Losing My Breath Swimming Freestyle

I have my physical test for police on Saturday. I have to swim in a 25m pool back and forth 8 times. I am planning on doing the freestyle swim but my arms get tired so fast and I start losing my breath swimming freestyle. What can I do to improve my swimming for this test that is in 4 days?

The golden rule here is to take your time. Sounds obvious but long strokes and few leg kicks will help save energy and maintain an efficient streamlined body position.

The power for freestyle comes from the continuous alternating arm action and further you stretch forward and then pull back, the fewer strokes you will need per 25m.

Many people make the common mistake of kicking too fast in an attempt to swim further or faster and a fast leg kick will completely sap your energy. So the leg kick when swimming freestyle over a long distance, especially if it is a distance you are not used to swimming, should be a leg kick that balances the arm action.

Another common mistake that results in rapidly becoming breathless is swimming whilst holding your breath. Trickle breathing is the key, ensuring you are slowly and steadily breathing out as you swim. This makes inhaling much easier and you will be able to get more air into your lungs than if you would if you were holding your breath.

Stamina plays a huge part in swimming freestyle and it is inevitable that tiredness and loss of breath will kick at some point, especially if you are not used to swimming that distance on a regular basis. Slow and steady will see you through and the more swimming practice you can get in before your test the more you can improve your stamina.

Our best-selling book 'The Complete Guide to Swimming Front Crawl' contains over 20 separate swimming exercises to help all parts of freestyle, including breathing. You can download it, print out the parts you need and take them to your pool to try out. Click the link below for more information.

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