when to breath free style

Andy: there is only one reason to hold your breath, and that is so you can remove more C02 from your blood, so as to diminish the "urge" to breathe. Notice this: if you can hold your breath while doing the flip turn you will last longer going out then someone who exhales (usually to prevent water from entering nose) during the turn. I personally am trying to exhale less, just enough to avoid water in nose, so as to last longer till the next breath out of a turn. At a certain age or at a certain lack of training (not as efficient energy expenditure and producing more C02) one has to breathe more often and I think the gain from not breathing as to maintain streamlining might not be so important as getting a breath and "feeling better". I have given up taking strokes after the turn before breathing. It isn't making ME any faster but causes some distress from the urge to breathe. Most of the oxygen consumption and need of are at a cellular level and have little to gain from breathing more or less up to a certain level. You use up most of you cellular oxygen the first 20 seconds of your sprint, and from then on it is alternative energy pathways, the oxygen you breathe in will help you immediately. So on a sprint, all you have to be concerned is about controlling your urge to breathe to get rid of the accumulated carbon dioxide in your blood. The resulting acidosis won't hinder your energy or speed, because before it has any impact on your muscles the race is over. This is dificult to undertand, and I won't even go near the Lactic Acid "build up", or the turning point in the lactic acid, where breathing plays an important factor such as in running over 400 meters or swimming longer. Finally, if you can hold your breath all the way on a 50 or longer swim, good for you, but your speed is not dependent on this unless you factor in the streamlining gained or lost from moving your head. Before anyone wants to argue that not breathing is deleterious and dangerous, I must say that I am talking about short sprints where anaerobic metabolism rules. Correct me if I'm wrong, but this supports the theory that you should only exhale immediately before your next opportunity to inhale.

Andy: there is only one reason to hold your breath, and that is so you can remove more C02 from your blood, so as to diminish the "urge" to breathe. Notice this: if you can hold your breath while doing the flip turn you will last longer going out then someone who exhales (usually to prevent water from entering nose) during the turn. I personally am trying to exhale less, just enough to avoid water in nose, so as to last longer till the next breath out of a turn. At a certain age or at a certain lack of training (not as efficient energy expenditure and producing more C02) one has to breathe more often and I think the gain from not breathing as to maintain streamlining might not be so important as getting a breath and "feeling better". I have given up taking strokes after the turn before breathing. It isn't making ME any faster but causes some distress from the urge to breathe. Most of the oxygen consumption and need of are at a cellular level and have little to gain from breathing more or less up to a certain level. You use up most of you cellular oxygen the first 20 seconds of your sprint, and from then on it is alternative energy pathways, the oxygen you breathe in will help you immediately. So on a sprint, all you have to be concerned is about controlling your urge to breathe to get rid of the accumulated carbon dioxide in your blood. The resulting acidosis won't hinder your energy or speed, because before it has any impact on your muscles the race is over. This is dificult to undertand, and I won't even go near the Lactic Acid "build up", or the turning point in the lactic acid, where breathing plays an important factor such as in running over 400 meters or swimming longer. Finally, if you can hold your breath all the way on a 50 or longer swim, good for you, but your speed is not dependent on this unless you factor in the streamlining gained or lost from moving your head. Before anyone wants to argue that not breathing is deleterious and dangerous, I must say that I am talking about short sprints where anaerobic metabolism rules. Correct me if I'm wrong, but this supports the theory that you should only exhale immediately before your next opportunity to inhale.