General tips: Breathing

Hello guys, and welcome back to my swimming blog. Before we start going into all the content of what this post is containing, I need to give you guys a small introduction about this swimming post. Remember when I said back then (actually, “back then” was basically just a day ago, but OK, we'll just call it “back then” anyways)? You know, when I said that we've already gone through all the swimming styles? Freestyle, breaststroke, backstroke, butterfly, all DONE. Every single possible (actually, in this bit I may be a bit exaggerating, because I didn't actually discuss about EVERY SINGLE detail about tips for swimming the following styles, but you get the idea) detail, component to improve, it's all done.

“So what now?” I asked myself. “I can't let my swimming blog turn into an editor-less blog. I've got to come up with something else... But what should it be?” (remember, I only had a day (actually, less) to decide what I was going to do for my blog) I wondered. But hold on... If I've already done everything about tips about the main strokes, why don't I start way back in the beginning (yes, I KNOW it sounds a bit idiotic to start back at square one, but what else will you have done with such short time to think of the next topic for your blog? And if you DID come up with something, remember that I was desperate to come up with an idea, no matter how bad it was)?

So basically from this post on, I'm just going to use these posts of late for the more “general” tips to improve your swimming skills, regardless of the style or such that you're currently swimming at the time. So these are tips that can apply to ALL styles, so feel free to add them to your everyday (come to think of it, not everyday; more like every occasion you swim. Yeah, that's the right word). So anyways, let's just get straight down to business.

As usual, you'll find the video here, feel free to use it in combination with the post, if you don't watch it you'll have difficulty understanding the post, blah blah blah, OK, you know what? Let's just skip that stuff, you already know how it goes (at least, for those of you readers out there who consistently read my posts. If you do, you already know how it goes because I say it every single time I'm about to get to the “video” part), so let's just cut that and get straight to it!

As you may have seen in the video (for those of you who... Never mind, I promised to skip that part, that's old), one of the problems with swimming is that often, you don't get enough air from your breathing periods. Here's how it usually applies to every style:

• Freestyle: The breathing pattern of the typical guy is usually 2 hand strikes (let's just call that “H” for short), 1 breath (call that “B”). The recommended breathing pattern is 3H-1B or even better, 5H-1B (the truth can sometimes be painful).
• Breaststroke: The typical breathing pattern is 2F (for feet)-1HB (Hands and Breath). The advisable pattern is actually 1F-1HB.
• Backstroke: Honestly no breathing rhythm here, since you spend the entire backstroke with your head on the water's surface.
• Butterfly: Normally the breathing is 1F-1HB. The proper method is 2F-1HB.

That should be all for today. Hope this post helped in improving your swimming skills. Until next time then guys. See ya!