Swimming and lungs

[bberk1]

My swimming partner is having problems and don't know what to tell him. He's a pretty good swimmer, but his lungs need work. He's fine running but swimming where he can't get enough o2 is hurting him. Today he kept cramping up and had to sit out a set or 2. Are there some good exercises or workouts he should be doing to increase his lung capacity?

Thanks,
Brian

[Aussie Rob]

It's my understanding that you cannot increase lung capacity, only make more efficient use of what you can breathe in.

If he isn't already, make him do flip turns....make him. Make him practice breathing every 3rd, then every 5th stroke. Basically get his body used to working with an oxygen debt.

[bberk1]

cool. I was thinking along those lines. I will pass it on.

[Brandon]

Have him get in water as much as possible. If time is an issue, frequent short workouts are better than infrequent longer workouts.

Form, Form, Form. Long, smooth strokes. Work on keeping HR down and lowering stroke count. Train with short interval sets rather than 1 long set. When his HR creeps up, whether every length, 100 or whatever, stop and wait 10-30 secs. (even a minute at first, if he has to) for it to lower to an ideal level and swim the next length.

With the cramping, I'd also consider nutrition/hydration as a possible cause. Inadequate hydration or potassium? Keep a water bottle on the deck to sip on whilst swimming. If he is new to swimming improvements over the first few months will be HUGE, assuming he puts in the time in the water.

After 1.5 years of swimming, still no flip turns for me...but a HUGE increase in my confidence/ability on the swim.

[alison]

If he has a good endurance base, yet he is gasping for breathe during the swim, he is either a very inefficient swimmer and/or he is breathing wrong.

Becoming a more efficient swimmer is a beast in itself, so I won't touch upon it here.

First step to learn how to breathe correctly is learning how to breathe out into the water, not the air. Sounds simple, but lots of people don't do it. Have him practice with a kick board, putting his head in the water between his arms and breathing out completely before coming up for a breath. A slow steady stream of bubbles is the goal, no holding the breath! Air should be coming out of the nose, and feel almost like humming.

Next step is learning when to breathe in the stroke. A side kick drill is good for this one. Push of the wall with the bottom arm extended and the top arm at your side, face looking at the bottom of the pool. Breathe out a slow steady stream of the bubbles (no holding the breath in!). When the air runs out turn your head to breathe, turn it back into the water, then switch sides.

Once your friend is comfortable with these, try some breathe control sets, like Rob mentioned. I like to pull during these types of sets, breathing 3-2-3 and 5-2-5 by 100s.

Alison

[bberk1]

alison said:

Next step is learning when to breathe in the stroke. A side kick drill is good for this one. Push of the wall with the bottom arm extended and the top arm at your side, face looking at the bottom of the pool. Breathe out a slow steady stream of the bubbles (no holding the breath in!). When the air runs out turn your head to breathe, turn it back into the water, then switch sides.

Alison

That's kind of funny. We did this drill or something very similar this am and both of us hated it so much we just did a regular kick board instead.

[Jack Carney]

I wish someone could make me do flip turns. I just can't get it.

[alison]

tsk tsk! Skipping side kick drill! This is a swimmer's bread and butter drill. I have been to many stroke clinics and had many swim coaches and ALL of them use this drill in some form. It is good for learning balance and hip rotation which are the most important parts of swimming freestyle; stroking and kicking are nearly worthless without balance and rotation.

And I am being totally serious about learning to blow bubbles. It is more common than you might think for people to automatically hold their breath when their face hits the water. When you do the side kick drill (which I KNOW you will, now that I scolded you a bit it should only take a split second to get that breath in before your head goes back down and your hips snap around. Hanging around with your head cocked to the side breathing in and out for a long time does nothing good for your stroke, throws of your balance, creating drag, and all sorts of issues.

Alison

[Brandon]

Brian, you are right. Drills suck. Heck, I think pools kinda suck too, although they are beginning to grow on me. I'd much prefer the open water. But, I have to agree with Alison. I certainly don't have the swimming experience she does, but I've done said drill almost every time I've gotten in the pool this winter, and it has helped my form a ton (and, in turn, my speed).

I will say that when I first started swimming I was in pretty good shape, competing in 5K's and 10K's, but I couldn't go 25 yards without gasping for air on the other side of the pool. It takes some time for the body to adapt to the oxygen dept. How to address this? Swim as frequently as possible IMO.

[traciezamiska]

I second the swim as much as possible. I had a swim coach tell me once that for muscle memory to activate and continue good form the motion needs to be repeated 2,200 times on each side. Slowing down really helps you focus on form and breathing. I often am concentrating so much on my stroke that I sometimes forget to breathe.

I personally don't think flip turns necessarily help unless you are a sprinter/strictly pool swimmer. No flip turns in open water. For most of my sets I try not to really push off the wall to help build strength.

The biggest deal with drills is once you start to fatigue or lose the form switch to a different drill that works a different technique or part of your form. You don't want to 'remember' bad form. I think that for practicing bilateral breathing and hip rotation the side kick drill is the best, as Alison described above. Don't worry so much about distance now, just building up time in the water. Just as running slower helps you build and maintain, swimming slower helps you do the same while still remembering form. Good luck to your friend!

