Breathing while Swimming

How old are you? If young and in otherwise good health, you're probably just reacting to indoor chlorinated water, working out too hard, etc. If you practice bilateral breathing, stop! Breathe on your good side every stroke! If you are 40+, male, and have shortness of breath, it's unlikely but possible you have some atherosclerosis reducing blood flow in your heart arteries. Ordinarily, I wouldn't suggest such a thing, but I just found out last week a highschool teammate (he's 51) had very similar symptoms, and after months of progressive worsening, during which his doctor suspected a variety of red herring problems, he was finally and correctly diagnosed with angina and had angioplasty. Not to panic, but you probably should get any symptom like this checked out. By the way, my friend's back swimming and doing some of his best adult times. The bottom line is this stuff can be fixed, even if it's bad. There's no reason not to get it checked out.

Just curious, Jim, why do you suggest breathing on one side only?

I have always had oxygen deprevation when I swim hard. Especially if I kick hard. I guess its normal for me and is my first limitation in swimming. I breath hard while swimming and fast, meaning I exhale as hard as I can underwater so that I can inhale as much as possible out of the water.

Thank you to all that replied to my request for information. I am 42 in really good shape. I believe Jim may have hit the nail on the head with the chlorine issue. You see it has been very cold recently and I swim in a covered outdoor pool or dome. The smell of chlorine sometimes is a real killer. I have also looked up swimming techniques that I feel that I may need to implement into my swimming regiment. Thanks again ~ and off to the pool!

for asthma? For the past few years, until I was diagnosed, I was having ALOT of trouble swimming meets with longer distances. I could DO a 200M freestyle BUT the last 50 meters my legs were giving out and I found myself hanging on the gutter to catch my breath before getting out. This happened in BOTH indoor and outdoor pools--summer and winter. Finally started coughing at night at 3:30-4:00--this went on for about 3-4 months. Finally saw an allergist---Diagnosed with asthma and allergies (we didn't test for chlorine but did for mold). Found that taking an oral med and using an inhaler cleared up the problem. You might want to start with your gp and get both the heart and lungs checked out.

It's not uncommon for folks new to swimming - or, relatively new to fast, competitive type swimming - to want to hold their breath while swimming. This is basic "survivor" mode or instinctual. Actually, by holding your breath you are also retaining carbon dioxide. Bob Boder, above, is right when he explains he forcefully exhales as much as he can so he can inhale as much as he can. But, one of the main reasons to exhale is to get rid of CO2. This stuff is bad. I tell my new swimmers who I happen to see holding their breath that they need to exhale slowly through the stroke. This not only gets rid of CO2 gradually, but lessens the "panic" mode and helps to keep you relaxed. If someone is really bothered by breathing I tell them to do "bobs" while holding onto the gutter; then progressing to lowering themselves all the way to the bottom, exhaling slowly all the way down (our pool is only about 8-9 feet) and push themselves back to surface.