SWIMMING TIPS | How to improve your breathing with Chris Leiferman

In our last blog post, Chris Leiferman taught us three simple ways to achieve optimal head positioning for swimming. In this post we will show you three basic drills that the athlete, from the BMC-Vifit Sport Team powered by Uplace, uses to improve head positioning while breathing in water.

To do them, you're going to need a swim board and fins.

1. Catch Up

For the first drill, hold on to the swim board with your arms outstretched and do the same movements that you would do when crawl swimming, but grab it again at the end of the stroke. When your arm is coming out of the water, turn your head slightly with your body in order to breathe first on the right and then switch to the left.

2. 3 in 1 Catch Up

For next drill, you'll stay in the same position as in the first, (with your arms extended and gripping the swim board) but this time you will go through three strokes with the same arm and breathe on that side by turning your head slightly along with the body. Then, switch to the other side, repeating the same process.

3. 6 Kick Switch

You only need flippers for the final drill. It is done by crawl swimming, except after the stroke, you extend your arm for six kicks and then switch to the other side.

Breathing correctly as a result of excellent training can improve your positioning in the water, as swimmers often make the mistake of keeping too much air in their lungs and this makes it difficult for them to keep their body in a horizontal position while swimming. These drills can ensure improvement in both areas.