[speerka]

Good post, this is interesting to me. I'm struggling to try to breath more right now and not have periods of time when I'm just not breathing at all.

Alison, when you do the 5-2-5s, are you blowing air out of your nose for the entire time? Or is there a short period where your lungs are empty before you turn for air?

Is it considered more ideal to always be breathing, or to just be more comfortable with the oxygen debt? Is it bad to breath out your mouth?

Thanks!

[alison]

"are you blowing air out of your nose for the entire time? Or is there a short period where your lungs are empty before you turn for air? "


Control your breath so that you are blowing out continuously for the entire time. Resist the urge to blow out quickly because you are tired and want to get more air, save the panting for your time on the wall. If you are a yogi you might relate to ugai breathing, which also controls the breathe in order to last the course of an entire movement. We also know that getting a breath of air doesn't always work (fellow swimmers or lake erie might splash you in the face) so leaving your lungs in debt for a couple of strokes before you attempt to breathe could leave you in a desperate situation should you turn your head into a frothy wave.

I, personally, find the feeling of completely empty lungs to be very unnerving and can completely understand a beginner swimmer having a minor panic attack from it. All the more reason to learn breath control, which, as I explained, is not just about how long you can hold your breathe.

I have given more than my .02 on this subject . . .

Oh, and to answer your last question, breath in through your mouth and out through the nose, for better control.
Alison

[watchman]

this is a great set of questions and answers.

I started breathing every third stroke because it seemed to help balance my shoulders and less drag. I used to breath every other on the same side. I could do both sides but I seemed to have one shoulder off balance.

I say all this because it was hard to wait the extra time in between breaths but as I have made myself do it I have been able to increase the time . At first I could only last a few laps then resort back to one sided breathing. Now I can go almost a whole workout with every third stroke breathing. So I agree the more you make yourself do the increase will come.

Alison your thoughts on breathing through nose gradually is a new thought. I will try it.
Your words are excellent. What do you think about the breathing every third stroke?

mike

[traciezamiska]

Mike:

I seems that if you 'feel' off balance that could be a strength issue and even more reason to try drills with bilateral breathing. I think most people have one side stronger than the other. Just a suggestion/comment.

T

[steve1835]

strongly recommend drill sets....they have helped me a lot. My times are improving and I'm not as beat up as I was with poor stroke mechanics. tri swimming clinic helped a lot.

also my son started swimming with a different team this year and their coaches have them do a lot of drills...his times are crazy better. He's 13 and just swam an 11 minute 1000..I don't even want to mention his 100 and 50 times..makes me crazy..but he swears by the drills now.

SP

[bberk1]

Originally this post was about my training partner, but the more I think about it, I should be doing this stuff. My issue is swimming is my strongest part of the race. I usually come out the top and then continue to get passed on the bike and run. Should I work on my breathing or continue as I am to get the yards in and spend more time on bricks and biking? I'm guessing the latter.

Also as for the flip turns go in the pool. At least you look cool if you can do them. And they do help you hold your breath. Plus they are actually a good core workout. Without a good core your flip turns will suck ass. No matter how easy my swim I try to hit the flip turns hard for 2 reasons. 1 cause they are a good core workout and 2 cause my hs swim coach drilled this into my skull

Brian

[traciezamiska]

i agree with you on the cool factor.

i just try to make my pool swimming as representative of open water as possible. i don't want too many surprises!

[bberk1]

Alison, you'll be happy. I swam this morning and I had 2 drills on my plan from swimplan.com They felt horrible to do and would have blown them off if it weren't for my stern lecturing here the other day by you. I hope I made you proud. Plus I was concentrating on blowing out a lot of the air before I turn my head. 1 time I had to laugh 'cause my friend thought we were done with the set but I said 1 more. Laughing helps you blow out your air underwater. I also forced him to do flip turns and do 2 strokes after before breathing.

[alison]

I am glowing with pride, Brian. I too was doing side kick drill at Monday night masters practice, for both freestyle and backstroke.

Because of this thread I was paying extra close attention to breathing on Monday night and I wanted to point out some of my observations. I do not, in fact, exhale a steady stream of air during long swims. It is constant, but intensity undulates with my strokes, extra little bursts at the most powerful part of the stroke. I have never noticed that before. When sprinting, however, I was breathing the steady stream I mentioned in an earlier post. I also noticed that after I breathe in with my head turned I hold my breath for a split second while putting my head back into position looking that the bottom of the pool. That split second is the only time air is not moving in or out of my lungs.

Just thought I would throw those out there and encourage everyone to take a moment and observe the intricacies of their own stroke.

Alison

[bberk1]

I'm glad that I made you happy. I forced my buddy to do his flip turns and not breathe out of the turns. I had to yell at him today with our 200's we were swimming. But even my lungs were burning on that set. I even did a flip turn and breathed right after. I can see my hs swim coach shaking his head as I was doing it.