Long-Distance Swimming: Optimal Breathing, Exhalation, and Drills

What type of breathing is most beneficial for long distance swimming?

For long-distance swimming, the most beneficial breathing technique is bilateral breathing, synchronized with a consistent and complete exhalation underwater to optimize oxygen intake, maintain stroke symmetry, and minimize drag.

The Critical Role of Breathing in Long-Distance Swimming

Breathing in swimming is far more than just taking air in; it's a finely tuned skill that directly impacts efficiency, endurance, and injury prevention. Unlike land-based activities where breathing is often subconscious, in swimming, it requires deliberate coordination with body rotation, arm recovery, and leg kick. For long-distance swimming, where sustained effort is paramount, optimal breathing mechanics become the cornerstone of performance. Poor breathing can lead to increased drag, muscular imbalances, premature fatigue, and even panic.

Understanding the Core Principle: Bilateral Breathing

Bilateral breathing refers to the practice of alternating the side on which you breathe during your freestyle stroke. Typically, this means breathing every three strokes (right, left, right, breathe; left, right, left, breathe). While some elite sprinters might employ unilateral (one-sided) breathing for brief periods, bilateral breathing is overwhelmingly recommended for endurance and long-distance events.

Why Bilateral Breathing is Superior for Endurance

The advantages of bilateral breathing extend beyond simple oxygen acquisition, encompassing critical physiological and biomechanical benefits:

• Optimized Oxygen Uptake and Carbon Dioxide Expulsion: By consistently exhaling underwater and taking regular breaths, you maintain a more stable blood gas balance. This prevents the buildup of carbon dioxide, which can trigger the urge to breathe sooner and lead to hyperventilation or shallow breathing, ultimately limiting oxygen delivery to working muscles.
• Enhanced Stroke Symmetry and Balance: Breathing to one side repeatedly can lead to muscular imbalances in the neck, shoulders, and upper back. This asymmetry can cause your body to deviate from a straight line, increasing drag and making it harder to maintain a consistent pace. Bilateral breathing promotes even development and flexibility, keeping your stroke balanced and your body aligned.
• Improved Proprioception and Body Awareness: By practicing breathing on both sides, swimmers develop a more acute sense of their body's position in the water. This heightened proprioception contributes to better body roll, which is essential for an efficient freestyle stroke and helps engage core muscles more effectively.
• Reduced Drag and Hydrodynamic Efficiency: Lifting your head to breathe disrupts the streamlined position of your body. Bilateral breathing encourages a lower head position and a more integrated body roll, minimizing the frontal drag profile and allowing you to glide more efficiently through the water.
• Adaptability to Environmental Factors: In open water swimming, conditions like waves, currents, or the position of other swimmers might make breathing to one side difficult. Bilateral breathing provides the versatility to adapt and breathe comfortably on either side as needed.

The Indispensable Role of Exhalation: The Foundation of Efficient Breathing

While we often focus on inhaling, the most critical component of efficient swimming breathing is complete and continuous exhalation underwater. This is arguably more important than the inhale itself.

• Clears Carbon Dioxide: Your body's primary driver for breathing is the need to expel carbon dioxide, not necessarily to take in oxygen. By fully exhaling underwater, you eliminate waste gases, creating the necessary physiological space for a fresh, deep inhale.
• Facilitates a Quick Inhale: When you fully exhale, your lungs are emptied, allowing for a rapid, efficient inhale of fresh, oxygen-rich air when you turn your head. If you hold your breath or only partially exhale, your lungs remain partially full of stale air, making it harder to take a full, beneficial breath.
• Maintains Buoyancy and Body Position: Holding your breath leads to air trapped in your lungs, which can make your chest and head float higher, causing your hips and legs to sink. This creates significant drag. Continuous, controlled exhalation helps maintain a flatter, more streamlined body position.
• Promotes Relaxation and Rhythm: Holding your breath creates tension throughout your body. Continuous exhalation promotes a more relaxed state, allowing for a smoother, more rhythmic stroke. This rhythm is crucial for maintaining pace over long distances.

Breathing Frequency and Rhythm for Endurance

The optimal breathing frequency for long-distance swimming is typically every two or three strokes.

• Breathing Every Two Strokes (Unilateral): While providing more frequent oxygen, this can lead to the muscular imbalances and asymmetrical stroke mentioned earlier if consistently done to one side. It's often used by sprinters or for short, intense bursts.
• Breathing Every Three Strokes (Bilateral): This is the gold standard for long-distance. It allows for consistent oxygen intake while promoting stroke symmetry and balance. It requires good body rotation and coordination.
• Adaptability: Swimmers should be able to adapt their breathing frequency based on intensity. During lower intensity or recovery periods, breathing less frequently (e.g., every 5-7 strokes for short periods) can help with focus on technique. During higher intensity intervals, increasing frequency to every two or three strokes is beneficial. The key is to avoid breath-holding.

Common Breathing Mistakes to Avoid

• Holding Your Breath: The most common and detrimental mistake. It leads to CO2 buildup, increased tension, and poor body position.
• Lifting Your Head Too High: This breaks your streamlined body position, causes your hips to sink, and creates significant drag. Your head should rotate with your body, keeping one goggle in the water.
• Shallow Breathing (Gasping): Often a result of incomplete exhalation or panic. It provides insufficient oxygen and can lead to hyperventilation.
• Breathing Only to One Side: Leads to muscular imbalances, asymmetrical stroke, and limited adaptability.
• Breathing Forward (instead of to the side): Causes the body to lift and sink, creating a lot of drag. Breathing should be a rotation of the head to the side, maintaining a flat back.

Drills to Improve Your Swimming Breathing

• Exhalation Drills: Practice exhaling completely and continuously into the water, bubbles streaming from your mouth and nose. Focus on emptying your lungs fully before turning to breathe.
• Side Kicking with Breathing: Hold a kickboard in front of you and kick on your side, maintaining a streamlined body position. Practice breathing by rotating your head to the surface, keeping one goggle in the water. Alternate sides.
• One-Arm Swimming: Swim freestyle using only one arm, keeping the other arm extended forward. This forces greater body rotation and helps you feel the timing of your breath with your stroke. Practice breathing to both sides.
• Fingertip Drag Drill: Focus on a high elbow recovery. As you pull, ensure your head is turning with your body rotation, allowing for a natural breath.
• Build-Up Sets: Start with a comfortable breathing pattern (e.g., every 3 strokes) and gradually increase intensity, noting how your breathing rhythm changes and how you maintain efficiency.

Conclusion: Integrating Breathing for Optimal Performance

For long-distance swimming, the "most beneficial" breathing is not a single, rigid rule but a holistic approach centered on bilateral breathing combined with continuous, complete exhalation underwater. This strategy ensures optimal oxygen delivery, promotes stroke symmetry, minimizes drag, and conserves energy over extended periods. Mastering these principles, through consistent practice and mindful attention to your body's rhythm, will not only enhance your endurance and speed but also transform your overall swimming experience. Embrace the water, and let your breath be your guide.