Added: 3 years ago
From: SWIMTHERAPY
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  • Very helpful video

  • very appreciated thank you!!!

  • Would swimming stunt my growth?

  • excellent video

  • thank you very much for the video

  • Cheers for this video.

  • Awesome, thank you a lot for this, it's an amazing video, I wanted to learn this for a long time! Really great work!

  • 5*****

  • i just won a gold medal for free style in college competitions between states...

  • thanks for the tips, very clear and helpful!

  • thanks for posting....really helpful......i am messing up the breathing part. should i inhale through mouth and exhale under water through nose or any variation?? what would be more effective? thanks again.

  • @loverboyblues Very much a personal preference, though most inhale through the mouth and exhale through the nose. This applies to both trickle and explosive breathing

  • Thanks for the video. Any suggestions for tri athletes that are having to site?

  • thanks for your video. i'm learning to swim but i dont know how to breath while i swim. your video is very helpful for me. i'm a Vietnamese. i'm not good at English listening. so can you make the video with subtitles.

  • I thought I had answered this. It may be possible to breathe in through your nose but we wouldn't recommend it.

    The breathing action is less streamline and it is therefore, useful to breathe less when sprinting etc. I would not recommend breathing every 5 strokes beyond a 200m race ie we need to make sure that we do not go into oxygen debt for the sake of a little more streamline! We all have different lung capacities and breathing every 5 may work for you 100-200m...try it!

  • @SWIMTHERAPY, sorry Nigel just saw your post, thank you, my questions below still stands!

  • @arbanaskocudo how much of an advantage would it be to be able to breathe every 5 strokes and is it possible to breathe through the nose in the trough?

  • We would always recommend breathing every 3, to balance the core development. This said, if a swimmer struggles with this, they can breathe every 2-4, providing they alternate the side they breathe from.

    Breathe in through the mouth, not the nose. Regards Nigel

  • How many strokes between breathes do you recommend, is it 5. Also canny you nose breathe in the trough?

  • @thebreathingman 5 is like for very fast swim on 50, 100metres, usually is 2-3 breaths, you must found out yourself when your lung need to exhale

  • Nigel i just started swimming after many , many years of not being in a pool, My problem is i experienced painful hiccups that lasted for 5 hours after swimming freestyle in a pool for a little over 1 hour. I also noticed that everytime i breath, I gulped down tons of air for fear of being out of breath when i return my face under water. My question is, how hard or softly should we breathe when turning to the side to breathe? I dont want to experience hiccups after a swimming session again. Tnx

  • @jackrussellforsale I have never heard of the hiccup problem...suggest you speak to your GP. The intake of breath is quick ie you need to fill your lungs in a split second....are you exhaling correctly underwater?

  • Question: is he holding his breath underwater?

  • Now I know how to move the arms correctly

  • Definitely think you need to get out more! lol Nigel

  • "We must only inhale when the mouth is out of the water." duh! I wish i had known that, it would save me ending up in ER each time I swim.

    "Imagine a centreline down here, you can see that it dissects the head." What, chops it into pieces? Think bisect might be more appropriate or am I being too pedantic?

  • @mrardyvarky jep, too pedantic

  • where is your commitment! lol

  • This is great - thanks for posting. I completed my first two sprint tri races this year and am aiming for a half ironman next year. I feel like i'm consciously having to really jam my head down in the water to keep my legs up during freestyle, leading to nausea by 1000m. I'm trying really hard to just roll from side to side for breathing and to avoid the head pull shown above. I've just invested in a Finis Swimsense and I'm hoping it'll give me some more clues. Any suggestions?

  • @theglasgowinventor Why not book a session at SwimTherapy?

  • @SWIMTHERAPY i'd love to but i live in new zealand!

