Conflicting advice abounds. How do you know what’s best?

I received an email from a reader recently asking about front crawl breathing. They get out of breath quickly and have been given so much different advice that they didn’t know what to try next.

Getting out of breath quickly is relatively common for new front crawl swimmers. It’s usually a technique problem rather than a fitness one. It typically results from fighting the water due to poor body position and balance, or trying to breathe both out and in while your head is in the air.

The usual steps to fix this are (1) learn to float and relax on your front and (2) breathe out while your face is in the water, and breathe in when your mouth is clear of the water.

The principles here are uncontroversial. The nuance and debate is in the detail.

Float first, then breathe

If this is something you struggle with, work on floating and balance first. It will be easier to concentrate on your breathing once you’re confident that you’re not sinking. In water you can stand up in, fill your lungs with air, hold your breath and float face down. Try leaning into the water and feeling it pushing back against you.

Once you’re comfortable with this, try gently exhaling while you’re lying in the water and notice how your balance and buoyancy change.

These exercises will help improve your awareness of body position, whatever level of swimmer you are.

Hold or gently release?

While it’s universally agreed that you should breathe out while your face is in the water, there are different ways to do this.

I was taught to hold my breath until just before turning my head, and then empty my lungs explosively. The idea here is that full lungs improve your buoyancy, which keeps you higher in the water and swimming faster.

The counterargument is that excess buoyancy in your chest pushes your legs down, increasing drag. Also, breath-holding may result in tension, whereas you will swim better if you relax.

Many coaches therefore recommend that you exhale gently and steadily while your face is in the water. Breathing out is relaxing, more in line with how you breathe naturally and helps with your balance in the water.

Context matters

The reason our reader received conflicting advice is that different people told him what works for them – but what works for your friend might not suit you.

Secondly, once you’re comfortable with a breathing pattern, it becomes subconscious. You have to pay attention to notice what you do. If not, you might think you do one thing while you’re actually doing another. Ingrained habits are hard to change.

Also, how you breathe will be influenced by the type of swimming you are doing, and your overall breathing pattern.

For example, if I’m doing a 50m sprint, I might only take one or two breaths. I tend to hold my breath until just before I breathe, and let the air out explosively. Balance isn’t an issue as I kick hard while sprinting, and I practise relaxing while holding my breath.

In contrast, if I’m doing a long distance open water swim, I usually breathe every two strokes and try to get into a steady rhythm of breathing out continuously while my face is in the water.

Back in the pool, in 100m or 200m races, I use a combined approach. Because stroke rate is higher than on a long distance swim, I don’t have time to expel all the air if I breathe out gently. Instead, I breathe out gently until just before I turn my head and then let go of the rest of the air explosively.

Nose or mouth?

The other question our reader asked is whether to breathe out through the nose of the mouth. I don’t think this matters greatly, but I do have some thoughts on it.

Breathing out through your nose helps prevent water from entering, and feels natural and relaxing. However, you have to breathe in through your mouth while swimming, so you may find it easier to breathe out through your mouth too. Also, if you’re letting air out explosively, that works better through your mouth.

You could also try breathing out gently through your nose and then emptying any remaining air through your mouth, or letting air out through your nose and mouth at the same time.

So what should I do?

The most important thing is to breathe out while your face is in the water. Trying to breathe out and in while your head is turned takes too much time.

But how you breathe out is less important, and you will probably eventually stop thinking about it. Still, it’s worth experimenting with the ideas discussed here and exploring what feels most natural to you.

But, before you do any of that, practise floating and balance!