Swallowing air while swimming - drill suggestions to correct this

Triathlon Forum
1

Hi there!

I’m trying to help the hubby with his swimming and he really stuggles with his breathing and swallows a ton of air when he swims. This isn’t an issue I’ve personally experienced, so it’s hard for me to understand exactly what’s happening and I know it’s really frustrating for him. I’ve had him try some drills where he tweaks the breathing pattern i.e. breathe every 1/3/5 strokes to see if that helps him exhale fully and try just kicking and focusing on a slow smooth exhale, but I’m curious if there are some other drills out there that might help or if anyone else has had this issue in the past and successfully fixed it.

Thanks!

Michelle

2

What do you mean by “swallows a ton of air”? Have you tried having him breathe every 3rd stroke?

3

see if this video helps with technique.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JSLa7DMxL6I&feature=related

4

I’m not 100% clear on what he’s doing. From his explanation, at some point before he breathes he does some sort of gasping motion that results in swallowing of air. I’m not really clear on when this happens in the breathing cycle, but yes, I’ve suggested trying breathing every 3 strokes. I think it’s some sort of anxiety thing, as he describes the idea of being totally out of air as scary.

From my searches of the forum, I know others have struggled with the “air swallowing” thing, so perhaps someone could describe it from first hand experience.

5

Tell him to stop breathing. Problem solved.

6

Well, you didn’t Rick Roll me, I’ll give you that. About as helpful though…

7

I’m only a newbie swimmer but experienced the same problem initially. It’s a relaxation issue. I would suggest swimming with a pull buoy which helps focus on stroke, rhythm and breathing. Also, he may also be swimming faster than he should at this point which can cause breathing issues. When I slowed down a lot, it helped relax the breathing.

8

teach him how to breathe properly first. Give him a kickboard, have him put his face in the water and start kicking, and subsequently breathing out until he is out of breath. When he needs to breathe, he should pick his head up and breathe, then repeat for a few laps until he gets the hang of breathing regularly.

Most people struggle with breathing because they do not fully exhale before then try to inhale. This causes a feeling of not being able to get enough air and the swimmer can hyperventilate.

9

Hi Michelle,

As always, the standard disclaimer of “without being able to see…” etc., applies.

I would venture to guess that your husband has never gotten comfortable with being face-down in the water, so he’s rushing his stroke trying to get air. Being face down in water is an unnatural position; our prehistoric brain wants us to pull our head up. When the head comes up, the hips go down, and then we’re “snow plowing” through the water, swimming as if we’re trying to get up on top of the water. Of course, we can’t get on top of the water, so we sink. When we sink, our prehistoric brain screams, “We’re sinking!!” and we start scrambling trying to get up on top of the water, which causes us to sink, gulp, scramble, sink, gulp…

One of the most challenging things I find for new swimmers to understand is the necessity of S L O W I N G D O W N and relaxing when doing drills (ANY drills). Drilling is NOT swimming - it’s DRILLING. But without mastering the drills, it’s very difficult to master the skills needed for efficient swimming. One of the most basic and most important drills is the Body Balance drill. There’s all kinds of variations of this drill, but the basic premise is to get comfortable being IN the water face down. When we’re swimming, very little of our body is actually out of the water, so becoming comfortable being immersed is critical. Again, the MOST important thing with Body Balance drilling is to do them with MINIMAL effort, concentrating on the specifics of the drill, NOT getting to the other end of the lane. Use of fins is usually helpful, just so that there’s some forward movement (which aids in staying balanced). As the balance drills progress through their various stages, one key concept is to NOT turn the head to breathe; you turn your HIPS and allow your entire body to roll on it’s central axis until your face is just far enough out of the water to allow for a breath. Again, VERY LITTLE EFFORT means very little need for oxygen, which allows for these drills to be done slowly and methodically.

Once he’s comfortable with the body balance drills, then progressing on to other stroke specific drills (One Arm, Underswitch/Overswitch (AKA Catch-Up drill), Fist drills, etc.) will be much easier, and his breathing should stabilize (encourage bilateral breathing!) since he won’t feel as though he’s constantly drowning.

There’s tons of videos all over the Internet on all these drills, and most of them are good. Just do a Google on “Body Balance swim drills” and go find the ones that make sense to you.

Hope this helps!

Brian

10

I had the same issue a while back and found that it was usually worse when swimming fast or doing speedwork.

After trying several things, I figured out the problem for me was not my inhale, stroke, etc. It was simply that I was not fully exhaling before taking the next breath. That process over a period of time would cause a painful gas build up and would kill me in races, or kill my co-workers all day in the office after a hard swim! After slowing down for a while and really working on making sure that I exhale fully before each breath…problem fixed.

Good luck!

11

Thanks for the suggestions everyone, I’ll point him to this thread and have him google some body positioning drills for guidance.

And baderintx - he definitely shares this unfortunate (and deadly) side-effect. It was so toxic the other day, I had to roll the windows down on the drive home…

M

12

I’ll repeat what many others have said - he needs to exhale before inhaling.

The ultimate long term fix is forgetting completely about inhaling and focusing solely on exhaling before his head turns for a breath. The baby bubble video was funny, but surprisingly apt. With the air blown out of his lungs when he turns his head to the side his body will naturally intake a fresh breath, bouyed by the motion of “opening” his chest like a billows when his arm is in the reach. And by blown out of his lungs, I mean consciously pushing the air out, not just letting it go.

Eventually it will become second nature. Alternately you could get him playing Didjerido and learning how to circular breathe and us a bounce-breath playing rythm. When he gets back in the water it will all make more sense to him.

13

Interesting. Is that why I am always blooted after swimming, I am swallowing alot of air?

14

Although I’m sure the Didjerido would be invaluable for his swimming, as the person who would have to listen to the learning curve on it, I think we’re going to pass on that. :wink: (Although now I wonder if the five years of playing the clarinet when I was a kid have given me an advantage in my swimming. Hmmmm… )

Thanks for the suggestions on focusing on the exhale/visualization of a bellows. Those both seem like they would be a bit easier to grasp.

15

I used to have the same problem…for me it was definitely not being fully exhaled and as a result needing to exhale and inhale when the face turns out of the water.

Swim smooth had an interesting drill…sinking drill or something like that. By learning to sink you learn to exhale completely underwater. an interesting little drill that might help your husband out.

16

Something else he may consider is using what I call “bob rest” between repeats. Whereby he takes 5-10 full-breath bobs – breathe in above water, the go down beneath the surface and slowly exhaling till he releases the breath fully. Repeat till recovered, then start swimming again.

This will not only help to remind him of what the full breath exchange feels like at the end of each swim, but also it is very calming - something that may prevent the anxiety from building up to the point of distraction.

HTH,
r.b.

17

I had the same issue. It also bloated me out on the bike and caused stomach issues.

I found that relaxing helped, primarily because it meant I did not gasp for air. Gasping caused me to take in too much air, this meant that, on holding the breath, air was being pushed down or swallowed causing bloating (at least that is what it felt like).

I found not breathing out really hard, just relaxed, and taking a smaller relaxed breath in, meant that less air got forced down or swallowed.