Finding Air Part 1

The breathing moment in freestyle is challenging, no doubt about it. The head must move across the path of which the body is traveling to find a tiny pocket of air in which you have a very brief moment to inhale. In order to make this moment as seamless as possible the body needs to retain alignment and balance like a non breathing stroke. Fail to do this and you will decelerate.

The most common breathing patterns are to roll to the air every second, third or fourth stroke. This is 50%, 33%, or 25% of the strokes taken. It is well worth the practice to refine the breathing moment and reduce the risk of decelerating 50%, 33%, or 25% of the time.

Ultimately we are looking to maintain speed and momentum during a breath.

During a lesson last week at the Discovery Aquatics studio, we examined one particular area of the stroke that was impacting the swimmers ability to maintain momentum during the breath. We looked specifically at where she was placing the weight of the recovery arm during the breath. The image below was from her first section of swimming. The recovery arm is pulled up and back across towards the spine.

The weight of the arm in this position causes the body to submerge, making access to air more difficult. The head must roll further around to find the air, or be pushed upwards to find the air….or both.

During the lesson we worked towards the optimal positioning of the recovery arm to give the body stability. This will enable a swimmer to find the air with greater ease and maintain forward momentum. The image below shows a more stable recovery position.

The weight of the arm in this position will help keep the body in a hydrodynamic position, making access to the air easier. The head can roll just enough to find the pocket of air and stay aligned with the spine. It is far less likely that the body will decelerate now.

If we look at before and after images from the side, we can see how the head and body are aligned with the change in recovery arm position.

The swimmer could really feel a difference in her breathing moment on the left. She was able to detect her momentum continuing, and she was able to access the air with ease. As she continued to swim, some breathing moments were better than others. This is totally normal, but her increased awareness and feel, allowed her to detect the less integrated breaths, and make adjustments to the next breathing cycle.

Coach Dinah