breathing problems
38
Member
1020 days
gauntlet posted 20 weeks ago.
Welcome to triathlon musclman.
Swimming is hard to figure out on your own. Your breathing problem is probably more of a balance problem. You have learned to breath on one side by lifting your body out of the water instead of just rotating. That is why it's hard to breath on the other side. When you breath pay attention to what your extended arm is doing. I bet it's pushing down to help lift your head. You havn't learned this bad habit on the other side yet.
Most of us have been where your at. You'll get it but you need some guidance. Try swimfit at the local YMCA or many of the other local pools. Sign up for some beginner lessons. I practiced how to struggle for 2 years. Read everything I could and talked to all sorts of people. I finaly took beginner lessons (after doing 2 half IM's) and found most of the answers. Don't wait 2 years.
Goodluck
21
Member
748 days
chsfootballgirl posted 20 weeks ago.
Second everything gauntlet says. Your breathing problem is probably related more to your balance than to a deviated septum.
Practice floating on your right and left sides, focusing on keeping your hips near the surface of the water, horizontal body position, and pressing your armpit to the bottom of the pool. Kick gently down and back. If you're like most adults I've taught to swim (or like me a couple years ago, come to think of it), this will be murder for you! Try to keep your head relaxed down next to your arm and rotate it without lifting to breathe, like you're turning on a spindle.
Might also check out Total Immersion by Terry Laughlin. Like gauntlet says, the best way to improve swimming is to get lessons, or better yet a coach. But if you wanna go it alone for now, Terry Laughlin's book is a great resource.
If you feel like you can balance well on both sides, then you can start looking at the timing of your rotation. But for now work on that balance. Feel free to e-mail me if you need any more help, or check out some of the swim tips at my blog: trihardist.blogspot.com
Good luck!
2
Member
143 days
musclman814 posted 20 weeks ago.
I love the advice--im gonna try it all... I can totally see that those are also issues im having (alot to think about in swimming!) what about the breathing out between the nose and mouth!!!
52
Member
485 days
jperubog posted 20 weeks ago.
Breathe through your mouth, not your nose, breathe when you rotate at the begining of the reach or at the begining of a recovery stroke. Your breath in should be very quick, make sure you expel most of your air under water before you breathe in. I am not very good at explaining this in detail but there are plenty of threads on this, just do a search for "breathing", lots of good advice from people who seem to know their stuff. Stick with it, it will take time, good luck.
I am new to swimming and have only been at this for 3 weeks now. I have a tough time breathing while swimming and catching my breath. People have told me to breath out under the water through my mouth or my nose. Its tough through my nose b/c I have a deviated septum and it limits airflow. So, I have been trying through my mouth, which causes me to swallow air and sometimes water too. And i feel like I can only breath to my right side. I have no clue why this is so tough for me to grasp. Can anyone help? Any advice would me great or any drills I can do to work on this?