Dear Friend,

I hope that if you have ordered the Essential Triathlon Swimming DVD or the Platinum Package and you are enjoying what you are seeing. I am planning on adding more video clips to the site in the future, at no extra cost to paid users! What I need is some feedback and ideas on what else you would like to see in the video package. Just respond to this email with your suggestions, and I will be adding the most popular requests to the video package.

Breathing seems to be the hardest thing to master in learning proper freestyle. Today’s article should give you some ideas to conquer this challenge.

Enjoy!
Kevin

How to Master the Top 5 Challenges to Breathing in Freestyle

The most common question I hear in the triathlete world about the mysteries of swimming efficiently usually involves something with breathing. In freestyle, it is the first step to get your body position right. Then, for many, you throw in breathing and everything goes
haywire! This has to do with lack of balance, using your head instead of your core to
breath, and a few other factors.

Here are the top 5 challenges in learning how to breathe in freestyle, along with the
remedies on how to get over these:

1. Not Getting Enough Air. There are a couple of reasons this typically happens in freestyle. First, make sure you breathe out all of your air before you rotate to take a breath. When learning, some people try to exhale and inhale while they are rolling to the side for air. There simply is not enough time for this! Your exhalations should only be in the water in the form of bubbles. At first the timing may seem difficult, but eventually you will get used to it. Second, you may be sinking as you breathe. Make sure you are rolling to the side to breathe, and not rotating your head and looking straight up. Practicing the side kicking and shark fin drills, as discussed in The Complete Guide and in the introductory 4-session online clinic you get by signing up for the Tri Swim Coach newsletter will also help you with this challenge.

2. Extended Arm Sinks While Taking a Breath (elbow drops). This is mainly a balance issue. While you breathe to one side, your other arm should be extending. For many swimmers, this extended arm pushes down into the water and they are sinking while trying to inhale. The side kicking and shark fin drills will also help to improve this. Another drill also discussed in the materials that will help with this challenge is the fist drill, which forces you to not use your hands, therefore improves your balance in the water.

3. Speed is Sacrificed because of a “Pause” While Breathing. A typical scenario is that you feel like you’re cruising along just fine and then you take a breath and it feels like you’ve just lost all your momentum. To remedy this, when you breathe, concentrate first on breathing to the side (as in #1), then on having your mouth parallel to the water, instead of over the water. The latter will take a while to master, but once you do, it will take care of the pause, and improve your speed overall.

4. Difficulty breathing while navigating in a race. You need to look up to see where you are going, and at the same time grab a breath. How can you do both? Start with bilateral breathing (breathing on both sides every 3 strokes). This will help you to see about where you are without lifting your head up as much. When you need to lift your head up to sight, try not to look straight ahead- this will make your hips sink and throw you off balance. Instead, take a quick peek at your target, roll to the side to breath, and bring your head right back down into position.

5. Sucking In Water While Taking a Breath. In practice, this will sometimes occur because of #1 and #2 above. In a race, the waves may cause the inhalation of water instead of air (bilateral breathing will help here as well). The drills to practice to improve balance and avoid this unpleasant occurrence are the side kicking and shark fin drills, as well as the one-arm drill. To perform the one-arm drill, swim a full stroke with one arm while your other arm rests at your side. Breathe on the opposite side of the stroking arm. This is a difficult drill and takes some practice, but it will pay off!

For more and to view this and other drills, see the Platinum Package from Tri Swim Coach.
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