1.6. Why Does Water get into My Nose when Breathing?

Does water get into your nose when breathing?
Many beginning swimmers struggle with this, and the water surface is usually the problem – that’s where water most often gets into the nose. If we could close our nose with some kind of flaps, we would simply close it when turning our face, but unfortunately that’s not possible.
So here’s what might be surprising – if my face is above water, water doesn’t get into my nose, and if my face is down toward the bottom, water doesn’t get in either.
So when does it happen? Have you ever tried to notice that moment?
It’s the water surface – when I move my face from above to below or from below to above, I pass through the surface, and at that moment, if I’m not exhaling through my nose, water will get in.
So what can you do about it?
To prevent water from getting in, you need to exhale through your nose at the moment when you’re passing through the surface, blow out, clear the surface with your nose. Let’s look at this.
Because when bubbles are going out, water can’t come in.
And if you can’t identify whether water gets in on the way down or on the way up, practice blowing through the surface in both directions – both down and up.
Let’s try this together 5 times in the rhythm of the front crawl.
If this doesn’t help and water gets into your nose at a completely different moment than when passing through the surface, you probably have a reflexive inhalation, breathing in through your nose at some point during the crawl. You might not even be aware of it, but it’s happening somewhere. Try to identify when it happens and consciously control your underwater exhalation so that it’s uninterrupted. You shouldn’t break up your underwater exhalation. Well, you can, I do it, but first you need to get rid of this inhalation reflex.
It can also happen above water when you bring your face up and it’s covered with water that you reflexively inhale through your nose. This must not happen, otherwise it burns all the way to your brain. Our nose is simply off-limits for inhalation while swimming. We already know that above water, we always breathe in only through the mouth.
So once again – water can’t get into your nose at any time other than when passing through the surface or during a reflexive inhalation. Find your problem and stop it.

This lesson is one of the few that is accessible to the public.

To download the SWIMBOOK, please check the lesson before or after this one.