Breathing Technique

swimhag said:

Has anyone ever heard of a method of breathing where you hold your
breath and then when you are finishing your stroke you breathe out
forcefully? I was under the impression that it was best to slowly
exhale throughout the stroke cycle so that you have fully exhaled just
as it is time to take a new breath in the next stroke cycle. Is this
holding your breath method a new technique? It seems like it might
cause one to go hypoxic.

-GH

It doesn't sound like a good idea to me. Where did you hear about it?

"swimhag" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Has anyone ever heard of a method of breathing where you hold your
breath and then when you are finishing your stroke you breathe out
forcefully? I was under the impression that it was best to slowly
exhale throughout the stroke cycle so that you have fully exhaled just
as it is time to take a new breath in the next stroke cycle.

It is sufficient to exhale in time for the next inhalation, to ensure as
complete an exchange of air as possible. "Holding" the breath can be a
useful technique is certain situations - where increased bouyancy is
desired, just as exhaling early can be useful where, for instance, decreased
cross-sectional area is an advantage.

Howevere, most inhalation and exhalation is performed in synchrony with the
stroke actions. This is least obvious in Back Crawl, although some writers
on Back Crawl techinque have suggested that swimmers inhale on one arm and
exhale on the other. The breathing synchrony is most obvious in
Breaststroke and Butterfly - the former simply because of the chest
compression that the arm action produces, the latter partly for the same
reason, but in many cases there is a momentary "holding" of the breath to
increase trunk rigidity while doing the second kick (this is known by te
technical term Valvasa manoeuver).

In Front Crawl breathing synchrony is achieved differently - typically the
inalation is while one arm is being extended, which increases the chest
capacity; and exhalation while an arm is being drawn down along the body,
decreasing chest capacity. This is the primary cause of assymetrical
stroking; some swimmers being alternately assymetrical as they breath in
some form of left-right alternating pattern.

Quoted message said:

Is this
holding your breath method a new technique?

No.

Quoted message said:

It seems like it might cause one to go hypoxic.

No.

You are getting pretty much the same volume of air per unit time (or work).
The slight change of breathing rhythm will have essentially no effect on the
oxygenation of the blood, and although there may be slight effects on the
stroke (and thus breathing) frequency, and/or the amount of work done, these
will in no way approach the length of time without or the diminution of,
exchange necessary for hypoxia.

swimhag said:

Has anyone ever heard of a method of breathing where you hold your
breath and then when you are finishing your stroke you breathe out
forcefully? I was under the impression that it was best to slowly
exhale throughout the stroke cycle so that you have fully exhaled just
as it is time to take a new breath in the next stroke cycle. Is this
holding your breath method a new technique? It seems like it might
cause one to go hypoxic.

-GH

You might look up hypercapnia, which has to do with too much CO2. I
don't think you could go hypoxic using this technique, but if it is
unconmfortable, my guess is the discomfort is too much CO2.

It's often said we should be thinking about exhaling as our mouths
finally clear the water and then start sucking in air. It's a little
counter-intuitive but I've tried it from time to time when I remember
to think about it and it actually has some merit. I think it allows
some of the final used up air to be expelled.

Most elites will hold their breath for a little bit as soon as their
faces return to the water. I strongly suspect that it's because they
are most bouyant at that point. So if they can hold onto the air for a
moment, they will ride a little bit higher overall during their stroke
cycle. For an example of this, you can look at Michael Phelps
swimming. His video is about half way down the page in the freestyle
section below:

http://www.buehlerbluemarlins.net/videos/barcelona2003/barcelona.html

Eric

Quoted message said:

Most elites will hold their breath for a little bit as soon as their
faces return to the water. I strongly suspect that it's because they
are most bouyant at that point. So if they can hold onto the air for a
moment, they will ride a little bit higher overall during their stroke
cycle. For an example of this, you can look at Michael Phelps
swimming. His video is about half way down the page in the freestyle
section below:

http://www.buehlerbluemarlins.net/videos/barcelona2003/barcelona.html

Great video Eric! You are correct, the theory behind this "breath
holding" was that it will keep more air in the lungs and allow better
buoyancy. However, the instructor who suggests this method says not to
breathe out through the nose at all, just the mouth, and to exhale as
quickly and forcefully as possible after the pulling hand has already
passed going under the head. Phelps seems to have some air coming out
of his nose and he doesn't seem to be really holding his breath as much
as allow it to distribute in his lungs right after inhaling then
exhaling as soon as he starts his pull after extension.

Tonight I tried holding my breath till after I pulled past my head and
then forcefully exhaled and found it exhausting unless I was swimming
very slowly. It may have some merit as a drill but I had trouble with
it when trying to go fast or trying it after doing butterfly. When
breathing every 3 strokes as opposed to every other stroke I did notice
that I hold the air a bit longer but still gradually exhale, not
forcefully after starting the final pull before the next breath. It is
the forceful exhalation that I have a problem executing. The
instructor said that if you can execute this technique you should NOT
be winded but I found the exact opposite unless I was just basically in
a cool down speed.

