A lot of swimmers get tired because they don’t know how to breathe correctly when swimming.
Only the more advanced swimmers feel the burn in their shoulders and legs. Most people can’t even get to that point. Their lungs and their heart start working too fast before their muscles get tired.
The Power of Breathing
The rhythm and breathing technique in swimming is unlike any other activity in life. If you do it wrong, you’ll get tired very quickly.
If you breathe correctly, you can stay calm and swim forever. Well, maybe not forever, but for a very, very long time until your shoulders give up. But remember to focus on the basics first, one of them is the technique.
Now that you know how to swim with a decent technique, breathing has become the most important skill for you to master. In the second lesson of this series of blogs, we taught you that your whole head shouldn’t come out of the water. It’s better if just half of your head comes out.
However, you might make a very common mistake: taking a breath too late in the stroke. Your mouth should come out as the arm in front is stretching.
Your breath should be quick. If you see your other hand passing by, your head should already be moving back.
Taking a quick breath through your mouth is the best thing you can do for your technique—but not if you want to stay calm.
Control The Exhale
Countless scientific studies are showing how slow breathing keeps your body and mind calm. It is the most important and immediate strategy to remain calm. Many people know this, from soldiers to monks to elite athletes.
In swimming, it is just not possible to inhale slowly, but you can control the other part of breathing. In another blog, we suggested holding the air until the head starts moving out.
It worked for a lot of you, for a few people, it worked better to let bubbles out through the nose constantly.
Either way, you need to find a way to stay calm. The urge to breathe when the levels of CO2 rise is the most primal instinct, if you feel like taking a breath while your face is underwater, your mind immediately starts freaking out. Unless you train yourself to stay calm.
Hypoxic Exercises – Swim Better and Stay Calm
To stay calm, we suggest you swim 100 meters, breathing every 4 strokes. You might try it and feel that it doesn’t make you calmer—in fact, you may get even more tired. This is normal; you’re not used to the feeling yet. But you will.
Next, try swimming a 25-meter length, but focus on taking a breath earlier. This adjustment should feel easier to correct. Now, swim a 25-meter length breathing every 4 strokes. Then try again, breathing every 6 strokes, then 8, and then 10. If you can’t hold your breath every 10 strokes, that’s okay.
Next, swim 100 meters while breathing your usual every two strokes. When you finish, you’ll likely be surprised at how much energy you have left! You’re doing the same movements, but your heart rate remains low.
By correcting the timing of your breath and controlling the urge to breathe, you’ll feel calmer. This will make swimming much easier.
Swim 4 x 25-meter lengths again, controlling your breath: breathing every 4, 6, 8, and 10 strokes. This time, you may find no problem breathing every 10 strokes. Now, challenge yourself to swim as far as you can without stopping. You might surprise yourself by swimming more meters without a break.
That’s more than double what you could do before!
Mastering Calmness in the Water
Swimming is a game of knowing how to stay calm while your muscles work in an unusual environment. If you train yourself to stay calm while doing hypoxic exercises, you’ll be able to stay calm in any situation. You’ll be able to swim until your shoulders give up.
Before you get to that point, it is important that your arms are moving correctly. Otherwise, you could have shoulder issues.
By the way, don’t forget to share this knowledge to others..
Thank you!