Freestyle Breathing Tips When You Learn to Swim Freestyle

Freestyle Breathing Tips

Learning how to adapt to breathing in a face-down position, presents many new freestyle swimmers with some challenges and you are bound to have some anxiety as you put your face in the water while swimming. Don't worry, this is completely normal and here are some freestyle breathing tips to help.

Swimming Freestyle

As you get used to this, try squatting down in the water and let it take some of your weight, all the time continuing to move your hands and arms. Do this until you begin to feel comfortable with your face in the water. The warmer the water is when you do this, the better as a cold pool may increase any feelings of anxiety you may have.

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Blow Bubbles

Believe it or not, the most important skill in freestyle is to be able to exhale all your air freely underwater. Most people automatically hold their breath when they put their face in the water. This will make the stroke much tougher.

When you turn your head in freestyle to take a breath you need to be able to take a full breath of air. If your lungs are already full of air because you haven't let it all out underwater, then when you go to take a breath you will either only take in a very little bit of air, in which case you are going to run out of good air very quickly and will probably give up on your timing or worse your entire stroke to get more air, or you are going to want to breathe out before you begin to breathe in and you are going to run out of time, so again, you are going to give up on your timing or worse you entire stroke to get more air.

Thus when you are swimming freestyle you should blow bubbles lots of bubbles so that all your air is blown out under the water. That way when you turn your head all you have left to do is breathe in and you will get a full breath. This is the secret of breathing in freestyle.

It's also worth noting that holding your breath under the water may add to feelings of anxiety, making you more stressed and not as relaxed as you should be. If you are stressed you use more oxygen and this will only compound any breathing problems you have. So make sure you blow bubbles and blow all your air out underwater. It may even help relax you. slow regular breathing is an excellent calming exercise out of the water so it should be in the water.

One suggestion that I heard, that may be useful if you are having trouble, is to start your practice in the shallow end, put your face in the water and hum through your mouth or nose to create a long steady stream of bubbles. Apparently, it feels like you are sighing.

Here are some links to other posts that I have made on the subject:

Freestyle Breathing in every 4th stroke

Learn To Swim 101 - Beginning Freestyle - Breathing

Learn To Swim 101 - Beginning Freestyle - Breathing, Common Faults

Learn To Swim 101 - Beginning Freestyle - Common Faults-Freestyle Breathing Faults

Learn To Swim 101 - Beginning Freestyle - Common Faults- Catch Up Stroke and Breath Timing

Freestyle Improvement- Breathing Action Correction

Learn To Swim 101 - Breaststroke - the Arm Action - Breathing

Swimming Lesson Ideas: Leave the tip of your goggles in the water

Learn To Swim 101 - Freestyle - Bilateral Breathing (breathing on both sides)

Enjoy
   Richard