Any tips on breathing more easily during freestyle

Former Member
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:
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  • Former Member
    Former Member
    Interesting this came up. I've been back in the water about a couple yrs now, and I just a few months ago realized I have the same "not exhaling" problem. I swam as a kid, but don't know whether I was doing this back then or not. I am now totally in the habit of holding my breath completely until my head turns, then exhaling & inhaling. Makes for long breathing cycles, and pretty horrid distance experiences!! After working on it, I can now exhale if focused on it - but as soon as I start thinking about something else (high elbows, hip roll, what I had for lunch) I go back to the breath hold. Any suggestions / drill recommendations? Is this just instinctive for everyone else? :confused: Sandie
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  • Former Member
    Former Member
    Interesting this came up. I've been back in the water about a couple yrs now, and I just a few months ago realized I have the same "not exhaling" problem. I swam as a kid, but don't know whether I was doing this back then or not. I am now totally in the habit of holding my breath completely until my head turns, then exhaling & inhaling. Makes for long breathing cycles, and pretty horrid distance experiences!! After working on it, I can now exhale if focused on it - but as soon as I start thinking about something else (high elbows, hip roll, what I had for lunch) I go back to the breath hold. Any suggestions / drill recommendations? Is this just instinctive for everyone else? :confused: Sandie
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