For many swimmers, the question arises, especially at the beginning: How and when do I actually breathe? We practice the simplest thing in the world, which is not so simple in the water.
Simply put, swimming breathing is: inhale above water and exhale below water. That doesn't sound surprising. But pay attention to whether you breathe out really well underwater, when you breathe and how much.
Shortness of breath from too much air
We have around five liters of lung volume, with each breath we breathe in and out about three quarters of a liter. The rest of the air stays in the lungs. When you swim, it's enough if you breathe just as shallowly as you do on land. If you have the feeling that the air is not enough, you should take care not to breathe in too deeply and breathe out well. Does it work even better with less air?
Always with Tranquillity
If we do a double stroke (always breathing to the same side) during the freestyle stroke, we have half a stroke to inhale and a half stroke to exhale. Most athletes find it easier to inhale as long as the hand is guided backwards underwater. During this time, the body rotates slightly to the side and you have space and time to turn your head. Exhale as long as the hand is held forward over the water.
Tip: The longer the train, the better the gliding phase, the more time you can take to breathe. This brings a lot of calm to the swim, the gliding is pleasant and relaxing and breathing does not become hectic. The "golden rule" when it comes to breathing is: When the thumb touches the thigh at the end of the stroke, the inhalation should be mostly complete. If you're just starting to turn your head now, you're too late.
Also interesting:
Practice creates masters
The central exercise for breathing is kicking on the side (you can find it in > this post ). It is very unusual for us to lie horizontally and to breathe and see the world horizontally. Once we get used to it and the exercise works well, breathing while swimming is a breeze.
I recommend always starting the first few meters of the track without breathing and first concentrating on the technique. Then you can incorporate the exercise leg kick on the side to breathe and take your time to breathe. Because it is important that you only rotate your body around the longitudinal axis when breathing. A good exercise is therefore three to five strokes crawl and then three to five strokes backstroke. The focus is on the rotation around the longitudinal axis of the body.
The workout of the week
300 m easy swim, different positions
200 m breaststroke 2 moves normal and 2 moves diving alternately
100 m easy back (breathing is easy here)
300 m 2 x trains of 2 and 3 x trains of 3 (This exercise is for coordination.)
(Breathe right 2 times, then 3 times alternately with the 3-move and then 2 times left)
100m easy chest or back
50 m 5 train
50 m 4 train
50 m 3 train
50 m 2 train
8 x 100 m 100 calm and 100 m fast alternating (pause 20 sec)
The right accessories for your swimming training
Pullbuoy, Kickboards, Shortfins, Paddles and more...
