Very few novice swimmers exhale properly into the water.
Nearly all intermediate swimmers think they are exhaling correctly - at least, that's what they say when we ask them. Do they? Very few do.
Even amongst advanced swimmers, quite a few like to hold onto their breath under the water.
Why is this an important swimming technique? Getting your exhalation right will make freestyle feel much easier, get you balanced in the water and as a bonus, make you more relaxed whilst swimming. This will benefit any swimmer, from beginner to elite.
In this article we're going to give you some very simple exercises to perform to improve your breathing technique and this will help you become a much better swimmer.
How You Should Breathe
At Swim Smooth we know the secret of freestyle breathing. The secret is good exhalation.
Whenever your face is in the water, exhale constantly and smoothly.
When you are swimming you should always be exhaling except when you turn your head to inhale.
You can exhale through your mouth or through your nose or through both, it doesn't matter. But when your face is in the water you should be exhaling all the time in one constant stream of bubbles.
Do you do this? You're probably thinking 'yes I do'. We ask hundreds of swimmers this question every year, nearly all of them answer 'yes' but when they jump in the pool and we watch their breathing technique, they are nearly all holding their breath underwater!
How Do Most Swimmers Exhale?
After inhaling and returning their face to the water, most people hold that breath for at least one stroke, if not two. Shortly before their next inhalation they exhale very late into the water, often finishing that exhalation into the air when they've turned to breathe in.
They feel they are exhaling into the water because they do a little before inhalation, but that is too little too late.
Coaches: From the pool deck, watch for a little outward spray of water from the mouth area as the swimmer turns to take their breath - this is a classic sign of late exhalation. Such a swimmer will immediately feel more relaxed from an improved exhalation technique.
Why is it Important to Exhale Constantly?
1) The most important reason is that when you hold your breath you tense up. When you breathe out you release that tension. Imagine you're having a stressful day and someone tells you to take a deep breath - it's not when you take the breath in that you feel better, it's when you let it go. Holding your breath tenses you up and that is bad for your swimming technique.
2) When you are holding your breath you can feel that you need to breathe. The sensation you are feeling is not the lack of oxygen, it's the build up of CO2. By holding your breath you are keeping the CO2 in your blood stream and lungs - this makes you feel desperate for air.
Blow them bubbles, it'll be the end of your troubles.
Breathing out constantly while you swim feels much nicer - you get rid of the CO2 and no longer feel so desperate for air.
3) Having lungs full of air is bad for your body position - your chest is too buoyant. Since your body acts like a see saw around your centre, this causes your legs to sink in the water, creating extra drag.
4) Most swimmers try to exhale just before they turn their head to breathe - or even worse, try and exhale and inhale in the short window when their mouth is above the waterline! This is a really hard thing to do, each breath feels snatched and panicky. If you breathe late like this, the tendency is to lift your head to breathe to give yourself a bit more time. Lifting your head is bad swimming technique, it causes your legs to sink - adding lots of drag.
Conclusion: exhaling constantly and continuously is a fundamental of a good freestyle stroke technique.
How Will This Make Me Swim Faster?
Katie Hoff demonstrates strong exhalation during her Beijing 400m silver medal swim.
Tension is bad for your swimming. We want to develop a smooth, relaxed, rhythmical stroke and tension stops us doing that. Tension makes us want to lift our head and that ruins our body position. Tension makes it hard to trust and feel the water. Perhaps worst of all, tension stops us enjoying our swimming.
Holding your breath keeps excess CO2 in your lungs and blood stream. This hurts you aerobically as CO2 builds up in your system (like a sprint activity). For the same swimming speed and effort, holding your breath will make things much harder. Next time you're running or doing something aerobic in the gym try holding your breath for 3 seconds and then suddenly inhale and exhale before holding it again - how much harder does this make it? Much harder!
Without exhaling properly you're going to find bilateral breathing (breathing to both sides) very hard. The build up of CO2 in your system from holding your breath makes the gap between 3 strokes feel very long. In this situation most swimmers revert to breathing to one side - their favoured side. As you can read here, the problem with single sided breathing is that your stroke technique tends to become lopsided and crabby. Your body roll tends to become poor on your non-breathing side and that leads to problems with the recovering arm swinging low over the water. Other problems with your technique start to appear such as scissor kicks and hands crossing the centre line. All of this because you're not exhaling!
