How to Breathe in Freestyle

Breathing is everything in freestyle. And you probably already know how to breathe, but when you start swimming, you just can't figure out the timing for your side breath. You get water in your nose, or you get out of breath very quickly. While many coaches will teach you to blow bubbles or other breathing fundamentals, the issue isn't breathing itself. It's the side breathing timing and its integration into the full freestyle stroke. How to not break your entire body position with your side breathing, and how to move forward without stopping. I'm Dasha, a former swimmer and a coach with over 15 years of professional swimming experience. And in today's video, I'll set your side breathing timing so you swim without breaking your entire freestyle stroke, regardless of whether you use bilateral breathing or breathe on your one dominant side. I will also give you advanced breathing drills that you can incorporate in your practice right away. Let's go! The first and the most important rule in swimming is very simple. You breathe in through your mouth only, and you breathe out through your nose or both. When you side breathe in freestyle, the rule doesn't change. Your only challenge now is not how to breathe, but how to time it while you're moving to not lose speed or technique. Another important thing to remember is that your lines have to always stay partially full. Never empty and never too full in swimming, and you're never dependent on one critical breath. And breathing comes down to three things that can make swimming whether feel effortless or exhausting. And these are your side breathing timing, your head position, and your comfortable breathing pattern. And I'll break down each one step by step, and I'll show you exactly how to master them so you can swim continuously without running out of breath. And if you have nothing to swim, check my 5 Swim Sets to Build Speed, the link down below. Let's start with timing. Most swimmers, even advanced ones, have troubles figuring out the right timing for their side breath. And here a very common mistake is starting to breathe too late and following your arm as a reference for a side breath. What I mean by that is many swimmers begin rotating and inhaling as their arm is finishing the pull and exiting the water for the recovery, following the arm with their eyes. That kind of timing is going to rush you to take a breath, lift your head, and because there is so limited time for you to inhale, this is going to affect your entire body position. The way you really want to time your breath in freestyle is actually starting to breathe very early. As soon as your hand enters the water and starts to do that catch, you're going to already think about the rotation and together with it, side breathing. As you do the catch and your arm is in the mid-pull phase, your body is already rotated and this is when you're going to take a side breath on a side. When you finish the pull by your hip and exit the water, your face goes straight back into the water and then your arm almost covers it to move into the next catch. This timing will help you to breathe without pausing your stroke, without lifting your head too high, and without rushing through your inhale. And as you think about the sequence, you enter the water to do the catch, then you rotate and you side breathe, and then you put your face back into the water and your arm exits the water and covers your head. So every time you side breathe, prepare yourself from early on. And if you don't know how to breathe, or you have problems with your technique, or you simply don't know how good you swim in the water, check my personalized video stroke analysis where I break down your stroke. I'll tell you what's working, what doesn't work. The link is down below. What the hell is an air pocket, you probably think. And let me tell you, you already have it when you swim. Air pocket in freestyle is a moment when you move from your catch into the pull and as you break the water in front of you with your head and pull the water all the way back, there's going to be an air pocket formed on the side for you to take a breath. You might trap yourself thinking that it's breathing that you have to fix, where actually it's your head position. Your head in swimming will determine your entire body position and your breathing as well. So your body is like scale in swimming. If your head is even slightly higher than it needs to be, your hips will stay low and your legs as well. From here, you might have a question, Tasha, but how is it related to breathing? If your head is too high or too low when you swim, immediately it throws you out of balance. And this is why you have water in your nose, water in your mouth, your ears, or simply you can't regulate your breathing. And that's how you can't relax and tighten up in swimming. Ideally, you want to have your head in line with your spine while keeping your head actually neutral with the top of your head in the water. The reason I want you to have a low and neutral head position in the water is because high head will cause your legs to go down. And it's really hard to have that bow wave around your mouth to take a breath on the side because to have that air pocket, you actually need to break the water in front of you with your head. And if your head is too high, you don't break the water in front of you and there is no bow wave. That's how breathing becomes really uncomfortable. So same applies to the low head in the water. If you press your chin too much down, the water is going to get in your nose. It's going to be very uncomfortable to swim. So every time you swim freestyle, think about keeping your breathing low and quick because in this way, it's really easy to integrate it in your stroke without having to pause in between strokes. And if you want me to help you get your swimming to the next level, I offer one-on-one coaching. Link is down below. Now, how often should you breathe in freestyle? Should you hold your breath or exhale straight away as your face is in the water? And should you breathe on only one side or use bilateral breathing? Breathing in freestyle is very individual. But what you really don't want to do is you don't want to hold your breath and not breathe, for example, for five or even more strokes because in this way, you always swim in the oxygen deficit, which then leads to being out of breath