Any tips on breathing more easily during freestyle
Former Member
I am a from Singapore, and happen to come by this useful forum. hope you guys can help solve my problems.
Here is my problem:
I have been swimming for the past few 3 years now. I would expect my stamina to be getting better, but that dosent seem to be the case.
I can swim freestyle continuosly for the first 150m without encountering much of any problems, but at 200m, i find breathing a chore even thou i am already breathin every 2 strokes.
I think it may have something to do with my breathing time. Every time i turn to breath, it dosent seem to be long enough as my arms would pull very soon inorder to keep my body balanced, resulting in me having insufficient air.
This problems could only be solved when I am using hand paddles which lenghten my gliding time. Is there any way that i can lenghten this gliding time without the use of hand paddles or forcing myself to extend my arms awkwardly for as long as i can? Thanx :confused:
Parents
Former Member
This subject comes up often, and the response is always the same:
The most common breathing problem is not exhaling completely while your face is down in the water. The result is that when you turn your head to breath, you need to exhale first before inhaling, and that does take more time. More time than you have. The usual result is that the air in your lungs is never fully replaced, and you get tired. Practice blowing out *all* of your air before it is time to breath in. You should *never* be holding your breath.
A good drill is to 'bob' - go up and down in one place, blowing out in the water and in when your head comes up. It is one of the first skills taught to beginning swimmers. It is not a natural thing to do, since the tendency is to keep all the air you can when you are under water.
Here is a suggestion to our web master: I think we should have a FAQ section on this forum.
This subject comes up often, and the response is always the same:
The most common breathing problem is not exhaling completely while your face is down in the water. The result is that when you turn your head to breath, you need to exhale first before inhaling, and that does take more time. More time than you have. The usual result is that the air in your lungs is never fully replaced, and you get tired. Practice blowing out *all* of your air before it is time to breath in. You should *never* be holding your breath.
A good drill is to 'bob' - go up and down in one place, blowing out in the water and in when your head comes up. It is one of the first skills taught to beginning swimmers. It is not a natural thing to do, since the tendency is to keep all the air you can when you are under water.
Here is a suggestion to our web master: I think we should have a FAQ section on this forum.
