1.5 First Attempts at Freestyle Breathing – how to Do It

Can’t catch your breath? There’s really little time for that breath, and quite often you voluntarily shorten it even more and rob yourself of that precious time because you turn your head to the side too late. So let’s now look more closely at how to do it correctly.
It’s important that when trying to breathe during the freestyle stroke, you’re maximally aware of where your hand is and where your head is. The scenario with each of my beginner swimmers is the same – the swimmer flails through the water, their hand is already flying back, and only then do they lift their head and try to catch some air. And they don’t make it. And then I shout “earlier!”, and another attempt “earlier!”, and again and again until they really start turning their head to the side in time. Try shouting at yourself now and really start turning your head for breath as soon as your fingers drop a centimeter into the stroke.
Let’s break it down into parts.
The basic thing to realize is that when my hand is in front, my face is pointing toward the bottom and I’m exhaling. When my hand is back, my face must already be out and I’m inhaling. And to make it in time, you need to start turning as soon as you begin stroking. As soon as my fingers start to drop from the surface downward, that’s the first impulse when we start rotating the torso and turning the head to the side toward the ceiling. It’s important to realize that once your hand reaches back to your thigh and you still have your head buried toward the bottom, you’ll never catch that breath in time. Do everything you can to have your face out at the moment when your stroking hand is at your thigh, and especially to arrive there already exhaled with space for new air.
So, let’s assume we’ve exhaled, the hand has reached back, and we have our face out in time. Will we have a lot of time? No. For breathing, we only have a quarter of the stroke; it’s a window that opens when the hand is back at the thigh and closes when the hand passes the head. Of the entire oval that the hand circles, we have time to breathe for only a quarter of it, not a bit more, which is why the breath must be quick and sharp, but it’s just a matter of practice; soon you’ll get it and it will happen automatically.
Try to remember a few points that will make your life easier when trying your first freestyle breaths:
– Before you start inhaling, you must exhale everything to make room in your lungs for that new air.
– Do everything you can to start turning your head already during the stroke, so that your face is out at the moment when your stroking hand is at your thigh.
– Breathing is sharp and only through the mouth, not the nose.
With this exercise that we’ve described in this chapter, you’ll create more time than is usual in freestyle. Maybe it seems like science fiction to you now, but it’s true. Once you fit that breath in, the window will naturally start to shrink, you’ll find your own rhythm in which breathing will be most comfortable for you, but I definitely recommend starting with what we’ve just shown, which is that your first attempts at breathing will be by turning your head already during the stroke.