Does anybody have breathing problems during swimming? I always get this sudden panic attack where my heartbeat increases and I can't breathe normally and have to stop and tread for air. Wonder is it psychological or what.
I also can't even hold my breath for the horizontal length of the pool. Anybody got tips on how to increase the breathing capacity? Occasional swimmer here with occasional swimmer friends that can hold their breath like nothing.
key thing in swimming is to relax. The faster and harder you swim, your resistance level against the water will shoot up exponentially.
Try to relax ,blank your mind and concentrate on your stroke and breathing. Counting your stroke helps too.
One of the training for breath is when doing freestyle(front crawl) , we will do alternate breathing. starting with a breath every 3 strokes, to every 5 stroke and so on and so forth.
it could be like this ,
1st 25m , breath every 3 strokes
2nd 25m , breath every 5 strokes
3rd 25m , breath every 7 strokes
4th 25m , breath every 9 strokes
there are advantages holding your breath in freestyle training , in this case,
since you are not breathing, you can
hold your head steady( this is important for your streamlining and body position) and concentrate on the rotation of your body.
Also , base on experience , the faster you hurry your stroke, the faster you will run out of air. So just relax your whole body , do one stroke at a time and concentrate on head being steady and your arm rotation .
hope this helps.
