How to Teach Proper Breathing for Swimming

Teaching swimmers breathing techniques can be a challenging task. Breathing incorrectly while underwater can throw your entire swimming practice off balance. It can be difficult to integrate breathing into your swimming pattern, but mastering breathing techniques can improve your strokes and times. By learning a few simple steps of proper breathing for swimmers, you will be able to successfully teach other swimmers how to breathe advantageously.

Instructions

    • 1

      Breathe into the trough of water you create while swimming. When swimming, the water levels drop near the sides of your face. The slightly lower water levels provide the perfect pocket for you to catch your breath.

    • 2

      Practice finding the air pocket. Slip on a pair of fins and swim forward with one arm in front of you and the other arm near your hip. Keep your eyes focused on the bottom of the pool, and slowly start kicking to gain momentum. Turn your head slightly until your find the air pocket.

    • 3

      Inhale when coming up for breath, and exhale while your head is underwater. Trying to exhale above water will slow you down and can affect your coordination.

    • 4

      Avoid lifting and over-rotating your head. When you lift your head out of the water to breathe, your legs will naturally go the opposite direction. You don't want your legs to go downward, because you will lose your rhythm swimming. Rotating your head too far out of the water will slow you down and can also alter your rhythm. Breathing while swimming only takes a slight rotation of your head to find the air pocket.