after just two laps. There are two ways to breathing freestyle. If you breathe every second stroke on only one dominant side, as soon as your face hits the water, you're going to exhale straight away and then rotate again to the side to take another breath. This is the simplest way to breathing freestyle. I breathe like that, as well as the majority of my students. And another way you can breathing freestyle is bilateral breathing. Breathing to both sides. For example, breathing every third, every fifth, or every seventh stroke. And here, you won't make it to the next breath on the side if you exhale straight away with your face on the water. And what you really want to do here is you want to inhale, put your face on the water, and then blow very small but continuous bubbles. And as you have one stroke left before you turn your head to the side, you're going to do a one big puff, one big exhale, and then you're going to turn your head to the side to breathe in. This way, you can regulate your breathing and actually stick to a sustainable breathing pattern that won't get you out of breath after just one lap. The real controversy is that you have to breathe on both sides, which is absolutely not true. You have to learn and be comfortable with breathing on both sides, but you don't have to stick to this pattern because it's not the only right way. Breathing on one dominant side has been the main breathing pattern for many students and for me personally for many reasons. And one of them is if you get comfortable with the breathing pattern on one dominant side, you now can actually focus on other aspects of your stroke. But how can you work on anything else if breathing feels super uncomfortable and it's all you think about when you're swimming? I know athletes who break their PBs and manage to swim across the English Channel breathing on only one dominant side. So pick your side and keep your breathing low and relaxed. When it comes to breathing drills, here you want to practice the timing, your low head position, and various breathing patterns. The first drill is actually a very simple drill. You're going to just kick. It's going to be a kicking drill in fins, but here you're going to breathe on the side and not front. And here what you want to do is you want to think about almost looking at your feet as you breathe. Don't lift your head too high. Inhale on the side, then put your face back in the water and exhale gradually. So what you're going to do, you're going to do four times 25 meters alternating sides. So you're going to breathe 25 only on your right and then 25 only on your right. And actually if you want more drills, I have 20 drill course and the link is down below. Another drill is actually a progression from the drill number one. Just here, you're going to add an arm stroke. So trying to sink, really breathing with your arm stroke. And the same principle, you're going to inhale on the side as your arm is pulling and the top of your head breaks the water in front of you. Then you're going to bring your face back in the water and then move your arm back to the next catch. Again, you can use here the kickboard and the fins to eliminate any unnecessary thoughts. And the only focus for you here will be your side breathing. So do a set of four 25s alternating arms and alternating sides every 25. Our next drill is an advanced one, but truly pushing you to breathe as low as you possibly can while also adding some rotation in your upper body. You're going to kick in fins, but keeping both of your arms by the side. So here the main idea is to regulate your breathing without adding any additional help. If you bring your head too high, you will immediately feel that bow wave isn't formed. You can alternate sides as you wish every other breath or every other lap. For example, you're going to do four 25s and you can breathe only on your right and then only on your left or one time on your right, one time on your left, whatever feels comfortable for you. Another drill here is practicing our breathing pattern, inhale, small bubbles, big exhale, and then inhale again. So you can do this by standing next to the wall. And as you feel more comfortable, you can move to actually swimming. And here, what you really want to do is you want to practice that exact pattern where you inhale, you put your face on the water, you blow small bubbles. And until it's one stroke left before you turn your head to the side, you're going to do a big and powerful pop. And as you do that, you're going to rotate to the side for a new breath. You're going to do a set again of four 25s where you can do three, three, five, five, seven, seven, alternate different breathing pattern. And if you can do nine, nine, it's absolutely incredible. So this is an amazing drill to actually practice that breathing timing and this really nice breathing pattern of like inhale, small bubbles, big pop, and inhale again. You can also play with breathing and swim 25s for as long as you can without breathing and then really easy comeback. So let's say you're going to do four times 50s or 25 or 20 or 18, as long as you can. You're going to hold your breath and swim without breathing. And then coming back 25 or as much as you can, easy comeback, breathing normal, freestyle, regular. As well as another breathing pattern that will force you to actually think specifically about how you're exhaling, how you're inhaling to the side and actually count your stroke. And this breathing pattern is actually really simple. It's the two, three, two, five breathing pattern. So how are you going to do this? You're going to do two strokes and then you're going to breathe on your right. Then you're going to do three strokes and you're going to breathe on your left. Then you're going to do two strokes again and again breathe on your left. And you're going to finish it with five strokes and breathing on your right. If it's too difficult at the start, you can do two, three, two, three and then move to two, three, two, five. And this will actually help you to practice different breathing patterns within one lap and the inhale and exhale technique. The main idea when it comes to breathing is to practice the timing and your low head position and doing it step-by-step. So if you enjoyed this video, please check the video right here. And if you want to work with me one-on-one, the link is down below. See you in the next one.