  • I'm a competitive swimmer and I got used to breathe at 2 strokes, I know it's not ideal and I know why, since a swimmer loses momentum and speed a each breath he takes. I'm trying to correct myself to breathe at each 3 strokes, witch is THE optimal number for most swimmers, 5 will kill the cardio to fast. In practice am breathing every 3 stroke, but when am in a meet or simply swimmer really fast, I can't help myself to breathe at 2 or am gonna kill my energy. Got any way to fix that faster?

  • @linkmaster69 It is important to breathe to each side, as this helps to develop good balance,even core control and overall muscular dev. In comp, this also helps to keep an eye on other athletes! This said, every swimmer is an individual and breathing every 2 strokes does not need to be an issue, providing the breathing action is efficient and, most importantly, you vary the side that you breathe to. Try Alt 25m breathing to the rght & 25m to the left...the weaker side will get more efficient.

  • I'll study this clip and tomorrow I'll try it out slowly. I could never get to the end of an Olympic size pool due to breathing issues and panic which really bothers me because I do have the stamina to run for miles and miles.

  • @p4horror Try loads of 20m swims with a 5 sec pause. If you can correct your breathing to enable you to do multi reps with 5 secs rest, you will find 50m no problem at all.

  • @SWIMTHERAPY Thanks! It sounds like that will take the panic out of the issues I have with breathing knowing that a 5 second pause is coming, instead of just stopping altogether like I've been doing out of frustration. I'll try this method tomorrow. Thanks again.

  • Nigel, great video and instructions. I read all the comments and my problem is a little different. I just cannot exhale under water and hold my breath, I have learned to hold it so much that I can swim 25 m non-stop (I know, this is not ideal but I can't help it). Any suggestions?

  • @efatigue Start with a bowl of water at home. Exhale in the water until your lungs are half empty. then turn your head to inhale quickly..do this for as long as poss. Progress to exhaling fully by both explosive and trickle breathing methods...build up to 2or 3 mins without stopping. Go back to your pool and do the same by standing with your face in the water. Progress to 5-10m swims with correct breathing. Cut yourself some slack, stay relaxed and build your confidence. Good Luck! Nigel

  • @efatigue Are you using goggles and a nose clip? I find a nose clip essential - without it I cannot breath out.

  • Nice GREAT WORK :)

  • So you have to let the air out inside the water?

  • @MrToad321 Yes, fully exhale underwater, only inhale above.

  • Wonderful...this is the best video i have seen on youtube...really helpful, this will really improve my swimming technique a lot...thanx a ton...

  • awesome - as a beginner swimmer but very experienced cyclist & runner.... the breathing is clearly the most difficult aspect of this whole swimming thing - best video ive seen so far! Thanx so much for posting it!

    Chris

  • Excellent video.....thankyou for sharing!

  • He doesn't appear to be inhaling a large amount of air as evidenced by his short exhalation. Great video, very very informative. I hope to find that trough today!! Cheers!

  • i wish this had close captioning :( I can tell it's can awesome video

  • EXCELLENT video! It's the best i've watched so far! My breathing sucks, but thanks to this video now I have a MUCH better idea of what i'm doing wrong :)

    It's a shame I can't give more than 1 Like :P

  • i am a new to swimming and this above video helped me to breath properly while swimming free styling...

  • amazing video .. it is so hard to know what effects minimal head drift will do until you see it on a stationary camera and linear water .. it literally throws the swimmer off course!! This is great if I could only sight once every 5 breaths !! If i knew I was swimming straight!! great video :) thanks so much

  • great video! helps me a lot :D

  • THank you so much for posting this video.

    I appreciate it very much as i got what i was looking for.

    I am amature swimmer and did not know the right technique to breath. Now i know it.

    And will use it.

    Thank you again. May the joy be with you:)

  • Thank you very much!This is the best video for crawl technique I've ever seen!Now I'm making the half of fatigue! -From a triathlete-

  • he iz mental man...stupid!

  • during the recovery, the hand can stay relaxed, though it is iomportant that the wrist remains in a strong position ie on entry the finger tips enter before the wrist. Hope this makes sense!