The key to a creating a balanced symmetrical swimming technique is breathing to both sides - and the key to that is constant exhalation whenever your face is in the water.
OK, So How Do I Make The change?
The trick is to get used to exhaling into the water and feel relaxed doing it. This sounds easy but you need to break the existing habit, which can take some persistence. We recommend the series of sinking exercises below to develop a new breathing technique and get you feeling more relaxed in the water.
One of Swim Smooth's catch phrases 'Learn To Sink Before You Learn to Swim' comes from this sink-down technique.
Learn to Sink!
- At the deep end of the pool tread water. When you are ready take a breath in and let yourself sink. As soon as your head is in the water start exhaling strongly through either your nose or mouth, whichever you prefer. Make sure you are exhaling straight away. If you are not exhaling immediately, or you are not exhaling strongly enough, you won't sink - or you will sink a bit but then surface again.
Novice swimmer Sheila practises her sink downs. With practise you can stay under longer than this.
Fancy a challenge? Try lying on your back on the bottom of the pool and watch the bubbles moving up to the surface.
- Practise sinking like this many times through. Make sure you are exhaling smoothly and constantly. The idea is to be able to sink straight down to the bottom of the pool and stay there exhaling until you are ready to push off the bottom and come back up.
- If you sink at first but then surface again, stay there and keep exhaling until you sink. Find your 'sinking threshold' and keep practising exhaling strongly until you can get down easily and quickly.
- To help you to relax whilst sinking, imagine you are falling into bed or into a comfy chair at the end of a long hard day. Every muscle in your body relaxes and goes loose. You relax and sink.
- Are you surprised how strongly you have to exhale to sink? This shows you are not exhaling strongly enough in your normal stroke technique.
- Are you surprised how relaxed you become doing this? Perhaps you didn't realise you were tense before? The sensation of sinking is something we naturally fear - it's something that's keeping you tense whilst you swim. Getting accustomed to the water and feeling happy sinking in this alien environment will help your swimming technique a great deal.
Remind yourself to exhale into the water by making it part of your push-off routine. Every time you push off from the wall in your torpedo position, exhale strongly. Then carry on doing it for the whole length.
- If you're doing really well, try sitting on the bottom of the pool and watch your bubbles rising to the surface. Or even harder, lie on your back on the bottom and watch the bubbles.
Novice swimmers: The sink-down exercise is very important for you too. If you are a little nervous in the water, start in the shallow end and simply crouch to get your head under the water. Get used to this before you gradually get into deeper water. Find out more in our key article Tips For Beginner Freestylers.
Introducing Constant Exhalation To Your Swim Stroke
We recommend that you do a few of these 'sink downs' at the start of every swimming session to tune in to the watery environment and release any tension. It really is enjoyable and beneficial to any level of swimmer, even those macho males who might think it's mumbo jumbo! Try it, we're sure you'll enjoy it.
Once you have performed your sink-downs, try some easy laps of swimming. Swim at a slow pace and imagine you have all day to get to the other end. Your sole focus should be to make sure you are exhaling strongly whenever your head is in the water.
If you don't normally breathe bilaterally we recommend you make the switch straight away and breathe every 3 strokes. How do you feel? Are you more relaxed and less tense than normal? Can you now manage bilateral breathing?
Drills and Exhalation Technique
You guessed it, whenever you are doing drills you should be exhaling constantly into the water too! It's good practise and helps you relax so you can perform the drill better.
Do you have a drill you struggle with? Exhaling strongly into the water might just be the key to cracking it!
Summary
Most swimmers realise that breathing technique is a fundamental of the freestyle stroke. But most think about their inhalation only and forget about their exhalation. Don't make that mistake yourself! Practise your sink downs and get focused on your exhalation. You'll enjoy your swimming more and your stroke will benefit greatly.
The complete set of Swim Smooth breathing techniques is embedded in our Learn To Swim Freestyle Program.
how should you breathe in freestyle? here's our tips and some common pitfalls to avoid.
