The Swimming Expert

QUESTION:

Hi Gary,

My 9 & half year son is a decent freestyle swimmer.  One very major fault he carries is ” Spreading / Bending legs while breathing – he also turns his head more than required”  he breaths every 3 strokes. How to fix this?

Thanks, Divakar

ANSWER:

Hi Divakar,

In freestyle, many young swimmers will spread or bend their legs while breathing.  From my experience they do this for a few different reasons.

One is to stay balanced in the water as their body is turning to the side to breath. Some children feel as though they may “tip over” so they widen their legs when they are breathing to remain stable in the water. To correct this they should maintain a kicking motion up and down right throughout the breath.  While this will feel strange initially, it will help them very quickly to fix the problem.

A second reason is that some children who really like breaststroke, tend to do a wider kick whenever they take a breath (sometimes even a breaststroke kick).  Once again, maintaing a freestyle kick up and down throughout a breath, even if it feels strange at first, is what they need to do.

You also mention that your son turns his head more than required when breathing.  Encourage him to look along the water with his top eye and keep his cheek and ear well in the water when breathing.  Experienced swimmers also keep the corner of their mouth in or very close to the water.

Hope this helps.

Regards

Gary

The Swimming Expert

QUESTION:

Hi   I am 58 and have been swimming all my live unfortunately without any formal training. I have developed over the years a right shoulder injury due to only breathing to my left side. I have read all your articles related to breathing on both sides but still find it very difficult to breath to my right. Every time I force myself I concentrate to much on it that I completely forget to exhale underwater. I swim 8-15 km per week. Any advice?   Thank you   Hugo, Pretoria, South Africa

ANSWER:

Hi Hugo, Often when a person breathes on one side (for example your left side) the right arm tends to come right under the body and complete a powerful stroke and therefore has alot of resistance against it.  The left hand tends to stay a little bit wider during the underwater pull (because there is no breathing on the right side) and does not have quite the same pressure on it.  When this is done often enough over many years, one shoulder may get a little sorer than the other.

Yes, breathing on both sides would help you, however if you have tried this and cannot do it then work on making sure that both arms and hands do exactly the same stroke pattern underwater so that they take equal responsibility for moving you forward in freestyle.  Also make sure your right hand enters in a fairly flat position out in front and not angled so that the right thumb goes in first.  Hope that makes sense!

Regards

Gary

The Swimming Expert

QUESTION:

When starting to teach children freestyle arms and breathing could I please have your opinion whether we should teach 2,3 or 4 arms.

Is there any reason why all swimmers should bilateral breath? Or can they breath two & four strokes and  be just as strong and smooth in the water as a bilateral swimmer?  Any feedback back would be greatly appreciated.  Regards K

ANSWER:

Hi K, When teaching children freestyle I believe when armstrokes are introduced that 4 strokes is a good number to start with.  The reason for this is that it will often take them one, two or even three strokes to get the stroke pattern right each time.  If they only do 2 or 3 strokes they may struggle to do it correctly or make any necessary changes in just a few strokes.  I would also just practice 4 strokes with the right arm OR 4 strokes with the left arm initially before beginning a combination of one arm after the other.

In regards to breathing, I believe that they should learn to breath on both sides.

Drill 1: An initial drill would be freestyle kick with the board with the right hand holding the board and left hand by their side.  Ask them to do freestyle kick whilst blowing out bubbles and then turn their head to the left side to breath in and then turn it back down, then repeat each time they need a breath.  This can also be done with the left hand holding the board and breathing on the right hand side.

Drill 2: A similar drill can be used next with the right hand holding the board out in front and the left hand sitting out in front under the board, ready to pull through.  Every time the child needs a breath they should begin an armstroke with their left hand and turn to breath on their left side and then place their head back into the water until they need another breath in.  This can be practised on both sides of the body too so that the child learns to breath equally on both sides.

Drill 3: Single arm freestyle is a good drill to do next.  This can be done initially with the left arm and breathing on the left hand side and then with the right arm breathing on the right hand side.

When a child starts swimming at least 15 to 25 metres freestyle, they should learn to breath with various breathing patterns.  This includes breathing every 4 strokes, both on the left hand side and the right hand side.

It also means introducing breathing every 3 strokes so that they learn to alternate which side they breath. Bilateral breathing is a good skill for swimmers to be able to do as it teaches them to rotate equally on both sides of the body and to breath on both sides. It also means that if they choose (or their teacher/coach chooses) to breath on one side only, they can put in a 3 stroke breath every now and then to see what is happening on the other side of the pool.

Over time young children will like one breathing pattern over another.  Some will choose breathing every 3, others will choose every 2 or 4 (I prefer breathing every 4 for young children as it helps them to keep their head still rather than moving it all the time, and also helps to build up their lung capacity and breath control) and some will do a combination eg 4 4 3 3 4 4 where they will do a majority of breaths on the one side but still stick some 3′s in every now and then to provide balance.

Overall, a swimmer who breaths on one side can be just and strong and smooth as a swimmer who breaths bilaterally so it is worth teaching an experimenting over time with both.

Regards

Gary