Still, gathering old posts, but so far this is what Doug had to say on breathing. For the record the rotation in the mirror idea really helped me.
Chapter 1 How to Breath
I started a new swimming clinic last night and noticed many of the usual problems: lifting the head to breathe, looking back to breathe, no arm extension into the water, and arms pulling straight down without any catch. All of these issues lead to hips and kicks going lateral.
When questioned, the swimmers were anxious about breathing. "When should I breathe? Should I hold my breath or constantly exhale? Should I breathe often or hold my breath as long as possible? Should I bilateral breathe?
I answered all their questions and posed, what I thought was a more important one, “where should you breathe?”
Timing in swimming is everything. Your head roll to breathe should fit into your body rotation. In order to rotate you need an axis to rotate around. If you are going to breathe to your left side, your right arm becomes your axis of rotation. Your right shoulder and left hip are linked (diagonal lines). As your right hand enters the water in line with your shoulder and opposite a point anywheres between your left elbow and wrist, You initiate your rotation by imagining your right hip driving toward your left hand. Your left hip opens, your left shoulder opens and at that very moment you allow your head to roll with your left shoulder and look to the left to take a breath.
Many other things have happened while this is going on. Your extended left arm is setting up its catch (primary move) in preparation for the power phase of the stroke. You are exhaling just before your head moves with your shoulder to inhale. Notice I did not say, “turn your head.” Your head moves in line with your shoulder so that it does not cause any adverse reactions. If you move in this way half your face will remain in the water as you breathe.
The easiest way for beginners to learn this pattern is to notice the hand opposite the breathing side, enter the water. Actually see it; not feel it or think about it, see it! That entering hand sets up a chain of events which allows for efficient swimming.
It took a while for the class to catch on. This was a different pattern of movement. After the third length of going over the instructions there were many smiles. The universal response was that everyone felt longer in the water and the timing of breathing was almost a non-issue.
Unless you focus on new patterns being learned they will disappear and old habits will prevail. My classes homework assignment was to notice, notice, notice.
I will see them next week.
DougStern
Chapter 1 Q/A
Q) So your face should still be completely in the water when the opposite hand starts?
A) Yes. If you breathe earlier than than you will create lateral motion from your hips and legs.
DougStern
Q) Doug, so let me get this straight…when I breath, my head is looking at the side of the pool. Is this correct?
A) Yes, any further back will take your head out of alignment.
DougStern
Q) I don’t have a problem with my breathing side stroke. But often struggle trying to mirror my stoke on the non breathing side. Is this the appropriate way to go about this? It’s obviously a different stoke because you’re rotating to extend the face far enough out of the water breath. However on the opposite side the the rotation of the head/face is not required. Should my shoulder and hip rotation be the same? Clear as mud I’m sure.
A) Turning your head has nothing to do with body rotation. It is all kick, hips and shoulders.
Ideally you should rotate evenly on both sides.
DougStern
Q) So you’re saying that if I breathe to the right. When I rotate to my left my head/mouth should be at the same location, where I could breathe, looking at the side of the pool.
A) If you allow your head to move with your shoulders in that direction.
Stand in front of a mirror and look at your reflection. Now, without turning your head rotate your shoulders and hips first to the right and then to the left. Notice that you are actively keeping your head centered. Now let your head remain in line with your shoulders as you rotate. You can breathe on either side evenly.
DougStern
Q) I really have a problem keeping my head steady (when not breathing).
I’m aware of it, and sometimes it is working ok - but not always.
I assume, it is primary a matter of in-water balance and neck flexibility.
A) Pick up a center snorkel and do some swimming with it. You will be able to breathe without ever turning your head to the side providing you do not drown first.
DougStern
Q) I have been able to visualize this for some time but I can’t breathe in without inhaling water while half my face is still submerged. Any way to resolve that short of growing gills?
A) Start your exhalation just before your roll your shoulders to breathe and finish it just as your mouth clears the water. You will have blown water out and away from your mouth so that you can breathe in air.
DougStern
Q) Here’s a “you don’t learn without asking the question” question.
If you’re seeing your extended hand enter the water, aren’t you looking up too much rather then down at the bottom?
or is this just an exercise to try until you get the breathing right. Then you can go back to looking at the endless black line.
