In workouts I'm breathing every stroke and into and out of every flipturn. Even worse, once I am really gasping for air (in the middle of a hard set or on the 3rd turn of a 100) I am almost coming to a stop off the turn to catch my breath. I've been swimming 2000-3000 yards 3x/week for the last 18 months dropping intervals and increasing speed but I guess I am still just not in good enough cardiovascular shape?
Of course, it can't help that I have been constantly reinforcing bad habits. But can I just keep plugging away and eventually the fatigue from swimming the length will at least equal the fatigue from the turns?
The alternative I imagine is some kind of hypoxic training that is going to make me miserable. But I'm willing to do what I've gotta do at this point.
Parents
Former Member
I am in complete agreement with everyone here regarding full exhalation prior to taking a breath. I would experience the same problem you have-- continually becoming out of breath-- even after doing 1.5-hour workouts 5 days a week for over a year and a half. In other words, the problem is NOT lack of conditioning! Trust me, I feel your frustration!
I am one of those swimmers who holds my breath for a moment prior to exhaling, and would exhale out of my nose only. I recently realized (after doing a little searching on this forum) that even though I thought I was exhaling fully, I actually was not.
I am now trying to exhale earlier, and more forcefully, from my mouth. This has helped tremendously with that out-of-breath feeling.
The epiphany for me was that one day I noticed a little spurt of water as I turned to the side to take a breath of air-- this was an "Aha!" moment, since the thread I had read recommended this as one of the signs a coach could use to tell if a swimmer was not exhaling fully prior to taking a breath.
Again, I had convinced myself that I was exhaling fully, but did not realize that I wasn't until last week! Now that I am practicing a more full exhale prior to turning to breathe, I feel much stronger in the water.
Good luck!
I am in complete agreement with everyone here regarding full exhalation prior to taking a breath. I would experience the same problem you have-- continually becoming out of breath-- even after doing 1.5-hour workouts 5 days a week for over a year and a half. In other words, the problem is NOT lack of conditioning! Trust me, I feel your frustration!
I am one of those swimmers who holds my breath for a moment prior to exhaling, and would exhale out of my nose only. I recently realized (after doing a little searching on this forum) that even though I thought I was exhaling fully, I actually was not.
I am now trying to exhale earlier, and more forcefully, from my mouth. This has helped tremendously with that out-of-breath feeling.
The epiphany for me was that one day I noticed a little spurt of water as I turned to the side to take a breath of air-- this was an "Aha!" moment, since the thread I had read recommended this as one of the signs a coach could use to tell if a swimmer was not exhaling fully prior to taking a breath.
Again, I had convinced myself that I was exhaling fully, but did not realize that I wasn't until last week! Now that I am practicing a more full exhale prior to turning to breathe, I feel much stronger in the water.
Good luck!