Freestyle Breathing Technique
Developing a good breathing technique is perhaps the biggest challenge for beginner and intermediate swimmers. Problems with breathing can easily knock on into other parts of the stroke. For instance, breathing can cause scissor kicks, poor body position, cross-overs and lop sided strokes.
Many swimmers have a problem with their stroke that is related to their breathing technique without realising that their breathing is the cause of the problem.
Below we're going to take a quick look at good breathing technique and common problems. We'll also give you 7 tips to improve your breathing, try them even if you don't think you have a breathing problem - you may be surprised!
Exhale strongly into the water between breaths.
Tip 1. Focus on Your Exhalation Not Your Inhalation
The most common problem swimmers have with their breathing is not exhaling under the water. If you exhale under the water between breaths you only have to inhale when you go to breathe. This makes things much easier. It also relaxes you and helps greatly with bilateral breathing.
This is so important and can make a massive difference to your swimming.
We're hot on this - check out our key article on exhalation: You Know Your Problem, You Keep It All In!
Tip 2. When you're not breathing, keep your head still
In between breaths, hold your head still in one position. Don't roll it around as your body rotates - this will make you dizzy and will really hurt your co-ordination!
Keep your head stationary when not breathing, just like our animated swimmer Mr Smooth.
If you've think you roll your head, concentrate on looking at one point on the bottom of the pool. Only turn your head to breathe. This will feel a little strange at first but should quickly start to feel much nicer. You'll find you feel much more coordinated with the rest of your stroke too.
If you're struggling to co-ordinate holding your head still - try this visualisation. Imagine a half-full glass of champagne is sitting on the top of your head and you've got to keep it very still or it'll spill! Sometimes thinking of it like that can do the trick.
You can practise at the shallow end or on dry land by bending forwards at the waist and performing pretend strokes while holding your head still.
Tip 3. Breathe Into The trough - Your Bow Wave Is Your friend
When you move through water you create a 'bow wave' with your head and body, just like a boat does. The shape of the bow wave means the water level drops along the side of the swimmer's face.
Breathe into the trough or 'pocket'.
This creates a trough either side of your head and body that is beneath the surface level of the pool - so there's air lower than you might expect there to be.
Breathe into this trough and you don't have to lift your head to inhale.
Sometimes swimmers call this 'breathing into the pocket' as it feels like there's a pocket of air there by your head.
You don't have to swim fast to create a bow wave, even swimming slowly creates a decent pocket for you to breathe into.
Many swimmers don't realise the bow wave is there and try and lift or over-rotate their head to take a breath. That's a big mistake, as we'll explain in tip 4.
Tip 4. don't lift Your head
Don't lift your head when you breathe!
The problem with lifting your head to breathe is that your body acts like a see-saw and your legs sink. This adds lots of extra drag.
With the trough or pocket of air by your head you don't have to lift your head up to breathe. To breathe into the trough you just have to rotate your head a little without lifting it. If you try and lift your head you disturb the bow wave, reducing the trough. Also, when lifting your head you tend to breathe too far forwards - and try and breathing over the high front of the bow wave.
So, lifting your head disturbs the bow wave - it's a vicious circle. Instead of doing this, trust the pocket to be there and keep your head low.
Look at the shape of the bow wave. Don't lift your head and try and breathe on the peak of it.
Instead, breathe into this pocket.
If you are struggling to find the pocket, a good drill to practise is to swim with fins (flippers) in a superman position - one arm out in front of you and the other resting by your hip. Kick gently on the side of your lead arm and look down at the bottom of the pool. When you are ready to breathe, simply rotate your head slightly to find the pocket and breathe. Don't hurry this, kicking with the fins will keep your moving forward so you can feel the pocket with your mouth.
Tip 5. Don't Over Rotate Your Head
A similar problem to lifting your head is rotating it too far - so you are looking upwards instead of to the side when you breathe.
Over-rotating your head and breathing to the sky effects you balance and often causes scissor kicks.
This is bad technique because it causes your body to over-rotate onto your side and cause a loss of balance. To support yourself you tend to cross-over with your lead hand creating a banana shape with your body. This causes you to snake down the pool from one side to the other. A scissor kick is also very likely.
