tips to improve lung capacity

I am a pretty new "adult onset" swimmer. I guess I'm wondering WHY a swimmer should strive to take fewer breaths? Or is this just more of a training exercise to develop a skill, or resist the "urge" to breathe...but come raceday the swimmer would breathe as much as they need, correct? Miss Jackie Hopefully, on race day, the swimmers will remember the coaching advice and improve their races. The thought is that when you are in a tight streamline you are swimming the 5th stroke, Andra such it can be added to all of the competitive strokes except ***. Breakouts can be executed faster if done on your side using a side dolphin kick (fishing) and about 3-4 feet underwater. Now not all swimmers can do this and obtain an advantage. If you are a swimmer who can do this well consider then you will have to practice underwaters without breathing. When swimmers refrain from breathing they generally swim faster due to a steady head, maintained with the back of the head at the top of the water as apposed to the eyebrows or hairline at the surface. As a result swimmers who swim with their head down will generally only be able to see the lane line directly below and will feel awkward swimming without seeing where they are going! Yea we are all flying blind! Now breakouts, turns and finishes. Breakouts-are the first part of your race following the dive or push off. There can be a lot of variation here from surfacing and beginning to swim to holding streamline and side dolphin kick about 3 feet underwater to the 15 meter mark! In all cases when breaking the surface, try to multiple senses to locate the surface. Look at the distance to the bottom of the pool. Use perspective to measure the distance. Know how the line looks when you are just about to break the surface. Feel the water start to ripple behind your head, neck and shoulders. Don't look forward. Your head will rise out of position and slow your underwaters considerably. If you can see your hands your eyes are too high! I have attached the starts clinic where we actually run all of the variations until we identify what gets you to the 15 meter mark fastest. Turns-flip turns require the swimmer to hold their breath for a time. If you know you can hold your breath to flip, why not practice the best turns possible? As you take the last strokes into the wall. Leave one hand by on the front side of your swimming suit the leave the other hand with the first on the front side. When you are about to begin your flip, grab your hands and make a streamline position pointing toward your feet and to the other wall. After you are in this position, you may use a single dolphin kick to pop your legs over combined with tucking your chin, making a compact ball and with no sneaky breathes or waving hands. Your hands and arms are always pointing toward the other wall throughout the flip. This type of set up for your turn will put you right on your back in streamline toward the other wall after your turn is executed. You will be required to use some of that precious air to blow nose bubbles to keep water out of your nose. Push from the wall and use your kick to role from your back onto your stomach or side as soon as possible and continue to the 15 meter mark at about 3 feet under water. This is done without sneaking any breaths. Then take at least three swimming strokes without breath to set up the best body position and technique for your sprint. If you can find someone of similar abilities then approach the wall shoulder to shoulder and see who gets off the wall faster! Build and finish-when possible try to find another swimmer of like abilities. As you cross the pool build your momentum. Every stroke is incrementally faster until you are at full on sprint at the wall. Take a final breath and keep your head down and swim 5 meters to the wall. Avoid looking at other competitive swimmers, or smiling for the cameras during the last 10 meters. With that final breath you will have enough air to last through the touch! If you are at similar abilities you can see which one gets to the wall faster! So breathing sets where we hold our breath for a continuous 100 might be broken into 25's with the following breathing patterns. First 25 breathe after 3 strokes, second 25 breathe after 5 strokes, third 25 breathe after 7 strokes, fourth 25 breathe after 9 or if that is too much of a challenge go back to breathing every 5 strokes. This kind of hypoxic set will make it much easier to perform breakouts, turns and finishes! Please refer to the attached starts clinic information to discover what works best for you! Best to you, Coach Andrew

I am a pretty new "adult onset" swimmer. I guess I'm wondering WHY a swimmer should strive to take fewer breaths? Or is this just more of a training exercise to develop a skill, or resist the "urge" to breathe...but come raceday the swimmer would breathe as much as they need, correct? Miss Jackie Hopefully, on race day, the swimmers will remember the coaching advice and improve their races. The thought is that when you are in a tight streamline you are swimming the 5th stroke, Andra such it can be added to all of the competitive strokes except ***. Breakouts can be executed faster if done on your side using a side dolphin kick (fishing) and about 3-4 feet underwater. Now not all swimmers can do this and obtain an advantage. If you are a swimmer who can do this well consider then you will have to practice underwaters without breathing. When swimmers refrain from breathing they generally swim faster due to a steady head, maintained with the back of the head at the top of the water as apposed to the eyebrows or hairline at the surface. As a result swimmers who swim with their head down will generally only be able to see the lane line directly below and will feel awkward swimming without seeing where they are going! Yea we are all flying blind! Now breakouts, turns and finishes. Breakouts-are the first part of your race following the dive or push off. There can be a lot of variation here from surfacing and beginning to swim to holding streamline and side dolphin kick about 3 feet underwater to the 15 meter mark! In all cases when breaking the surface, try to multiple senses to locate the surface. Look at the distance to the bottom of the pool. Use perspective to measure the distance. Know how the line looks when you are just about to break the surface. Feel the water start to ripple behind your head, neck and shoulders. Don't look forward. Your head will rise out of position and slow your underwaters considerably. If you can see your hands your eyes are too high! I have attached the starts clinic where we actually run all of the variations until we identify what gets you to the 15 meter mark fastest. Turns-flip turns require the swimmer to hold their breath for a time. If you know you can hold your breath to flip, why not practice the best turns possible? As you take the last strokes into the wall. Leave one hand by on the front side of your swimming suit the leave the other hand with the first on the front side. When you are about to begin your flip, grab your hands and make a streamline position pointing toward your feet and to the other wall. After you are in this position, you may use a single dolphin kick to pop your legs over combined with tucking your chin, making a compact ball and with no sneaky breathes or waving hands. Your hands and arms are always pointing toward the other wall throughout the flip. This type of set up for your turn will put you right on your back in streamline toward the other wall after your turn is executed. You will be required to use some of that precious air to blow nose bubbles to keep water out of your nose. Push from the wall and use your kick to role from your back onto your stomach or side as soon as possible and continue to the 15 meter mark at about 3 feet under water. This is done without sneaking any breaths. Then take at least three swimming strokes without breath to set up the best body position and technique for your sprint. If you can find someone of similar abilities then approach the wall shoulder to shoulder and see who gets off the wall faster! Build and finish-when possible try to find another swimmer of like abilities. As you cross the pool build your momentum. Every stroke is incrementally faster until you are at full on sprint at the wall. Take a final breath and keep your head down and swim 5 meters to the wall. Avoid looking at other competitive swimmers, or smiling for the cameras during the last 10 meters. With that final breath you will have enough air to last through the touch! If you are at similar abilities you can see which one gets to the wall faster! So breathing sets where we hold our breath for a continuous 100 might be broken into 25's with the following breathing patterns. First 25 breathe after 3 strokes, second 25 breathe after 5 strokes, third 25 breathe after 7 strokes, fourth 25 breathe after 9 or if that is too much of a challenge go back to breathing every 5 strokes. This kind of hypoxic set will make it much easier to perform breakouts, turns and finishes! Please refer to the attached starts clinic information to discover what works best for you! Best to you, Coach Andrew