Shortness Of Breath In The Pool

I suffer with shortness of breath in the pool and need your help. I have 10 days before needing to swim a .5 mile event. For some reason, while I can run/bike distance and swim comfortably, I cannot catch my breath when swimming and have trouble with distance unless I take breaks. Any tips/common mistakes made that result in shortness of breath in the pool?

I hope this answer to your question is not too late and you can benefit a little from it.

Swimming fitness is very different to running and cycling fitness because it uses more muscles constantly and rhythmically and therefore places more demands on our aerobic system.

The two most common mistakes swimmers make when swimming front crawl is breath holding and swimming too fast.

As far as breathing goes it is far easier to breathe out whilst swimming, blowing out into the water slowly and gradually; as slowly as you can at the time, depending on your level of exhaustion. It is very common to hold your breath without even knowing it and breathing out helps keep you relaxed during your stroke.

Front crawl is the fastest swimming stroke and that is often taken literally. People swim front crawl with such power and put such great effort into their arms and legs and are often left wondering why they are so exhausted.

So, slow down and you will be surprised. Extend your arm pulls by reaching further, slow down leg kick and breathe out into the water in a slow relaxed way. Roll your head to the side to breathe again and maintain a long stretched out and flat body position. The net effect of all this will be a length of the pool swum using less arm pulls and therefore less energy.

The frequency of your breathing is completely up to you. Breathing every 3 arm pulls on opposite sides is an efficient breathing pattern and breathing every arm pull on the same side is also a common pattern for swimming longer distances.

Our best-selling book 'The Complete Guide to Swimming Front Crawl' contains over 20 separate swimming exercises to help all parts of front crawl, including breathing and timing. 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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