Sucking in Water When Breathing

Some may disagree with this but I suggest breathing on just one side for a while until this gets easier. Breathing every time on one side will also give you air more frequently than every 3rd stroke (what you get when you breathe both sides). It may help you relax. I suspect the OP has not exhaled sufficiently before opening his mouth. So the breath actually begins with an exhale and there is little time for the precious inhale. So the inhale is still occuring when the head rotates back into the water. One way to force an exhale is to make it a pattern. If breathing on the right - as soon as the right arm is extended forward after the head has rotated back in the water - exhale. You'll be ready to inhale the next time the head rotates for a breath.

Control the water that ends up in your mouth it does enter a little when you breathe in, don't swallow it.

When your go to breathe, you should have your mouth out of the water, but one goggle in and one out. This means you sort of have to reach your mouth out to the air. What I would suggest (I'm not a coach or anything, but I had the same problem and this is what I did) is to over rotate so that your whole face is out of the water, tucking your chin back towards your shoulder. I've also found that it doesn't help any if your mouth is wide open; in fact, it just leads you to mouth breathe rather than take any air into your lungs where you need it. So, keeping your mouth open only on the side that's out of the water will help eliminate the choking and will force you to take a nice sharp breath into your lungs. Also, I'm not sure who told you to tuck your chin while you swim either. Everything I've read and all my coaches have said that you should have your head in a natural position just like when you are standing up. Unless you naturally tuck your chin to your chest when you stand up straight, then you shouldn't be doing that. As far as not exhaling underwater, that's something you have to pay attention to while you swim until you get it down. My mouth doesn't close when I swim, because I have found that if I try to exhale out of my nose, I either can't completely exhale before I go to take a breath, or I choke a bit when I do take a breath. If you try to inhale immediately after exhaling, it can close your throat and make you choke--especially if you have water in your mouth. I'm sure someone will correct the finer points of my "advice", but that's just what I've gained from personal experience and either reading or been told by my coach.

it could be that you are rushing it. try exhailing before you start to turn your head, and when you inhail, do not take such a deep breathe. maybe then you will have time to close your mouth before it goes back underwater. I do not have my mouth fully out of the water when I swim, and I almost always have water in my mouth. I didn't know that until i started swimming in sea water. it's hard not to notice saltwater in ones mouth. you can try kicking with a board, holding the very end with your hands, and face down in the water, drop one arm and turn your head to breathe, and then kick a few seconds and try again. if you don't have a board, hold the wall, it works well too. in my experience with older swimmers learning to swim free, it usually has to do with their comfort level in the water. the less comfortable they are having their head underwater, the harder to learn to swim.

May I ask where you are taking lessons? Is the instructor a swim coach? The S pull pattern is fairly old school. I'm sure there are successful and fast people out there that use that style but it's not current technique. I also would be concerned about the idea of the chin to the chest. Think about having a neutral head (ie - a pilates type head position). Then adjust it slightly as needed. As for the breathing, it's one of the first things I work on with beginning swimmers. Exhaling under water is very important, as is relaxing. The more comfortable you get in the water the easier the breathing aspect becomes. Make sure when you go to breathe that you roll your hips as well as your shoulders so that you are rolling into your breath. Remember, like anything else it takes a lot of practice to master. Keep working on it. Some drills you might want to try include single arm swimming. Do 25s only using one arm. Keep the opposite arm at your side. Try breathing to the side you are stroking on for a 25 then the opposite side for a 25. This drill takes a LONG time to master but will help you get the feel of rotating enough to breathe. I warn you though, you will feel like you are drowning at first. Keep working hard and keep us updated!

