# How To Breathe Properly When Swimming Freestyle | Ep 519

An episode of [Oxygenaddict Triathlon Podcast](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/951501034), 11 Dec 2024, 9:22.

Audio: https://anchor.fm/s/ea99f7d8/podcast/play/95644594/https%3A%2F%2Fd3ctxlq1ktw2nl.cloudfront.net%2Fstaging%2F2024-11-10%2F391323406-44100-2-65cfe59279794.mp3

Do you know how to breathe when you're swimming freestyle? If you've never really given it much thought, chances are you're not breathing properly. If you tend to hold your breath underwater and quickly exhale just before taking another breath, resulting in that feeling of being short of breath and always playing catchup, fighting with your stroke to make it to the next breath, then this video is for you. If you have a tendency for your legs to sink, it may surprise you to find out that this is probably related to how you breathe. Getting your breathing technique right always has a huge impact on an athlete's swim technique and efficiency. There's A LOT of time to be saved for most people, simply by addressing how and when you breathe during your swim. And in this video we walk you through it all in detail, leaving you with a couple of simple but extremely effective things to incorporate into your next swim session. * * * * * * * * SPONSORS * * * * * * * * Like what you heard in this show? Join hundreds of other age group triathletes making the most of their limited training time, training with Team OxygenAddict! http://team.oxygenaddict.com - The most comprehensive triathlon coaching program for busy age groupers. Book an application call to see if you'd be a good fit for Team Oxygenaddict for the coming 12 months here: https://team.oxygenaddict.com/consultation-call/ * * * * * * * * * * * * precisionfuelandhydration.com Precision Fuel & Hydration help athletes personalise their hydration and fuelling strategies for training and racing. Use the free Fuel & Hydration Planner to get a personalised race nutrition plan for your next event. And then book a free 20-minute video consultation with a member of the PF&H Athlete Support Team to refine your strategy. Listeners get 15% off their first order of fuel and electrolytes with Precision Fuel & Hydration. Simply use this link and the discount will be auto-applied at the checkout. * * * * * * * * * * * * Watch on youtube Listen on Spotify Listen on Apple Podcasts