Does anyone know of any research on this?

-GH

"swimhag" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Most elites will hold their breath for a little bit as soon as their
faces return to the water. I strongly suspect that it's because they
are most bouyant at that point. So if they can hold onto the air for a
moment, they will ride a little bit higher overall during their stroke
cycle. For an example of this, you can look at Michael Phelps
swimming. His video is about half way down the page in the freestyle
section below:

http://www.buehlerbluemarlins.net/videos/barcelona2003/barcelona.html

Great video Eric! You are correct, the theory behind this "breath
holding" was that it will keep more air in the lungs and allow better
buoyancy. However, the instructor who suggests this method says not to
breathe out through the nose at all, just the mouth, and to exhale as
quickly and forcefully as possible after the pulling hand has already
passed going under the head. Phelps seems to have some air coming out
of his nose and he doesn't seem to be really holding his breath as much
as allow it to distribute in his lungs right after inhaling then
exhaling as soon as he starts his pull after extension.

Tonight I tried holding my breath till after I pulled past my head and
then forcefully exhaled and found it exhausting unless I was swimming
very slowly. It may have some merit as a drill but I had trouble with
it when trying to go fast or trying it after doing butterfly. When
breathing every 3 strokes as opposed to every other stroke I did notice
that I hold the air a bit longer but still gradually exhale, not
forcefully after starting the final pull before the next breath. It is
the forceful exhalation that I have a problem executing. The
instructor said that if you can execute this technique you should NOT
be winded but I found the exact opposite unless I was just basically in
a cool down speed.

Does anyone know of any research on this?

-GH

This is an interesting thread to me.

When I swam, before I retured into coaching, I *always* breathed in this
way, and I've always followed the thought that Eric brought up about
buoyancy. I tried the continuous exhalation cycle and didn't like it. I
wasn't going to comment on this string however until last night when I was
watching a movie...

Million Dollar Baby has a scene in it, when Clint Eastwood has just
reluctantly taken on Hillary Swank (as his trainee fighter, not as an
opponent)...he's in the process of teaching her the basics...anyway, he
observes that the reason she's so out of breath when fighting/working out is
because she's not breathing...a silly little anecdote I know, but for reason
it was interesting to me in light of this discussion....

....great movie though, especially from a coach-athlete relationship
perspective.

Anyway, the fact that I got through my whole career in what would appear to
be a harder style than I needed to employ if i'd just stuck with it, means
I'll be spending some time this week with my own athletes looking at this
aspect a little more closely.

Steve

"diablo" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Million Dollar Baby has a scene in it, when Clint Eastwood has just
reluctantly taken on Hillary Swank (as his trainee fighter, not as an
opponent)...he's in the process of teaching her the basics...anyway, he
observes that the reason she's so out of breath when fighting/working out

is

Quoted message said:

because she's not breathing

Holding the breath is a way of increasing trunk rigidity; commonly seen in
people who are activiities that require fixing of parts of the body relative
to others. Those most likely to do this are those who are in the learning
phases of such an activity - often without being aware of so doing.

I once saw a pottery student faint and fall face-first into the form on her
wheel; she had been concentrating so intently on her work that she had held
her breath (probably several times) to the point that she fainted. She
recovered a few moments later; from her instructor there was a mixture of
laughter and sympathy (the pot was, of course, ruined).

swimhag said:

Quoted message said:

Most elites will hold their breath for a little bit as soon as their
faces return to the water. I strongly suspect that it's because they
are most bouyant at that point. So if they can hold onto the air for a
moment, they will ride a little bit higher overall during their stroke
cycle. For an example of this, you can look at Michael Phelps
swimming. His video is about half way down the page in the freestyle
section below:

http://www.buehlerbluemarlins.net/videos/barcelona2003/barcelona.html

Great video Eric! You are correct, the theory behind this "breath
holding" was that it will keep more air in the lungs and allow better
buoyancy.

I can't see the buoyancy effect of holding the breath and exhaling
violently being worth it. The difference in buoyancy between the case of
exhaling continuously and the case of exhaling in a short burst can't be
all that great, given that for the first half of the exhale the lungs
are relatively full. Actually, I see that as I exhale continuously, I do
it slowly at the start and much faster as my head turns to the side. If
the body is correctly positioned, I think the time to overcome the
inertia to start sinking would be significant, maybe longer than the
time to start the next breath.

