Breathing control for swimming

[TSandM]

Sidestroke is the best swimming possible for somebody who really doesn't want his face in the water. It's the only stroke I used for years.

Thal, you're so right about tucking your face into that "pocket". That's what my friend who coached me showed me, and within one session, I'd gone from swimming about ten feet and choking, to being able to do the freestyle clear across the pool.

 

[Thalassamania]

Sidestroke is the best swimming possible for somebody who really doesn't want his face in the water. It's the only stroke I used for years.

Thal, you're so right about tucking your face into that "pocket". That's what my friend who coached me showed me, and within one session, I'd gone from swimming about ten feet and choking, to being able to do the freestyle clear across the pool.

Good job, as you've found out it's much easier than it sounds.

 

[Parysa]

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.

We didn't have the option of mask/fins/snorkel, either.

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.

When you're doing backstroke, if your head is going underwater, make sure you're looking straight up, not back. If that doesn't work, try tucking your chin a bit.

 

[chip104]

The breathing coordination for front crawl is tricky. When you begin to tilt your head to the side to breathe try kicking more quickly (small & fast, making small splashes). This will help propel you better and maybe help you with your breathing. As parysa mentioned, rolling your shoulders with the arm motions will help position yourself to breathe (be careful not to roll too much!).

As for back crawl, how is your body position in the water? When your head goes under water are you a bit diagonal (kicks are down in the water as opposed to kicking directly behind you and creating some surface splash) or jacking up (bending at the hips)? In both cases arch your back slightly so that your chest is pushed out (like you're about the thump on it like an ape). This will help you float better. Parysa mentioned that you should tuck your chin a bit and this is true for a proper stroke, but in your case try getting your chin up (head back) which will help you float better. For your arms, if I am reading correctly you are saying that your arm pull is driving you underwater? When your hands enter the water, sweep them around and underneath you.

In general a decent stroke begins with a proper body position and good kicking technique. Try practicing your flutter kick with a flutter board a couple lengths as a warm up before practicing the stroke.

hope that helps!

 

[emttim]

We didn't have the option of mask/fins/snorkel, either.


When you're doing backstroke, if your head is going underwater, make sure you're looking straight up, not back. If that doesn't work, try tucking your chin a bit.

I actually found out the reason my head's going underwater...I'm looking straight up, but as my buoyancy changes when I exhale, my head starts to dip under the water. I got used to the backstroke enough to swim alittle over 200 meters total with it, did 8 laps of 25 meters, so I know I can at least swim that far if not all at once. Seems as if the buoyancy change can be minimized if I time my propulsions with my arms when im exhaling since the forward motion would help keep my face from dipping below the water before I inhale again and bump up my buoyancy. Kinda annoying not being able to see where I'm going, but eh, **** happens.

I have 3 more days to work on it so I'm just going to focus on the backstroke and hopefully get enough lung capacity/muscle strength to do the 200 meters all at once on Friday. I was timing my laps for the hell of it and averaging around 1:06 for each 25 meter lap...so I'm thinking if I can try to maybe take a little bit longer and not burn up so much energy, then I'll be good to go....then once the swim test is done with, I'll just go back to working on freestyle.

 

[Pseudocyber]

Hey ettim,

I'm working on my cert and did the swim test this summer. I'm certainly not in good shape - not an ironman swimmer - that's for sure - but didn't have a problem with the swim test. A few pointers:

1.) When you start, you might be able to push off - if you can, I can normally cover about 1/3 to 1/2 the pool before stopping - so, there's 1/2 lap!

2.) When I was a kid, I was on the swim team - so I've just always been able to swim as long as I can remember - make sure you keep your fingers together. When you bring your arms around, try not to splash - you can sort of extend them and slip them into the water - this reduces drag, conserves energy, and makes your swimming more efficient. On the downstroke, it's not straight down - instead it's more of a ... woman's shape actually Or 1/2 of a figure 8 - or a bowling pin. pick your favorite shape - but the point is, that if your hand does a curve or two, this extends the time you're thrusting it through the water and providing propulsion for your body. Remember to keep a steady kick, every little bit helps. Breathing - when you're racing, you don't breath in until you have to - so you might see a sprinter take 5-10 strokes before breathing in. Of course, they're breathing out for a lot of that, slowly, through the nose. When you're ready to breathe in, a quick turn of the head into the slipstream of your arm that is back and the water should actually be forming a pocket there, and you're done.

3.) The swim isn't timed - so don't race. I did a bunch of strokes - I would do the crawl (freestyle) until I got tired, then switch to breaststroke, then to side, then to back. If you lose your breath, turn over on your back and kick only. You can move along with a kick - and just rest your arms and upper body and get breathing back under control. Just keep it slow and steady and you should have no problems.

Hope this helps.

 

[emttim]

Hey ettim,

I'm working on my cert and did the swim test this summer. I'm certainly not in good shape - not an ironman swimmer - that's for sure - but didn't have a problem with the swim test. A few pointers:

1.) When you start, you might be able to push off - if you can, I can normally cover about 1/3 to 1/2 the pool before stopping - so, there's 1/2 lap!

