any input on expanding lungs

This is why I said sing. To learn to sing properly, you have to learn to use your diaphragm properly. Swimming has helped my swimming quite a bit. Not sure if the reverse is true, since I have been singing all my life and only swimming 6 years. OK now we need a little video/audio clip of you singing on the block before diving in and racing. ;) hehehe I can actually see how that works Dororthy. Getting control of any muscle or reflex is going to help.

I don't think I could do 11's, but I regularily do 9, 7, 5, 3's. It actually helps keep track of a longer set by 100's.

I agree with a lot of what has been written here, but I will say that breath control training is a crucial part of my swim training. What I have found is by doing breathing patterns (one example: breathe every 7,5,3,1 and repeat this over and over) trains my body to use the existing oxygen it has and to train on less oxygen. Over time, my brain and all other components get accustomed to my swimming with less oxygen, but there is a hitch. The principle behind this is be able to do such sets and to stop before that strangulation feeling sets in; if you go too far and are oxygen deprived, it works to hinder this process. So the key is to do such sets and throw in several strokes of breathing every stroke to recover a bit before starting a breating pattern again. What you will find is a set like above will become very easy, so you do more difficult sets like 11, 9, 7, 5, 3. This is a process, but it comes about pretty quickly; you will see much improvement in a week or two. Three weeks ago, I was doing a sprint drill, different than the above example, but basically 10 strokes ez, 10 strokes fast. and I could only do this for about 100 yards. Today I went 900 yards doing this sprint drill. Our bodies are great engines; we just have to train them and they can still be trained at all ages. I have many other breathing patterns I use, but the one above is a good example to train your body to swim with limited oxygen. Donna

I have many other breathing patterns I use, but the one above is a good example to train your body to swim with limited oxygen. Donna Donna, unless I am grossly mistaken, when doing your sets you are training your mind to swim with what you perceive as less oxygen, but is more a question of the excess C02. Everyone uses the term "oxygen debt", uses the term "oxygen deprivation" and so forth, when most of the time what is the problem is "excess carbon dioxide". The system that perceives a diminishing oxygen content of your blood is slow and not as efficient as the C02 system. Too much information to give here. When you are oxygen deprived, and/or when your lactate levels start going up, when your muscle conductive systems start failing (at the celular level) you swim less efficiently, you lose muscle power. Oxygen will not make this situation better. The 400 and 200 running records aren't simple multiplications of the 100 times because the whole system breaks down, and yes it is called anaerobic versus aerobic but this is at the mytochondrial level. I am feeling confused myself, got to study more this matter. I hope you get what I am trying to say. People who snorkel get better at going deeper over time because of their mental training, which is a consequence of their actual physical activity (diving deeper and deeper). Of course, after a certain level, there are those superhuman guys and girls who can dive to extreme depths (see the movie "The Big Blue") and that is not only mental training but they also have the physical aspect going for them. take care, billy fanstone

I interviews Michael Phelps for a story on swimming once. One of my questions was how do you breathe? He said he hadn't thought about. I tried to provide options--do you suck in a big breathe and hold it till an explosive blow out? Or do exhales slowly and steadily. He said he honestly did not know-he hadn't thought about it. At first I found this hard to believe. But later, I thought that maybe the best way to swim is to go with what feels right to your body, and leave it on autopilot as much as possible, no over thinking, no indecisions and hesitations, just enter that primitive brain inside our ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny style evolutionary process that starts out as single celled organisms, moves up in the womb to odd aqautic denizens floating in our own waters, and so forth. Tap into the wisdom of our incommunicatie forerunners, and hope for the best.

I don't know the science of it, but it makes sense to me that the technique of inhaling is underappreciated. This may seem ridiculous, but I think there are a lot of things you can do wrong. At the most basic level, if you breathe in more air you will do better. Of course, what separates swimmers from other pursuits is that we have to inhale in a very short time. There are at least four details I can think of off the top of my head that can maximize the inhaled volume while swimming freestyle, and I'm sure there are many more. Here's my list: 1) exhaling fully before the breath 2)shaping your mouth so you get clearance with lesser rotation 3) relaxing your upper airway to reduce resistance to the incoming air (I've been guilty of not doing this while swimming backstroke) 4) breathing not just from your diaphragm but from your chest as well.

I thought that maybe the best way to swim is to go with what feels right to your body, and leave it on autopilot as much as possible, no over thinking, no indecisions and hesitations, just enter that primitive brain inside our ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny style evolutionary process that starts out as single celled organisms, moves up in the womb to odd aqautic denizens floating in our own waters, and so forth. Tap into the wisdom of our incommunicatie forerunners, and hope for the best. I really like this intuitive approach. Despite my attempt to identify and classify every motion associated with breathing, I seriously doubt I could master all of this in a conscious/reductive process. Maybe in naming some of the breathe-control associated movements we can be aware of them, but when swimming it probably is more effective just to be the fish. Zen and the art of aquatic propulsion.

A Tennessee Turn (I call them TNT's)will help. We did them and I suppose still do them at UT. Simply, underwater between walls and flags in a streamlined position, turn around underwater and press off the wall in a streamlined position passed the flags. I give my age groupers lengths of 200 - 400yds. High schoolers 300 - 600 yards. If it seems to be too easy, extend the length underwater. I also incorporate what I call "Gutbusters" 5 x 200 with 1min RI. At the beginning and after every even wall, push off the wall and swim as far as you can underwater, not more than 25 yards. Once in a while when we are resting. 1-2-2-1's. Another UTer. 5 x 100 at 2:00, 1 breath the 1st 25, 2 breaths the 2nd, 2-3rd, 1-4th. Decrease interval for better result. "666" is another one but I have run out of time. Let's just say it's very evil. These help my swimmers learn breath control and I feel increases capacity to hold air.

I've always been a strong believer in hypoxic sets, underwater swims/kicking and use of snorkels. Hard for me to ignore the fact that every elite college program I've ever visited uses these as well.....then again since I'm nearing the age of AARP membership it may be the time to "grow up" and stop acting like a college kid.....or so says my wife!

Hi Fanstone, I truly appreciate what you wrote but I absolutely know that breath control training sets with less oxygen has increased my ability to swim/race better. I not only can feel it, I perform much better. It isn't just my brain getting used to swimming without more air, my entire body seems to truly benefit from it. So even though scientifically this may not can be proven, when I race I am grateful I have done restricted breathing patterns as a part of my training. I feel as if the lactic acid just never comes about much. Of course, I will add that I am doing sprinting; 10 strokes ez, 10 fast and continue this pattern and I breath every stroke on the 10 ez, and every 4th on the 10 fast. I have never been a swimmer who fell victim to training things that were of no benefit. If it didn't work, I didn't do it; if it worked, I did it except for hand paddles(shoulders). And I am sure that many things that may work for one swimmer, may not work for another as we are all unique, inside and out!!!! And the minute something in my training stops working for me, I will find something else that will. So, my apologies to all who believe this limited breath control may be nonsense; I just have to advocate it based on my performances and how I feel when swimming fast for long periods of time. (PS: we still have very limited Internet service here) Donna