  • @SWIMTHERAPY is it me or is he supposed to turn his body while he is swimming freestyle. they say that I developed a sour neck because i kept on breathing from one side is that true.

  • @SWIMTHERAPY

    some experts would say thumb first...

    btw, you guys have the best filming angles for swimming techniques on Youtube.

  • hey quick question since your elbows have to be high do you still use your hand or you sort of leave it dead or dangling

  • This is a very good instructional video.

  • many women here from Asia busizz4me.info

  • This is the best video on freestyle breathing technique. Hands down! Thanks so much for sharing this gem!

  • very cool

    

  • @microstar81

    Non esistono commenti in italiano,o possibilità di taduzione in italiano da you tube?

  • Being tall such as 6ft is an advantage in swimming ?

  • Really informative, I find it really hard to breath to my right as I have ear trouble and I'm really nervous about getting water in it. It does make me a little unbalanced. Thanks for the great tips!

  • There's quite a bit of misleading information out there on freestyle technique. This guy knows his stuff. Excellent video!

  • excellent video! thank you for sharing wisdom!

  • exellent video! thank you for sharing wisdom!

  • Fantastic video, Can't wait to try this out. I like exhaling under water.

  • I agree Great video...Im thought i was pretty good at swimming but this has showed me what i am doing wrong...Thanks

  • Thanks for your comments. If you need to speak to us, the office is open 9am-4pm Mon-Fri Tel 0116 2325833

  • This is fantastic. There isn't a better vid on YouTube! It's made me see how many problems I have!! I must book a session! I have so many things to work on!

  • After watching some freestyle breathing videos, this has to be my favorite. It gets to the point and after watching just the first few minutes I had figured out what was wrong with my breathing cycle. Thank you!

  • No problem, glad you enjoyed the video .

  • Great video, thank you very much!

  • No problem.

  • that was helpfull thanks..

  • There is nothing wrong with breathing out through your mouth, providing you are managing to completely empty your lungs. Sometimes it helps to breath out through the nose when turning etc as this prevents water going up the nose....a nose clip is the usual alternative.

  • I saw him breathing air OUT of his NOSe. I breathe out through my mouth. Is this wrong??

  • good job thank you its very helpfull!!!!personally i don't care about speed.i just wish i could reach a level of being able to enjoy a 20min swim without stopping.but my technic realy sucks.

  • sorry, but, could someone explain to me how this pool exactly works? :S

    thank you in advance!

  • @lampwithbulb2 Think swimming treadmill! You swim against a current, which if set correctly, will mean you stay in one position in the pool....it is then easy for our cameras to video all angles. Regards Nigel

  • This video is incredible! Fantastic job!

  • how do u exhale in the water? can you explain that more? u have to exhale through ur nose right? its supposed to make bubbles, right?

  • Most swimmers exhale through the nose and mouth and yes, this will create bubbles. Is there a specific part of exhaling that you are struggling with?

  • My problem is running out of breath after a flipturn - I often surface too soon, disrupting the streamline/speed off the wall because I feel like my lungs will burst. what can I do to improve the ability to hold my breath longer under duress (ie screaming lungs and fatigued muscles in a fast set)?My coach tells me I should take 1-2 strokes before breathing but I find I have run out of breath sooner!

  • Your coach is right. Ideally, you should not be breathing in the 'red zones' (see colour of the lane rope). You can improve this by breathing every 3, 5, 3, 7, 3, 9 during endurance sets. This will help with your lung capacity. Also, don't try and hold on to your breath when turning, make sure you are exhaling gradually under water.

  • Awsome video

  • Thank you

  • @SWIMTHERAPY Hi thanks for posting this clip it has been very helpful. I am trying to change my swimming style to bilateral breathing style as described above. Previously I turned my head on each stroke and took a breath which kept my head up out of the water and made my legs drop making it very slow. Now with every third stroke I take a breath on alternating sides but I find that I am out of breath after 2 lengths having previously been able for 30?? cont.....

