A funny thing happened to me today, at least its funny to me. While I was at the pool during open swim there was this what looked to be highschool team (swam year around) drilling. When I finished my sets the coach who was there approached me and said, "You a swimmer?" I kinda laughed and said "No, not at all." He then looks at me and says, "Well you sure work hard for not being a swimmer." We then discussed that I was a junior in college and he told me I should try out for the swim team. Turns out he coaches highschool and coached college teams around my area and was watching me breifly while I was swimming. As you can see by the title of the thread he pointed out that I have no lungs and I have no legs, which is correct and I have been trying to work on those two attributes for awhile. He went on to say that with a few minor adjustments to my freestyle and with some proper training I could scare some people (I don't know if he was being serious or what but he sure looked it).
I haven't been swimming for all that long (about 8 months or so, only being serious for about 5 months) and have never been coach, so I kinda laughed at the idea of me being a college (D3) swimmer.
So I come here to ask you fine swimmers how could I improve in these two areas? I know theres the "Help my flutter kick is horrible" thread but I haven't found much on how to increase lung capicity and would like to hear some tricks/drills that may help me breath easier/last longer while swimming. One thing that bothers me as well, whenever I swim a long set (like 100's for me) the back of my neck bothers me. I don't know if it's because I'm not relaxed or because my head is to high but it cramps up sometimes.
Sorry for the long winded post, I just thought it was a funny story and would like to share it with you all while asking for advice :)
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I've been doing hypoxic breathing more and more lately. I've been limiting myself to breathing every 5 or 7 strokes depending on the distance and pace. Starting bilateral breathing (every 3rd) after you've been breathing every stroke can be rough for a couple weeks but you get used to it and don't notice it much if you work at it. I'm now working on breathing every 5 more frequently, and it feels just a bit more difficult than switching to every 3rd was. I'm sure with a few more weeks of religiously training the every 5 I could handle that also for an extended distance.
Some people say hypoxic sets don't do anything at all, while some people swear by it. My own experience is the more I train myself to deal with less oxygen the easier it is. The benefit of breathing less is you are in a more streamline position for longer, reducing drag and keeping up momentum. The downside is changing your oxygen flow, depending on what distance you're competing at one particular breathing pattern would be better than another. For example in a sprint ideally you take 0-2 breaths total. In a distance event you may want to breathe every 2-4 strokes.
I've been doing hypoxic breathing more and more lately. I've been limiting myself to breathing every 5 or 7 strokes depending on the distance and pace. Starting bilateral breathing (every 3rd) after you've been breathing every stroke can be rough for a couple weeks but you get used to it and don't notice it much if you work at it. I'm now working on breathing every 5 more frequently, and it feels just a bit more difficult than switching to every 3rd was. I'm sure with a few more weeks of religiously training the every 5 I could handle that also for an extended distance.
Some people say hypoxic sets don't do anything at all, while some people swear by it. My own experience is the more I train myself to deal with less oxygen the easier it is. The benefit of breathing less is you are in a more streamline position for longer, reducing drag and keeping up momentum. The downside is changing your oxygen flow, depending on what distance you're competing at one particular breathing pattern would be better than another. For example in a sprint ideally you take 0-2 breaths total. In a distance event you may want to breathe every 2-4 strokes.
