Beginner swimmer, breathing problems

Triathlon Forum
1

I just started swimming a couple weeks ago. I have a coach who is helping me with my technique once a week. I feel like I am improving with everything except breathing. I will talk to him about this at my next lesson.

I can only swim 50 yards, and sometimes only 25 yards before I am out of breath and need a short break. I consider myself somewhat fit having just run a marathon. I feel like if I can run long distances I should be able to swim more than 50 yards. Maybe I am expecting too much. I only started swimming a couple weeks ago and put in around 5,500 yards. It takes me roughly 25 seconds to swim 25 yards. 30 seconds if I go slow and really focus on technique.

After 50 yards my arms and body are not tired but my heart rate is through the roof. I just need to stop and get my head out of the water and breath. I think this is more of a problem with my breathing technique than anything else. I am having trouble taking deep breaths as opposed to running when I can take short fast breaths. It probably takes some time to get used to.

I am breathing on both sides, alternating each time.

I think to start I want to try out nose clips because I sometimes get water in my nose and then it throws my breathing off completely even though I am only breathing through my mouth.

I was thinking maybe use a kick board and slow kick, not move my arms, and then turn my head to breath. It would probably take a minute to do a length but at least then I could focus entirely on breathing and not what my arms are doing.

Are there any specific drills I can do to work on my breathing?

Thanks for your time.

EDIT 4 weeks later

Here I am 4 weeks later and I just swam 1,000 yards without resting!!!

The main changes I made was I started breathing every 2 strokes, and I slowed down from 1:58/100y to 2:13/100y. I also had 9,000 yards of practice since I made the thread.

Last week I did my first 100. The next day I was able to do all 50s and even a 300 at the end. Since then I have been swimming all 50s or more. Tonight I swam 50, 50, 50, 50, 50, 100, 100, and then something magical happened where I just threw down a 1,000. I felt great like I could keep going but I knew the life guard wanted to shift some lanes and leave for the night (I was in the way). My arms and legs did not even feel tired, although I was going pretty slow. Good stuff, slowtwitch!

Thanks for all of the advice and stories.

EDIT about 1.5 years later

I swam my first 5,000 yards last week without resting. I am living proof that there is hope for beginner swimmers who feel like they are suffocating.

I swam 82 times the past 1.5 years and averaged about 1,400 yards each swim. Not huge volume by any means, but just sticking with it and hanging in there has me up to ironman distance.

FWIW, I am slow. About 2:00/100yd

2

no expert here but I find if I concentrate on getting all the air out of my lungs before the next breath that helps.
I can only breath on my right side and for some reason if I try to go left my body position gets all screwed up.
good luck.

3

The key is exhaling when your face is in the water. I strongly suspect you are trying to hold your breath when your face is in the water.

If you exhale underwater, then when you turn your head to breathe all you have to do is inhale! takes less time and makes for a smoother stroke.

symmetric snorkels like the Powerbreather are good for working on technique without having to think about breathing.

4

I was a runner too, before I started tri. I had the exact same problem. It just takes time. this reminds me why I hate swimming so much :frowning:

5

It takes me roughly 25 seconds to swim 25 yards. 30 seconds if I go slow and really focus on technique.

I am breathing on both sides, alternating each time.

So you are taking a breath every three strokes? Stroke left/breathe, stroke right, stroke left, stroke right/breathe?

How many strokes per length are you taking?

6

Tkank you for the advice and comments everyone.

It takes me roughly 25 seconds to swim 25 yards. 30 seconds if I go slow and really focus on technique.

I am breathing on both sides, alternating each time.

So you are taking a breath every three strokes? Stroke left/breathe, stroke right, stroke left, stroke right/breathe?

How many strokes per length are you taking?

Now that I think about it, I think I might be breathing every 5 strokes, not every 3. I will have to focus tonight and see what I am doing. If it is every 5 then switching it to every 3 would probably help. I just need to make sure I exhale everything quickly underwater like the other comments suggested.

My average stroke count going off of my last 3,000 yards is 11 strokes per 25 yards/length.

I made last evening’s activity public, here it is: https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/1490546443

7

Try just breathing on one side to start. Every right (or left) take a breath. It won’t be long before you’ll be able to alternate comfortably.

Oh and you may need to slow down.

8

Now that I think about it, I think I might be breathing every 5 strokes, not every 3. I will have to focus tonight and see what I am doing. If it is every 5 then switching it to every 3 would probably help. I just need to make sure I exhale everything quickly underwater like the other comments suggested.

My average stroke count going off of my last 3,000 yards is 11 strokes per 25 yards/length.