  • It feels like im exhaling to soon so as to keep the water from gushing up my nose. Any advice you could give me would be greatly appreciated. Thanks again :D

  • Clearly, trickle breathing is not working for you. Try explosive exhaling.

  • I have trouble letting all the air out of my lungs by the time that third stroke comes around so I have to exhale and inhale, sometimes resulting in screwing up my whole lap. Any tips?

  • thanks

  • Great video and great tips....

    @ Virus278 ... looks to me that not only is there a trough to breathe but that the swimmer also skews his mouth a little into a "popeye" style opening. Maybe I'm wrong but i;ve seen a few swimmers doing this and it does look strange but will try it out!

  • Thank you very much. I will try this. Breath has been my biggest struggle in my newfound exercise. You are dead on, I am getting into triathlons and had no idea how bad my swimming really was until my first. I actually thought I was good, how wrong I was...

  • great vid. helped me loads ive got a life guard exam on monday prior to this week ive havnt been swimming in 10 years!!! although i was once a good swimmer, can i do it? who knows?

  • very good and nicely explained breathing technique.. helped me to figure out that why i was not able to see a trough in the water.. because I was lifting my head before breathing.. thanks a lot for such a useful video..

  • Nice video loved to learn

  • twist the hip and leap like you have a paw.

  • great video! thanks for sharing!

  • the best, thanks to this video i corrected my hole breathing and position.thank you.

  • Excellent coaching

  • great video. i'm just a beginner and this was very helpful.

  • best video explaining breathing I have seen

  • What a great video... really helps! Thank you.

  • Really useful advice on body position, and I think having the multiple camera angles on this swimmer makes this very user friendly. Great vid Thanks.

  • I wish that 90% of the swimmers at my local pool wouldn`t do that poxy breast stroke, even worse do it side by side.

    Yes indeed, great vid thx!

  • @kevinabalo88 yes they take up all the pool space and are not real swimmers unless they swim intensively.

  • will it do any harm if i use a mouth pipe to breath? im not a professional i do it only for exercise? and the proper breathing is from the mouth or nose?

  • I don't understand - if one goggle is still in the water when you breath wouldn't half your mouth still be in the water making it impossible to breath without getting water in your mouth?

  • You should have created a trough at the side of your head to enable you to breathe without taking on water....the video clip does show this. If you lift your head to breathe before turning, the trough will disappear.

  • @SWIMTHERAPY What puzzles me is: how does Matt manage to achieve a full inhalation in such a short time? If I attempt to inhale that rapidly, I get dizzy.

    So I end up having to pause my stroke a little while I'm breathing. This lets me drift for maybe half a second - long enough for me to finish my inhale at a pace that doesn't make me so dizzy.

    Is there a better way, or a training routine I could use to improve my inhalation speed?

  • @SamPabloKuper Not sure why you are struggling to inhale quickly....might be worth using one of the powerbreathe/power lung exercisers....make sure they help with the inhale muscles rather than just exhale.

  • @SWIMTHERAPY Thanks for the suggestion. I'm going to continue to work on my technique first, but if that doesn't do the trick, I'll try a lung exerciser too. So far, though, I think I wasn't exhaling sufficiently before inhaling, and was also angling my head towards my shoulder when inhaling. That put my mouth clearer of the water than if I'd just used the trough as shown, but also took time away from the inhale & constricted my throat a bit. Going to try to just use the trough from now on!

  • @SamPabloKuper You are following the advise on emptying the content of your lungs before attempting to take the next breath and that's wrong! Basically you are blowing away not only all the CO2 but perfectly good deep lung air too which then means you are having to try and take on board more than you should really need to. This is almost certainly the case because of the dizziness, you are hyperventilating because the levels of CO2 have dropped lower than the normal range.

