The importance of Breathing and technique

Breathing and blowing bubbles may seem like a swimming skill learnt early and something that is easy for your child to do. Then once learnt your child does not need to worry about breathing again. Technical swimming of Freestyle, Breaststroke, Backstroke and Butterfly all use different breathing techniques. Breathing impacts, balance and alignment of the body in the water, buoyancy, propulsion and the effort each muscle in the body must do with every movement. Exhalation and inhalation must be synchronised with arm and leg movements for the variety of strokes, to be able to swim the stroke efficiently and effectively. The longer you exhale, the more easily the air exchange happens. When learning to breathe the exhale should be twice as long as the inhale.



For example, when a child is learning to swim technique Freestyle is not natural for humans to blow bubbles when their face is in the water, our instinct is to hold our breath for survival reasons. When you child is having to co-ordinate rolling their head to the side to breath on every 3-4 strokes, kick continuously and have both arms rotating simultaneously. They tend to hold their breath as they are thinking of so many other things.

By doing this they are hindering themselves entirely. When your child's lungs are full of air makes the chest too buoyant, making their body move up and down at their chest. This causes their legs to sink in the water, creating drag that is not needed. Their body feels heavier due to the drag and their movements feel more un controlled, resulting to reduced speed.

Breathing in general has been scientifically proven to relieves stress, helps calm the body and mind, improves mental clarity, focus, and concentration. When a child holds there breathe they tire quicker the body is tense and stiff, they also become heavy in the water and the movements of the stroke is done fast and uncontrolled. When a child masters the proper inhale and exhale for the desired stroke. There swims become calmer and controlled because they are using their energy correctly, and not using their energy to hold there breathe.

If you are unsure if your child has their breathing technique down pat the best way to check is to grab a pair of goggles and duck under water when they swim and check. The sign our instructors use underwater for bubbles is pointing to their mouth. This will give your child a visual reminder of what you need them to do. Another way to check is when you watch your child swim and they have a pause in their stroke when their face comes out of the water it means they are breathing in and out creating the stroke fault. Encourage them to remember to blow bubbles when their face is underwater and only breath in when their face comes out to create a smooth continuous stroke.

Breathing is key to an effective swim!