Quoted message said:

However, the instructor who suggests this method says not to
breathe out through the nose at all, just the mouth, and to exhale as
quickly and forcefully as possible after the pulling hand has already
passed going under the head. Phelps seems to have some air coming out
of his nose and he doesn't seem to be really holding his breath as much
as allow it to distribute in his lungs right after inhaling then
exhaling as soon as he starts his pull after extension.

You are probably seeing him right off the turn. Everybody exhales
through the nose a bit off the turn to clear the water out that gets in
while you are upside down in the turn.

Quoted message said:

Tonight I tried holding my breath till after I pulled past my head and
then forcefully exhaled and found it exhausting unless I was swimming
very slowly. It may have some merit as a drill but I had trouble with
it when trying to go fast or trying it after doing butterfly. When
breathing every 3 strokes as opposed to every other stroke I did notice
that I hold the air a bit longer but still gradually exhale, not
forcefully after starting the final pull before the next breath. It is
the forceful exhalation that I have a problem executing. The
instructor said that if you can execute this technique you should NOT
be winded but I found the exact opposite unless I was just basically in
a cool down speed.

You might be developing your "forceful exhalation" by restricting the
flow. That's not what the instructor means. Relax everything in the air
passage and use the diaphram. It's more like the way that big pillowy
thing collapses that you jump into from a burning building. You just let
all the air go.

having been a synchronized swimmer for a while, i might offer some insight
on this..

When a lot of people swim, they synchronize their breathing to their
strokes, much like jtaylor described. experienced swimmers tend to be able
to use their oxygen a little more efficiently, and will hold their breath
some to maximize speed (the less you pick up your head, the faster you go -
there is an old swimmers saying - "breathing is essential for life, but not
the 50 free"😉. by forcefully breathing out before you take your next
breath, you're exercising your diaphram and intercostal (rib) muscles,
which, over time, may help you to be able to take a faster, deeper breath.
By taking a faster, deeper breath, you can put your head back down faster
and longer, maximizing your speed. One of my friends (who swam on the
national team for several years) was given an "inhaler" by her trainer that
would increase resistance on inhaling air, so she could practice taking
quick, deep breaths when she wasn't actually in the water (working somewhat
similarly to an incentive spirometer for all you medical folks out there).

about becoming hypoxic - well.. your CO2 levels will only become dangerous
after holding your breath for about 2 minutes. Very experienced swimmers,
though, over time will unconsciously train their bodies to become more
efficient at utilizing oxygen in their bloodstream, and some very
experienced synchronized swimmers have been known to even subconsciously
slow their heartrate to slow their oxygen consumption (it's a
psychogenic-anxiety reducing technique thing - hard to explain here).

my experience in trying to change my breathing rythm, though, is that i lose
my synchronization with my stroke, and i end up being slower (waiting to
breath out all my air before i finish my stroke). what works best for me is
to just try to hold my breath for more strokes, cause when i need another
breath badly, i'll be blowing it out hard and taking in another one fast
regardless. but.. really what it comes down to is there are different
strokes for different folks.. 😉

"swimhag" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Has anyone ever heard of a method of breathing where you hold your
breath and then when you are finishing your stroke you breathe out
forcefully? I was under the impression that it was best to slowly
exhale throughout the stroke cycle so that you have fully exhaled just
as it is time to take a new breath in the next stroke cycle. Is this
holding your breath method a new technique? It seems like it might
cause one to go hypoxic.

-GH

somewhere in this post someone mentioned that from watching a video of
Phelps that it seemed he was blowing out a little bit through his nose while
he was swimming..

what that really is, is a function of pressure. while you can keep your
mouth shut while your face is in the water, you can't really use your facial
muscles to shut your nose (some people have a properly shaped nose and
correctly pointy maxilary flap, so they can purse their lips and thus plug
their nose). Anyways, when you swim, your body becomes somewhat like an
airplane wing, the water rushing past you creates a negative pressure around
your body, and poorly trapped air, which is subject to these forces, will
leak out your nose a little bit. Now, you can use extra energy to try extra
hard to hold that air in, but it's really more cost effective to let it go.

As far as i'm concerned (and i've been competitively swimming for over 20
years, teaching beginning swim lessons for about 10 on and off), breath
holding has nothing to do with buoyancy.. some of the most fantastic
swimmers i know sink like a rock when they're trying to float. your
position in relationship to the water surface has more to do with your body
position - if you keep your face down (looking at the bottom), your body
will be straighter, and you'll have an easier time staying on the surface.
if you pick your head up a lot, or swim with your head hyperextended, you'll
force your chest down, which will sink your whole body. it's the same idea
in backstroke. if you look at your feet, you'll sink your chest and your
whole body will follow.

"janet gripshover" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

having been a synchronized swimmer for a while, i might offer some insight
on this..