  • @TIUKSwimming Thanks for the suggestion. At my last lesson, though, my coach had me try the forceful exhale, and I found it helped. I think I wasn't expelling *enough* CO2 before inhaling, so each inhale ended up being quite small, starving me of oxygen after half a length or so. Part of the difficulty was that I'm more familiar with breast stroke & backstroke, in which - as in normal life - I spend roughly equal amounts of time inhaling & exhaling, so that's what I'm habituated to.

  • @SamPabloKuper I was explaining to you why you went dizzy when you tried to mimic Matt, because you were overbreathing doing it and causing hyperventilation. The CO2 levels reduce, that raises the PH of the blood causing the blood vessels to constrict, so not enough oxygen can get to the brain and you go dizzy. If not enough oxygen is getting to the brain, same is true to the other major organs and muscles and that trips you to anaerobic systems really quickly. Never breath hold when swimming

  • @Virus278 No, you just keep the half of your mouth that is underwater closed, while breathing through the other half that is out of water.

  • @Virus278 Also, you have to consider the fact that a swimmer moves forward. A forward motion creates a bowl wave that a swimmer can take advantage of and breath in without water getting into mouth. I can do it very easily on my left side but on the right side, I am still trying to improve. Thanks for posting such a wonderful video, I love it, BEST EVER!

  • I have been a very average recreational swimmer, have just undergone surgery to both shoulders & aim to use swimming to get back in shape/regain shoulder strength. I have always found it difficult to master breathing, so have never been able to swim an great length, always in short bursts. Your video has been very educating & has inspired me to forge ahead with my rehabilitation...back in the pool tomorrow morning. Thank you!!!

  • Thanks for the feedback and good luck with your next session. If you are interested we do a full Freestyle Technique CD for £9.95 + P&P Tel 0116 2325833

  • wow... amazing!! I never knew this type of therapy existed...

  • We have loads more clips on our pro CD if you are interested , please call us on 0116 2325833 (£9.95 + P&P)

  • Excellent Video!! Exactly what everyone needs! Thank You

  • No probs

  • I teach as well and everything you address are issues I've recognized and taught for years. I think I'll drag my laptop to the pool next time I have a student who just doesn't get it. It's that lift of the chin that gets them every time!! Like a bulldozer. Lovely video.Thanks.

  • Hi, if you want to purchase other clips on FC, our pro Freestyle CD is £9.95 + p&p. REgards Nigel

  • Excellent video, thanks.

  • Cheers

  • Breathing i believe is the hardest thing and I still can't get it right. Maybe I'll do well at first but once the body tires a little I end up on another side of the pool or i'll breathe in water. Actually I breathe in water so frequently that i try to over correct and lift my head way out the water thus making me more tired and drift off to a side..Help!!

  • great video..thanks

  • Thanks

  • best vid EVER!!

    i hope that i will help me now..

    it was going soo badley!!

    thx dude!

  • No probs

  • This is by far the best video clip on breathing that I have seen! Terrific information that I can use today! Thanks you!

  • Thanks

  • Great video, thanks!

  • Cheers mate

  • This is, hands down, the best video clip on breathing that I have seen! It is extremely helpful. Thanks!!!

  • We are flattered!

  • Thank you for the video,ill try to apply what i see in here.The water just goes into my nose everytime.I dont know if i will ever be able to swim...

  • I rated this video 5 stars!! Can I please ask if it is better to exhale when you are under water with 1) both the nose and mouth or 2) just the mouth or 3) just the nose? Many thanks-Ruairi.

  • It really is a personal choice...there is no 'better' option. This said, most swimmer exhale through both if the are explosive breathing and thru just the nose if trickle breathing. Regards Nigel

  • muy bueno viejita, este video me ayudo mucho mierda que los yanquis se ponen las pilas.

    Graciela desde Argentina. Guachiiiiiiiiiiinn,

  • I have no idea what this translates to...but thanks for commenting. Regards Nigel