A) Barry,
Sit down and take and deep breathe. Are you ready? I do not look at the bottom of the pool. There is no information to be gotten by looking at the bottom of the pool.
Do keep your head in a neutral position with your head in line with your shoulders and use your peripheral vision to direct your line of sight. With my head in this position I can look downward if I choose or slightly forward to find my hands.
Any fore/aft alignment you might lose by looking forward you more than make up with lateral alignment and gain in power. Once your stroke is perfect and you enjoy looking down, go for it!
DougStern
Q) Thanks Doug! Very easy to visualize what you have described. As an adult-onset swimmer, I can say that your tips are uber helpful.
I’ve been able to incorporate much of what you have described. One thing though, do you have any “fixes” for folks like me who have good rotation (“good” being a relative term) but have a problem with having to rotate too far to breath? In my case, I feel that my shoulders are just slightly pass vertical when I breath. “TI” philosophy says this okay, just rotate farther… I can’t help but feel like I’m plowing through the water when I breath. Any tips?
A) You are actually going to rotate more from your hips than shoulders. If you look at many top swimmers, their shoulders do not rotate on the long axis of their bodies. They rotate on a line from finger tip through the shoulder and have two axes of rotation, one for each arm and shoulder.
DougStern
Q) Doug, help me a bit more here. When I went to the pool, when I went to breath on the right, I had one eye in the water and one out. To ensure that I kept one eye in the water ( half my head submerged), I looked at the right lane rope when breathing right with my left eye, so that I saw the rope undewater…and right eye, looking at left rope underwater when breathing on the left. Does this make sense? It seemed to keep me from lifting my head, which Dr. Tommy pointed out as being a problem.
A) This does make sense. Part of your body position in the water has to do with how well you float. If you do not float you will ride lower when you are swimming and your head will be a bit lower as well.
As long as you are getting enough air and your head stays in alignment you are doing fine.
DougStern
Q) I have been working on keeping my head as low as possible and breathing “under” the water, but I find I can’t breath in the bow wave on a consistent basis. Its also more difficult to do when I breath to my left. Anyone have any good insight into this mysterious bow wave and how I can master it?
A) It does not matter which side you breathe to, the mechanics are exactly the same.
Your head should be in a neutral position. My eyes are looking slightly forward. Your lead arm is in a catch position when your opposite arm just enters the water. Feel as if you are driving your opposite hip toward your lead arm. You hip will open on the catch side arm which in turn will cause your shoulder to roll open. Let your head move in line with your shoulder to breathe. You will find that your head will barely move and you will have sufficient time to breathe without causing any alignment errors in your stroke.
DougStern
Q) For all the few years I have been swimming, I did 3 stroke breathing since I assumed this made one the fastest.
I read one post on ST that said the person 3 stroke in practice, but 2 stroked in races.
Well, I have found that with my 6 months of masters swimming, I no longer basically ever 3 stroke breath, it is always 2 stroke.
As I am not pushing the pace, there is no way I can 3 stroke breath and swim.
So, is this others experience that to swim fast one needs lots of fresh air so 2 stroke breathing is what has to be done?
A) As said, top swimmers breathe every stroke cycle. Even 100 meter world class sprinters will breathe every stroke cycle after the first 25 meters.
One of the biggest errors in swimming is the timing of the breathing. Whether you breathe every third stroke or second stroke your breathe is taken in line and timed with your shoulder roll toward the beginning of your stroke. When done properly, your head should barely move.
When swimming at a moderate pace we do not exhale completely. This is the same as if you were going for a run or bike ride. As the pace picks up, the depth of your breath increases. Make sure you exhale in the water before you inhale. Hold your breathe until just before you turn to breathe. If you are constantly exhaling you are also constantly sinking.
dougStern
Q) Thanks for mentioning this. I’ve never felt comfortable with my breath timing, and a coach recently pointed out I start my breathing/head roll while gliding, meaning my face was already out of the water during the catch/roll phase.
Are there any exercises/drills to work on this timing? I tried to adjust the breath timing while swimming and it feels very awkward.
A) Look for you extended arm on the breathing side and as soon as your hips start let your head roll with your shoulders. Make sure you see your hand before you turn to breathe.
dougStern
j/k