Exhale fully

Making sure that you empty your lungs of air will enable you to take in the maximum amount of air to power your strokes. Compromising on your breathing can result in shallow breaths that can quickly tire you out and mess up your pacing in the water. So do make a mental note to forcefully exhale every time your head is in the water, and watch how this rhythm allows for smoother strokes.

Rotate your hips

Many coaches will unanimously agree that good hip rotation is one of the keys to a solid freestyle technique. Maintain proper form by engaging your core and ensuring your head, shoulders and hips all rotate together at the same time. Beginner swimmers struggle with this and find that their hips tend to sink, and thus strain to catch every breath. Full and proper rotation will greatly aid in increasing stroke length and make breathing so much easier.

Use a snorkel

If you never trained with a swimmer’s snorkel (or central snorkel) before, it’s high time to give it a try. Using a snorkel will help to balance your stroke as you try out different head positions and concentrate on aligning your body. It also helps strengthen your non-dominant breathing side and even prevents you developing muscle imbalances. By forcing yourself to keep your head down, you’ll focus on improving your technique on both sides.

Breathe Bilaterally

It may seem unnatural at first, but bilateral breathing is one technique you’ll thank yourself for picking up. Basically, you breathe on both sides of your stroke rather than on just one. Bilateral breathing helps you become more streamlined and enables you to cut through the water. Thus, your rotation will also be strengthened on both sides, drastically reducing risk of injuries and saving precious time.

Sink Downs

Find an end of the pool that you are comfortable with, preferably at a depth that you can sink down but still safely return standing. Take a breath and exhale so that you sink to the bottom of the pool. If you realise that you have to exhale harder than normal when you swim, chances are you're not exhaling strongly enough in your stokes. Practice this often and you’ll find yourself getting more efficient in your breathing.

Board Flutter Kicks

Grab a swimming board and assume freestyle position, with arms extended and head between your arms. Gently kick to propel yourself forward and as you do so, turn your head to alternatively breathe on both sides. Using a board properly will help you achieve a high hip position as you pay more attention to your hip position and put in more effort to keep afloat.

Three Five Seven

This one’s a great drill to build up your lung capacity and endurance. Just count three strokes before you take a breath, the five strokes before you take your next breath, and so on. Reach seven or nine strokes before going back to three and repeat. Exhaling smoothly and staying relaxed will let you see how easy it is to breathe by the time you return to breathing after three strokes.

One-arm freestyle

Swim with one arm outstretched, kicking and rotating as per normal on the other side. Invest a few laps of every swim session doing this drill on alternating arms to even out any weaknesses and imbalances on each arm, as well as your breathing on each side. It’s gonna feel slightly awkward at first, but take it at your own pace and go slow and steady. You’ll soon be comfortable breathing on both sides, which makes for a great skill to master.

Conclusion

Practice makes perfect, and it is almost always the answer if you find your progress in the pool plateauing. Side breathing is foundational in ensuring your speed, endurance and ability to move through the water is not compromised as you spend more time in the water. Need more personalised help to refine your techniques? Book a lesson with one of SwimRay’s Swimming Coach for one on one coaching and guidance.

Breathe deep and swim on!

I’m Isabel, your friendly uni student who’s always waddling knee deep in readings and projects. But I’ll go through hell and high water to have regular suppers with my friends. You can find me with a film camera in one hand and a flat white in the other on the weekends. Also am able to rescue you if you ever capsize from a sea kayak.