To correct this, you need to get used to breathing into the trough. Use the kick on the side drill we suggested in tip 4 and when you breathe try and keep your lower goggle in the water so you have one eye below the water and one above.
If you are struggling to do this, swim in one of the side lanes of the pool and have someone walk on the edge of the pool beside you and ask them to keep their feet about level with your shoulders. As you swim and turn to breathe, look at their feet square on.
Mr Smooth has good body roll - he hardly has to rotate his head at all to breathe.
If you develop a stiff neck whilst swimming, it's very likely you are either lifting or over-rotating your head to breathe. This puts great strain on your neck muscles. Improve your breathing technique and the stiffness should quickly go away.
Tip 6. A lack of Body Rotation Could be hurting your breathing
Good body rotation is a massive help to your breathing. That's because once you have rotated you don't have to turn your head much further to breathe. If you are struggling to breathe, perhaps to one side, poor body rotation could be your problem.
For the full story on developing good body roll, check out our technique article on body rotation.
Tip 7. Learn to Breathe Bilaterally
What is 'bilateral' breathing? It's jargon for breathing to both sides. You could do this every 3 strokes as Mr Smooth demonstrates here. Or swap sides occasionally, e.g. breathe twice to one side then twice to the other.
Here at Swim Smooth we believe that learning to breathe bilaterally is an investment that will pay you back every swim for the rest of your life. That's because it helps develop a symmetrical stroke technique which will make you cut straighter through the water.
If you only breathe to one side it's very likely your rotation will be poor to your non-breathing side and you won't swim in a straight line. We've seen these problem time and time again with swimmers who only breathe to one side.
why all swimmers should breathe bilaterally... and why you failed when you tried it before.
Also see our related articles: Freestyle Breathing Overview and Tips and Breathing - Exhalation.
What Is Bilateral Breathing?
Bilateral is swimming jargon for breathing to both sides, left and right. Classically this is done every 3 strokes (counting both arms) so your breathing alternates from side to side. But equally it could be done every 5 or even 7 strokes.
Mr Smooth breathes bilaterally, in this case every 3 strokes.
Actually anything that involves swapping sides is bilateral. So breathing 2 or 3 times to one side then swapping to the other side is bilateral. Or even breathing a whole length of the pool to the left then swapping to the right side for the next lap.
The only important thing is that you breathe regularly to both sides.
Why is it important to breathe bilaterally?
Because it's the natural way to keep your stroke technique symmetrical. Bilateral is particularly good for developing good body roll to both sides since you need to rotate well to breathe.
If you only breathe to one side it's nearly impossible to maintain a symmetrical stroke. Over weeks and months of swimming you gradually become lopsided and crabby. There's a classic chain of events we see with one-sided breathers:
1. Your rotation on the non-breathing side becomes poor. We very rarely see a one sided breather with good rotation on the opposite side.
2. Poor rotation means your recovering arm will swing low over the water. The swinging momentum of that arm causes it to cross over your centre line.
3. Crossing over at the front of the stroke causes you to snake in the water. This pulls you off course.
4. A cross over also tends to cause you to lose balance in the water. This loss of balance often results in a scissor kick.
5. A cross over at the front of the stroke tends to cause your elbow to drop, also damaging your catch and hurting your propulsion.
6. Poor rotation, low swinging arms and cross-overs are the major causes of shoulder injury.
I've seen elite swimmers on TV and they don't always breathe bilaterally?
That's true. Elite swimmers tend to do whatever is natural when racing. So should you - when racing.
When elite swimmers breathe to one side in a race they are often doing so for tactical reasons. To keep an eye on an opponent, or in open water to avoid looking into the sun or waves.
However, they do spend a lot of time in training breathing to both sides. As the weeks and months of training go by, this keeps their stroke technique symmetrical - and so fast!
Under stressful racing conditions elite swimmers may have a preferred side to breathe and as they swim sub 60 seconds per 100m may need the extra oxygen too. But they are not stuck with single-sided breathing in training as this would cause their stroke to deteriorate.
Our advice: Make sure you're not either.
OK, Bilateral Helps Keep Me Symmetrical How often do i have to use it?