When a lot of people swim, they synchronize their breathing to their
strokes, much like jtaylor described. experienced swimmers tend to be
able to use their oxygen a little more efficiently, and will hold their
breath some to maximize speed (the less you pick up your head, the faster
you go - there is an old swimmers saying - "breathing is essential for
life, but not the 50 free"😉. by forcefully breathing out before you take
your next breath, you're exercising your diaphram and intercostal (rib)
muscles, which, over time, may help you to be able to take a faster,
deeper breath. By taking a faster, deeper breath, you can put your head
back down faster and longer, maximizing your speed. One of my friends
(who swam on the national team for several years) was given an "inhaler"
by her trainer that would increase resistance on inhaling air, so she
could practice taking quick, deep breaths when she wasn't actually in the
water (working somewhat similarly to an incentive spirometer for all you
medical folks out there).

about becoming hypoxic - well.. your CO2 levels will only become dangerous
after holding your breath for about 2 minutes. Very experienced swimmers,
though, over time will unconsciously train their bodies to become more
efficient at utilizing oxygen in their bloodstream, and some very
experienced synchronized swimmers have been known to even subconsciously
slow their heartrate to slow their oxygen consumption (it's a
psychogenic-anxiety reducing technique thing - hard to explain here).

my experience in trying to change my breathing rythm, though, is that i
lose my synchronization with my stroke, and i end up being slower (waiting
to breath out all my air before i finish my stroke). what works best for
me is to just try to hold my breath for more strokes, cause when i need
another breath badly, i'll be blowing it out hard and taking in another
one fast regardless. but.. really what it comes down to is there are
different strokes for different folks.. 😉

"swimhag" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Has anyone ever heard of a method of breathing where you hold your
breath and then when you are finishing your stroke you breathe out
forcefully? I was under the impression that it was best to slowly
exhale throughout the stroke cycle so that you have fully exhaled just
as it is time to take a new breath in the next stroke cycle. Is this
holding your breath method a new technique? It seems like it might
cause one to go hypoxic.

-GH

janet gripshover said:

what that really is, is a function of pressure. while you can keep your
mouth shut while your face is in the water, you can't really use your facial
muscles to shut your nose (some people have a properly shaped nose and
correctly pointy maxilary flap, so they can purse their lips and thus plug
their nose).

Ha, I am one of those - plug up my nose with my upper lip on turns and
sometimes on backstroke.

Quoted message said:

As far as i'm concerned (and i've been competitively swimming for over 20
years, teaching beginning swim lessons for about 10 on and off), breath
holding has nothing to do with buoyancy.. some of the most fantastic
swimmers i know sink like a rock when they're trying to float. your
position in relationship to the water surface has more to do with your body
position

This is my thinking as well. Particularly if one is breathing every
stroke I can't imagine that holding the breath and forcefully exhaling
towards the finish of the pull is going to contribute that much towards
buoyancy. I guess I never really thought about breathing that much as
it seems to just come naturally within the rhythm of my stroke. While
I don't agree with this method it has allowed me to gain awareness of
breathing patterns.

Examining the Lindsay Benko 400 free clip in this link:
http://www.buehlerbluemarlins.net/videos/barcelona2003/barcelona.html
I found that I pretty much do what she does. She breathes two times to
one side and then takes 3 pulls and switches side. (My pattern is
Right, Right, Left, Right, Right, Left, etc). From watching that clip
it appears as though she breathes out around the time she catches after
a one-sided cycle but holds the air for two pulls and starts exhaling
immediately as the third pull commences on the bilateral cycle. But I
don't feel like I am really holding my breath as much as pausing before
exhaling. It may just be my interpretation but when I hear "hold your
breath" I think of it as being taking a deep breath and holding it with
full lungs. It doesn't feel that way during my bilateral breathing
cycle and certainly not during the same side cycle. Maybe I disagree
with the semantics, esp the exhale forcefully bit (and not till the
hand is past the head - that part REALLY doesn't work, at least for
me). I would call it a pause, not holding my breath, and then a
release, not a forceful exhale.

Side note, today I was running and I noticed I use the same sort of
pattern when running. I don't breathe continuously - it is more like
take a breath, pause to let it hang in the lungs a moment then exhale -
not forcefully, just naturally. Seems swimming is quite similar for
me. Others may have their own method that works for them I guess.

Still can't seem to find any research on this though!

-GH

swimhag said:

Ha, I am one of those - plug up my nose with my upper lip on turns and
sometimes on backstroke.

You should look like this

http://cache.gettyimages.com/comp/53284113.jpg?x=x&dasite=GettyImages&ef=2&ev=1&dareq=AB27D050201094214317F8857160B5AF3F95497A2CFB906394D2604A015CF9DF

I don't think we can figure out how the elites breathing patterns are
given how short these clips are. That's because they have to keep an
eye on the competition. (Some of them do that, not all) In the 200m
clip of Benko, she breaths four times in a row to the right and none to
the left.

Eric