Billy the Kid wrote:
Take this for what it is...I am a decent swimmer in the ironman world. In the swimming world- I am shit! I still have yet to become a good technique swimmer, but I have learned to swim comfortably in the water, because at some point, I grew some gills, let me explain this quickly.
Stop EXHALING! You are likely a runner, or at least an athlete outside of the water. Have you ever walked or ran around and purposefully blown the air out of your lungs? Likely not- (perhaps you did when you were blowing out a cramp in your diaphragm). We don't run or bike breathing purposefully and heavily- no reason to swim this way. You may finally grow gills when you learn to breathe normally. I give Karlyn Pipes credit for teaching me this. Many folks SUCK, TUCK, BLOW- because they don't know any better,
Is your breathing like this?
SUCK- breathe in deeply when your lips reach the air,
TUCK- put your head down,
BLOW- consciously blow the air out of your lungs- air that frankly could be used a lot longer than you are giving it a chance.
Solution:
The next time you swim, work on just leaving your jaw open and relaxed and just normally breathe out, then breathe in normally when you do rotate your head. This won't come naturally but try in some extended warm-ups. Relax, perhaps even chew some gum!
My collegiate kids are either fish or runner studs. This is where I make the most breatkthroughs with the runners for swimming and more importantly enjoying swimming. I have found that when they work on this for several months, sometimes up to a year- it all of sudden clicks and they are enjoying their time in the water- breathing whenever they want, to either side comfortably, swimming lengths on fewer breathes when relaxed, etc.
I hope this helps and feel free to contact me offline if you find this useful or need better explanation or discussion.
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Thanks! Yeah, I come from a running/cycling background. Water is a new element for me. So you guessed that one right. And yes, since I've had trouble with my breathing while swimming I've searched the Internet and read all those articles that tell you to really pay attention to the exhaling. And of course I've done some tests to see whether more forceful exhaling/inhaling would help. It doesn't.
Your theory does seem somewhat consistent with my experiences. You see, those "good sessions" with 2000-3000 meters of continuous swimming have been the most relaxed kind of swimming I have ever managed to do. Including the breathing which I would describe as lazy. Relaxed and easy is what I'm aiming for every time I'm in the pool, it's just that everything clicks very seldom. Mostly my swimming just isn't enjoyable and after a dozen lengths I end up dragging myself around the pool. And the feeling of some kind of pressure develops in my lungs. Maybe CO2.. No matter how easy and relaxed I try to swim. But those other times, it's all good. That's the weird part.
I'll do some more testing during the weekend.
Edit: When you think about it's obvious that breathing while swimming is a whole different ballgame when compared to sports on dry land, because the inhale rhythm is tied to your swimming rhythm. When you're running you can inhale/exhale when you want (theoretically) and there are no "windows of opportunity" for breathing like there are in swimming. With this in mind, I've tried inhaling every third stroke, but it doesn't seem to make a difference. I've also tried changing my stroke rate, but that's not promising either. Yeah, swimming is different.