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 I don't know how I have to breathe because I'm drowning, how should I do it?

This is one of the questions of those who start swimming. The first thing we must be clear about is that we cannot breathe when we want, but when we can, when swimming sometimes we have our heads in the water which prevents us from breathing and we have to wait for our position to favor us, turning our heads to breathe , notice that I have written to turn not to take out, since the mouth must be taken out by turning the head so as not to take it out of the water with lifeguard course near me.



The way of breathing is very different from that of land sports, in which it is advisable to breathe in and out through the nose, the nostrils fulfill the function of humidifying the air and filtering it of impurities, only in strenuous activities is it advised to breathe through the mouth.

In swimming, you breathe in through your mouth and breathe out through your nose:


1:The air will be taken through the mouth because it is the fastest, since we have a limited time to breathe so as not to distort the swimming technique and also because by breathing through the mouth you control better that the water does not enter while we breathe in, if you do it by The nose is very likely to get water because the nostrils have a smaller diameter than the mouth and will collapse immediately with water, preventing the entry of air.

2: The air will be released through the nose because in this way we avoid the entry of water, many times we suck unintentionally, by releasing air we avoid it, also in this way we favor a better expulsion of CO 2 because as it takes longer to come out through the nose ( that you have more travel than through the mouth) allows time for the exchange of O 2 for CO 2 in the alveolus.

The breathing rhythm will be, breathe in fast in 1 or 2 seconds and breathe out slowly in 3 or 4 seconds.

Having said this, in our experience we have verified that there are students who do not adapt to releasing air through their nose and decide to release it through their mouth as well, preventing water from entering through their nose. Some even choose to put a clip on their nose to close it and prevent water from entering them, so they can only breathe through their mouths. This is not the most advisable in the long term, but it is often the most effective if you feel that it takes too much effort to adapt to exhaling through the mouth with lifeguard training near me usa



If you feel short of breath, it may be because you are not releasing enough air , so that later the lungs have the capacity to take in air and to expel enough carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) and that it does not accumulate in the lungs, which would trigger the need reflex. to breathe It can also be because you don't take in enough air in one breath so you will lack Oxygen. Or it can be a combination of the 2 factors.

Be patient, if you didn't learn to breathe as a child, it takes several sessions to start feeling comfortable in the water.

How do I keep water out of my mouth?

Even swimmers usually get water from their mouths from time to time and choke slightly, it is something that we are exposed to when swimming, however, it is not normal for it to happen almost every time you take a breath, as our coach Laura says : “You have to learn to close holes”.

It is not literally closing the holes of the mouth and nose, it is learning to breathe with water in between, only letting air pass.

Half mouth in water and half out

A swimmer breathes with half his mouth in the water and half out of it, this can only be done by advanced students, beginners must stick out their entire mouth to prevent water from entering, so in front crawl they must turn their heads more than normal. This is always preferable to breathing by lifting your head forward, which messes up your body position, lifting your head causes your legs to sag and you can't assume the ideal horizontal position.

This is easy to say but more difficult to do, as we see in our classes with beginning students. To achieve this you must learn to suck air differently when there is water in between (swimming) than out of the water when running for example. In the water you should hardly use the inspiratory muscles that open the ribs or raise the chest, it is more to let the air enter by itself, the lungs have the capacity to fill with air if you have previously created a negative pressure inside them by exhaling the air , if you release little air then you will have to force to open the rib cage and that it pulls your lungs to open them.


As we have said, it is not easy, but with practice it is achieved, we can attest to this, after about 8 sessions of technique, the chances that we have of water entering us are greatly reduced.

Also Read About: 10 BENEFITS OF SWIMMING