Most of the time. Ideally most of your warm ups/downs, steady swims and technique work will be swam breathing bilaterally.
If you can, also swim your harder quality swims bilaterally. Don't forget you can breathe a few times to one side before swapping so you are breathing more often. You could use a pattern like 3-2-3-2... the numbers being the number of strokes between breaths.
If you cannot manage bilateral breathing for a whole pace set then start out each repetition bilaterally.
Be as persistent as you can be, your stroke technique will benefit hugely in the long run.
Bilateral Breathing and racing
When you are racing, breathe in whatever way feels natural. Because of your training, your stroke symmetry will hold together if you return to single a sided breathing technique during the race.
If you've become comfortable breathing to both sides, you can now choose a side to suit the direction of the swell or sun.
Use your breathing skills for tactical reasons in a race, swap sides occasionally to keep a good eye on your competitors and to help with navigation.
Is there a trick to doing it?
Actually, yes there is. But it might not be what you think.
Whenever your face is in the water, exhale constantly and strongly.
If you are struggling with bilateral breathing then the most likely reason is that you are holding on to your breath and not exhaling constantly into the water. See our key article Your Know Your Problem, You Keep It All In. What else can make bilateral breathing hard? Having an overly long slow stroke.
So, when you move from breathing every 2 strokes to every 3 strokes, don't think of it as one more stroke to hold your breath, think of it as one more stroke to exhale for.
The 2 week Bilateral hump
When we work with swimmers on their breathing in our 1-to-1 consultations and clinics, we find it takes them about 2 weeks of swimming (about 6 sessions) to get over the 'bilateral hump'. For those first two weeks it takes perseverance and focus to breathe regularly to both sides.
Struggling to co-ordinate strokes and breathing? Try standing in the shallow end of the pool, exhale into the water and perform practise strokes. Repeat bubble-bubble-breathe-bubble-bubble-breathe to yourself to help you develop the timing.
Fortunately after about 2 weeks things begin to get easier and bilateral breathing technique starts to require much less concentration and persistence.
So stick with it for 2 weeks, you will reach the light at the end of the tunnel!
Summary
Bilateral breathing is slightly controversial in the swimming world. Some swimming coaches working with struggling swimmers find it too hard to teach bilateral breathing to some individuals and give up, declaring it's better to work on something else instead.
Similarly, many swimmers have attempted to learn bilateral breathing but have found it too hard and given up.
Swim Smooth know that swimmers who struggle with bilateral nearly always have a problem with their breathing technique: insufficient exhalation into the water.
Fix your exhalation, persist with breathing every 3 strokes and the door will open to a more symmetrical, faster, freestyle stroke.
FREESTYLE - Stun Gun
by Glenn Mills
Stun Gun is a very simple drill that challenges you to get the absolute most out of all aspects of your freestyle stroke. It calls for balance, control of the recovery, and a constant kick to keep things moving.
Why Do It:
First and foremost, Stun Gun will make you aware of how your arm recovery can disrupt your balance. It will also make you aware of the importance of a steady kick to your overall balance and momentum. In fact, Stun Gun is a great 6-beat-kick drill for freestyle.
How to Do It:
1. Start by initiating a very normal stroke of freestyle.
2. But... instead of carrying the hand back to the entry point, you need to PAUSE your hand just above your head.
3. As you hold your hand above your head, you should be rotated to your side, and have the lead hand directly in front of you.
4. After you feel comfortable, allow the recovering hand to fall into the water and extend. As you do this, take a stroke with your other hand, and return it to the PAUSE position just above your head.
5. When it's time to breathe, simply turn your head for air, and bring it back to center.
How to Do It Really Well (the Fine Points):
If you're having a tough time with air... or fitting in the breath... use a Finis Swimmer's Snorkel. The center-mount snorkel will give you plenty of time to focus on what your body is doing, and how you're kicking. If you're also having a tough time continuing forward momentum, an easy fix is to use fins.
Be careful not to use your lead arm to brace, or scull out front. This shows you're still out of balance. A quick check is to turn your hand to the side to show that you're still able to keep the arm in place without any pressure on the palm.
We like to follow this drill with some smooth freestyle swimming... just to make sure everything is integrated nicely into the stroke.
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