I made last evening’s activity public, here it is:https://connect.garmin.com/.../activity/1490546443]

I would need to see you swim to really have constructive advice, but something to NOT worry about is strokes/length. That is pretty much a meaningless metric taken by itself. It has uses when compared to stroke rate and interval time over time, but that’s about it. Your stroke rate is far more important, and according to your GC file that is 46 strokes/min - at the bottom of what is considered optimal and certainly not bad.

As for breathing, it is all about timing in the pool. Other than drills I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone breath 5:1. Typically only real swimmers swim 3:1 in general. Most triathletes swim 2:1 on the same side which will drive a master’s coach bananas, but that is actually a good way of breathing if you can do it on both sides evenly. If you can only breath to right or left that is going to screw you some day in open water.

I suggest that you simply try breathing to the right or left on every stroke and see what happens. If that fixes your out of breath problem shift to 3:1 and see what happens.

9

Tkank you for the advice and comments everyone.

It takes me roughly 25 seconds to swim 25 yards. 30 seconds if I go slow and really focus on technique.

I am breathing on both sides, alternating each time.

So you are taking a breath every three strokes? Stroke left/breathe, stroke right, stroke left, stroke right/breathe?

How many strokes per length are you taking?

Now that I think about it, I think I might be breathing every 5 strokes, not every 3. I will have to focus tonight and see what I am doing. If it is every 5 then switching it to every 3 would probably help. I just need to make sure I exhale everything quickly underwater like the other comments suggested.

My average stroke count going off of my last 3,000 yards is 11 strokes per 25 yards/length.

I made last evening’s activity public, here it is: https://connect.garmin.com/.../activity/1490546443

I gather that is 11 strokes, counting a single arm: either right or left, but not both? So you are really averaging about 22 strokes (counting both arms) per 25 (if you are really only taking 11 total arm strokes per length, then you are doing a hypoxic swim!). If you are breathing every 5 strokes, then you are getting only about 4 breaths per length, and you are breathing every 6-7 seconds. Try breathing every 6-7 seconds on your next run, and see how far you get. If you are breathing every 3 strokes, that is still only 7 breaths per length, and a breath every 4 seconds. Still way too little breathing. I’m an outlier, but I breathe every 1.5 seconds, so I get more than twice the air than you.

As someone said: breathe every stroke on one side (left or right). Don’t slow down your turnover, as you would now be taking about 10 breaths per length, and about a breath every 2.5-3 seconds: that’s still a bit too little breathing.

And, yes, exhale as fully as you can (finishing as you break the surface to breathe) without putting a pause in your stroke.

10

Using a nose clip really helped me out. Instead of being distracted by making sure I didn’t get water up my nose, I could actually focus on my stroke. Plus I stopped having headaches after my swim from the chorine smell that was getting stuck in my nose.

11

Now that I think about it, I think I might be breathing every 5 strokes, not every 3. I will have to focus tonight and see what I am doing. If it is every 5 then switching it to every 3 would probably help. I just need to make sure I exhale everything quickly underwater like the other comments suggested.

My average stroke count going off of my last 3,000 yards is 11 strokes per 25 yards/length.

I made last evening’s activity public, here it is:https://connect.garmin.com/.../activity/1490546443]

I would need to see you swim to really have constructive advice, but something to NOT worry about is strokes/length. That is pretty much a meaningless metric taken by itself. It has uses when compared to stroke rate and interval time over time, but that’s about it. Your stroke rate is far more important, and according to your GC file that is 46 strokes/min - at the bottom of what is considered optimal and certainly not bad.

As for breathing, it is all about timing in the pool. Other than drills I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone breath 5:1. Typically only real swimmers swim 3:1 in general. Most triathletes swim 2:1 on the same side which will drive a master’s coach bananas, but that is actually a good way of breathing if you can do it on both sides evenly. If you can only breath to right or left that is going to screw you some day in open water.

I suggest that you simply try breathing to the right or left on every stroke and see what happens. If that fixes your out of breath problem shift to 3:1 and see what happens.

I agree with all the above, except the highlighted bit. Over the past 30 years of doing triathlons, I can count on two hands the number of breaths I’ve taken on my right, and those were to see if anyone was there I should keep an eye on. And I’ve not been in any difficulty as a result.

12

Thank you for the feedback everyone. This advice is going to help a ton. I am going to study these comments and work on some of these suggestions tonight during my swim.

13

I think feeling out of breath when you begin to swim is very normal. One of the things you train in swimming is your ability to perform a high amount of work without access to oxygen whenever you want it. When you run, you can increase your breathing rate freely to account for the increased work, whereas in swimming you are constrained.

I think the biggest issue new swimmers have when they are learning is they are indeed holding their breath. That feeling you get when you NEED a breath is not because you are short on oxygen, but because you have a build up of CO2. You need to constantly be breathing out in order to release the CO2. Imagine running but instead of breathing in and out, you breath in, hold your breath for 3 seconds and then breath out. You will have a very hard time running well. Same goes for swimming.

