When I came up with the idea to host a 6 Week Swim Challenge, I wanted to include the knowledge of a variety of swim coaches so I asked several swim coaches to participate and share their wisdom and experience. Throughout the next six weeks I’ll be sharing my advice as well as those of my fellow coaches and I’ll always credit them as well as share their contact information in case a reader would like to hire them.
But first…Congratulations Vivian Workman! You’ve won a free pair of Blueseventy swim goggles. Look for an email from me to get you those free goggles.
When I asked the other swim coaches what advice they have for new and improving swimmers, many brought up the very important point of being calm. It’s very difficult to breathe easily when a person is under a high amount of stress and anxiety.
One of the first assessments a swimmer needs to make is, “Am I comfortable? Do I feel calm?” If the answer is no, then it would be much better to first do the work of being calm and comfortable in the water BEFORE trying to work on one’s swim technique. I would recommend to make sure you are in a shallow enough area of the pool where you can put your feet down at any time. Some pools have a shallow area for kids and water exercise and this can be an excellent place to work on remaining calm.
Coach Stacey Miller (www.sonicendurance.com) has the following advice to share:
Start with Basics:
Adult onset swimmers have no muscle memory to pull from so the first steps of learning to float and breathe are key. So start with putting your face in the water and learning to breathe. You can progress to floating and using a kick board to work on these skills. Find a pool that has a shallow end to help ease any anxiety.
Mastering the breathing, can help to calm the nerves associated with swimming. The goal is to not ignite the flight or flight, parasympathetic system that tells your brain it is in danger.
Work from a place of comfort, not fear. Master the basic skills prior to trying to swim full lengths of the pool.
I agree whole-heartedly. One drill that I’ve used with new swimmers who are learning to breathe is bob up and down with their feet on the bottom of the pool, in the shallow end. When the head comes out of the water, open the mouth and take a passive breathe (as compared to an active inhale). Then bob underneath the water and exhale. Try exhaling through just the mouth, just the nose, and both at the same time to see which works best for you. As you return to the surface and your head is in the clear air, simply open your mouth allowing for a passive inhale. Continue bobbing up and down until exhaling underwater feels natural. Do not hold your breath. You want the exhale to begin as soon as your face is under water and it’s the same when swimming - do NOT hold your breath.
From there, you can progress to feet on the bottom of the pool, bent over at the waist so that face is in the water as it would be swimming. Practice the inhale/exhale as above, this time by rotating the face out of the water to breathe and rotating the face back in the water to exhale. Make sure to get out all of the air while your face is underwater. One common mistake is to attempt to both exhale and inhale when the face is out of the water. This leads to hypoxia breathing. It’s the opposite of calm breathing.
From here, you can progress to holding on the the wall, legs extended with a light kick and practice your breathing some more. Just like I had to do for several sessions before the Masters Coach would let me swim a length of the pool. In case you missed my introduction to swimming you can read it here.
As athletes we are impatient and we want to jump straight to the advanced techniques but this is an excellent reminder that we need to master the basics. And there’s nothing more basic that breathing when it comes to swimming.
If you are a swimmer who needs to rest 30 seconds or more at the wall after one length of the pool, this tells me that you are not exhaling under water and you are creating hypoxia.
“The biggest things I see adult onset swimmers struggle with are breathing, being comfortable, and body position. Remember to exhale when your face is in the water (blow bubbles if you need to to remember), because you will get more air on your inhale if you aren’t trying to do both when you turn your head. Sounds simple, but most people don’t do this when they start swimming.” - Coach Meg (tmtcoaching.com)
Many of you are comfortable in the water already and comfortable breathing; so what should you be working on when it comes to breathing?
Many of the coaches I asked to contribute also mentioned the importance of learning to breathe keeping one goggle in the water. This is a drill that I also use quite a bit and tomorrow’s blog will be all about it’s importance as well as several videos to demonstrate the drill.
Talk to you more tomorrow. Please drop any questions you might have in the comments.
Coach Stacey Miller is the Founder of Sonic Endurance https://sonicendurance.com/who-we-are/coach-stacey/
Coach Megan Tobin lives in Boulder, CO where she does one on one coaching both in the pool and open water. She also puts on open water swim clinics in Northern California at various times. Contact Megan for more info. tmtcoaching.com