Hello,
My husband is just learning to swim after 48 years of being terrified of the water. He's doing very well, and can do the crawl from one end of the pool (25m) to the other, but he does it with his face in the water the entire time, because he hasn't conquered the breathing technique. Needless to say, he can only do one length at a time. When he tries to breathe, he has difficulty with the timing, and ends up getting mouthfuls of water. He is getting frustrated, but he knows he can't continue the face-down crawl and expect to improve his swimming.
Any advise would be greatly appreciated. He has spent some time with a swimming coach, but because of schedules, it is limited. He is also reading Total Immersion, but that really doesn't address new swimmers' issues such as this.
Thanks,
Deb
Parents
Former Member
Hi Deb,
Solution is pretty easy (well sounds easy) your husbands sounds like he has some anxiety in regards to breath control and submerging his face (not uncommon). What he needs to do is get comfortable with working on his bretah control and rythmic breathing. There are a variety of ways on how to build this:
The simpliest is doing Bobs, start in about chest deep water and take a breath and submerge, once underwater exhale moderately - once almost completely exhausted of air come up just long enough to take a full quick breath and then repeat. Continue doing this until you can do 15 to 20 times without a problem.
You can continue doing bobs and work to deeper water, eventually getting to water that is over your head so you need to jump of the bottom to get yopur head above water, and be a little quicker at catching your breath before submerging and exhaling again.
Another way to practice is to hold onto something (wall, kickboard, floating barbell etc.). Hands outstretched, face in the water and start kicking slowly exhaling when you need a breath take 1 armstroke and turn your head to the side to get a breath. This method of progression start of holding onto the wall, then use a kickboard then eventually just holding your hands out in front will help develop his breath control.
Good Luck.
Hi Deb,
Solution is pretty easy (well sounds easy) your husbands sounds like he has some anxiety in regards to breath control and submerging his face (not uncommon). What he needs to do is get comfortable with working on his bretah control and rythmic breathing. There are a variety of ways on how to build this:
The simpliest is doing Bobs, start in about chest deep water and take a breath and submerge, once underwater exhale moderately - once almost completely exhausted of air come up just long enough to take a full quick breath and then repeat. Continue doing this until you can do 15 to 20 times without a problem.
You can continue doing bobs and work to deeper water, eventually getting to water that is over your head so you need to jump of the bottom to get yopur head above water, and be a little quicker at catching your breath before submerging and exhaling again.
Another way to practice is to hold onto something (wall, kickboard, floating barbell etc.). Hands outstretched, face in the water and start kicking slowly exhaling when you need a breath take 1 armstroke and turn your head to the side to get a breath. This method of progression start of holding onto the wall, then use a kickboard then eventually just holding your hands out in front will help develop his breath control.
Good Luck.
