestyle. Also, every once in a while, tilt your head back so your eyes are under the water and look for the wall so you don't hit it. Or, mark a spot on the ceiling, if you're indoors, or look for a landmark (a particularly tall tree if you're outdoors) from which you can judge where the wall is and when you get close to that, you just put one arm ahead of you and kick and then your hand will slap the wall.
Hope this helps and makes sense, lol! It's easier to show than tell.

 

[Thalassamania]

If you do what I used to do, and try to LIFT your head up to get your mouth clear of the water to breathe, you slow yourself down a ton, and worse, you splash water into your mouth, suck it in a choke (or at least I did).

Your breath should come from the air pocket that develops at your shoulder as you raise your arm, elbow first, out of the water, getting ready to place it in front of you. You should be rotating (roll) your head on your neck, with no upward or sideways motion (pitch or yaw) of any kind.

 

[Kevrumbo]

Sure Thal, that's a technique to use in freestyle--breath in the bow wake of your shoulder and head. But from an endurance perspective, can you generate enough momentum and maintain pace needed to breath from that technique over the entire distance? In other words, are you training to be an Olympic Sprint Swimmer, or just want to complete the basic Open Water Swim Requirement?

Total Immersion the best and most acheivable method/style of learning how to swim. . .

 

[Hemlon]

Sure Thal, that's a technique to use in freestyle--breath in the bow wake of your shoulder and head. But from an endurance perspective, can you generate enough momentum and maintain pace needed to breath from that technique over the entire distance? In other words, are you training to be an Olympic Sprint Swimmer, or just want to complete the basic Open Water Swim Requirement?

Total Immersion the best and most acheivable method/style of learning how to swim. . .

I didn't even notice that the OP isn't certifid yet.

 

[emttim]

I didn't even notice that the OP isn't certifid yet.

It's ok, in a month I will be, so the error will be short lived.

 

[Thalassamania]

Sure Thal, that's a technique to use in freestyle--breath in the bow wake of your shoulder and head. But from an endurance perspective, can you generate enough momentum and maintain pace needed to breath from that technique over the entire distance? In other words, are you training to be an Olympic Sprint Swimmer, or just want to complete the basic Open Water Swim Requirement?

Total Immersion the best and most acheivable method/style of learning how to swim. . .

Just answering what I thought was Lynne's question. Heck, I do it breaststroke (that was my event), most of my staff ... sidestroke, they're not stupid (BTW: If your instructor does not do it alongside you, do ask, "why not?"). TI looks interesting, thanks for the link (and the fish).

 

[emttim]

Just answering what I thought was Lynne's question. Heck, I do it breaststroke (that was my event), most of my staff ... sidestroke, they're not stupid (BTW: If your instructor does not do it alongside you, do ask, "why not?"). TI looks interesting, thanks for the link (and the fish).

At this point, I'm actually still wondering what the best stroke to use will be. I was going to get some good time in the pool this weekend since my swim test (and first confined water training) is next friday, but of course the one period of time where I'd be able to get a lot of swimming done I got sick, so now here I am recovering on Sunday night from a cold and I have at most four days where there's even a possibility of being able to swim. Hell, at this point I guess I should be lucky it was just a cold, and not anything that'll stick around and cause congestion on friday, but I talked to the instructor about the swimming and he said its 200 yards w/o mask/fins/snorkel for his class only...no option of 200 yards without gear or 300 yards with mask/fins/snorkel, just the 200 yards or you fail.

And yeah I'm still having trouble sucking in water when doing freestyle. Had my swim instructor show me the backstroke last time and started to do ok with it then everytime after that my head almost instantly went underwater. I think it had something to do with being inverted and my hands must have been pointed downward or something, which would have acted as a rudder to drive my upper body (including my head obviously) underwater.

So at this point yeah I dunno what to do. I can keep trying to work on freestyle, or I can try to get comfortable enough with the backstroke or breast stroke to do that, or something else. There's no time limit so I guess I can just surface if I suck in some water, tread water while I clear my airway, and then keep going, but that's probably going to tire me out really quickly. I've still got class and work to deal with too, so realistically I can probably only put in about an hour on Monday, hour on Wednesday and then the 20 minute swim training on Thursday before Friday.

 

[Thalassamania]

If you're not a comfortable and confident freestyler, forget that stroke. Backstroke may be too slow, try it and if you make time that's great. Sidestroke seems to be the best bet for most.