2.) When I was a kid, I was on the swim team - so I've just always been able to swim as long as I can remember - make sure you keep your fingers together. When you bring your arms around, try not to splash - you can sort of extend them and slip them into the water - this reduces drag, conserves energy, and makes your swimming more efficient. On the downstroke, it's not straight down - instead it's more of a ... woman's shape actually Or 1/2 of a figure 8 - or a bowling pin. pick your favorite shape - but the point is, that if your hand does a curve or two, this extends the time you're thrusting it through the water and providing propulsion for your body. Remember to keep a steady kick, every little bit helps. Breathing - when you're racing, you don't breath in until you have to - so you might see a sprinter take 5-10 strokes before breathing in. Of course, they're breathing out for a lot of that, slowly, through the nose. When you're ready to breathe in, a quick turn of the head into the slipstream of your arm that is back and the water should actually be forming a pocket there, and you're done.

3.) The swim isn't timed - so don't race. I did a bunch of strokes - I would do the crawl (freestyle) until I got tired, then switch to breaststroke, then to side, then to back. If you lose your breath, turn over on your back and kick only. You can move along with a kick - and just rest your arms and upper body and get breathing back under control. Just keep it slow and steady and you should have no problems.

Hope this helps.

Hey Pseudo, thanks for the tips! When you say rest your arms and upper body though, do you have your arms down at your sides, extended outward, etc.? I tried just kicking on my back and started to sink pretty fast.

I actually didn't really do the backstroke too much tonight...well, I did a couple laps with it but I started to play around with the breaststroke and holy crap does that consume a lot less energy since you're not constantly moving either your arms or legs. I actually really don't mind having my face in the water at all....I just need to be able to breath at some point. ;P

I noticed that instead of slowly breathing out underwater (since it'd take time to perfect that), it doesn't expend too much energy (and keeps your CO2 levels down since that's what stimulates your body to breath, not O2) to just hold your breath and right before you lift your face up out of the water to take another breath, blow out calmly but forcefully...expels all (or most) of the CO2 in your lungs and also creates an air passage as well since you're blowing the water away from your mouth, and by the time you're done blowing out the CO2, you're right in time to have your face above the water to breath in some fresh air.

I'm not in that great a shape but I swam...hell, I don't know. I know I swam at least 400 meters, maybe even swam 500 meters total. I did a lot of laps with the breast stroke doing that. Didn't do it all at once but did 25 meter laps, threw in a few 50 meter laps and a 75 meter lap as well. I'm somewhat confident that I can pass the swim test the day after tomorrow now so I'm just going to take it easy tomorrow, let my muscles regroup, and then eat a donut (amazing the tricks you learn in life) in the morning on Friday to give myself a quick boost of energy via sugar intake. Probably going to eat nothing but healthy food between now and Friday too in order to maximize muscle growth/recovery.

I think I'm just going to start swimming recreationally though....don't even really need goggles at this point, perfectly comfortable being in the water as is and it's a hell of a lot easier on my legs than running.

 

[Kevrumbo]

Look, you're not training to be an Olympic Swimmer so you shouldn't have to do this (note high cycle rate of arms and a four-beat kick). What you really want to do is to slow down your cycle and kick rate like this (note the less strenuous "gliding effect" of this freestyle). This is called a "catch-up" technique, as opposed to the fast stroke freestyle technique.

The "catch-up" technique is best described by this static video (note the submerged/reaching arm exaggerated & held out much farther forward: this is the key!!!). Now look at the dramatic effect on balance if this submerged/reaching arm is held back instead (as would be in the case of a Olympic Sprinter --they dynamically offset this torque with a strong high frequency leg kick and arm cycle rate to keep the body horizontal and driving forward: you shouldn't be working this hard if you don't have to!!!). In both links, the arm above the water is simulating the position of mid-recovery. Notice that the swimmer with the arm held back 'sinks' because the centre of gravity is behind the centre of buoyancy.

Thus [putting it all together], by pausing after entry with the [reaching] arm in a streamlined position so that the other [recovering] arm almost 'catches up' we have the desirable situation whereby the resistance is reduced, stroke rate is reduced, speed is maintained, and as a consequence, stroke length is increased. Further, the rate of energy expenditure is reduced because:

-The need for kicking to maintain horizontal alignment is reduced.
-The effort supplied by the pulling arm is applied with reduced rate due to the longer [but not necessarily faster] cycle time.
-It reduces the torques that tend to 'sink the legs' [thus creating drag], by moving the centre of mass forward so that it coincided more closely with the centre of buoyancy.

From: Total Immersion Strategies -A Closer Look

To reiterate:

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.

 

[John_B]

Kev, that is a GREAT set of video clips. I had to watch it twice to figure out exactly what they were trying to demonstrate blush but it makes total sense. I can't wait to get in the water tomorrow after work to try this.

I would love to go to one of their weekend freestyle workshops.

John

 

[Pseudocyber]

emttim,

When I was talking about kicking, you can either be on your stomach kicking with your hands out in front of you - when you want to breathe, take a stroke the normal way and breathe to the side. But I was talking about kicking on your back, with your hands at your side. I don't know - when I do it, I make headway and float fine. Note, I'm keeping about 1/2 the air in my lungs - so not breathing out all the way.

Perhaps I float better - I have a "normal" amount of muscle for a man 5'10". I am overweight - beerbelly, so perhaps that helps me float ...