Breathing Techniques for Swimming
While kicking and arm strokes may be the first things that come to mind when you think about learning to swim, much of what makes a swimmer safer and more efficient in the water comes down to breathing.
Mastering essential breathing techniques for swimming requires patience and persistent effort. At Big Blue Swim School, our classes teach age-appropriate techniques, laying the foundation for fundamental breathing skills. As your child progresses through our curriculum, the focus expands to safety, comfort, and precise breath control for swimming. Our program aims to ensure students master rhythmic breathing for swimming and acquire all skills necessary for a lifetime of water enjoyment.
Building Comfort in the Water
Helping your young child feel comfortable in the water is a critical first goal of our Baby Blue program, offered from 3 months to 3 years of age. (Of course, if a child joins our program later, we make sure they feel comfortable and confident with water surrounding their face, too!)
We begin by assisting new swimmers aged 3–18 months in our Baby Blue program to anticipate being submerged underwater for a short period. This proactive introduction not only fosters early water confidence but also taps into infants’ natural reflexes, ensuring they instinctively hold their breath during these brief moments. Anticipating submersions helps a child avoid developing a fear of putting their face in the water and ensures that water stays out of their lungs and stomach—an essential early skill for safer swimming.
From ages 19–36 months, little ones practice submerging their own face in the water. While their face is submerged, they also practice blowing bubbles out. This breathing technique prepares them for rhythmic breathing and breath control for swimming while also preventing them from swallowing or inhaling water as they get used to submersions.
Developing Early Breath Control
Once a child is comfortable with their face in the water, we can begin to work on breath control. By the age of 3, when our Bright Blue program starts, children work on putting their whole face in the water. As they practice, the goal is to hold their breath for three seconds.
All mammals, including humans, possess a natural diving reflex that causes them to automatically hold their breath when submerged. As children grow and become capable of comprehending and following instructions, our goal is for them to actively control when they hold their breath, moving beyond reflexes. Through regular practice in extending breath-holding durations, children not only learn how to control breathing while swimming but also build a sense of control and confidence in the water.
Mastering Breathing Techniques
What is the trick to breathing while swimming? The truth is that there are a variety of breathing techniques that children can adopt. Some are most appropriate for beginners, while others are good choices for more advanced swimmers. Let’s look at some of our favorite breathing techniques for swimming.
1. Rhythmic Breathing
Rhythmic breathing is a pattern of timing exhales and inhales while continuously swimming in a fluid cadence. This helps swimmers know how–and how often–to breathe as they swim.
While learning, our Bright Blue swimmers (ages 3-5 years) repeat a pattern of 3 seconds of bubbles out and 1 second of air in. They also learn to maintain proper head position, keeping the face and ears submerged while exhaling to sustain a horizontal body position in the water. If a swimmer lifts their head up and out of horizontal body position to breathe, their feet will sink below the surface of the water, making it harder to swim.
In our Bold Blue and Big Blue programs, older swim students, ages 6 and up, learn the appropriate cadence of rhythmic breathing coordinated with leg and arm movement for all four strokes (freestyle, backstroke, breaststroke, and butterfly).
2. Bilateral Breathing
This one is going to be for more advanced swimmers. It’s particularly useful for freestyle swimmers who need to develop a balanced stroke. You take a breath every third stroke, which means you’ll alternate between breathing on the right and left sides. If your child tends to skew crookedly off to one side or the other, bilateral breathing might help.
3. Breath-Timing Coordination
Some techniques require the swimmer to lift their head out of the water, which can throw off their rhythm and cost valuable time in a competition. Breath-timing coordination can take some getting used to, but once you get the hang of it, it provides a seamless, smooth way to take breaths when the opportunity arises. As you raise your arm in your stroke, turn your head in the same direction and take advantage of the opening to grab a quick breath.
4. Underwater Exhalation
Should you exhale when swimming underwater? Absolutely—if you’re practicing underwater exhalation. The swimmer should train their body to exhale when their face is submerged so they can focus exclusively on inhaling when their face is exposed to the air. This gives you more time to take your breath in and prevents CO2 buildup.
5. Controlled Rhythmic Breathing
This variation of the rhythmic breathing we discussed earlier can also incorporate bilateral breathing. The idea here is all about control and consistency. Decide whether you’ll breathe on every second or third stroke, and then train your body to stick with it. Your child can synchronize the rhythm of their breath with their stroke for greater endurance and a smooth experience.
6. Snorkel Breathing Drills
This probably won’t be your child’s sole technique, particularly if they want to swim competitively, but using a snorkel can be beneficial, especially as they build endurance over longer distances. The snorkel encourages steady, even breathing without any need to move your mouth out of the water.
7. Deep Diaphragmatic Breathing
Many of the techniques on this list aren’t for beginners, but deep diaphragmatic breathing is particularly advanced. Whether you should breathe through your nose or mouth when swimming is usually a matter of personal preference, but these deep breaths that fill the belly should probably be done through the mouth.
You’ll actually use this technique outside of the water. Build up breath control by placing a hand over your diaphragm and feeling it expand as you breathe deeply. As you practice, you’ll improve your oxygen efficiency and build lung capacity.
8. Flip-Turn Breathing
If your swimmer is concerned with how to ensure water doesn’t go up their nose when swimming, flip-turn breathing might be a good match. It involves forcefully exhaling through your nose during the flip turn to prevent water from entering. As with underwater exhalation, this technique allows the swimmer to focus entirely on breathing in while their face is out of the water. It’s a favorite for competitive swimmers.
9. Breath Counting
This advanced technique is for competitive swimmers looking to build their stamina. It involves reducing the number of breaths you take with each lap as your lung capacity increases. On the first lap, you might breathe with every other stroke. For the second lap, drop down to bilateral breathing by only taking a breath with every third stroke. The idea is to continue spacing the breaths further apart, but Mom and Dad might want to keep an eye on their swimmer to make sure they’re following some common sense boundaries and don’t push themselves too far.
10. Slow and Controlled Warm-Up Breathing
Even if you’re not aiming for deep diaphragmatic breathing, swimmers of any level can benefit from taking a few moments of slow, deep breaths before even getting into the pool. This technique puts your swimmer into the right frame of mind, establishes a steady rhythm, and prepares their body for exercise.
Get Started with Big Blue
Proper breathing techniques make swimming more enjoyable, more efficient, and safer. A child continuing through the Big Blue program—and then perhaps onto a swim team—will learn how powerful breathing techniques allow them to swim farther and faster.
Whatever the age or skill level, we'll help your child master proper breathing techniques along with all the other elements of swimming at Big Blue Swim School.
Want to get started? We can't wait to meet you and your child! Sign up for a free trial or call or text your local pool.