No shame in practicing your breathing standing in the pool before your swim. Stand in the shallow end, bend over with your face and torso in the water with one arm stretched out, one at your side and blow bubbles turning your head for air when you need it. Once you are comfortable with that, grab a kickboard and kick a length of the pool on your left side, holding the board in your left hand, right hand at your side. Put your face in the water looking straight down at the bottom of the pool turning your head to breath. Focus only on exhaling under the water and never holding your breath. You can repeat on the right side.

14

I see this problem with lots of newbies. While I’m not a coach or even a great swimmer, do yourself a favour and chill. Cruise. Don’t think that because you are fit that you swim fast. Swimming really is limited by breathing. You HAVE to sort that before you waste time trying anything else.

Also, it’s reasonably likely that you are focussing on getting air INTO your lungs. Somewhat counter-intuitively, you need to worry about getting air OUT of your lungs. Breathe out under water, and breathe in, when your mouth is out of the water. Sounds simple, but by already having the air out of your lungs when your mouth gets out of the water, you have twice as long to get air into your lungs.

Some people propose a long slow out breath under water, and others go with an explosive breath just before their mouth comes out of the water. With a long slow exhale, you have time to think about what you’re doing, but at the same time, that buoyant bubble of air in your lungs reduces, and you sink more. The explosive exhale however, keeps you buoyant, but also takes more energy to explosively exhale. I think in the beginning that a longer slower exhale is better, while learning and eventually moving to the more explosive style.

Also, a lot of beginners try to take their breath either too far forward, or at best, by turning their head. I think it’s preferred to breath more to the side, and achieve the mouth out of the water by rotating your whole body, not just turning your head.

One of the excellent drills we did in our swim squad, to work on breathing was the 3/5/7/9 drill (assuming you do bilateral breathing, not just to one side). For one length breathe every 3 strokes. Next length every 5 stokes, and so on. Repeat say 5 times. No stopping between lengths :slight_smile:

Mention your concern to your coach and see what they say. Remember that predominantly riding and running allow free breathing to suit you, and that working harder is the main way to get better/faster. With swimming, with water being about 1000 times as dense as air, working harder is much like running into a brick wall. With swimming, technique is critical. Especially when starting, technique is the most import. Get good body position and other things to reduce drag wherever possible.

and keep up the good work! :slight_smile:

15

One of the excellent drills we did in our swim squad, to work on breathing was the 3/5/7/9 drill (assuming you do bilateral breathing, not just to one side). For one length breathe every 3 strokes. Next length every 5 stokes, and so on. Repeat say 5 times.

What is the point of the above? The OP is already not breathing enough (independent of whether he is breathing correctly each time). Hypoxic training doesn’t actually produce any training effect (unless you consider killing brain cells to be conducive to better swimming).

16

Some really good advice in here. I remember being a fit adult who couldn’t swim 50m, and feeling that suffocation.

Don’t worry about breathing on both sides. Your instructor might want you to, to avoid developing bad habits, but right now your body is trying to focus on not drowning. Use the stroke pattern that fits your breathing at this early stage, not the other way around. I actually found a one-sided 4 pattern fit me best for the first year.

Others have talked about breathing out. That’s crucially important. But also important - and somewhat counterintuitively - you don’t want to breathe in more than you’ve breathed out. Your lungs serve the function of taking oxygen into the body for the heart and muscles and taking out carbon dioxide. You want those in balance, which is pretty natural when you’re out of water.

Think about it as - empty the tank - fill the tank (but not too much) . E-m-p-t-y-t-h-e-t-a-n-k Fill-the-tank.

Flutter board exercises are your friend right now. It allows you to float and concentrate on getting breathing right while using one arm.

17

Take a breath with every stroke.

18

i had similar issues and it was largely anxiety. something about having my face in the water. try to not be stressed if you are. in a pool, you know you can stand if you need to. or breathe every stroke if you need to, and take turns, a few strokes on the right, few on the left… this will help you get used to being able to breathe on both sides.

you’ll get over it. if i can, you can

19

Take a breath with every stroke.

This. Also a runner who’s new to freestyle stroke. My coach initially wanted me to breathe every 3 strokes and/or every 5 strokes, but I found myself getting hypoxic.

I now do a breathe every 2 strokes and work on being able to breathe on either side at command. Also, exhale while your face is in the water to avoid building up CO2. I also see a lot of new swimmers focusing on powering through with their arms and not focusing on getting a good body position to reduce resistance.

20

Thanks everyone. I am looking forward to getting into the pool tonight and applying these tips. I feel a lot more confident and have a plan now to focus on after reading all of the advice.