How can I imrpove my breath count during freestyle swimming?

Question

Normally I'll take 1 breath for every 2 strokes (every time my right arm comes up) but my coach wants me to drop that to at least 3 if not 4 during practice and somewhere around 6 during competition (I'm a sprinter). I have a lot of body area with massive oxygen needs and my 100 free time will go from a 1:11 with 2 breaths to around a 1:17 with 3 breaths.

Some of my workouts include the 3 breath one but what else can I do? Is there a legal vitamin/supplement that I can take to increase my body's oxygen retention or what other drills can I do during practice?

Answer 1

Ok, when you inhale, you inhale through your mouth ( because more air comes in), the you exhale with your nose when your head is in the water. I will sometimes take one breath every say around 2-5 strokes but, it mostly depends how fast I want to swim.

Answer 2

your coach wants you to breath every three because after a short time you will build a hitch in your stroke. Meaning your breathing side arm will go higher than your nonbreathing arm and tht can lead to a poor stroke and eventually shoulder problems.if you brreath every three your arms will even out and be at the same hight and you will go much quicker. if you swim the 50 you should take maybe 3-5 breaths the whole race. ask your coach if you can do underwaters to build up lung stregnth. i used to do about half a lap without a breath and come up gasping for air, and now i can do 3 laps with almost no stress on my lungs

Answer 3

I had that problem a couple years back and trust me this will work, please try it.


At the end of your practice Swim a bunch of laps with 30 seconds rest in between as follow

25 meters 5 breaths
25 meters 4 "
25 meters 3 "
25 meters 2 "
25 meters 1 "
25 meters 0 "
25 meters 1 "

all the way back to 5....then stop. Do this every practice until you can sucessfully accomplish each one on each attempt. even do a few 25's w/0 breaths after that set. It'll work. Good luck!

Answer 4

well firstly you need to stop breathing every two strokes. one- it is better 2 breath on either side (dont ask me why, my olympic swimmer coach told me), and two- i dont know bout you but when i breath on the same side every 2 strokes, i get dizzy and go slower. 3 strokes in practice shouldnt be that much different but you'll just have 2 push yourself 2 breathe every 3. now in competition, u dont breathe barely at all. its gonnna seem impossible, but you dont breathe unless you feel like ur gonna die. 6 strokes is good for startin on a 50/100 but in bout 5 months u should try 2 be gettin every 7 or 8. it really depends on your age. im 11 and i swim a 100 on 1.06 i breathe bout every 6 on my first 50 and every 8 or 9 on my 3rd 25. then breathe maybe once on my last lap. you're not gonna get any better at sprintin if u breathe every 2 or 3. hope i helped and good luck!

Answer 5

i used to have this problem. i just started pacing myself and not going all out in the beginning of practice. save some energy for later on in practice. my coach also has us do sets like 4 100s with the first 100 on 3 breaths, 2nd on 5 breaths, 3rd on 7 and 4th on 9. if that doesnt work, just force yourself to breathe every 5 strokes.

Answer 6

Lung capacity is the key, as has been touched upon.
But you need endurance and to trust in your self to execute it.

I would say try this, and get back to me with the whole goal of trying to create a new habit gradually.

Try to extend your breath to every 4 strokes intermittently.
Means go at your regualr pace and breathing, but every so often sneak in an extra stroke.
The more you do this,the more accustomed your lungs will get until eventualy this will be your new habit.

At first the extra stroke with force you to gasp for air and through off your rhythm, but if you stick with it, youll adapt. Once or twice in a lap, increased gradually and youll be swimming the entire lap that way eventually.

Hope it helps

Answer 7

During your warm up set, pay attention to your breaths and work as best you can to take 3. Once you are able to that with relative ease transition that into your practice. Another option is to learn the technique used by high level swimmers where you do breathe every other stroke. From what I understand about this though it is a difficult thing to learn how to do.

Answer 8

Like other answers said, lung capacity is the main problem. My coach had us swim sets where we swam underwater for a 25 yard lap, rested 10 seconds, and repeated the thing 10 times. Do at least one lap every practice and it'll help you with oxygen retention.

Answer 9

Since you take a breath every 2 strokes, then try doing a drill called triple-switch. Doing triple switch, you take three strokes, and then turn to one side, and do ten flutter kicks. Repeat. Also, you can try underwater swimming, usually start with 25 yard sprint underwater. Also try doing 25 and 50 yard sprints, 25 yards either none or 1 breaths, and adjust for 50 yards.

Answer 10

you need to work at increasing your lung capacity, vitamins/supplements wont really help, just work on it in practise, and it will getting better- also do the type of controlled breathing you do in yoga- basically you count in your head while breating in through you nose, hold it for a few seconds then start slowly breathing out through your mouth - the goal is to make your out breathe longer than your in breathe - do this when ever you can, while watching tv, anytime and after a while you should notice an improvement