Breathing While Swimming

RE: Breathing While Swimming

Former Member — Thu, 03 May 2018 11:45:14 GMT

Hey there If your fit from the dancing I reckon it is your breathing. You say you exhale throughout your entire stoke and that you are also light headed and like you need to come up for air. Maybe your exhaling too much to soon and your losing the air you need. "When" you take your breath you need to be fully exhaled so you can take a good breath. I swim a couple of Km most mornings and I still work on my breathing technique, I tend to gulp too much air. It does take a lot of thinking about to have a good technique to swim and breath properly. Yesterday I suggested to a young swimmer in the same lane that when she was breathing she was turning her head so far she was looking at the sky.

RE: Breathing While Swimming

ForceDJ — Wed, 04 Apr 2018 11:45:57 GMT

I think your husband is spot-on with regard to your stamina from your dancing. But as you clearly point out...dancing and swimming are like apples and oranges. Though we swimmers have developed the ability to swim efficiently for longer distances...we surely couldn't dance for two hours (although video of a group of swimmers, in Speedos, caps, and goggles, doing an Irish jig would surely be entertaining). Nevertheless, it will take you some time (i.e. practice) to perfect your stroke, and breathing, enough for it to be efficient. IMO, I think you should first determine which side you want to breathe on...which side is most comfortable for you (I wouldn't worry about bilateral...breathing on both sides...for now). And if you're not using goggles...IMO you should. Get a good pair and use them. For some reason being able to see clearly in the water seems to make breathing easier too. There are surely enough instruction videos on the internet (even here on the USMS sight) that give good instruction on breathing...so I'm not going to reiterate them here. Find a good one, study it, and try to emulate it in the pool. Good luck. P.S. Is the swimming for the camp you run on a lake? If so, you'll likely have different/separate lifeguard qualifications than for a pool. If it's in a lake, just be advised that open water swimming takes on even more issues to overcome/master. Dan

RE: Breathing While Swimming

Jeff Enge — Wed, 04 Apr 2018 09:52:42 GMT

Without seeing you actually swim, it's tough to say exactly. About how many strokes do you take per length? If your stroke rate is really fast, it's possible that you are hyperventilating if you breath every stroke cycle. I would suggest just as a general note that you try to relax some when you are swimming. A lot of less experienced swimmers fight the water, when really you should be working with the water. Pause a bit at the top of your stroke so that you can make sure you get a good catch and strong pull.