## Transcript

[0:04] Hello, and welcome to another episode of the Oxygen Addict
[0:07] Triathlon Podcast. We're brought to you every week
[0:09] by our sponsors, Precision Fuel and hydration.com.
[0:12] You can personalise your fueling and hydration strategy so you
[0:15] perform your best with 15% off your first order of electrolytes
[0:19] and carbohydrate fuel with the code OXYGEN 24 at
[0:22] precisionfuelandhydration.com. Welcome to the show, everybody.
[0:26] I'm your host, coach Rob Wilby, and every week we bring you an
[0:28] episode of this podcast to help motivate and inspire you.
[0:31] Listen, before we kick this off, there's a couple of things you
[0:33] could do for us. Please, if you like and enjoy
[0:36] this episode, please consider following us on Spotify or Apple
[0:39] Podcasts or wherever you listen to podcasts.
[0:41] And if you're watching on YouTube, please click like and
[0:44] subscribe. It helps the growth of the show.
[0:47] It helps us get shown to more people, that helps us get more
[0:50] athletes into our coaching programme, that helps us keep
[0:52] bringing more content to you. And secondly, if you're looking
[0:55] for help and advice with your Iron Man or 70.3 training,
[0:58] please get in touch. We run our own coaching
[1:01] programme, Team Oxygen Addict. I think it is the most
[1:03] comprehensive programme for busy age groupers.
[1:07] We've helped thousands of athletes over the last 10 years
[1:10] achieve the 70.3 in Iron Man dreams and we'd love to help you
[1:12] too. So please get in touch.
[1:14] Send an e-mail to help@oxygenaddict.com or there's
[1:17] a link in the show notes to book a call with me or the team and
[1:21] we can see how we can best help you out to make next season be
[1:23] the best one ever. On the show this week I'm going
[1:27] to be talking about how you can become better at breathing for
[1:31] swimming. Front crawl for 70.3 and I'm at
[1:33] distance triathlon, right? First up, I'm going to put this
[1:37] video on the screen as continually exhaling under the
[1:40] water. And you're also going to notice
[1:43] as the swimmer swims by sideways across the front of the camera,
[1:47] he's always keeping one of his goggles in the water.
[1:51] Now, it sounds really simple to do this, but big part of the
[1:54] challenges that we see with athletes as they as they turn
[1:58] their heads to breathe, they lift their entire head out of
[2:01] the water. And here you can see we've
[2:02] clearly still got one Google in the water.
[2:05] We can see the exhalation still happening through the nose and
[2:08] the mouth. And as we go on to watch, you'll
[2:11] see that even as the athlete turns the head on the offside,
[2:14] they've still got half their head in the water.
[2:17] Watch again as they turn over towards this side.
[2:20] We still clearly have that one Google under the water.
[2:23] We can also see there's a continual stream of air bubbles
[2:27] coming out all the time through the nose and through the mouth
[2:31] of the athlete as they swim. So these are the two things that
[2:35] I really want you to concentrate on.
[2:37] It's making sure you're continuously exhaling from the
[2:40] moment you've taken that breath in.
[2:42] Start exhaling through both your nose and your mouth and work on
[2:46] keeping that one Google in the water.
[2:49] OK, I'm going to give you a couple of examples here now of
[2:52] what swimming looks like when it doesn't quite go to plan like
[2:55] this. So what we'll see with our first
[2:58] athlete here is holding the breath under the water and then
[3:03] turning the head to one side, a really quick breath out, a
[3:07] really quick breath in. You'll see there really quick
[3:09] exhalation, really quick inhalation.
[3:13] And we've even had to turn the head to the opposite side there
[3:15] to try and get more air in. It's a really, really common
[3:18] problem and it's really difficult to get in the habit
[3:21] when we're initially learning to swim well and breathing out into
[3:24] the water. So again, you've seen there,
[3:27] we've got no bubbles happening whatsoever as the athlete has
[3:30] the face in the water and then a really quick turn of the head to
[3:33] one side out in again and the athlete hasn't got enough time
[3:38] to get all the breath out and then consequently doesn't have
[3:41] time to get all the breath in again.
[3:43] Got another video to show you here, a very similar thing
[3:46] happening. Let's have a look at this one.
[3:49] So we'll see as we go to turn our head to breathe here, we've
[3:54] got a big breath in and then face goes down and we've got one
[3:59] stroke and notice how there are no bubbles happening whatsoever.
[4:04] Second stroke happens, still no bubbles.
[4:07] Start to get some bubbles now just as we turned the head to
[4:11] breathe and then a big breath in and off we go again.
[4:15] So better than the athlete we saw before, but we can still see
[4:18] there's this big pause happening of up to two strokes, holding
[4:22] the breath before any of the exhalation happens.
[4:26] Then we've got one more example here to show you.
[4:28] So we've got big breath in the side here and the head goes down
[4:35] and you'll look, you'll clearly see there are no bubbles
[4:37] happening. One stroke, 2 strokes even here
[4:42] still. And then a massive exhalation,
[4:44] quick breath in, head back down on, off we go again.
[4:48] So again, we're seeing no bubbles at this point.
