Unable to Breathe When Swimming Freestyle

I am just learning to swim and I am unable to breathe when swimming freestyle. When I swim on my back I've learn to catch air between every other stoke, but when I crawl or freestyle swim, I have to hold my breath, because my head does not come out of the water enough for me to catch any air. What am I doing wrong?

There are a couple of possible issues holding you back here.

Firstly the fact that you are holding your breath in the first place can sometimes cause problems. If you hold your breath you have only a split second to breathe out and then in again, which can be very difficult. So much so that pupils I have taught in the past turn their head as if to breathe but continue to hold their breath.

It could be that your mouth is clearing the water enough to breathe but you are involuntarily continuing to hold your breath.

To overcome this you must breathe out into the water whilst swimming and then when you turn your head to breathe, you only have to breathe in. This makes breathing easier and more relaxed.

If as you suspect the problem is your head not clearing the water surface enough then we need to look at the basics of the breathing technique.

Firstly freestyle breathing technique involves rolling the head to one side and not lifting the head to face forward. Lifting your head upwards will result in that sinking feeling and your mouth will almost certainly not clear the water enough to breathe in.


Ensure that at the point where you roll your head to the side to breathe, your arm on that side must have pulled back to clear a space for your head to turn into. You must then breathe in just as your arm recovers over the water surface.

To ensure that your head rolls to the side enough try looking at your shoulder as you do it. This will ensure you are actually rolling your head and not lifting it. It will also help your mouth to clear to water so that you can breathe.

If you are still struggling try to exaggerate your movement by rolling your head to look at ceiling above you. Your arm recovery will have to be very high in order to achieve this but it will almost certainly allow you to breathe. However, this is of course technically incorrect but the exaggerated movement will allow you to practice the movement and become confident with breathing. It is therefore important to readjust the technique once you have become proficient by rolling the head the minimum amount so as not to disturb your overall body position.

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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