Thanks for the tips and feedback...I was intrigued by the comments also around the pull pattern and chin tuck. The S pull pattern is fairly old school. I'm sure there are successful and fast people out there that use that style but it's not current technique. I also would be concerned about the idea of the chin to the chest. Think about having a neutral head (ie - a pilates type head position). Then adjust it slightly as needed.I'm taking lessons through an organization called Swim America - the instructors are mostly college age kids - some competitive swimmers and some not. I may be doing a bad job of explaining things also! In terms of the chin tuck, a number of the instructors commented about my head alignment - that I was not looking down at the bottom of the pool but more forward (still underwater). They said it was key to get the head and body aligned better and that would keep my whole body aligned (I guess my feet were sinking a bit). So they had us swimming with a rubber duck (or they said to use a tennis ball) between our chest and chin - and to try to hold it there while moving forward as well as when I rolled to breathe. If you couldn't hold it when breathing, you were probably picking your head up vs. rolling. When I focus on doing this (minus the duck!), it seems to feel more natural. In terms of the pull pattern, they said it was more of an "S" or Question mark shape when pulling. This was not the first time I had seen this recommendation. I recently bought Janet Evans "Total Swimming" and this is a quote from the book - "... As the pull begins, with the elbow still underwater, the hand begins to move in the shape of a backward S-away from the body and toward the wall of the pool about 12 to 15 inches (30-38 centimeters) before turning ..." What is the preferred pattern for pulling? I used to just pull straight back and when I do the "S" shape, it seems to have more "propulsion" capability. In terms of the breathing issue, you have all pointed out some good things to think about - I think that the "comfort" level that was mentioned is key...I'm definitely not relaxed yet..Getting better but I think that I stress myself out worrying about the breathing (and everything else too). I also think that I gasp for a large amount of air - I had read on post on this site about "small" breathes vs large breathes. To try to get the breathing down, I am trying to breathe on each stroke (unilateral to the right). As far as not exhaling underwater, that's something you have to pay attention to while you swim until you get it down. My mouth doesn't close when I swim, because I have found that if I try to exhale out of my nose, I either can't completely exhale before I go to take a breath, or I choke a bit when I do take a breath. If you try to inhale immediately after exhaling, it can close your throat and make you choke--especially if you have water in your mouth. mjgold - your comments are interesting because I was thinking that might be part of the issue is that my mouth is always open and I'm accidentally sucking water in. You said that trying to inhale immediately after exhaling can close your throat - makes sense - so clarify what do you do? This is different than alot of things I have read where they tell you to exhale everything before turning to breathe.

mjgold - your comments are interesting because I was thinking that might be part of the issue is that my mouth is always open and I'm accidentally sucking water in. You said that trying to inhale immediately after exhaling can close your throat - makes sense - so clarify what do you do? This is different than alot of things I have read where they tell you to exhale everything before turning to breathe. I don't usually get any water in my mouth using my technique. Sometimes I do, but if you're head is positioned properly when you breathe, you shouldn't inhale any water. It's like breathing while you have some soda in your mouth or something. But, essentially, I was always taught that you should never hold your breath while swimming. You should always be either inhaling or exhaling. So, right after I've taking my breath and am rolling back into my next stroke, I begin to exhale as soon as my mouth hits the water. I take my next stroke, and then as I roll to my breathing side again--still exhaling--my face comes out of the water, which is where I finish exhaling. I was taught that you can finish your exhale just as you roll your head to breathe in order to get that film of water off your face. Then, when I'm at the midpoint of my roll, I inhale sharply. I don't try to take in an enormous amount of air, just enough to get me through the that stroke cycle; I found that when I opened my mouth wide to try and get a lot of air, I ended up just breathing a lot into my mouth and throat rather than into my lungs where it's needed. You just need to experiment. Someone likened it to the way you breathe when you sing. Sharply inhale before a somewhat prolonged exhale.

slightly off the wall possibility... I'm guessing you're a dude... do you have a beard or a mustache? When I started swimming again I was having some weird problems with water in my mouth and nose that I'd never had before. I tried to figure out what was different from when I used to swim in my teens... the only thing I could come up with was my beard. I'm not sure if I was right or not but I blamed it on my facial hair. I kept the goatee and lost the 'stasche and I have had some improvement especially with the whole water in my nose problem. But like a lot of you have already mentioned, I always seem to have some water in my mouth. You just have to make sure it's not a lot and you don't drink any of it!

I had the same problem. Something no one else has said that helped me is try to reach further on your catch, almost stretch for it. This forced my body to roll and also got my mouth higher. When I can consistently "stretch" my catch out, breathing in water goes away.

I believe it's called "reach to breathe". You should be stretching out on your side anyway, but when you go to breathe, you almost want to be resting on your armpit.