[4:51] Still no bubbles at this point. Wait for the athletes to do a
[4:55] big exhalation out there just as they're turning the heads.
[5:00] So going to move these out of the way and I'm going to put our
[5:03] original video back on the screen for you.
[5:11] Watch the difference. Now.
[5:12] We've seen a couple of more intermediate beginner swimmers.
[5:15] Look how we've got a constant stream of bubbles coming out of
[5:18] the mouth. We've got a constant stream of
[5:20] bubbles coming out of the nose and the head when it goes to
[5:25] turn. There's never more than one
[5:27] Google leaving the water. So there's two parts to this.
[5:31] The 1st is we're managing to get a really complete exhalation of
[5:36] all of the carbon dioxide out while the head is under the
[5:39] water. Look at that constant stream of
[5:40] bubbles there. Bubbles, bubbles, bubbles turn
[5:43] to breathe. Bubbles, bubbles, bubbles turn
[5:45] to breathe. It makes a massive, massive
[5:48] difference if we can get all of that breath out into the water,
[5:52] because it means the whole time that your head is above the
[5:54] water, you can concentrate on getting air and oxygen in.
[5:58] We don't have to worry about trying to breathe out at the
[6:00] same time as well. So finally, to wrap this up,
[6:04] it's common for athletes to ask me about drills that you can do
[6:07] to help practise breathing. And I honestly think the best
[6:10] thing that you can do is not any kind of drill.
[6:12] It's not to try and think about one arm swimming or any of the
[6:15] other things you might hear. It's simply to focus on those
[6:18] two things that we've said. The first is making sure you
[6:21] exhale into the water. As soon as that head turns back
[6:24] down, start breathing out through the nose and the mouth.
[6:27] And the second thing is try to practise only having one eye.
[6:31] Leave the water. One Google in the water, one
[6:33] Google out. The big benefit of that is that
[6:36] you're not going to be lifting your head up.
[6:38] And if you don't lift your head up at the front, your legs are
[6:41] not going to sink at the back. So it's got a kind of two-part
[6:43] benefit for you there. Hope you've enjoyed this video.
[6:46] Hope it helps improve your swimming.
[6:47] Leave a comment down below if you've tried this and it's
[6:50] helped. I'd love it if you'd subscribe
[6:52] to the channel. We're getting very, very close
[6:54] as I record this to 3000 subscribers, which is awesome.
[6:57] And if you're interested in finding out more about triathlon
[7:00] coaching with Team Oxygen Addict, there's a link in the
[7:03] show notes to book a call. I'd love to hear from you.
[7:05] OK, so for this week, that's it. I'm going to put this video back
[7:09] up on the screen and we're going to play out here watching a
[7:12] perfect view of a great swimmer breathing out under the water as
[7:17] we're going along, and I'll leave it there with you.
[7:20] Try and embed this idea in your head, constantly breathing out
[7:24] under the water and only one of those goggles leaving the side
[7:30] of the water as he turns his head to breathe.
[7:32] If you can picture this as you go swimming, I really believe
[7:36] that this is a great way to start to embed in your head what
[7:40] the perfect technique looks like.
[7:43] And you can practise that just sitting at your computer, not
[7:46] needing to worry about actually getting the pool to swim.
[7:48] Hope this has helped. We'll see you again next week.
[7:51] All right, I hope you enjoyed that episode of the show.
[7:54] To wrap this up, here are some discount codes and deals for you
[7:56] at precisionfuelandhydration.com.
[7:58] Remember, you can use the code Oxygen 24, the 15% off your
[8:02] first electrolyte and fuel order.
[8:04] Desktop's awesome. Try it.
[8:06] I guarantee you won't be disappointed.
[8:08] You can use the free fuel and hydration planning tool as well
[8:11] over at precisionfuelandhydration.com
[8:13] and you'll receive personalised strategy for your next race.
[8:16] The planner helps you understand your own carbohydrate,
[8:18] electrolyte and fluid needs so you can refine your strategies
[8:22] during training and you can then deliver on race day.
[8:24] And you can also book a free 1 to one video consultation with
[8:28] PFNHS Athlete Support Team and they'll be happy to help you
[8:31] nail your race nutrition plan, helping you perform your best on
[8:34] race day. And also if you're looking for
[8:36] help and advice with your triathlon training, please head
[8:39] over to teamoxygenaddict.com. I think we've got the most
[8:42] comprehensive triathlon coaching programme for busy age groupers.
[8:46] Please check us out. There's a link in the show notes
[8:49] to book a call with us. We can have a chat about you,
[8:52] find out all about your background and what you want to
[8:54] achieve and I'm really confident we can help you get where you
[8:57] want to be. Dead easy.
[8:59] Link in the show notes or under this video here.
[9:02] You can book straight to our calendar and we can have a chat
[9:05] here. We can best help you out.
[9:06] So remember links in the show notes so you don't have to
[9:09] remember them. Until next week.
[9:11] Have a great safe training and racing week.
[9:13] I'm coach Rob Wilby, and you've been listening to the Oxygen
[9:16] Addict podcast.

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