Swimming is a skill that people must learn to play in the water. And it is a whole-body exercise that can exercise the body and even achieve the effect of losing weight. However, for many beginners, how to breathe effectively during swimming is a very difficult thing.
Beginners are very worried that they will choke in the water because of the wrong breathing method. In fact, there is no need to worry about it. As long as we master the correct breathing method at the beginning of learning and practice diligently, practice makes perfect and achieves good results.
Now we are going to discuss, for beginners, how to breathe while learning to swim. Firstly find a spot in the shallow end of the pool, and then work your way through breathing exercises to make your swimming training process easy, comfortable, and effective.
What's the pseudo-breathing phenomenon
Maybe some people say that it is possible to hold your breath in the water without exhaling, but this is a wrong behavior, it is a false breathing phenomenon. When you hold your breath in the water and exhale when you look up, but you inhale quickly and lower your head, the exhalation time is too short, and the air in your lungs is not fully exhaled, so you feel that you have taken a breath. You keep practicing like this, so you exhale less and inhale less, and you find it more and more difficult to inhale because your lungs are full of unexhaled waste gas. After 6 to 10 times of practice, you feel that your chest is so tight, your lungs are full of air and you still feel so deprived of oxygen. This is the "pseudo-breathing phenomenon," which is unnatural exhalation in water due to tension.
Therefore, for beginner swimmers, we recommend exhaling through your nose first, so that when you learn to swim, the water does not enter your nose and you can stay in the water longer. When training, you need to stand by the wall with your hands on the wall. Then take a deep breath, put your head in the water, and start exhaling slowly. When you feel that there is no air in your lungs, come to the surface to inhale and repeat the exercise. If done correctly, you can see bubbles appear in the water.
Once you're familiar with the first step, you'll need to do squats in the pool, continuing to practice inhaling and exhaling. Find a place near the wall and put your hands on the edge of the pool first, the water may make you uncomfortable at this time, but you have to overcome these discomforts, you need to open your mouth, take a deep breath, and then squat until the whole person is completely submerged underwater. At this point you exhale the air in your lungs through your nose until it is completely empty. Then stand up, take a breath, squat down again, and repeat. It's worth reminding that don't be in a hurry when doing this exercise, try to relax your eyes as much as possible, and feel if the air you exhale can form bubbles.
Floating to practice breathing
Next, grab the edge of the pool or railing with both hands and relax your legs as much as possible so they float on the water so your bottom is unsupported. You may be nervous and afraid of falling, but remember that water is very buoyant, and when your lungs fill with air, you will definitely stay on the surface. Let's assume gravity is zero and you're in space trying to hang in water like you're flying in a galaxy. Submerge your face in the water at this point, look around, and when you feel relaxed and confident in the water, try exhaling air through your mouth, but it is recommended for beginners to breathe out through your nose. Lift your head and take a deep breath, then sink your head into the water and exhale continuously, repeating this action is the second step you need to learn. While doing this drill try to relax and memorize your feelings and you'll need to use the same feelings while swimming.
When you are proficient in the above training, we need to further train with foot movements. Put your hands on the edge of the pool, float on the water, take a deep breath, and then slowly exhale. At this time, your legs also need to bend and keep kicking. If you successfully learn to breathe properly in this exercise, you will surely perform it properly while swimming.
Think of kicking as playing soccer
There is an important but concise way of how to kick, and that is when swimming we can simplify these kicks because it is very similar to football. So when you practice kicking, you can treat every kick as if you were kicking a football. Move your straight leg back and bend your knee slightly, then kick down. The key point here is that the arc of the swimming kick is much smaller than that of a soccer ball, because if the arc of the kick is large, it is affected by underwater resistance, which can cause your swimming to slow down. So remember to make sure your knees don't bend too much and reduce the resistance of the water to increase the power of your kick.
Having good breathing skills is one of the biggest challenges every novice swimmer faces. Because breathing is instinctive, it comes naturally to all of us and requires no conscious thought, so little emphasis is placed on studying it. But breathing rhythm is crucial when swimming. Here again, we emphasize that when your face is submerged in water, you should exhale gently and air bubbles should come out of your mouth or nose. While on the surface, inhale through your mouth, which should be quick and only last a second. Also, exhaling in the water should take twice as long as inhaling on the surface, as it helps establish a comfortable breathing rhythm.
Use swimming goggles with nasal masks
For beginners, choking due to stress during swimming is very common. In order to prevent water from entering the nose, you can use swimming goggles with a nasal mask, especially when training freestyle breathing, you can put the swimming goggles on one side of the water and the other side outside. Inhale quickly and return your head to a straight position. It may take a bit of practice, but it allows you to be more relaxed while swimming, helps you master the coordination of all parts of your body, and allows you to make rapid progress.
This is a swimming goggle made of one-piece tempered glass and stretchy food-grade liquid silicone with a 180-degree panoramic view. At the same time, it adopts the latest anti-fog treatment design, which is very comfortable to wear. Best of all, these swimming goggles have a soft silicone skirt and nose shield that fit most face shapes. The nasal mask design is very helpful for those who do not know how to breathe underwater. The nasal mask has enough room to accommodate people with a high nose bridge. By covering your nose, you don't have to worry about suffocating underwater whether you're swimming, diving, or snorkeling.
Summer is here, your water journey starts with learning to swim, buy a pair of swimming goggles, and learn to swim easily.