Hold breath or breathe out?

Well, you still should be able to hold your breath for a little bit longer, but if a shark's got you, you have worse problems... It's a baby shark :D

When I started learning both fly and ***, one of the first things my coach told me was to remember to breathe out while I was still in the water. His reasoning is that once my head surfaces, I don't need to take the time to exhale, can get in more oxygen, and will be less likely to go into oxygen debt and tire too quickly.

When I started learning both fly and ***, one of the first things my coach told me was to remember to breathe out while I was still in the water. His reasoning is that once my head surfaces, I don't need to take the time to exhale, can get in more oxygen, and will be less likely to go into oxygen debt and tire too quickly. exactly

What a stange conversation you fellows are having. Keep the lungs filled and even drop the diaphram so you can get as much air in as possible for a short sprint. I even knew of swimmers who gulped air and filled their stomachs with air to add floatation. Yes even cases of rectal air inflation by one of the east block countries. How often do you have to breathe during a 50 or a 100 not verymuch, so hold that air in as much as you can, and exchange the air occasionally when needed.

In a 50, hold your breath; you'll be more buoyant. Anything longer and it's more important to relax and breathe naturally. I read a quote by Garrett Weber-Gale on this. He manages his breathing on sprints to hold air in his lungs as long as reasonably possible because of the bouyancy provided by the lungs. Remember they are like two balloons in your chest. Everyone knows how signficant this can be because most of us float with full lungs but will sink to the bottom if we exhale. Training is a different story.

If you are trying to go fast hold your breath. Even fast backstrokers will do this, it makes it easier increase your tempo and does help with a little extra buoyancy.

I was doing swimming drills (mostly balance drills) at the pool the other day and while doing these a triathlete that also happens to be an anesthesiologist watched me without me being aware of this. When I got out of the pool he told me that he was watching me and while he said that I did the drills well, he also said that I was holding my breath, which I wasn't aware of. He then explained to me that if I did hold my breath, the heart had to pump harder to get the blood into the lungs because of the higher pressure in the lungs. He then went on to explain to me that if I continued to do this, over time my right ventricle would thicken and if I remember right this could lead to heart activation problems. So he advised me to always exhale in the water to avoid this problem. He also told me that holding breath once the lungs are empty is ok, because there is no pressure left in the lungs at that time. My two cents...

He then explained to me that if I did hold my breath, the heart had to pump harder to get the blood into the lungs because of the higher pressure in the lungs. He then went on to explain to me that if I continued to do this, over time my right ventricle would thicken and if I remember right this could lead to heart activation problems. the point I made earlier however, most do not need to worry about it...but, identifying those who develop problems is nearly impossible until they express themselves clinically