Swim Breathing

Inhale using only your mouth. I don't think I've ever heard of anyone using there nose to inhale. Exhale out of your nose and mouth. This works for me anyway. Good luck.

Yep - I agree with Chucky. Exhale through both mouth and nose so you clear out as much air as possible. And do it while your face is in the water. Then inhale through mouth.

Of course, easier said than done. Whenever I start thinking about breathing, I start to get mouthfuls of water. If I concentrate on other points, the breathing just comes naturally.

Thanks I will try that tonight and post my results -- hopefully good ones.

Do you exhale continously or blow it all out before the next inhale?

I inhale through mouth and nose how can you not inhale through your nose when breathing in? Sure most of the breath goes into the mouth but some does go in through the nose unless you are holding it closed.
Z.

You should exhale the entire time your face is in the water -- blow bubbles while you're swimming (this is not a reference to today's flatulence thread). If you're trying to breathe out AND breathe in when you turn your head to breathe, your breathing will be rushed. If you're already empty and ready to inhale, you can take a quicker breath and not interfere with the rhythm of your stroke.

I usually exhale through nose and mouth, to prevent water from getting into my nose -- that's probably what's irritating your sinuses. If you want to only inhale through your mouth, I think you can just sort of raise the back of your mouth (soft palate? I'm not sure) to close off the opening to your nose. That's what I do.

A silly note. My swim coach when I was seven told me to breath like Darth Vader.:-O It was silly, but it helped. I do not breathe through my nose while swimming anymore. I am 32 years old.

Sorry maybe I'm not getting the obvious but why don't you want to inhale thorugh your nose and mouth when they are out of the water? I'm trying the soft palette and Darth Vader thing and I can see how that brings air in only thorugh the mouth but isn't that to keep water from entering the nose when under water?

Thanks
Z.

Wow, breathing through the nose. I haven't heard of anyone intentionally inhaling through the nose. Just figured people didn't like the water getting in there by chance. That will probably be really hard for you to overcome. It is going to take a little while for you to transition to just the mouth. I would suggest taking your time and walking through the mechanics of it slowly. Maybe you will want to set some time aside and work on it after your swim. May as part of your "cool down", or stretch.

I would think that breathing from only the mouth is more efficient. First you only have one source to choke on accidental water intake. And if you intake water by mouth you usually can recover quicker than if by nose. Second, your volume of intake is far greater and quicker through the mouth.

As stated before, you should be exhaling while your face is in the water, all the way to the point when you face breaks the surface. If you have to, while inhaling on the stroke, lift your head a little higher out of the water, until you build up your efficiency. Also you mentioned breathing on every stoke. You should really try to alternate your breathing so that you are breathing after atleast 2 strokes. This will reduce your time a little. You might want to have a goal to breath after every 3rd stroke which means that you will need to practice breathing from both sides.

Now, after all that has been said. When it come to race time. Do what feels natural. Don't try to force something new during a race event. Hope I didn't babble too much.

At the pool last night I tried out the advice everyone gave...

I inhaled through my mouth and exhaled continuously through my stroke out of my nose and mouth. All of the air was expelled before I inhaled. Initially the results were excellent and I swam for 30 minutes.

After 30 minutes I had a harder time keeping water from entering my nose while exhaling underwater. Some posts mentioned raising the soft palette. It felt like the soft palette was keeping the water out of my nose but later it wasn't working so well?

Is it possible that I need to build up more strength in the soft pallete? Or is it a loss of concentration? I couldn't tell.

Thanks,Z.

Edited by zeebie 2005-02-02 2:25 PM

YOu probably just need to keep practicing it. Sounds like it worked well for the first 30 minutes, so I wouldn't worry about the 2nd 30 minutes, it will get better with time.

Thanks for the encouragement. I will keep practicing. It feels so much nicer swimming without the noseplug.
Z.