Hi all,
First of all, if there's already a thread concerning this issue, I would like to say sorry for opening an already existing topic, but also would like to ask the moderators to link me the topic discussing this, before closing this thread.
The thing I wanna learn is being face-up underwater without having water in my nose but also without releasing a bubble, using breath control. (not nose clips, not my lips, not anything else, I wanna do this with breath control)
I have been practising this a lot now. Yet still can't manage to do it. All my acquaintances who ever tried or practiced it and can do it say that it is easy and they didn't need to practice it for too long. I can do it vertically, btw. So no, before you say, I am not instinctively sucking in water.
What I start to think is that what prevents me from being able to do this is that I have adenoids. Most of the time I can barely breath through one of my nostrils, which makes an unbalance between the 2 nostrils and makes it impossible to even the pressure at the same time in both of them, resulting in flooding my nose in any way. I also realized that I can either blow very little bubbles, or stop my breathing out completely, but between the two, to apply a pressure which is enough to keep water out but not enough to release a bubble, is just impossible for me. There is a gap in the breathing out I cannot acquire. Even if I do, one of my nose gets flooded because of the give unevenity.
What makes me very sad is that all of my acquaintances who ever tried or practised this, could master it easily. I have been suffering with it now for so long.
But my fear is that with adenoid I won't be able to master this. Anyone any experiences on this one?
Any tips, suggestions on how to practice?
Thanks
Well, I guess we are dealing with semantics. If you aren't exhaling, I'd call that holding your breath. I cant keep water out of my nose without exhaling, of course, after the fly leg I'm too gassed to, anyway! And I use a clip on back (I never could do what you describe). Of course, I have chronic sinusitis, so maybe it is easier than I expect.
No, what this person is describing is not easy. I have no sinus issues and have to use the upturned lip on nostrils method on my backstroke turns.
I'm sorry, unless I missed something, no one here can do it.........
Yeah, I mean, it isn't even something I think about needing to do in the sport. And one of my main events through college was the 200 back.
Maybe we are misunderstanding what's being asked?
Yeah, I mean, it isn't even something I think about needing to do in the sport. And one of my main events through college was the 200 back.
Maybe we are misunderstanding what's being asked?
My daughter is pretty dang good, Zones teams, Futures/NCSA cut at 13, knocking on the door of Winter J-Nats now at 14. I see a lot of good kids at some of those meets, and when I'm on deck volunteering, I see kids either use clips, scrunch up their lip, turn their head way far over, meter out the air, or some combination of them all. She's a butterflier and a backstroker. She uses a clip on the back (and the other stuff on the IM). Her coach was a backstroker at a D1 school (albeit walk-on). Clip. See the videos above with Lochte, he doesn't do it.
I can only guess either we're not understanding what is being asked, or the folks indicating they can do it are not really fully explaining what is being done. I'm guessing since most of the benchmarks don't swim competitively that they don't do what you and I are understanding is being asked.
If it is not easy, then how come that most of my acquaintances - who are not even (hobby) swimmers, neither they hit the water more than once a year in summer - can do it without a problem? ALL of them said, that they did not even have to practice it, it just came naturally / instinctively / automatically as a reflex... I am seriously starting to feel myself retarded enough because of being incapable to do it. Secondly, someone brought up a correspondence once about this, saying it is like learning to ride a bicycle and keep the balance on it with your body. Everyone can learn it in a day or two. This was a good similarity I think, as here it is about balance as well, and it is not even learning, because you cannot feel any progress when you are practicing it, it will "just happen" once, by itself. But not for me and I am really frustrated about this. I can not find any practising methods on the internet that are helpful, completely nothing, I have asked diving instructors, swim coaches, competition and master swimmers, they cannot say anything apart from "it is automatic". HELL, THEY CAN NOT EVEN EXPLAIN HOW THEY DO IT. How can you take credit for something you don't even know how your doing? That is not even real skill, because you did not have to understand it, you didn't have to work for it, it just happened by itself without you consciously intending it. And yet still... These people are better than me, despite the fact that I am much more diligent. Yet I still fail. Great. You know, the best part of it is that the more I go to the swimming pool and practise this crap and fail, the less I feel I will EVER be capable of doing it, which destroys my self-esteem and confidence even further, moreover, my mood to even go swimming completely vanishes. You cannot go to the swimming pool in a good mood if you know that what awaits you there is failure (and here comes the point:) IN THE THING, WHICH IS EASY FOR EVERYONE ELSE. (I haven't spoken to anyone in my life who ever tried this and couldn't master it in a day or two, even if they needed practise, but the majority who can do it did not even practise it, and the rest said: "I haven't tried that yet", but no one ever said to me that "oh yeah, I've been practising it for half a year, it's hard"). There has not been a SINGLE thing related to swimming I couldn't learn in my life. Because the thing I love the most in life is the water and being in the water. So this is really getting on my nerves massively now.
Gotta hand it to you, this is the first time I've ever seen holding breath underwater portrayed as a conspiracy theory.
Do you have any idea how hard it is to breathe underwater, upside down OR right side up, while wearing a tin foil hat?
Dear people who answered me. I thank you for your answers.
First of all, I am very sure that my friends can do it as I see it with my own eyes. Guys, who don't even go swimming regurarly, only 3 times a year. I am very sure that most of the viewers of this topic can do it too, because I really realized a common characteristic among the people who can do it: They do everything to keep it a secret from others. I think this is very selfish and arrogant, and jealous behaviour. I have ALWAYS helped people in my life in things I was better at. So from now on, I don't believe in "Life gives you back what you give to other people". Not even COACHES wanna talk to me about this... I am serious. Someone cursed me....
Secondly, I am not expecting remote help. I am very grateful to each and every one of you paying attention to my topic and replying, because not a single coach or diving instructor I approached took me seriously. I am just HOPING, that someone ever experienced similar things as me during their practice and would share with me their points of view in this forum. But no expectations.
I have tried with every single head position. Even tried tilting back my head simultaneously and slowly underwater. I have experimented in a lot of ways, like blowing powerful bubbles and stopping, or decreasing the strenght of the bubble stream. But what I realize is that water just slips in. I mean, a little bit of it, just slips in and it's already in my throat.
Varying the head position varies the water pressure as well, but those people who can do it, can do it in any head position. It looks like once you learn to balance in one position, you will be automatically able to balance in any other position... Like in this youtube video I'd you to show you. Here it says that once you get a touch of the "imaginary valve", you can control it anytime, anywhere.
It's like if someone learns how to whistle really fast, it isn't really skill, it's rather luck. Same goes for learning to ride a bicycle, etc.
Here's the link:
www.youtube.com/watch
In addition, if you like, you can freely type in the youtube search: "underwater face up challenge" and you'll see TONS of geek guys being able to go underwater face up, without any bubbles coming out of their nose (indicating that no water goes in, no air comes out)... When I asked them how they do that, they said they didn't know.
Believe me: My desperation wouldn't be so enormous, if there weren't so many people able to do this...
Dude I don’t know what to tell you. Maybe find something else to do? Maybe it’s just not to be. There are many more fun things to do in the pool that could be a lot less stressful for you.
