How to master the breathing when swimming Front Crawl

"I can swim, I just can't do the breathing".

Here’s a phrase the swim coaches at CreateFit have heard quite a lot over the years and something we hope to shed some light on.

Whereas we understand what is really meant by saying this, the fact is, you have already mastered breathing in life and soon enough you will also have mastered swimming too. The challenge lies in how these two elements work and fit together while moving through an environment that feels as though it’s doing all it can to stop you from breathing.

From experience, the stroke that causes the biggest challenge with this is the Front Crawl (to clarify, this is sometimes referred to as Freestyle. Note Freestyle is the name of the event whereby you would be permitted to swim any of the strokes without being disqualified. Swimmers will use the Front Crawl stroke option as it’s the fastest ((just!)) giving them the best chance of winning ((obvs!))).

It’s likely that when attempting to learn Front Crawl with breathing, swimmers can experience what I call the Breathing Panic Cycle.

1. Begin swimming already feeling tense and anxious about the concept of trying to breathe at the same time as swimming

2. Swimming with tension restricts the breathing opportunity and any possible relaxation

3. This leads to more tension, fighting through the water, excessive energy used and greater breathlessness

4. Becomes too exhausting to sustain, resulting in stopping and further strengthening  any existing limiting beliefs

There can be many psychological and physical reasons why we feel compromised when attempting to breathe whilst swimming Front Crawl. Here are some that might sound familiar:

1. There’s not enough time to breathe

2. Feel vulnerable breathing close to the surface

3. Struggle to get your mouth clear of the surface

4. Feel as though you need to lift your head up in order to breathe

5. Don't want to put your face in the water

6. Feel as though you can’t breathe out / exhale underwater

7. Unsure when you should breathe out

8. Unsure how often you should breathe

9. Front Crawl feels more demanding when you breathe compared to when you just hold your breath keeping your head in the water

10. Feels like you sink when you turn to breathe

11. Legs drop low when you turn to breathe

12. Yet to achieve it so you currently don’t believe it is possible

There’s an awful lot of blame we could attribute to breathing when really it should be viewed as our friend and not our enemy. It’s part of the solution not the problem. We are able to do nearly everything in life without breathing……. obviously just not for very long, but yet we deem it as being the most important aspect when learning how to swim.

Of course our survival depends partly on being able to breathe, however, breathing while swimming does not mean you’re an excellent swimmer. Swimming with excellent timing, technique and efficiency is what makes you an excellent swimmer. Breathing is simply a way to sustain this excellent medley of coordinated skills. So let’s not put it so high on the importance list from the onset of our learning.

If we have fluid propulsion, efficient timing, relaxed steady state swimming, this will create a consistent rhythm, a strong trust and an almost meditative state in your movement. We always breathe best when we are relaxed while breathing in a consistent rhythm and in a trusted situation. Let’s concentrate on forming a stroke foundation before showing breathing where to fit into this.

Here are some things to try when practicing:

1. Take the breathing away. Swim without it for a few strokes. Don’t breath hold too long and keep it safe but allow yourself to build the confidence in a fluid stroke before adding in the breathing.

2. Try breathing to both sides. Either the left or right will feel easiest as we always have a preferred side. You may wish to play to your strengths and focus only on the most comfortable side to help you crack the breathing before attempting it on the opposite side.

3. Avoid over breathing. Remember to inhale some air before then exhaling some. I’m being purposefully vague using the word ‘some’.  You wouldn’t be able to measure it accurately even if I were to be more precise. When we think about breathing with swimming we tend to fully fill our lungs instead of taking a normal breath. Full inhales followed by full exhales is unsustainable.

4. Don’t forget to exhale. So many people state how exhaling underwater is their challenge. They’re in the habit of holding onto this breath not making space for a new breath and avoiding the exchange required for sustainability.

5. Wait until you are at the furthest point of rotation before attempting to breathe in. It’s safer to inhale when our mouth is at the furthest point from the surface.

6. Use a period of time while your face is underwater to exhale, allowing for more inhale time when your mouth is above the surface. Lots of people attempt breathing in and out when the face is above the surface making breathing too vulnerable and rushed in a very small window of opportunity.

7. Allow the body rotation to create most of the breathing setup instead of relying only on a head turn. We require both, body rotation and head turn. For more information read our article on The Wonderful Benefits of Front Crawl's Reach and Rotation.

8. Relax the returning arm over the surface of the water. If we bring our arms back fast and tense then we feel tense at the time of breathing as do we shorten our breathing window.

9. Inhale through your mouth and avoid nose breathing when inhaling.

10. Avoid gasping. Inhale with a relaxed intention keeping the airway open. A tense gasp can naturally restrict our airway at the best of times.

11. Try changing your breathing frequency to find one that suits your breathing needs. The most frequent is every two strokes, every other stroke, every left or every right (they are all the same by the way!). Other than that you could decrease the frequency by increasing the amount of strokes between breaths to three, four, five etc. I wouldn’t leave it too long between breaths as otherwise you’re encouraging oxygen debt.

12. Consider the timing of your head turn. Is it synchronised with the timing of your shoulder / body rotation. Often the head turn can be too late or early, minimising the breathing opportunity.

There are more tricks to try but you have twelve here to be getting on with.

It’s important to highlight that while practicing any of these there may be times when it might not “click” or can feel like it just isn’t going to work - really no different to learning any other skill that you’ve mastered in life. Reflect on why this is the case and have another go. Never use this as a reason to think you can’t do it. It’s that same limiting belief that’s stopped you from cracking easy breathing up until this point.

Here are some videos from our YouTube channel to illustrate Front Crawl breathing and some breathing drills that can help. If you, or someone you know, would like some support and guidance in learning how to swim or to improve and master any of their swimming strokes, we’d love to help.

CreateFit Swim Coach: Mark Durnford

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Front Crawl Breathing head timing and positioning

Body rotation with front crawl